<linuxdoc><article>
<titlepag>
<title>VLC HOWTO</title>
- <author>by the Videolan Team<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:videolan-faq@videlan.org" name="videolan-faq@videlan.org"></tt></author>
- <date>v0.0.2, 21 apr 2001</date>
+ <author>Originally written by Henri Fallon, maintained by Johan Bilien<tt><htmlurl url="mailto:jobi@videolan.org" name="<jobi@videolan.org>"></tt></author>
+ <date>v0.0.9, 16 april 2002</date>
<abstract>
- This document describes how to use the vlc (VideoLAN client) to read DVDs and mpeg files and DVDs.
+ This document describes how to use the vlc (VideoLAN client) to read DVDs and mpeg files, locally or from a network.
</abstract>
</titlepag>
<sect1>
<heading>What is VideoLAN ?</heading>
<p>
- VideoLAN is a project of sudent of the École Centrale Paris which aims
- to broadcast video on the campus, and provide the students with a MPEG2
+ VideoLAN is a project of sudents of the École Centrale Paris which aims
+ at broadcasting video on the campus, and providing the students with an MPEG-2
software-only decoder. VideoLAN is an OpenSource project which will thus
- allow anyone to watch DVD movies under Linux, BeOS, MacOS and most Unix
- systems
+ allow anyone to watch DVD movies under Linux, BeOS, MacOS X, Windows
+ and most UNIX systems. Recent additions allow to read .avi files,
+ and MPEG-4/DivX-encoded movies.
</p>
<p>
You may want to look at the port section on our website :
</sect1>
<sect1>
- <heading>What is the vlc</heading>
+ <heading>What is the VideoLAN project ?</heading>
<p>
- Vlc stands for VideoLAN client. It is the name of the program which is
- capable of decoding MPEG streams, and displaying them onto your screen,
- so you can watch you favorite movies, confortably sit in your armchair
- :-).
+
+ VideoLAN is a complete software solution for video streaming, developed
+ by students at the <htmlurl url="http://www.ecp.fr" name="Ecole Centrale
+ Paris"> and contributors from all over the world, under the <htmlurl
+ url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html" name="General Public License
+ (GPL)">. It has been designed for streaming MPEG 1 and MPEG 2 videos on
+ local area networks (LAN), but it can be extended to metropolitan or
+ wide area networks (MAN, WAN), thanks to the multicast technology.
+
+ The VideoLAN solution includes a server, which can stream video from
+ various sources (file, DVD, satellite and MPEG 2 encoder), a client, which can
+ receive, decode and display MPEG 1 and MPEG 2 streams and, if necessary,
+ a channel server which tells automatically to the client the parameters
+ needed to receive the stream.
+
+ Here is an illustration of the complete VideoLAN solution :
+
+ <verb>
+
+ DVD --->- Unicast/Broadcast/Multicast
+ \ ---
+ File --->-- -------- / \ --------
+ |->-| Server |=====>====| LAN |---->-----| Client |
+ Satellite ->-- | (VLS) | \ / | (VLC) |
+ / -------- --- --------
+ MPEG2 -->- ^
+ encoder |
+ v
+ ----------------
+ | Channel Server |
+ | (VLCS) |
+ ----------------
+ </verb>
+
+ More details about the project can be found on the
+ <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org" name="VideoLAN Web site">.
+
</p>
</sect1>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>The documentation of the project</heading>
+ <p>
+ There are four main documents :
+<itemize>
+<item>the <htmlurl
+url="http://www.videolan.org/doc/videolan-quickstart/videolan-quickstart.html"
+name="VideoLAN Quickstart">,
+<item>the <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/network/doc/videolan-howto.html"
+name="VideoLAN HOWTO">,
+<item>the <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/vls/doc/vls-guide.html"
+name="VideoLAN Server user guide">,
+<item>this VideoLAN Client Howto.
+</itemize>
+
+The up-to-date version of these documents can be found on the <htmlurl
+url="http://www.videolan.org/doc" name="VideoLAN Web Site">.
<sect1>
<heading>Translated versions of this document</heading>
<p>
The English version is maintained by Henri Fallon,
- and the VideoLAN team. It can be found at:
- <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/doc.html"
- name="http://www.videolan.org/doc.html">.
+ Johan Bilien, and the VideoLAN team. It can be found at:
+ <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/doc/index.html"
+ name="http://www.videolan.org/doc/index.html">.
+ </p>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Requirements</heading>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Operating system</heading>
+ <p>
+ VLC works under the following systems :
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <itemize>
+ <item> Linux (all distributions, including iPAQ Familiar Linux)
+ <item> Windows (all 32bit versions)
+ <item> Mas OS X
+ <item> FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, BSD/OS
+ <item> BeOS
+ <item> QNX RTOS
+ <item> Solaris
+ </itemize>
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Please note that the Linux, Windows and MacOS X are generally the most
+ up-to-date versions.
