1.1. What is the VideoLAN project ?1.1.1. OverviewVideoLAN is a complete software solution for video streaming, developed
by students of the Ecole Centrale
Paris and developers from all over the world, under the
GNU General Public
License (GPL). VideoLAN is designed to stream MPEG videos on high
bandwidth networks. The VideoLAN solution includes : VLS (VideoLAN Server), which can stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2
and MPEG-4 files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial
television channels and live videos on the network in unicast or
multicast, VLC (initially VideoLAN Client), which can be used as
a server to stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files, DVDs and live
videos on the network in unicast or multicast ; or used as a client
to receive, decode and display MPEG streams under multiple operating
systems.
Here is an illustration of the complete VideoLAN solution : More details about the project can be found on the VideoLAN Web site. 1.1.2. VideoLAN software1.1.2.1. VLCVLC works on many platforms : Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS,
*BSD, Solaris, Familiar Linux, Yopy/Linupy and QNX. It can read : MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files from a hard disk,
a CD-ROM drive, ... DVDs and VCDs, from a satellite card (DVB-S), MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams from the
network sent by VLS or VLC's stream output.
VLC can also be used as a server to stream :
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files, DVDs, from an MPEG encoding card,
to :
one machine (i.e. to one IP address) : this is called
unicast, a dynamic group of machines that the clients can
join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address) : this is called
multicast,
in IPv4 or IPv6
. To get the complete list of VLC's possibilities
on each plateform supported, see the VLC features
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VLC doesn't work on Mac OS 9, and will
probably never do.
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1.1.2.2. VLS
VLS can stream :
an MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 files stored on a hard drive
or on a CD,
a DVD located in a local DVD drive or copied on a hard
disk,
a satellite card (DVB-S) or a digital terrestial
television card (DVB-T)
,
an MPEG encoding card
;
to: one machine (i.e. to one IP address) : this is called
unicast, a dynamic group of machines that the clients can
join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address) : this is called
multicast,
in IPv4 or IPv6
. A Pentium 100 MHz with 32 MB of memory should be enough to send one
stream on the network. When streaming a lot of videos stored on a
hard drive, the actual limitation is not the processor but the hard
drive and the network connection. VLS works under Linux and Windows. To get the complete
list of VLS's possibilities on each plateform supported, see the streaming features
page. 1.1.2.3. Mini-SAP-server
You can add a channel information service based on the SAP/SDP
standard to the VideoLAN solution. The mini-SAP-server sends announces
about the multicast programs on the network in IPv4 or IPv6, and VLCs
receive these annouces and automatically add the programs announced to
their playlist.
The mini-SAP-server works under Linux and Mac OS X.
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