Guide to Streaming Video in LAN

[quad master]

Guide to Streaming Video in LAN

Most of the people think that video streaming is a very complicated process
Lets make it easy
This is my first effort in writing a Tutorial.

After reading this Tutorial you also will be able to stream
VCD .dat , AVI [Normal , Divx , Xvid , 3ivx] , WMV , mpg files

Hardware Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minimum 2 Computers in LAN with any IP address
Server - PIII 450Mhz , 128/256MB Ram
Client - PIII 450Mhz , 128/256MB Ram

If You dont have a LAN you can also try this on a Single Computer

Operating System Supported
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Windows , Mac OS X , BeOS , Debian GNU/Linux , Mandrake Linux ,
Fedora Core , SuSE Linux , Red Hat Linux , WinCE / PocketPC

Software Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Lan Client - VLC - The Cross - Platform media player and streaming server

VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats
(MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

Web:- www.videolan.org
Download:- http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Features:- http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html

Installation
~~~~~~~~~
Video LAN Client has to be installed on the Server and every Client Computer.
Usually it comes as a zip package you need to extract it to a folder anywhere on the server and client.

Tutorial
~~~~~~

This Tutorial is demonstrating a VLC Streaming and Stream Playback on Windows Platform
Server IP Address:- 192.168.0.1
Client IP Address:- 192.168.0.2

On Server Side
1.> Double Click on VLC.exe to Launch it.


2.> Click on "Open File" to Browse the .dat , .avi , .mpg , .wmv file
Here Test.avi File




3.> Now Click the "Stream output" Checkbox and click on "Settings" button.



4.> When you click on "Settings" button a new interface is diaplaced where nothing is clicked

- Now Click on HTTP Check Box
- Enter Server Address and any empty server port number for eg. 1234
- Under Encapsulation Method Select "MPEG TS"
- Dont click anything under Transcoding Options
- Click Ok now



After Clicking OK


Note:- The Encapsulation Method is different for different files you stream from the server side
Dat File - MPEG TS
AVI File - MPEG TS
MPG File - MPEG TS
MPEG File - MPEG TS
WMV File - ASF

5.> After Clicking OK the Server "192.168.0.1" will start streaming the select video file on Port Number 1234

It Will be displayed as follows


Now the File is Streaming from the Server.

On the Client Side
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.> Double Click on VLC.exe to Launch it.


2.> Select "Open Network Stream"


3.> After Clicking there this will be displayed


4.> Now Click on "HTTP/FTP/MMS" and enter the Server IP address with the port number as "192.168.0.1:1234"



5.> After Clicking OK , The following streaming video file from the server will be displayed on the client side



6.> You can also view the Streaming Video on the Client Side in FullScreen Mode Like this



Done
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Note:- For people those wo dont have LAN also can try out this tutorial like this
For any Computer 2 instances of VLC can be run and your same Computer as Server and Client.
Only thing you have to do is wherever i have used Server IP as 192.168.0.1 replace that with 127.0.0.1
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Hope you enjoyed my First Tutorial

Do try this and give me your feedback as it will help me improve with time.

Also Rate this Tutorial on a Scale of 5 [No Need for those Stars]
Only write it as Score:- X/5 [where X is any number from 1 to 5 and your Score]

If you have any sort of doubts related to this Tutorial feel free to ask me here

Question & Answer
Q] Some people might ask me why to stream video in ram when we can
share folders and view any video from there shared folders

Ans]
- Sharing folders is vunerable as a person whom you dont want to access
the files might also read it.
- Any person can even trace a hidden shared folder with a scanner.
- A shared folder might invite trouble to your PC security.

- The Streamed movie can be watched by many clients at a single time.
- There are also many other possiblites with streaming.
You can also stream live video from your Web cam and TV Tuner Card.
But i havent covered it in my article.
- In Video Streaming the audience is also defined whereas in a shared folder
anyone noticing of the shared folder can access its contents.

Thanks
Quad Master

[suhasingale]

Gr8 Work. Thanks, its really helpful 4 me

[quad master]

I am happy atleast someone found my guide helpful , i had lost hope
that anyone would need this.

Thanks for appreciating my efforts.

[Biplav]

thats gr8 quad master. but... can u tell me if it will work on any 2 computers? i mean i know the ip address of my friend so can i view the videos there? i got a cable connection and he too has the same cable connection.

[quad master]

@biplav - yes my friend why not
if you have the ip and you are in the same LAN its possible 100%

[ranjithbajpe]

Thank u for nice and powerfull tutorial.
Its neatly arranged , I mean u covered all issues.
Great work..!!!!

[super_i_man]

thanks boss, it is so simple, i thought there must be some big thing in it. thanks its so easy.

[SHell]

Superb article dude.
Absolutely awesome

[geekysage]

Great to see you people recognizing and using VLC Player.

Good job, quad. The tutorial could be made better by adding info to stream live video from a webcam/cacorder. I wouldn't like to take over your post so please edit the tutorial to include the info.

Peace.

[sunny0384]

THANX 4 THE HELP, BUT IF U KNOW SOMETHING MORE ABT VIDEO STREAMING PLZ KEEP REPLYIN..................................

[izzikio_rage]

Great tutorial , is there any way to make a playlist of songs to be streamed ?

[mad_psychic_bastard]

hmmmm how abt usin the shoutcast plugin 4 winamp..... tht seems more simple to me....... :d

[nphanindra]

thats was really gudone......some1 post tutorial for Windows media player which is considered best for streaming videos

[valtea]

i itried it but my streamed video is displayed fliped (upside down, left side right) i have tried many of the options, even the effects.

I can flip it back if i use VLC as the client but some of the users use windows media player. Is there anyway to fix this?