</p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Software requirements</heading>
+ <p>
+ Depending on the outputs and inputs you are using, you may need
+ additional libraries. Please see <ref id="modules" name="description">.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For playing encrypted DVDs, you will need libdvdcss, which you can find
+ on this page :
+ <htmlurl name="http://www.videolan.org/libdvdcss/download.html"
+ url="http://www.videolan.org/libdvdcss/download.html">.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Hardware requirements</heading>
+ <p>
+ The hardware power needed depends a lot of the type of stream.
+ For reading a DVD, a CPU working at around 450 MHz is required.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ VLC can benefits from hardware acceleration from modern video cards
+ for YUV transformation and window rescaling. it also uses MMX, MMX EXT,
+ SSE, 3Dnow! optimizations if available.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
</sect1>
+
<sect1>
<heading>Disclaimer</heading>
</p>
<p>
- In this HOWTO, we consider you already have a little knowledge about Linux, and you
- know how to use a DVD. If not, good howtos can be found on the Linux Documentation
- Projet.
- </p>
- </sect1>
-
- <sect1>
- <heading>Legal</heading>
- <p>
- Copyright (©) 2001 by the VideoLAN project. This document may be distributed only
- subject to the terms and conditions set forth in
- <htmlurl url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/LDP-COPYRIGHT.html" name="the LDP license">.
+
+ In this HOWTO, we consider you already have a little knowledge
+ about Linux, and you know how to use a DVD. If not, good howtos
+ can be found on the <htmlurl url="http://www.tldp.org" name="Linux
+ Documentation Projet">.
+
</p>
</sect1>
+
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Legal</heading>
+ <p>
+
+ Copyright (©) 2002 by the VideoLAN project.
+
+ Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
+ under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version
+ 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation ;
+ with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
+ Back-Cover Texts. The text of the license can be found on <htmlurl
+ url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">.
+
+ </p>
+ </sect1>
</sect>
<sect>
- <heading>Installing the vlc : the packages</heading>
- <p>
- This is certainly the most simple way to intsall the vlc on your system,
- especially if you're using a packaged OS.
+ <heading>Quick start</heading>
+
+ <p> This section will help you get, install and use vlc without giving you
+ much details.
</p>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Get and install vlc from binary packages</heading>
<p>
The first thing to do is to get an archive, on our web site
<htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/download.html" name="http://www.videolan.org/download.html">
</p>
- <sect1>
- <heading>Linux/Unix users</heading>
<sect2>
- <heading>What package to chose ?</heading>
+ <heading>Which package to chose ?</heading>
<p>
- There are different packages because vlc has "plugins" which provide functionnalities
- but also enlarges the executable and requires external libs.
+ There are different packages because vlc has "plugins" which provide
+ features but also enlarge the executable and require external libraries.
</p>
<p>
SDL is a lib which allows you to have an accelerated video output.
You will need libsdl > 1.1.6
</p>
<p>
- If you're using the enlighted sound daemon, you may want to try
+ If you're using the enlightened sound daemon, you may want to try
the esd-aware vlc.
</p>
<p>
- Generally, when you don't know what a module name is, you don't need/use it :-)
+ Generally, when you don't know what a module name is, you don't
+ need/use it :-)
</p>
</sect2>
- <sect2>
- <heading>Binary archive</heading>
- <p>
- Untar it typing
- <verb>
- tar xvzf vlc-x.x.x.tar.gz
- </verb>
- Go in the vlc directory and get to the 'How to play movies' section If
- you wish not to keep vlc in this single directory but install it fully
- on your system, you may, as root, type
- <verb>
- make install
- </verb>
- </p>
- </sect2>
-
<sect2>
<heading>Debian package</heading>
<p>
</p>
<p>
Depending on the package you have downloaded, you may have dependency
- problems. You have to solve them, by installing the required libs.
+ problems. You have to solve them, by installing the required libraries.
</p>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<heading>RPM package</heading>
<p>
- Install vlc just as you would install any rpm package :
+ Install vlc just as you would install any RPM package :
<verb>
rpm -i vlc-x.x.x.rpm
</verb>
</p>
<p>
- You may have to install external libs to meet dependencies, depending on
+ You may have to install external libraries to meet dependencies, depending on
the package you downloaded (gnome, gtk, esd, ...).
</p>
</sect2>
- </sect1>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>BeOS users</heading>
+ <p>
+ Double-click on the archive. It should open your favorite archive extracter.
