Playing movies over local network

[DJK]

Hi

I'm not sure if this is a bug report or feature request so hope this gets to the relevant person.

Basically i want to be able to play movies (avi's & locally stored DVD folders) over a local area network on remote computers.

I'm using a wireless connection so obviously i don't always get a perfect and constant connection to the network drive where the movie is stored (especially if it's a DVD movie). This results in occaisional and annoying stuttering or skipping during movie playback. Copying a 30 min movie takes about 3 minutes so it is clear that i can recieve the movie faster than i need to play it, but when playing a movie live, data does not always get there fast enough.

I have tried increasing the cache value in "Input Codecs \ Access Module \ File" to a value of about 3,000,000 ms (or 30 seconds) this works well playing DVD movies and results in almost flawless playback, however, if i play an avi or mpeg movie, i get a grey screen for 30 seconds before the movie starts to play, if i try to skip ahead within the movie, again it takes 30 seconds each time for the movie to continue playback.

I'm not sure if cache is really what i need or would a "buffer" be more appropriate. What i think i really want is for VLC to start transferring the file to a local temporary area, at the same time that it is playing the file, so that if the transter rate does slow or stop, there is enough local information for playback to continue until the transfer carries on.

If VLC already does this by adjusting different settings, could someone please point me in the right direction, otherwise, is there anyway VLC could incorporate this feature as copying large movies onto each computer i want to play them on seems like such a waste of time (and disk space).

Despite that, i have to say that VLC is an excellent program and i use it as my default media player !!! thanks guys.

DJK

[SIZZLINSLEEPER]

+1... i searched before posting.. doubting i would find a request similar to mine, bt this is EXACTLY what i was thinking of!! it would be wonderful if a buffer could be implemented!!

[Karja]

Yep, this is exactly what I've been looking for as well. I thought it would be a simple option to add: "cache up to x MB of data" combined with a setting of 0 on the normal caching would take care of everything. But no video player I've seen has it.

[Peleus]

Exact same feature request from me, would be excellent

[RacerXofFL]

+1 searched first too... I have this problem playing HD content, say 78 100mb files, when it changes files I have a less then a second pause with a dropped frame, I even tried running it off of a striped SATA raid via GIG-E, to no avail....

Thanks for such a great player

Don

[coxy]

Well that now makes 6 of us. Since all my movies are stored of network attached drives - caching is a necessity for me. So i've temporarily switched to MPlayer (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/) since it solves exactly this problem.

@DJK - I tried the "Input Codecs \ Access Module \ File" method - and a setting of about 1000ms seemed to work fine for me (although i've only tested this over a gigabit wired ethernet and not sat through a whole film yet). If I don't get any problems doing this on my wireless network - I'll definately switch back to VLC!! (1 second is a bearable wait....and...well VLC is better, of course )

[hander]

Seven of us! and I'm sure thousands more.

Apparently sony vaios have some kind of software that makes local caching in MB possible - but the delay is still there.

I thought this would be possible in VLC but I was surprised to see it apparently isn't. Let's keep this thread alive as I'm sure it somehow by 3rd party utils...

[mala88]

+1...I have the same problem playing movies over a wireless network and need the same feature.

[DennyHayes]

I get the same thing. Apparently, the conversion process takes too much time, so unless it is cached, it is kind of useless to try to play via a network. I have read a few posts where users are trying to do PTP streaming, which can't work, if the speed is not even fast enough for a 1K LAN. My setup is a 2GH 2.6TB Linux server, with a half dozen Macs, and about the same number of Win boxes connected to it. The server is running a 1K ethernet connection, and about half of the computers also have a 1K connection. The server hosts many .avi movies which I am trying to play on the computers connected to it, using VLC. They do play, but there is a split second pause about every minute, which is a little annoying. I first thought maybe the speed of the computer or the ethernet connection speed might be the problem, but since the computers have various CPU speeds, with various connection speeds, and the pause is the same on every computer, then it must be something else, If I transfer the movie to the computer that it is played on, or if I burn a DVD and put it in the computer, it plays fine, and as you mentioned to simply transfer the file is so much faster that the play speed.

[sparks]

there is a way to cache already.....look up help and filecaching .....experiment with cache times.

[UloPe]

+1
I second this feature request, as i also have the same setup (althoug i use a LAN over Powerline connection rather than WLAN but the effects are the same).

