Guide to Streaming Video in LAN

Q

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:- *www.videolan.org/vlc/
Features:- *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.
*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/S1.jpg

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

*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/S2.jpg
*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/S3.jpg

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

*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/S4.jpg

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

*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/S5.jpg

After Clicking OK
*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/S6.jpg

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
*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/S7.jpg

Now the File is Streaming from the Server.

On the Client Side
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.> Double Click on VLC.exe to Launch it.
*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/S1.jpg

2.> Select "Open Network Stream"
*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/C2.jpg

3.> After Clicking there this will be displayed
*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/C3.jpg

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

*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/C4.jpg

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

*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/C5.jpg

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

*img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/sanketss84/TE/C6.jpg

Done
----------------------------------------------------------------

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
----------------------------------------------------------------

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

S

Gr8 Work. Thanks, its really helpful 4 me

Q

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

Thanks for appreciating my efforts.

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.

Q

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

R

great work

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

S

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

S

Superb article dude.
Absolutely awesome :lol:

G

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.

S

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

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

M

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

N

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

V

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?