New needs setup help

[Guest]

I have very new to straming video. A friend directed me to VideoLAN but has not used it much either. I am looking for help in getting the server side setup and then how to access the files from different clients.

The server machine is a WinXPMC and the clients are either WinXP Pro or Home.

The server has a directory where I store all the captured video in .mpg format (could be mov, divx, or avi in the future). //<servername>:port/d:\recordedtc\converted_mpeg is the location. Is there something special to setting up the server? Do I have to specify in Windows that it is a server? Is there a service that needs to be running? I think I'm trying to do video on demand. I want to be able to open any file on the client without having to do anything on the server.

Is there anything on the client that needs to be running (as a service or background task)?

I've read through the VidoeLan Streaming Howto but I always seem to be missing something. Do I want to do UDP, UDP Multicase, HTTP, RTSP?

Is there a thread (I tried searching) that gives a windows step-by-step on how to setup for newbies?

[Guest]

did you use the streaming wizard? there you select the folder location, the protocol to use, port number, etc

[jakware]

did you use the streaming wizard? there you select the folder location, the protocol to use, port number, etc

Sorry about the Guest post, I thought I was logged in.

Yes I did, but I wasn't sure what protocol to use. I tried HTTP but when I tried to connect from the client I didn't see a way to open the stream. In the wizard I tried:

http://<server>:5554
http://<server>:5554/d$:/recordedtv/converted_mpeg.

In the client I selected open network stream, selected the network tab, clicked HTTP and entered the URL of the same as above.

As I said I'm very new to streaming.

[DJ]

Would probably be better to start with a local network, with udp://<address>:<port> actually because to is local udp://: should work.

[jakware]

I tried the UDP but I'm still not sure if I'm attaching from the client correctly to play it as a stream vs playing the file. What I'd really like this to do is to process the video codecs on the server and only stream the output to the client. As I'm browsing the web or doing anything with graphics I'm getting a lot of skipping (my CPU is not maxed like others) because there is a lot going through the switch. I'm running 10/100 switch so I shouldn't have too much trouble streaming.

From the client I select Open -> Open Network -> put in the UDP://<servername>:5554 then click OK. How do I access a file?

The server is a Intel 3.2Ghz , nVida 6500 128 Mb, 2Gb memory, 4 250Gb SATA drives in a Raid 5 configuration, 1 250Gb EIDE which has the operating system.

One of the clients (the one I've been using to configure all this) is Intel 2.1 Ghz, ATI 8500 128Mb, 1Gb memory, 2 EIDE hard drives 160Gb and 320Gb.

If I can get a quick list of setup steps for the server and another for the client I can probably get it fixed up.

[jakware]

Anyone have any input to this? I think I'm getting the server side setup but don't know how to see the files on the client or how to determine if I'm streaming or just viewing the file across the network (like if I used Media Player).

Thank you,
Doug

[jakware]

Okay, here are the steps I took and the error log that was returned.

- File -> Wizard
- Stream to Network
- Select a Stream (htt://192.168.10.12:8080/RecordedTv\Converted_Mpeg)
- UDPUnicast - Entered address of 192.168.10.11 (client machine)
- MPEG TS (only option available)
- TTL = 5 and set SAP to GiveMeVideo

Here are the messages that were return:

wxwidgets debug: Starting stream of http://192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg to 192.168.10.11 using rtp, encap ts
main debug: adding playlist item `Streaming/Transcoding Wizard' ( http://192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg )
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 4076 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:260)
main debug: stream=`standard'
main debug: looking for sout stream module: 1 candidate
main debug: set sout option: sout-standard-mux to ts
main debug: set sout option: sout-standard-dst to 192.168.10.11
main debug: set sout option: sout-standard-access to rtp
main debug: set sout option: sout-standard-sap to (null)
main debug: set sout option: sout-standard-name to Video
stream_out_standard debug: creating `rtp/ts://192.168.10.11'
stream_out_standard debug: extention is 11
stream_out_standard debug: extention -> mux=(null)
stream_out_standard debug: using `rtp/ts://192.168.10.11'
main debug: looking for sout access module: 1 candidate
main debug: net: connecting to 192.168.10.11 port 1234
main debug: thread 4108 (sout write thread) created at priority 15 (udp.c:268)
access_output_udp debug: udp access output opened(192.168.10.11:1234)
main debug: using sout access module "access_output_udp"
stream_out_standard debug: access opened
main debug: looking for sout mux module: 1 candidate
mux_ts debug: shaping=200000 pcr=70000 dts_delay=400000
main debug: using sout mux module "mux_ts"
main debug: muxer support adding stream at any time
stream_out_standard debug: mux opened
stream_out_standard: SAP Enabled
main debug: registering announce
main debug: adding SAP session
main debug: using SAP address: 224.2.127.254
main debug: Generated SDP (172 bytes):
v=0
o=- 295153406000 2802 IN IP4 192.168.10.12
s=Video
t=0 0
c=IN IP4 192.168.10.11/1
m=video 1234 RTP/AVP 33
a=tool:vlc 0.8.5-test1-20060317-0002
a=type:broadcast