+ You can then execute the vlc from there, or extract the archive to a
+ directory and run it from there.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Mac OS X users</heading>
+ <p>
+ Double-click on the archive, and copy the vlc file to your Applications
+ folder.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Windows users</heading>
+ <p>
+ Launch the installer by double-clicking on it, and follow the installation
+ instructions. Please note that in most cases you will need administrator
+ rights to install it under Windows NT, 2000 and XP.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
<sect1>
- <heading>BeOS users</heading>
+ <heading>Get libdvdcss</heading>
<p>
- Double-click on the archive. It should open your favorite archive extracter.
- You can then execute the vlc from there, or extract the archive to a
- diretory and run it from there.
+ In order to read CSSsrambled DVDs, you will need libdvdcss.
+ You can find binary
+ packages for your distribution here : <htmlurl
+ name="http://www.videolan.org/libdvdcss/download.html"
+ url="http://www.videolan.org/libdvdcss/download.html">
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For Windows, BeOS and Mac OS X users, libdvdcss is statically linked in the
+ Windows binary, so you don't have to install it.
</p>
</sect1>
<sect1>
- <heading>MacOS X users</heading>
+ <heading>Use the vlc for DVD reading</heading>
<p>
- To be completed
+ Launch the application simply by typing vlc in a terminal (or by
+ double-clicking on its icon in a graphical shell). You should see
+ the graphical interface appear.
</p>
- </sect1>
+
+ <p>
+ For reading a DVD (or a VCD), click on the "Disc" button. The new window
+ you must then enter the path to your DVD or VCD drive :
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Linux users</heading>
+ <p>
+ Usually, your dvd device is /dev/hd? (if you have an ide drive).
+ For instance, if you DVD player is master on the second IDE device,
+ it will be /dev/hdc.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is very useful to create a symlink to this file, called /dev/dvd.
+ To do this, as root, type (if your dvd device is /dev/hdc for example) :
+ <verb>
+ ln -s /dev/hdc /dev/dvd
+ </verb>
+ Also make sure you have read AND write permission to the device
+ (otherwise dvd decryption won't work).
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Windows users</heading>
+ <p>
+ The path to your DVD drive usually is D:\ or E:\. You may have a look
+ in "My Computer" and look to which letter your DVD drive is assigned.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>BeOS users</heading>
+ <p>
+ Under BeOS, the dvd device looks like
+ "/dev/disk/ide/atapi/1/slave/0/raw" for example, if your dvd device is
+ slave on your first (not sure) ide device.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Other OS</heading>
+ <p>
+ To do ...
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Use the vlc for network streaming</heading>
+ <p>
+ This is the vlc original usage.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Launch the vlc as you would have for DVD reading. Then click on the
+ "Network" button.
+ </p>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>If using a VideoLAN Channel Server</heading>
+ <p>
+ The only thing you have to do is to check the "Channel server" box
+ and to enter the IP address and port
+ of this channel
+ server. Ask your administrator if you don't have it. Then click on OK.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You will see a new "Channel" field in the interface. You may now
+ enter the selected channel and click on OK. After a few seconds,
+ if a program is being sent in this channel, you should see the program
+ start.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ If nothing appears and you are sure that a program is streamed in
+ this channel, you may try once again, because a problem of communication
+ with the channel server could have occurred (if you launched vlc from
+ a terminal, you should see "Network error: no answer from vlcs").
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Without VideoLAN Channel Server</heading>
+ <p>
+ Simply clicking on the network button, then on ok should be
+ sufficient in most cases.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After clicking on OK, and if a program is being sent, you should see
+ a window open with your program.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
</sect>
<sect>
- <heading>Using the vlc</heading>
+ <heading>The graphical interface</heading>
<p>
- Good job, you have installed the vlc on your system. Now, it's time to
- use it. Don't worry, it's not that difficult.
+ Please note that the gnome, gtk and win32 interfaces are currently the most
+ advanced. The following descriptions refer to them.
</p>
<sect1>
- <heading>Lauching</heading>
- <sect2>
- <heading>The graphical interface</heading>
- <p>
- Basically, double clicking on the vlc icon, or typing 'vlc' in a
- console should launch a graphical interface On Linux/Unix, you may want
- to specify gnome or gtk interface, with the "--intf" option.
- </p>
- </sect2>
-
- <sect2>
- <heading>In case it doesn't work</heading>
- <p>
- In case this does not work, you'll have to use command line options.
- Usually, to play a file, you'll use :
- <verb>
- vlc [file name]
- </verb>
- To play a dvd, if you dvd device is "/dev/dvd", you'll type :
- <verb>
- vlc dvd:/dev/dvd
- </verb>
- On BeOS, the dvd device looks like "/dev/disk/ide/atapi/1/slave/0/raw"
- </sect2>
- </sect1>
-
+ <heading>Opening a stream</heading>
+ <p>
+ For opening streams through the graphical interface, click on either
+ "File" for opening a file stored on your hard drive, "Disc" for
+ opening a DVD or a VCD, "Network" for reading a stream from a vls
+ or through http input, or "Satellite" for reading directly
+ from a satellite card.
