Easy Scheduling with VLC

[krehator]

Hi all, first post.

I'm using VLC to set up a multichannel movie network on my local lan. I'm heading to Iraq soon and fortunately I'm a signal soldier which allows me the computer/network resources to setup "extra goodies". What I'm attempting to do is to use a small XP system as a video server to offer movies to other soldiers to watch during off duty hours. This will allow users to connect over a confined LAN and tune into one of eight video stations that will offer up movies to watch. I've got it working but I really wanted an easy way to do the scheduling and fill in the gaps. This way I could have a legitimate movie schedule and put it up on a web page so users could see what's coming up.

VLM offers great features and I do not want to complain but I just needed an easier visual way to do the scheduling instead of typing in commands all the time. Something more like a calendar. Doing a google search I didn't find any front ends that did the job the way I needed. So I decided to make one to serve my needs. I figured I'd let everyone see what I'm doing and maybe they could give me some pointers, good ideas for features, and even help me avoid some problems I might not be thinking about.

This front end will allow you to schedule streams over multiple channels. I currently have 8 easy schedule grids but that doesn't limit you to 8 ports. You can set start/end times and can fill in the dead time (between events) will small videos/music, even commercials or notices. It's easy for a novice to set it up. I'm still working on it and will release it along with the source code as soon as it's ready.

Current & planned features:
- Schedule multiple streams over multiple channels (ports), specifying times, dates, and ports.
- Use filler streams during gaps between scheduled streams.
- Auto continue streams in case of system reset (experimental, still working on this)
- Specify streams or select random content within a folder.
- Generate viewer schedules that can be linked to a web page.

Thinking about turning the interface into a more classic calendar after I get all the details working as they should.

Anyway...here's some screencaps.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Interesting work. I tried to improve the VLM dialog in 0.9.x but, I didn't do any channels...

[krehator]

Well these "channels" are really just ports but I'm trying to make it simplified like a TV channel. My streams are going out HTTP so anyone on the LAN can just tune in based on what port the listen on.

The one thing that really sux is that there are few players, other than VLC, that catch these streams well. Windows Media Player is a codec disaster. The end user/viewer might get a bit confused how to tune in, especially if they are just novices and don't know how to use VLC. I'll need to come up with a dummy proof method for them. Since I will being using predefined ports for the streams I may need to build another front end for the viewer which basically just allows the user to switch between streams with a simple TV channel like interface.

Thank God I can even do this. VLC is the only stable app out there that offers the ability build a front end around it. If VLC didn't exist, this wouldn't be possible.

[krehator]

Added calendar for easier programming. A previous method was used that might not be as straight forward and it required additional code that wasn't required. This way should be more simple. Programming can still be added via the channel grid input.

[dionoea]

Looks great Feel free to post the code online...

(btw, the VideoLAN project used to have a program named vlms http://download.videolan.org/pub/, you might want to change the name of your program to prevent confusion, although nobody knows what the old vlms was used for )

[krehator]

Looks great Feel free to post the code online...

(btw, the VideoLAN project used to have a program named vlms http://download.videolan.org/pub/, you might want to change the name of your program to prevent confusion, although nobody knows what the old vlms was used for )

Oh really? Sorry bout that. No confusion was intended. I'll come up with a new name. I had to pick something quick to save the project under.

As soon as I get a fully working version that can be distributed I'll post up the code. I don't want to post half finished code cuz it's sloppy.

[krehator]

My plan was to call VLC by command line, and then usinging the http interface be able to control the streams. I trust this method more than playing with PID's. Each channel would have it's own instance of VLC. I'm able to launch streams easily via this command:

vlc -vvv g:\Movies\Sunshine.avi --sout udp::2680 --extraintf=http

To kill it I just access it through http by getting:

http://localhost:8080/requests/status.x ... vlc%3Aquit

This works, partially. If I run multiple instances, each time I use the above address, it kills one of them, until eventually I kill them all. That is because no port is specified. They're all running on 8080 by default I assume.

The problem is that I want to be able to direct it at specific instances. I figured the best way to do that is to give each instance a different port for http access. I can't get it to work though. Looking through the documentation I'm trying to find the command line option to set the host ip and port, but haven't been unable to find it. I've tried the following, taking a shot in the dark:

vlc -vvv g:\Movies\Sunshine.avi --sout udp::2680 --extraintf=http,193.168.1.3:5000

What is the correct sintax?

[dionoea]

--http-host 0.0.0.0:1234 should work (see vlc -p http --advanced)

[happychatt]

I need that interface, how do I get it? do you have it for public download?

[krehator]

--http-host 0.0.0.0:1234 should work (see vlc -p http --advanced)

Does it make a difference using the 0.0.0.0? I used the actual interface ip and it doesn't work that way.

