PLS Help Newbie here

[Dice]

Hi, My situation:
I want to stream a movie thats encoded in divx to multiple computers my house. The LAN is mainly used for gaming puposes and internet. I can stream to one computer but my question is how do i stream to multiple computers?

192.168.0.1 is our gateway, 192.168.0.2-5 is the other computers.

I just want to stream out some movies so that i can watch it on the other computers simulteanously. I hate sharing one 15" screen with 3 other ppl, mainly my brother and sister. Hope u all can help me out in english pls, iam not that literate in the computer section. Got the program while watching techtv the other day.

[markfm]

You need to use a multicast address. This is an address in the 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 range. Basically, a server broadcasts UDP packets on a selected address in this range, and as many computers as want to can listen in on it.

There are some addresses that you aren't supposed to use in the multicast address space, for various reasons. An OK one is 239.20.30.40.

I assume you used the Streaming Wizard to send the file to one computer.
1. In Step 2, where you select the output method, leave Destination Target blank. Check the UDP box, and fill in 239.20.30.40 in the space next to it (the multicast address you will use). Leave it set to port 1234 (okay to change, just not needed). Make sure to select both video and audio output at the bottom of the screen, in the Transcoding Options area.

2. For the VLC clients (the computers you want to see the movie), start VLC then select File -- Open Network Stream. Select the second UDP option, the one with an address space next to it, and plug in 239.20.30.40.

Enjoy!

[Dice]

Cant seem to get it to work:
Step i have taken:
1. Run VLC on the comp that showing the file
2. Open Streaming Wizard
3. Select the file i wanted to stream
4. While on the Streaming Method i followed your instructions perfectly, left the destination empty selected UDP and inserted 239.20.30.40.
5. Selected both Video and Audio codec from the trancoding options
6. Click on the Start Streaming button

On the VLC Client:
1. Selected Open Network Stream Button
2. Selected the second UDP Option and inserted 239.20.30.40 and press okay.

Nothing seems to be playing on the client although the file is playing on the vlc program thats serving the video.

PS: Do i need to change the ip of the computer thats playing the file to 239.20.30.40? if so wouldnt i lose connection to my existing network which is 192.168.0.*

Sry for all the incovinience i might have cause but i really want to get this to work ~>.<~

[markfm]

You don't need to change the server PC's IP address. The multicast addresses act as special "channels", designed for this purpose -- someone can send out infomation on the address, with as many others as want to listening to it.

I assume you are working with the official release copy -- 0.7.1

In order to see if your server PC is acting "nice", actually trying to do the multicast transmission, you can open two VLC sessions on the server PC.

Set up Streaming Wizard under VLC -- do NOT select "Play Locally" in the Stream Output window -- just pick the UDP option, type in "239.20.30.40" in the address space. In the "Transcoding Options" area, check the Video CODEC, let it stay "mpv4", and check (select) the Audio Codec, leaving it "mpga". Click OK, then Start.
What you should see is the server VLC "playing", slider moving on the bottom of the screen and a blue bar on the right of the window.

Now, on the same server PC, launch another copy of VLC. Select File -- Open Network Stream, click the UDP/RTP Multicast option, and plug in 239.20.30.40 in the address space, then click OK.

What should happen is that this second, "client" session should open a VLC player window -- display the audio/video being multicast by the "server" VLC session. Don't worry if the performance is bad -- running two sessions simultaneously isn't a normal thing, especially if your PC isn't very fast; the object is to see if the first session of VLC really is streaming OK. (On my 800MHz PC it looks junky with two sessions running, because they're fighting for resources).

If the second session is displaying the video/audio correctly, then you might have a network issue. Any chance you're using an 802.11 wireless router? If you are using 802.11, you might have the main router configured to block multicast.

I regularly use the run-two-sessions-on-one-machine to check what I'm doing, make sure I have stuff set up properly.

Good luck!

[zorglub]

Hello,

Why do you advise to select "Audio" and "Video" in Transcoding options ?

These are only if you want to reencode the stream on the fly. That is much probably not needed here and it eats many resources.

So, don't select "Audio" and "Video" in Transcoding and make sure that "MPEG-TS" is selected.

[markfm]

Everything I do has been related to live video (DirectShow input) at the server, high resolution, so I automatically select transcoding.
My error.

[redlegion]

Unfortunately, I have the same problem as the person who started the thread. Except the two client test doesn't work for me. I don't even get any erroneous output messages. What the hell is going on? I've got the same setup as described above. It just won't work.

[JavMan]

Well It seems I am also having the same problem... I have got the unicast to work with the 2 clients one my one computer but cant get the multicast to work followint the steps provided. I have a wireless router, Dlink and I am not sure about multicast settings. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[markfm]

Do you have dual Ethernet cards in any of the computers? If the server has dual cards, it likely needs a route statement to tell it which one to use to transmit multicast.

Also, any chance that something called VMware is running on one or more of the computers? Apparently it creates pseudo-ethernet interfaces that do not play well with VLC.

[Guest]

Do you have dual Ethernet cards in any of the computers? If the server has dual cards, it likely needs a route statement to tell it which one to use to transmit multicast.

Also, any chance that something called VMware is running on one or more of the computers? Apparently it creates pseudo-ethernet interfaces that do not play well with VLC.

I also can make unicast work but not multicast. My server computer has a wireless network card and build in network adaptor. Does this mean Dual Ethernet cards? I normally enable the wireless and disable the network adaptor. Please tell me how to add the route statement you suggest?

[markfm]

It's "dual" if both network adapters are enabled. Basically, Windows (or Linux) needs to know which adapter to shovel data out of.

At the server side, open Settings -- Preferences, check "Advanced options" in the corner.

Then, open General settings -- Input; there's "Network interface address" where you can type in the address of the adapter you want VLC to use when it is multicasting. If your PC has 1.2.3.4 as the wired ethernet card, 5.6.7.8 as the address of the wireless, and you want to use the wireless, enter 5.6.7.8 in the space. This will tell VLC what to do to route the multicast out the proper adapter.