Streaming networks with VLC

Streaming networks with VLC

ByJeanPaulSaman,<jeanpaul.saman@m2x.nl>

Introduction
TheVideoLANprojectstartedatLEcoleCentraldesParisin1996.Itsgoalwasto
develophighqualitystreamingfortheCampusnetwork.In2001theprojectwentOpen
SourceprovidingacompleteHighQualityStreamingsolutionavailableundertheGPL.
TodaytheVideoLANprojectisknowforitsadherencetointernationalstreaming
standards.ThemultimediaclientandserverknownasVLCisusedastesttool,by
Universities,R&Ddepartments,Mobile,Cablemodem,SettopboxandStreaming
Servermanufacturers.VLCisalsousedincommercialproducts(Freebox,Di.com).
AcommonmisconceptionisthatVLCmediaplayerisonlyaclient,butitisalsoa
multimediastreamer.Originallyitwasonlyaclient,butsinceitgainedmultimedia
streamingcapabilitiesthedifferencebetweenclientandserverfunctionalityhasvanished
andthenamewaschangedfromVideoLANClienttoVLCmediaplayer.Thenaming
contributestotheconfusionthatsomenewusersexperience.
TheVideoLANprojectprovidesacompletestreamingsolutionthatisreadytobe
deployedinanenterpriseorhomestreamingsystem.Itincludesastreamingserver,client
andminiSAPserverformultipleplatforms.

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Figure1:VideoLANnetworkarchitecture

Figure1showsthatVLCcanusedifferenttypesofhardwareasinput.Tonameafew:
DVD,VCD,SVCDdrives,Acquisition,Encodingcards(PVR250/350),Satellitedish
(DVBS/C)andTerrestrialTV(DVBT).Thefigureisnotcompleteitomits:Webcams,
DVcamcorders,networkcameras(AXIS),DirectShow/DirectXdevicesandmore.
Allthosedevicesandinputsrequireabroadsupportofcodecs:QuickTime,WMV1/2,
MPEG1/2/3/4,Ogg,Vorbis,Theoraand3GPP.VLCmediaplayercanplayalmostall
multimediaformatsavailabletoday(aslongasanOpenSourcecodecimplementationis
available).Afulllistoffeaturescanbefoundonlineat
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html.
VLCsstreamingcapabilitieshavesurpassedthatoftheVideoLANserver(whichwas
thefirstapproachtoastreamingserver).TheVideoLANserverisnolongerdeveloped
andconsidereddeprecated,butthesourcecodeisstillavailableonline.
TheVideoLANsolutionhasbeenportedtomanyoperatingsystems,amongstwhichyou
willfind:MacOSX,Win32/95/98/XP/2000/2003,Linux(RH,SuSE,Mandrake,Gentoo,
Debian,Familiar)BeOS,QNX,PocketPC,*BSD(Free,Net,OpenBSD).Italsorunson
awiderangeofdevices:PCs,MacOSX,laptops,settopboxes,PDAandmobilephones.
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ThechallengeoftheVideoLANteamistosupportallthoseenvironmentsandoperating
systemsasgoodaspossible.Itisdifficulttofindenoughpackagemaintainersand
developersthatassistinbugfixing,inimplementingnewfeaturesandinportingVLCto
otherplatformsordevices.

Streaming networks
Astreamingnetworkcanbeorganizedindifferentways.Allhavedifferentproperties,
advantagesanddisadvantages.Inthischapter4differentformswillbediscussed:
broadcast,unicast,multicastandvideoondemand(VOD).

Broadcast
Inabroadcaststreamingnetworkthestreamingserversendsthemultimediastreamtothenetworks
broadcastaddress.Clientslikevideoplayersorsettopboxeslistentothebroadcastaddressortoaspecific
port.Eachmultimediastreamissentonadifferentportnumber.

Definition:
Continuousstreamingofmultimediacontenttoacompletenetworksegment(subnet,netmaskeg:
172.16.10.255).

Figure2:Broadcastnetwork

Disadvantage:

Allstreamsaresenttoacompletesubnetcontinuously.

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Bandwidthofnetworkisinefficientlyused.

Allclientssharethesamestream.

Aclientcannotcontrolthestreamwithpause,play,stop,fastforwardorrewindcommands..

Advantage:

Allstreamsareavailableeverywhereonthenetwork.

HereisacommandlineexamplewithVLCasbroadcaststreamingserverandasclient.
VLCasstreamingserver:
$>vlcterminator_240x192\@750.mpgsout'#std{access=udp,mux=ts,dst=192.168.0.255}'
VLCasclient:
$>vlcudp://
Theserverintheaboveexamplestreamsthemultimediacontenttoport1234.ThisisVLCdefaultport.Ifa
settopboxisusedasclientthenconfigureittolistenonport1234.