[SIZZLINSLEEPER]

VLC does include the "cache" feature in the settings/input/acces module/file preferences.. but as DJK already stated.. when playing files, VLC takes the specified amount of time to cache the file before actually starting playback.. i.e. if i have a 30 sec cache.. i have to wait 30 secs b4 the file starts to play.. a better implementation would be to read the file at greater than 1x.. or 'oversample'.. to a specified degree.. that way the video could immediately be playing, while a buffer is being filled in the background..

[SIZZLINSLEEPER]

it seems that the developers comment quickly on other feature requests :

viewtopic.php?t=20276

i'm curious why there has been no such response here..

developers.. could one of you drop a post in here about the possibility of this???

[Guest]

maybe the devs dont like reading essay written requests...

hehe just kidding.

[dionoea]

Step 1: read http://www.videolan.org/doc/ Streaming howto
Step 2: search the wiki ( http://wiki.videolan.org )
Step 3: search the forum

You should find all the answers you need concerning streaming videos with VLC.
(We're planing on making it really simple to use in 0.8.6)

[SIZZLINSLEEPER]

maybe i'm missing the relevancy of your reply due to my ignorance..as i am certainly less than a genius when it comes to network traffic/protocols and such.. fd
but..
i don't believe any of us are interested in "streaming".. i assume that is sending a file from a local computer to other network computers via http or some other protocol.. the issue here is that of acessing a network drive.. NAS.. as if it were a local HD.. (mapped to 'my computer').. so in this case the actual protocol windows uses to xfr data is irellevant to VLC.. it would simply be as if VLC was acessing a very slow local HD.. i for instance use a netgear NAS that has it's own proprietary SCSI-over-etherned xfr protocol and has nothing to do with window's native mapping.. the drive nonetheless shows as a local drive on my comp..

i read the "how to" article on streaming.. and i saw a part where it mentions something about 'play locally'...

"Play localy: display the stream on your screen. This allows to display the stream you are actually streaming. Effects of transcoding, rescaling, etc... can be monitored locally using this function"

however this doesn't seem like the proper method to implement a "buffer" or a similar effect.. it seems to still suggest that i wish to stream a file to other recipients.. i do not.

have i missed the relevancy of 'streaming' in this particular situation.. being able to play vidoeo locally from a remote, NAS.. that has been mapped as a local drive, over a less than ideal (wireless) connection without the video skipping?

if so i apologise..
and i eagerly await the new release.. if it will implement the feature we are searching for.

[sparks]

VLC does include the "cache" feature in the settings/input/acces module/file preferences.. but as DJK already stated.. when playing files, VLC takes the specified amount of time to cache the file before actually starting playback.. i.e. if i have a 30 sec cache.. i have to wait 30 secs b4 the file starts to play.. a better implementation would be to read the file at greater than 1x.. or 'oversample'.. to a specified degree.. that way the video could immediately be playing, while a buffer is being filled in the background..

Just to note: VLC already does this....it keeps the cache in front of the file to the amount you specify.

The problem with VLC waiting to cache the file before playback is a nuisance, but it seems neccessary to stop the first few frames from having skipping problems.

Just to ask: Have you experimented much with the caching? Like dropped it to only two seconds?

Please note im not a devoloper for VLC, just thought id add my own opinion (a problem relative to my current request thread viewtopic.php?t=18026).

[Dunto]

Your problem is caching on the client side, not the server side. Increasing the server cache will cause it to buffer more data from the file/disc it has open so the server will not have problems reading the media. To cache more locally, increase the buffering amount on the client.

Media > Server Cache > Server > Client Cache > Client > Play

[Gary King]

Your problem is caching on the client side, not the server side. Increasing the server cache will cause it to buffer more data from the file/disc it has open so the server will not have problems reading the media. To cache more locally, increase the buffering amount on the client.

Media > Server Cache > Server > Client Cache > Client > Play

Where can I find this option? I'm on a Mac, by the way.

[Dunto]

In VLC it's right there on the "Open Network Stream" screen towards the bottom.

[Gary King]

In VLC it's right there on the "Open Network Stream" screen towards the bottom.

Can you show me a screenshot?

[jeckil]

Hiya all i fixed my problem by modifying my streaming options just like it said on previous posts; I used 2000ms instead of the values suggested it was enough for me so im happy.

As a feature request I would like a more friendly/simple gui.

Thanks for this great app