+ </p>
<sect1>
- <heading>Using the interface</heading>
+ <heading>Basic stream control</heading>
<p>
- By now you should see a beautiful interface, with buttons and menus.
- The text should be quite self-explaining : "Open file", "Open Disc", ...
+ You have at your disposal all the classical control of a video player.
+ For example when playing local streams, you can do pauses, speed up or
+ slow down the stream ... Just use the corresponding buttons.
</p>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>DVD and VCD navigation</heading>
<p>
- For Dvd's you can choose directly from the "open" box the title & chapter
- you want to play.
+ When reading a DVD or a VCD, you can change chapter and title either
+ by using the
+ right-click menu or by using the dedicated bar that appears when reading
+ from a disc.
</p>
</sect1>
+
<sect1>
- <heading>Fullscreen - chapters - features</heading>
+ <heading>Programs, audio and subtitles</heading>
+ <p>
+ When reading a multiprogram stream, you can change the current program
+ by selecting it in the "View/Programs" submenu, or using the "right click"
+ menu from the video output window.
+ </p>
<p>
- Some of the following features don't work yet on some platforms.
- We're doing our best to get the ports in sync.
+ In DVDs, if different angles are availables, they will be treated as
+ different programs.
</p>
<p>
At any time you can change the audio/subtitles channel using either the
"setting" menu from the interface or using the "right click" menu from
the video output window.
</p>
- <p>
- To change chapter, you can use the right-click menu or the interface.
- Please note that the gnome interface is more advanced than the gtk or
- qt ones.
- </p>
- <p>
- Using the 'f' key when using SDL or XVideo output toggles the
- fullscreen mode. Be warned that "right click" menus are a bit
- unstable.
- </p>
- </sect1>
<sect1>
- <heading>User help</heading>
- <p>
- First of all, it something seems to go wrong, read and try try to
- understand the error messages. If you are a confirmed user, you
- may try the "-vvv" option which makes the vlc very verbose.
- </p>
+ <heading>Preferences window</heading>
<p>
- There is a FAQ page on our website :
- <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/doc.html" name="http://www.videolan.org/doc.html">.
- If you think one question should be in the FAQ, please contact
- <htmlurl url="mailto:videolan-faq@videlan.org" name="videolan-faq@videlan.org">
+ By choosing "Preferences" in the "Settings" menu, you will open
+ the preferences window. This window is generated dynamically according
+ to the modules that were compiled.
</p>
<p>
- Finally, there's a users mailing list (English speaking). To subscribe, send a mail to
- <htmlurl url="mailto:listar@videlan.org" name="listar@videlan.org"> containing
- "subscribe vlc" as message body.
+ In every tab, you may click on "Save" to store your settings in your
+ ~/.videolan/vlcrc file.
</p>
-</sect>
-
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Interface tab</heading>
+ <p>
+ In that tab, you can select which interface you would like to use on next
+ start. Click on the choosen interface, click on "Select" then on "Save".
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Audio tab</heading>
+ <p>
+ In this tab, you can select the audio output you would like to use on
+ next start. You may also specify some other settings such as the output
+ level, the audio frequency, ...
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Video tab</heading>
+ <p>
+ In this tab, you can select which video output will be used on next start,
+ and add a video filter module. You may also specify some video settings,
+ such as the window size or if you would like fullscreen display.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Input tab</heading>
+ <p>
+ In this tab, you can enter the input method with options (for example
+ <tt>udp:@239.255.255.42</tt>) that will be used on next start. You can
+ also add some settings, such as the channel server address ...
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Decoders tab</heading>
+ <p>
+ In this tab, you can select which decoder you want to use for MPEG audio
+ and AC3 streams.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>CPU tab</heading>
+ <p>
+ In this tab, you may disable the use of some CPU extensions such as
+ MMX or SSE.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Playlist tab</heading>
+ <p>
+ In this tab, you can select some playlist options, such as looping the
+ playlist.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Miscellanous tab</heading>
+ <p>
+ In this tab, you can select which memcpy version you want to use. Some
+ of them uses MMX 3Dnow! extensions.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+</sect>
<sect>
- <heading>Advanced use of the vlc</heading>
+ <heading>Command line options</heading>
+ <p>
+ Many options are only available through command line. They are detailed here.
+ </p>
<sect1>
- <heading>Command line options</heading>
+ <heading>Opening streams</heading>
+ <p>
+ The following commands start vlc and add a first element to the playlist.
+ </p>
<sect2>
- <heading>Choosing the video output</heading>
+ <heading>Opening a file</heading>
<p>
- You have to use the "-V" otpion. For example :
- <verb>
- vlc -V xvideo
- </verb>
+ Simply start vlc with <tt>vlc my_file.mpg</tt>.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You may tell vlc what input to use, for example add <tt>--input ts</tt>
+ when playing a ts MPEG, although vlc should be able to recognize the type
+ of MPEG.