Unicast
Inaunicaststreamingnetworkthestreamingserversendsthemultimediastreamtoadefinedsetofip
addresses.Clientslikevideoplayersorsettopboxeslisteneachtotheirownaddressortoaspecificport.
Eachmultimediastreamissentonadifferentportnumberandipaddress.
Definition:
Continuousstreamingofmultimediacontenttoanumberofknownipaddresses.Everyviewerhas
itsownprivatestream.

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Streaming networks with VLC

Figure3:Unicastnetwork

Disadvantage:

Streamsaresenttoonlyanumberofknownclients(ipaddresses).

Inflexiblesetup;addingnewclientsmeansstartinganewstream.

Streamissentevenwhentheclientisnotlistening.

Aclientcannotcontrolthestreambyusingpause,play,stop,fastforwardorrewindcommands.

Advantage:

Betterusageofnetworkbandwidth.

Eachclienthasaprivatestream.

HereisacommandlineexamplewithVLCasunicaststreamingserverandasclient.
VLCasstreamingserverstreamingusingthedefaultport1234:
$>vlcterminator_240x192\@750.mpgsout'#std{access=udp,mux=ts,dst=192.168.0.184}'
$>vlcdvdsimple:///dev/dvdsout'#std{access=udp,mux=ts,dst=192.168.0.20}'
VLCasclientlisteningonthedefaultport1234:
$>vlcudp://

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Multicast
Inamulticaststreamingnetworkthestreamingserversendsthemultimediastreamtoamulticastgroup(in
the224.0.0.0to239.255.255.255range).ClientslikevideoplayersorsettopboxessendamulticastJOIN
messagetothenearestrouter/switch.Therouter/switchthenforwardstherequestedmulticastchannel
towardsthelisteningmultimediaclient.Eachmultimediastreamsissentonadifferentmulticastip
address.

Definition:
Continuousstreamingofmultimediacontenttomultipleviewerswithoutunnecessaryduplication
ofthesourcestream.Everyviewersharesthesamemultimediacontentstream.

Figure4:Multicastnetwork

Disadvantage:

Multipleclientssharethesamestreamandcannotcontrolitwithpause,play,stop,fastforwardor
rewindcommands.

Serverstreamsallstreamstoitsnearestrouter/switchevenwhennoclientiswatching.

Advantage:

Bestuseofnetwork,streamsareduplicatedatthenetworklevelclosesttotheclient.Allclients,
servers,switchesandroutersmustsupportmulticast.

Amulticastnetworkishardertosetupthanabroadcastorunicastnetwork.Allclients,servers,routers
andswitchesmustsupportit.Makesureyouroperatingsystem(ofclientandserver)hasmulticastenabled
andamulticastrouteexistinitsroutingtable.Thefollowingexampleaddsamulticastrouteonaunix
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basedsystem:
$>/sbin/routeaddnet224.0.0.0netmask240.0.0.0deveth0
$>/sbin/route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination

Gateway

Genmask

Flags Metric Ref

Use Iface

192.168.0.0

255.255.255.0

0 eth0

169.254.0.0

255.255.0.0

0 eth0

224.0.0.0

240.0.0.0

0 eth0

default

192.168.0.250

0.0.0.0

UG

0 eth0

Deployingmulticaststreamingforalocalareanetworkrequiresmappingofmultimediastreamstoip
addresses.Whichaddressofthemulticastgroup,definedfrom224.0.0.0uptill239.255.255.255,canbe
used?Onlyasmallportionoftheentirerangeisavailableforusebymulticastapplications.TheInternet
EngineeringTaskForce(IETF)hasanRFC,number3171,thatdefinestheaddressrangesthatare
availableformulticasttraffic(http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3171.txt?number=3171).Inthefollowingtablean
overviewofthatdefinitionisgiven:

Addressrange

Netmask

Description

224.0.0.0224.0.0.255

224.0.0/24 LANprotocoltrafficbetweenrouters/switches.

224.0.1.0224.0.1.255

224.0.1/24 Internetprotocoltrafficbetweenrouters/switches.

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Addressrange

Netmask

224.0.2.0224.0.255.0

Description
ADHOCBlock(globallyroutedaddresses).

224.1.0.0224.1.255.255

224.1/16

STMulticastGroups

224.2.0.0224.2.255.255

224.2/16

SDP/SAPBlockisforapplicationsthatreciveaddresses
throughtheSDP(RFC2974)protocol.

224.252.0.0224.255.255.255

DISTransientBlock

225.0.0.0231.255.255.255

RESERVED

232.0.0.0232.255.255.255.255 232/8

SourceSpecificMulticastBlock(localtothehost)

233.0.0.0233.255.255.255

GLOPBlock(globallyscopedstaticallyassignedgroup).

