How to control multiple instances using vlc console?

[Belini]

I need to open multiple videos at the same time and send commands to each window separately using VLC console, does anyone know if it's possible to do this?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

There is nothing very particular about the number of instances in that case. Just be sure to turn off single instance mode.

[Belini]

Right, but as I send a command only to the instance I want to control, how do I identify each one?

[Belini]

What I need is to know which command should I use when I run vlc to identify instance 1 and instance 2

Example:

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start "Instance 01" vlc video1.mp4 start "Instance 02" vlc video2.mp4

And then use VLC console to send commands to instance 01 and instance 02 separately

Example:

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f on "Instance 01" ==> full screen for instance 01 only pause "Instance 02" ==> pause for instance 02 only

"instance 01 and instance 02" was just an example because I don't know which command line opens the instance identifying it

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Again, there is nothing special here. You do it the same way you would identify two different programs running in parallel.

[Belini]

I've tried several ways but I can't send commands to instances separately, could you please post an example of how to do this?

[Belini]

I could only do it by renaming the vlc executable and opening a console for each one there by writing in the console corresponding to the renamed executable I was able to send commands to each instance separately but if I have 4 videos open I need to have 4 vlc executables and 4 consoles open at the same time , there must be another way to do the same thing without renaming and opening an executable and console for each video.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I don't really understand. The dumest of example trivially works with any number of instance:

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vlc -Ioldrc --rc-unix inst1 & echo play | netcat -U inst1 &

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vlc -Ioldrc --rc-unix inst1 & vlc -Ioldrc --rc-unix inst2 & echo play | netcat -U inst1 & echo play | netcat -U inst2 &

That is obviously shell syntax, and I do not know about Batch file syntax specifically, which interface and which type of communication channel you mean to use. The point is that VLC instances are independent. How you identify them is intrinsically dependent on how you create them in the first place, so the question does not make much sense.

[Belini]

I'm programming in Autoit and I'm going to do tests with these commands you posted, thanks for pointing the way.

[Belini]

when I went to test the commands I saw that it was for linux and I need commands for windows, unfortunately Autoit doesn't work on Linux so I didn't even have a way to test what you posted.

[Belini]

Could you please post an example of how to create and identify instances in windows?

[Belini]

I see that unfortunately I won't be able to use VLC in my project because I've searched in every way in the VLC forum and documentation and I can't find an answer to this simple question.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

TBH, you make it sound like this is a fundamental limitation of your automation tool. Then there's not much to expect here; the only way is to use a better suited tool.

[Belini]

It's not a limitation for me as long as there are commands in vlc to do this and I know what commands they are because I don't know what commands create the instances in windows and what commands should I pass to each instance, what I need is just to know the line command to create instances and how I will identify them later on the command line.

Note: Even if I change the tool, if I don't know the commands, it's useless to use any other tool

[Belini]

Just answer me please if it is possible to create and control more than one instance only on linux, on windows is it possible to create and control only one instance at a time?
Isn't there commands for windows to create and identify more than one instance?

[Belini]

Does anyone here on the forum have enough knowledge to answer my question?

[Belini]

Apparently it's a limitation of VLC that only lets you create more than one instance and send commands to them in LINUX, for windows if I decide to use it it will have to be the way I discovered by renaming executables and opening a console for each of them.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Obviously if you use the executable name to identify the instance, you can only have one instance of a given program. The exact same problem would affect any operating system.

There is no point posting here if you refuse to accept the obvious that it is a limitation of your method.

[Belini]

So far I haven't had a definitive answer to my question regardless of the method I'm going to use, my question is this: Is it possible to create more than one instance in WINDOWS and then send commands to each one separately?
If possible with which command do I create these instances and how do I identify each one to send commands to them?

[Belini]

In vlc I will only be able to create more than one instance and send commands to each one of them if I am using LINUX, for windows is it not possible to do this? Can anyone answer this simple question?

477 views and no answer that solves my problem

[Belini]

Now there are 488 views and still no answer that solves the problem or that at least tells me that it is not possible to create and control more than one instance in windows because the only one I received so far was for LINUX that I will not use.

[Belini]

You can close this topic because I already saw that I won't get an answer to my problem which is a shame because VLC has many resources but without support it is impossible to use it.

[Belini]

Really this is a forum with many questions and few answers.