</p>
</sect2>
-
<sect2>
- <heading>Choosing the audio output</heading>
+ <heading>Opening a DVD or VCD</heading>
<p>
- Use the "-A" option. For example :
- <verb>
- vlc -A alsa
- </verb>
+ Simply start vlc with <tt>vlc dvd:DVDDRIVE</tt> or <tt> vlc vcd:CDROMDRIVE
+ </tt>, where DVDDRIVE/CDROMDRIVE is the complete
+ path to your dvd/cdrom drive.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You may add <tt>-t X -T Y</tt> to start directly from the Xth chapter, Yth
+ title.
</p>
</sect2>
-
<sect2>
- <heading>Specifying a file</heading>
+ <heading>Start a network stream</heading>
<p>
- Simply put the file name at the end of the command line, you won't need then
- to click "open" when the interface launches :
- <verb>
- vlc myfile.mpeg
- </verb>
+ To receive an UDP stream (being sent from a VLS), start vlc with
+ <tt> vlc udpstream:[@<bind address>[:<server port>]] </tt>.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Please note that bind address refers to the destination address, for
+ example your broadcast address. If the stream is being broadcasted,
+ <verb> vlc udpstream:</verb> should be sufficient. If the stream
+ is multicasted, you must specify the multicast address, for example
+ <verb> vlc udpstream:@239.255.255.42 </verb>
+ <p>
+ To receive a http stream, start vlc with <tt>vlc <your URL></tt>.
+
+
</p>
</sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Modules selection</heading>
+ <p>
+ The vlc tries to select the most appropriate interface, input and output
+ modules, among the ones available on the system, according to
+ the stream he is given to read. However, you may wish to force
+ the use of a specific module with the following options:
+
+ <p> <verb>--intf <interface module></verb>
+ allows you to select the interface module </p>
+
+ <p> <verb>--vout <video output module></verb>
+ allows you to select the video output.</p>
+
+ <p> <verb>--aout <audio output module></verb>
+ allows you to select the audio output.</p>
+
+ <p> <verb>--filter <video filter module></verb>
+ allows you to add a video filter module.</p>
+
+ <p> <verb>--mpeg-adec <MPEG audio decoder module></verb>
+ allows you to select the audio MPEG decoder.</p>
+
+ <p> <verb>--ac3-adec <AC3 audio decoder module></verb>
+ allows you to select the audio AC3 decoder.</p>
+
+ </sect1>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Other options</heading>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Help options:</heading>
+
+ <p> <verb>--help</verb>
+ gives you all the available options.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--longhelp</verb>
+ gives you a more detailled version of the available options.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--version</verb>
+ gives you information about the current version.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--list</verb>
+ gives you the list of all available plugins.</p>
+ <p> <verb>-vvvv (X times)</verb>
+ set the level of warning messages.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--stats</verb>
+ gives statistic outputs.</p>
+ </sect2>
<sect2>
- <heading>Specifying the title and chapter where to start</heading>
- <p>
- Use the "-t" and "-T" to specify title and chapter. For example, to go to the 12th
- chapter of the 2nd title, you'll type :
- <verb>
- vlc -t 2 -T 12
- </verb>
- </p>
+ <heading>Audio options:</heading>
+
+
+ <p> <verb>--noaudio</verb>
+ disables the audio output</p>
+ <p> <verb>--mono</verb>
+ forces the vlc to treat the stream in mono audio.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--volume <integer></verb>
+ set the level of audio output.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--rate <integer></verb>
+ set the audio output frequency (Hz)</p>
+ <p> <verb>--desync <integer></verb>
+ compensates desynchronization of audio (ms)</p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Video options:</heading>
+
+ <p> <verb>--novideo</verb>
+ disables the video output</p>
+ <p> <verb>--width <integer></verb>
+ <verb>--height <integer></verb>
+ set the video window dimensions.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--grayscale</verb>
+ turns video output into grayscale mode.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--fullscreen</verb>
+ set fullscreen video.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--nooverlay</verb>
+ disables hardware acceleration for the video output</p>
+ <p> <verb>--spumargin <integer></verb>
+ force subtitles position.</p>
+
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Input options:</heading>
+
+
+ <p> <verb>--network-channel</verb>
+ Start with channel server enabled.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--channel-server <string></verb>
+ Specify the channel server address.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--channel-port <integer></verb>
+ Specify the channel server port.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--iface <string></verb>
+ Select the network interface to use.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--input-program <integer></verb>
+ Select the program to use (for streams with
+ several programs, as those coming from satellite).</p>
+ <p> <verb>--audio-type <integer></verb>