233/8

234.0.0.0238.255.255.255
239.0.0.0239.255.255.255

RESERVED
239/8

AdministrativelyScopedBlock.Addressesforlocal
withinadomain.

Addressesintherange239.0.0.0239.255.255.255canbesafelyusedwithinadomainformulticast
applicationtraffic.Routersandswitchesuseaddressfrom224.0.0.0to224.0.0.255andfrom224.0.1.0to
224.0.1.255forcommunication.Usingaroutefromtheserangesisilladvised.
HereisacommandlineexamplewithVLCasmulticaststreamingserverandasclient.
VLCasstreamingserver:
$>vlcterminator_240x192\@750.mpgsout'#std{access=udp,mux=ts,dst=239.255.255.184}'
ttl=3
$>vlcdvdsimple:///dev/dvdsout'#std{access=udp,mux=ts,dst=239.255.255.22}'ttl=3
VLCasclient:
$>vlcudp://@239.255.255.184
Intheaboveexamplettl=3isaddedtotheservercommandline.ATTListhetimetolivevaluethatis
ineveryIPpacket.Ittellshowmanyrouters/switchesaIPpacketmaycrossbeforeitistobediscarded.
VLChasasdefaultattlof0,soalltrafficstayslocalanddoesnttraveloutofthelocalnetwork.Ifthere
aremultipleswitches/routersinyournetwork,thenyoumustenlargethenumber.Itshouldbeatleastset
tothenumberofswitches/routersbetweenserverandclientplusone.

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Video On Demand
InaVideoOnDemand(VOD)streamingnetworkthestreamingserverdoesntsendmultimediacontentby
default.Insteaditwaitsforarequest.

Definition:
Multimediacontentisonlystreamedtoviewersthatrequestitexplicitly(ondemand).Each
viewerhasitsownprivatestream.

Figure5:VideoOnDemand(VOD)network

Disadvantage:

Eachclientstartsanewstreamattheserver.

Advantage:

Eachclienthasaprivatestreamandcontrolsitbyusingpause,play,stop,fastforwardorrewind
commands.

Onlystreamsthatareviewedarestreamedoverthenetwork.

Betteruseofavailablebandwidth.

VLChasamodethatallowsittoworkasaVODserver.ThismodeiscalledVLM(VideoLANMedia)
andiscontrolledthroughthetelnetinterface.AVODserverusestheRTSPprotocol(RFC2326)tocontrol
theclientsrequest.ThedefaultRTSPserverportis554,butonlyarootusermayopenanyportbelow
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1024.RunningVLCasrootisilladvised,itisbettertouseahigherportnumber(>=1024).Inthe
examplebelow5554isusedasRTSPportnumber.
VLCasVODstreamingserver:
$>vlcItelnetrtsphost0.0.0.0:5554

UsetelnettoconnecttotheVLCtelnetinterfaceonport4212:
$>telnetlocalhost4212
Trying127.0.0.1...
Connectedtolocalhost.localdomain(127.0.0.1).
Escapecharacteris'^]'.
Password:admin
Welcome,Master
>newterminatorvodmuxmp2tenabled
>setupterminatorinput/home/media/video/terminator/terminator_240x192\@750.mpg
>newdvdvodmuxmp2t
>setupdvdinputdvdsimple:///dev/dvd
>setupdvdenabled

VLCasclient:
$>vlcrtsp://192.168.0.5:5554/terminator
or
$>vlcrtsp://192.168.0.5:5554/dvd

Firewalls
Intheaboveparagraphsseveralsetupsforastreamingserverhavebeendiscussed.Normallyyouwould
testtheserversetupfirstontheserversystembyrunningtheclientlocally.Thenextstepisthentorunthe
clientonanothermachinethathasaccesstotheserver.Atthispointyoullfindoutthatitworkslocally,
butnotonanothermachine.Whatistheproblem,youwonder?
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Figure6:Firewallonserverblockingtraffic

Firewallsprotectyourmachinefromunauthorizedaccess,butcanalsohinderyouwithallowedaccess.In
theabovescenariothefirewallismostlikelytoblockthetrafficfromthestreamingserver.Aquickwayof
checkingthisistodisablethefirewallonserverandclientsystem,temporarily.OnLinuxsystemsyoucan
doasrootonbothclientandserver:
$>/etc/init.d/iptablesstop
Thefirewallisnowdisabledandtestingthestreamingsetupwiththeclientonanothercomputercanbe
done.Ifthisworks,thenenablethefirewallonthestreamingserverandtestagain.
Checkwithanetworksnifferliketcpdumporetherealifmultimedianetworktrafficisleavingtheserver.
VLCusesport1234bydefaultforunicast.Seebelowtheoutputforatcpdumpsessioninwhichnotraffic
isleavingtheserveronport1234.