main debug: Addresses: 1 Sessions: 1
main debug: using sout stream module "stream_out_standard"
main debug: `http://192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg' gives access `http' demux `' path `192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg'
main debug: creating demux: access='http' demux='' path='192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 0 candidates
main warning: no access_demux module matched "http"
main debug: creating access 'http' path='192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg'
main debug: looking for access2 module: 7 candidates
access_http debug: http: server='192.168.10.12' port=5554 file='/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg
main debug: net: connecting to 192.168.10.12 port 5554
main debug: connection in progress
main debug: select timed out
main error: Connection to 192.168.10.12 port 5554 failed: Connection timed out
access_http error: cannot connect to 192.168.10.12:5554
main debug: net: connecting to 192.168.10.12 port 5554
main debug: connection in progress
main debug: select timed out
main error: Connection to 192.168.10.12 port 5554 failed: Connection timed out
access_http error: cannot connect to 192.168.10.12:5554
main debug: net: connecting to 192.168.10.12 port 5554
main debug: connection in progress
main debug: select timed out
main error: Connection to 192.168.10.12 port 5554 failed: Connection timed out
access_mms error: cannot connect to 192.168.10.12:5554
vcd debug: trying .cue file: 192.168.10.cue
access_file warning: 192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg: No such file or directory
cdda debug: trying .cue file: 192.168.10.cue
cdda warning: could not open 192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg
main warning: no access2 module matching "http" could be loaded
main error: no suitable access module for `http://192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg'
main debug: destroying chain... (name=standard)
main debug: unregistering announce
main debug: removing SAP announce 012656D8
main debug: 0 announcements remaining
main debug: removing module "mux_ts"
access_output_udp debug: packet has been sent too late (295168215000)
main debug: thread times: real 0m15.140625s, kernel 0m0.000000s, user 0m0.000000s
main debug: thread 4108 joined (udp.c:316)
access_output_udp debug: udp access output closed
main debug: removing module "access_output_udp"
main debug: removing module "stream_out_standard"
main debug: destroying chain done
main debug: thread times: real 0m15.250000s, kernel 0m0.046875s, user 0m0.015625s
main debug: thread 4076 joined (input/input.c:402)
main warning: Unable to find parent !
main: nothing to play



I don't understand why the connection is timing out. I went into ZoneAlarm and set the VLC programs for full access as servers. I am running the vlc-0.8.5-test2-win32.exe build on my server machine. Should I uninstall and go back to 8.4?

Thank you,
Doug

[The DJ]

Did you try simply DISABLING zone alarm?

That's the only way to make sure the program isn't interfering of course.
If you disable it for just a quick test, you should probably be ok security wise. Disable your internetconnection to be sure.

[The DJ]

Mmm, the start of your session has
`http://192.168.10.12/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg' gives access `http' demux `' path `192.168.10.12/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg'

Whereas the end uses:
`http://192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg' gives access `http' demux `' path `192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg'

[jakware]

Mmm, the start of your session has
`http://192.168.10.12/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg' gives access `http' demux `' path `192.168.10.12/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg'

Whereas the end uses:
`http://192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg' gives access `http' demux `' path `192.168.10.12:5554/RecordedTV/Converted_Mpeg'

I'm not sure what this means?

I disabled ZoneAlarm and still cannot connect from the client. Not sure I'm doing that right.

Last night I tried to start a UDP Network session but I didn't use the wizard. I then checked the Stream Output box and went into settings (by the way, the wizard doesn't have the Stream Output box like the documentation shows). Here's where I'm a little lost, how do I specify the directory I want to stream. I tried the udp://@:5554/recordedtv/converted_mpeg and that didn't seem to work. I set the multicast address to 239.255.10.12.

On the client I tried to connect to the Network Stream and specified the address of the server machine, no luck. I also tried (from the command line) "vlc -vvv 239.255.10.12", it opened the GUI and when I looked in the play list there was just the 239.255.10.12 in read.

I know this is probably me missing some small detail, just can't seem to find it in the documentation. A lot of the screen shots don't match what I'm actually seeing. I'm using 0.8.4a

Thank you,
Doug