+ Select the audio channel to use.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--subtitle-channel <integer></verb>
+ Select the subtitle.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--audio_channel <integer></verb>
+ Select the channel number.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--dvd <string></verb>
+ Specify the default dvd device.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--vcd <string></verb>
+ Specify the default vcd device.</p>
+ <p> <verb>-4, --ipv4</verb>
+ Force IPv4.</p>
+ <p> <verb>-6, --ipv6</verb>
+ Force IPv6.</p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>CPU options</heading>
+ <p> <verb>--nommx</verb>
+ disable the use of mmx CPU extensions.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--no3dn</verb>
+ disable the use of 3D Now! CPU extensions.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--nommxext</verb>
+ disable the use of mmx ext CPU extensions.</p>
+ <p> <verb>--noaltivec</verb>
+ disable the use of AltiVec CPU extensions.</p>
</sect2>
</sect1>
-</sect>
+
+
+
+
+
+
<sect>
- <heading>For real men : building your vlc :-)</heading>
+ <heading>Building the vlc from sources</heading>
<p>
You can choose either to take the latest release, or a CVS source. Note that
CVS snapshots may be broken, although we do our best to prevent this from
</sect2>
<sect2>
<heading>Directly from CVS</heading>
- <p>
- Firs log in as suer anonymous with an empty password :
+ <p> <label id="cvs">
+ First log in as user anonymous with an empty password :
<verb>
cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@anoncvs.videolan.org:/var/cvs/videolan login
</verb>
</verb>
</p>
</sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>libdvdcss</heading>
+ <p>
+ To compile vlc with dvd support, you need to get and install libdvdcss.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is available for download here :
+ <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/libdvdcss/download.html"
+ name="http://www.videolan.org/libdvdcss/download.html">
+
+ Decompress the tarball in a directory of your choice and build it :
+ <verb>
+ tar -xvzf libdvdcss-x.x.x.tar.gz
+ cd libdvdcss-x.x.x
+ ./configure
+ make
+ [as root] make install
+ </verb>
+
+ You can also find binaries packages for many distributions.
</sect1>
<sect1>
<heading>Building the program</heading>
- <p>
+ <p><label id="compile">
Go into the vlc directory and run the configure script :
<verb>
./configure
</verb>
- If you want to enable options, you may add "--enable-option" to the previous line.
- For example, to build with the xvideo extension, and alsa support, you should type :
- <verb>
+ If you want to enable options, you may add "--enable-option"
+ to the previous line.
+ For example, to build with the xvideo extension, and alsa support,
+ you should type :
+ <verb>
./configure --enable-xvideo --enable-alsa
- </verb>
- To get the list of the available options, and know if they are enabled by default,
+ </verb>
+ To get the list of the available options, and know if they are
+ enabled by default,
you can try :
<verb>
./configure --help
</verb>
- A very typical installation, on a XFree 4.1 system, recent video card, with gnome, is :
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Also have a look on the <ref id="modules" name="following modules
+ descriptions">.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A very typical installation, on a XFree 4.1 system, recent video card, with
+ gnome, is :
<verb>
- ./configure --enable-xvideo --enable-esd --enable-gnome
+ ./configure --enable-esd --enable-gnome
</verb>
<p>
</sect1>
</p>
<p>
If you build a feature as a plugin, it can lead to a little loss of performance.
- It you build it inside the code, i'll enlarge a bit the size of the executable.
+ It you build it inside the code, it'll enlarge a bit the size of the executable.
</p>
<p>
- When you're done with Makefile.opts (which also works if you leave it untouched), just
- make, typing :
+ When you're done with Makefile.opts (which also works if you leave it
+ untouched), just
+ type:
<verb>
make
</verb>
- It should compile without any error. If there are, please check you have the required libs
+ It should compile without any error. If there are, please check you
+ have the required libraries
installed on your system, as the configure script can't check them all.
</p>
<p>
<verb>
make install
</verb>
- if you wish to have vlc fully installed on your system. If you prefer to keep in in the
- current directory, you may skip the "make install". You'll then have to cd into the vlc
+ if you wish to have vlc fully installed on your system. If you prefer
+ to keep in in the
+ current directory, you may skip the "make install". You'll then have
+ to cd into the vlc
directory and type "./vlc" instead of just typing vlc.
</p>
</sect1>
</sect>
<sect>
- <heading>Really advanced use</heading>
+ <heading>Modules description</heading>
+ <p>
+ <label id="modules">
+ Here is a description of nearly all the available modules for the
+ vlc. If you wish to compile one which is stated disabled by default,
+ you have to launch the configure script with
+ <verb> ./configure --enable-module_name </verb>. See <ref
+ name="compilation instructions" id="compile">.