--http-host 193.168.1.3:5000

[krehator]

I need that interface, how do I get it? do you have it for public download?

Sorry, it's not ready yet. I just started coding it this Saturday, LOL. Give me about a week and I'll have something together.

[dionoea]

--http-host 0.0.0.0:1234 should work (see vlc -p http --advanced)

Does it make a difference using the 0.0.0.0? I used the actual interface ip and it doesn't work that way.

0.0.0.0 means "listen on all IP addresses". So it makes a difference sometimes (like localhost vs the public ip)

[krehator]

--http-host 0.0.0.0:1234 should work (see vlc -p http --advanced)

Does it make a difference using the 0.0.0.0? I used the actual interface ip and it doesn't work that way.

0.0.0.0 means "listen on all IP addresses". So it makes a difference sometimes (like localhost vs the public ip)

Hmm, I'll try that. I used the 193.168.1.3 because that was the interface IP. At first I thought it might be some setting in my router but I was accessing the server from the same computer, so the router should've been excluded, basically just a loopback.

I'll try it when I get home. I'm at work right now. Let ya know how it goes. Thanks!

I'm also going to attempt to get telnet up and working to as a secondary method.

[dionoea]

I'm also going to attempt to get telnet up and working to as a secondary method.

In 0.9.0 we also have a whole new bunch of interfaces. Basically, users can implement their own interfaces in Lua. So I implemented the rc, telnet and http interfaces in Lua but you could also implement one that would fit your specific needs. That's something else you could look into if you feel that the current interfaces are lacking in some aspects.

[krehator]

I'm also going to attempt to get telnet up and working to as a secondary method.

In 0.9.0 we also have a whole new bunch of interfaces. Basically, users can implement their own interfaces in Lua. So I implemented the rc, telnet and http interfaces in Lua but you could also implement one that would fit your specific needs. That's something else you could look into if you feel that the current interfaces are lacking in some aspects.

I think the interfaces you offer now are more than capable. I just need to find the best way for my program to speak with VLC so that it appears seamless. I simply need to become more educated about VLC.

Basically all I'm doing is building a scheduler which communicates with VLC using the correct options to start, stop, and continue streams on schedule. It should be straight forward. All the tools appear to be there in VLC to accomplish my intent. You've already done all the hard work. My end only requires novice coding.

Currently the schedules work. The streams start on time, broadcast properly, and I can access the content with the clients as expected. I need to work on stopping the streams when required and continuing the scheduled streams if a reboot should occur, so that sheduled streams finish playing on time. Once that is working, all I will need to do is add some error handling and debug it.

I will look into all the options available though, and I appreciate the assistance.

[krehator]

--http-host 0.0.0.0:1234 worked. Thanks.

[nintondo]

dun mind me asking how did schedule the tasks within vlc and get it to stop.. been trying to do the same thing.. but cant..

[krehator]

dun mind me asking how did schedule the tasks within vlc and get it to stop.. been trying to do the same thing.. but cant..

You'll need to read the documentation for scheduling within VLC. I'm doing the scheduling with external code. My program simply passes parameters to the command line when it runs VLC via a shell. It does this based on data within the schedules made by the program.

Example:

D:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC>vlc -vvv g:\Movies\Sunshine.avi --sout udp::2680 --extraintf=http --http-host 0.0.0.0:1234

The above command streams a movie over UDP on port 2680. It also enables the http control interface to listen on port 1234.

To stop it, I use a web browser control which browses to the following address:

http://localhost:1234/requests/status.x ... vlc%3Aquit

That causes the instance of VLC to quit, thus stopping the stream..

[endofnow]

Hello,

What you are doing is exactly what I would like to do. I am an American Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Moldova. We just created a local TV station in my village to play community events and educational material. I need to create some type of schedule so that people will always know that at 6:00 such and such will be playing. Your interface is just what I need.

Have you made progress on releasing the code?

Thanks in advance, nice work

Ryan

[cu19]

do you happen to know when you will be able to post a beta of your scheduler? i am not very good without using VLC through windows and you have something that would fit my needs perfectly. i can not get the new version 0.9.2 to work, it has a scheduler but i cannot get the schedule to work. i am trying to broad cast local events such as our town festival and football games. but without a method of scheduling i am unable to let people know when the events will be shown.
any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
thanks for your work.

[chad.socolovitch]

any news on this product?

[micml]

Hi krehator,

I am interested in this scheduling program for VLC.
Would you mind if I like to help to do the programming together?
Please Advice.

Regards,
Michael

[darius2000]

Can your VLC scheduler be ported to HTML5
to work with VLC plugin , VLCplaylist add-on (Mozilla, Windows XP) ?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

This is not possible.

[belizaire28]

Hello. I'd very much like to know what you guys came up with all these years later...