2 questions: syncing 2 mpeg's + playing with 2 vlc's -1 mac

[diskret]

hi there..

(system info: OSX 10.3.8, vlc 0.8.1, Mac G5 Dual 1.8 Ghz (don't know the graphics card yet) - 768 ram - 2 20inch cinema displays)

i need to find out if there is a way to play 2 mpeg streams out to two monitors by simply creating a copy of vlc.app and starting them simultaneously via shell. Since i will get the hardware later today i am in
theory stage at this point and will ask more specific questions later.

For now i would just like to find out whether somebody has ever tried this
+ what the problems could be... - e.g. i guess i will need 2 separate preferences as well if i am to send video to two devices. Since i don't need audio, i only have to concentrate on a relative sync - means - i need it to run synced within a margin of a couple of frames.

i really appreciate any advice - i have been using VLC for my video needs since quite some time now and i am convinced that there will be a way to do this !!!

thanks for considering this question and taking the time to answer

[simon]

hi there..

(system info: OSX 10.3.8, vlc 0.8.1, Mac G5 Dual 1.8 Ghz (don't know the graphics card yet) - 768 ram - 2 20inch cinema displays)

i need to find out if there is a way to play 2 mpeg streams out to two monitors by simply creating a copy of vlc.app and starting them simultaneously via shell.

I don't think that you have to do a copy of VLC if you open VLC from the terminal. You can play two files at once by opening VLC in two diffrent terminal windows, but opening from two diffrent terminal windows will give you a delay so i guess there is a better way of starting them.

you can use the

Code: Select all

--macosx-vdev <integer>

option to set the video device

[xtophe]

Hey,

A few idea,

* have a look at netsync ( --netsync-master and --netsync-master-ip) to synchronize you 2 instances.

* There may be a way with one instance and sth like --sout '#duplicate{dst=display,dst=display}. Should create you 2 windows.

[The DJ]

Didn't we have a simple duplicate filter?
Yep indeed. It's called clone. will simply create any number of video clones that you specify.
--filter=clone --clone-count=1 (should create 1 clone)

Also you can simply run two VLC instances by running them from console if you want (i do it all the time). And you can specify every preference option on the commandline as well, so there is no need for two pref files in that case (though it's possible of course).

The one thing i'm not certain of, is if you can fullscreen two windows from one VLC instance to two different screens. So if you want that, you may need to use 2 VLC instances after all.

[Guest]

hi all -

thanks for the fast reply + helpful infos -
so far i have managed to play in sync (there is a minimal delay - maybe 1 frame because vlc1 is buffering before vlc2 starts - so i am thinking - maybe i should send it to the background with ?) by duplicating vlc + starting the videos from terminal - i could not test the second screen so far but i am hopeful that it will work if i specify the devices -

right now i only have a small problem - it seems that the finder options + dock stay on screen even if i specify the --fullscreen and float on top options - so i am thinking that i should kill the finder and dock with an applescript before starting vlc - or maybe i just missed another possible option in vlc?!
now i need to do a startup script - currently need to find out how to make applescript tell the Terminal my vlc command (example vlc1 --fullscreen
/a.vob | vlc2 --fullscreen /b.vob) - but that's a simple issue i guess + not a question for this forum

i REALLY hope that it will work with 2 screens although in theory nothing should go against that...

thanks again for the help - really appreciate that!!

[The DJ]

If you launch from teminal, then the terminal is the active application. So the dock will show on top of the vlc application that is actually running at a lower window level then the Terminal application.

You need to switch to the VLC application. A simple applescript launched from the terminal could help you do that.