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Video outputs</heading>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>x11</heading>
+ <p>default :enabled </p>
+ <p>
+ This is the basic x11 video output. It only requires a
+ working X11 server. You will need xlibs headers to compile it
+ (xlibs-dev package on Debian systems).
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>xvideo</heading>
+ <p>default : enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ It requires an xvideo compliant graphic card (it is the case for
+ nearly all the modern card). It uses hardware acceleration for
+ yuv transformation and for rescaling.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>sdl</heading>
+ <p>default : enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This video output uses sdl libraries. You need at least version 1.1.6 of
+ this libraries.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You may indicate the path to the sdl-config program with the
+ <verb> --with-sdl-config-path=PATH </verb> option given to the <verb>
+ configure</verb> script.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>directx</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled on win32</p>
+ <p>
+ This video output uses Microsoft Direct X libraries. It is recommended
+ for the win32 port.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You may indicate the path to directx libraries and headers with
+ the <verb>--with-directx=PATH</verb> option.
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>fb</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled on Linux</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the frame buffer video output. It requires that your kernel
+ was compiled with frame buffer support.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>glide</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This video output uses Glide libraries (hardware acceleration for
+ 3Dfx cards).
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You may indicate the path to the library with the
+ <verb>--with-glide=PATH</verb> compilation option.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>mga</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ It provides hardware acceleration for Matrox cards on Linux.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>ggi</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>aa</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This video output uses the aalib library to display video
+ through ASCII art. It requires aalib headers (aalib1-dev under Debian)
+ to compile.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Video filters modules</heading>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>deinterlace</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This filter deinterlaces video. It is useful with streams coming
+ from a satellite broadcast.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>wall</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This filter allows you to have the video cut in pieces in several
+ windows, which you can order as you wish. It can be used to generate
+ image walls with several sources. Start it with
+ <verb> --filter wall:XxY</verb> in order to have the video cut in X rows
+ and Y columns
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>distort</heading>
+ <p>default: enable</p>
+ <p>
+ This filter adds a distortion effect to the video. Who said it
+ was useless ;-) ?
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>transform</heading>
+ <p>default: enable</p>
+ <p>
+ This filter rotates the video window of 90 degrees.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>invert</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This filter inverses colors.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Sound outputs</heading>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>dsp</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled on Linux</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the Linux /dev/dsp output. It requires that your kernel
+ was compiled with support for your sound card.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>alsa</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the sound output for Advanced Linux Sound Architecture.
+ It requires that you installed the alsa drivers and libraries.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>esd</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This sound output has Enlightened Sound Daemon support
+ (usually used with Gnome).
+ You must have the daemon and its libraries installed.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>arts</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This sound output has aRts (KDE's sound server) support.
+ You must have the daemon and its libraries installed.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>waveout</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled on win32</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the Wave output, which is used by the win32 port.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
<sect1>
- <heading>Using the videolan network solution</heading>
+ <heading>Input modules</heading>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>dvd</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the DVD input module. It will need libdvdcss, which can
+ be found <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/libdvdcss/"
+ name="http://www.videolan.org/libdvdcss/">.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>dvdread</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is an alternative to the previous one, it uses libdvdread
+ (which also needs libdvdcss).
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>vcd</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the VideoCD input.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>http</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the http input. You can use it for Video On Demand.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>satellite</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is an input module that allows to read directly from a
+ Hauppauge WinTV Nova card under Linux. It requires drivers 0.9.4
+ available from
+ <htmlurl url="http://www.linuxtv.org/" name="linuxtv.org">.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>avi</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This input module allows to read .avi files.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Interface modules</heading>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>gtk</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the GTK+ interface. It needs gtk libraries (libgtk1.2 package
+ on Debian) and headers files if you are compiling it (libgtk1.2-dev
+ package on Debian). Note that it can be used under Windows.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>gnome</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the Gnome interface. It needs gnome libraries (libgnome32 under
+ Debian) and headers (libgnome-dev) if you wish to compile it.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>intfwin</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled on win32</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the Windows native interface. It requires Borland C++ builder
+ to compile. You may use <verb>--with-bc-builder=PATH</verb> option
+ to specify the path to this application.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>qt</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the QT libraries interface module. You will need the libraries
+ (libqt2 package on Debian) and headers (libqt-dev) if you wish to
+ compile it.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>kde</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the KDE interface module. You will need the libraries
+ (kdelib package on Debian) and headers (kde-devel) if you wish to
+ compile it.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>rc</heading>
+ <p>default: enable</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the Remote Control interface module. With this one, vlc
+ is controled by sending him commands, such as play, stop, ... so
+ that you may control vlc through a script.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>ncurses</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is a text interface, using ncurses library. You will need
+ ncurses headers if you want to compile it (libncurses5-dev on Debian).
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>lirc</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This interface module allows you to control vlc through a remote.
+ A lircrc example is provided to help you configure it to your remote
+ (see doc/lirc/example.lircrc).
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Codec modules</heading>
+ <p> The following modules add codec support. </p>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>a52</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is a better AC3/A52 decoder than the built-in one, based on
+ liba52 :
+ <htmlurl url="http://liba52.sf.net/" name="liba52">.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>ffmpeg</heading>
+ <p>default: disabled</p>
+ <p>
+ This is a free MPEG-4/DivX/OpenDivX codec :
+ <htmlurl url="http://ffmpeg.sf.net/" name="ffmpeg">.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>OS support modules</heading>
+ <p> The following modules add support or different OSs. </p>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>macosx</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled on MacOS X</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the MacOS X support module, including a native interface.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>qnx</heading>
+ <p>default: enabled on qnx</p>
+ <p>
+ This is the QNX RTOS support module.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+
+<sect>
+ <heading>Specific use of the vlc</heading>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Use the vlc as a viever and decoder for the Hauppauge WinTV
+ Nova card</heading>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>What is required ?</heading>
+ <p>
+ At the present time, the satellite input only works under Linux.
+ It requires that drivers version 0.9.4 of the card, drivers
+ that are being developped by the <htmlurl name="linuxtv.org"
+ url="http://www.linuxtv.org/">.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Building the vlc with satellite support</heading>
+ <p>
+ Get the sources, either from our last .tar.gz release,
+ or best from the cvs (see <ref name="cvs instructions"
+ id="cvs">).
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Move to the vlc directory, then launch
+ <verb>
+ ./configure --enable-satellite
+ </verb>
+ You may add other compilation options, see <ref
+ name="compilation instructions" id="compile">.
+ Then launch the compilation with
+ <verb>
+ make
+ </verb>
+ You may install it with (as root)
+ <verb>
+ make install
+ </verb>
+ or run it from the current directory.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Running it from the command line</heading>
+ <p>
+ Run the vlc with
+ <verb>
+ vlc satellite:<frequency(Hz)>,<polarization(0 for V,
+ 1 for H)<,
+ >FEC (1 for 1/2, 2 for 2/3 ...)>,<symbol rate (kbytes/sec)>
+ </verb>
+ You then have to select your program, either with the command line option
+ <verb>
+ --input_program <program_number (also called service ID)>
+ </verb>
+ or by choosing it in the view/programs menu.
+ </sect2>
+ <sect2>
+ <heading>Running it from the GTK/Gnome interface</heading>
+ <p>
+ Click on the "Sat" icon. In the opening box, you may enter
+ your transponder settings, then click on "Ok".
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After a few seconds, the word satellite should appear under the command
+ buttons. You may now choose your program from the View/Programs menu.
+ </p>
+ </sect2>
+ </sect1>
+ <sect1>
+ <heading>Use the vlc to create image walls.</heading>
+ <p>
+ The idea is to use several video sources, each one displaying a part
+ of the whole image, to get a bigger result.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Vlc and the VideoLAN solution can provide a good way to create
+ such displays : a vls broadcasts a stream in several vlc each
+ display a part of image.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For this, you should use the wall filter : start vlc with
+ <verb>
+ vlc udp: --filter wall:<number of rows>x<number of columns>
+ :<number of the part to diplay>
+ </verb>
+ </p>
+ </sect1>
+
+</sect>
+<sect>
+ <heading>Get more help</heading>
<p>
- I'll only speak about the vlc here. There will be a howto on the whole network solution.
- You have to say to the vlc that it'll receive network streams. This can be done either by *
- using the "network" button of the interface, or in the command line :
- <verb>
- vlc ts://server[:port]
- </verb>
+ First of all, it something seems to go wrong, read and try to
+ understand the error messages. You can have detailed messages by
+ choosing messages in the view menu, in GTK, Gnome and Win32 interfaces.
</p>
<p>
- This works for unicast. If you are receiving a broadcasted stream, you have to specify the
- broadcast address :
- <verb>
- vlc --broadcast broadcast_addr ts://server[:port]
- </verb>
+ There is a FAQ page on our website :
+ <htmlurl url="http://www.videolan.org/doc/index.html" name="http://www.videolan.org/doc/index.html">.
+ If you think one question should be in the FAQ, please contact
+ <htmlurl url="mailto:videolan@videolan.org" name="videolan@videolan.org">
</p>
- </sect1>
-
- <sect1>
- <heading>Developping the vlc</heading>
<p>
- Christophe Massiot has written a documentation for developpers.
+ Finally, there's a users mailing list (English-speaking). To subscribe, send a mail to
+ <htmlurl url="mailto:listar@videlan.org" name="listar@videlan.org"> containing
+ "subscribe vlc" as message body.
</p>
- </sect1>
-
</sect>
-
</article></linuxdoc>
projects / vlc / blobdiff