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$>/usr/sbin/tcpdumpieth0port1234
tcpdump:verboseoutputsuppressed,usevorvvforfullprotocoldecode
listeningoneth0,linktypeEN10MB(Ethernet),capturesize96bytes

0packetscaptured
0packetsreceivedbyfilter
0packetsdroppedbykernel
Thefollowingtcpdumpoutputshowstrafficthatisleavingthestreamingserveronport1234.
$>/usr/sbin/tcpdumpieth0port1234
tcpdump:verboseoutputsuppressed,usevorvvforfullprotocoldecode
listeningoneth0,linktypeEN10MB(Ethernet),capturesize96bytes
10:53:55.205169IPserver.m2x.nl.32789>192.168.0.200.1234:UDP,length1500
10:54:19.418686IPserver.m2x.nl.32789>192.168.0.200.1234:UDP,length1316
10:54:19.454679IPserver.m2x.nl.32789>192.168.0.200.1234:UDP,length1316
10:54:19.490681IPserver.m2x.nl.32789>192.168.0.200.1234:UDP,length1316
Ifthereisstillnotrafficleavingtheserver,thenaportontheserversfirewallneedstobeopen.Inour
unicastexampleport1234needstobeallowedtoleavetheserver.
$>iptablesARHFirewall1INPUTpudpmudps192.168.0.0/24sport1234jACCEPT
Ifnetworktrafficisleavingtheserver,thenenablethefirewallontheclientside.Startupthevideoplayer
(orusetcpdump,ethereal)ontheclientandseeifvideostartsplaying.Ifitdoesnt,thenthefirewallonthe
clientsideneedstoopenaport.Forinstance(vlcsdefaultport1234):
$>iptablesARHFirewall1INPUTpudpmudps192.168.0.0/24dport1234jACCEPT
Note:thedifferencebetweentheabovetwofirewallrules.Ontheclientsideyouopenthedestinationport
(dport1234)ontheserversideyouopenthesourceport(sport1234).

IncaseofVideoOnDemand(RTSP)theclientneedstosendanSETUPrequesttotheRTSPserver.The
firewallshouldaccepttraffictotheRTSPport(defaultportis554).IntheChapteraboutVideoOn
Demandthecommandlineexampleusedport5554forRTSPtraffic,becausethenVLCcanrununder
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normaluseraccount.ToopenuptheRTSPportontheserversideforincomingrequeststhefollowing
rulesshouldbeputinthefirewall(exampleforaLinuxdistribution):
$>iptablesARHFirewall1INPUTpudpmudps192.168.0.0/24dport5554jACCEPT

Bandwidth
Initiallytheserversystemssendsonlyafewstreamsatthesametime.Afterawhilethereisaneedtoadd
morestreams.Thequestionhoweverishowmanycanbeadded?Itturnsoutthisquestionisnotthateasy
toanswer.Thenetworkinfrastructuredefinesthemaximumavailablebandwidth,whileamultimedia
streamconsumespartofthatbandwidth.Illdividetheseintwoparagraphdiscussingwhatnetwork
bandwidthisavailableandhowmuchbandwidthamultimediastreamconsumes.

Network bandwidth
Todaymostsystemshavea100/1000MbpsNICandareconnectedtoa100MbpsLocalAreaNetwork
(LAN).Howeverthisdoesntmeanthatyournetworkorconnectionisconfiguredtousethefull100Mbps.
Itdependsonthetypeofhubs,switchesorroutersthatareusedinthenetworkinfrastructure.Inour
examplethe100/1000MbpsNICcouldbeconnectedtoa10Mbpshub.Ifthisisthecasethenyour
streamingservercanstreamatheoreticalmaximumof10Mbpsevenwhenitcapableofusingthefull100
Mbps.
Thetooldmesg(underLinux)showsthebootlogfromtheLinuxkernel.Itcantellyouwhatnetwork
settingsareusedbythesystem.Isitona100Mbpsora10Mbpsnetworkconnection?

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$>dmesg|less
ip_tables:(C)20002006NetfilterCoreTeam
NetfiltermessagesviaNETLINKv0.30.
ip_conntrackversion2.4(8189buckets,65512max)232bytesperconntrack
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP):eth0:linkisnotready
eth0:networkconnectionupusingportA
speed:100
autonegotiation:yes
duplexmode:full
flowctrl:none
irqmoderation:disabled
scattergather:disabled
txchecksum:disabled
rxchecksum:disabled
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE):eth0:linkbecomesready

In
theaboveoutputtherearethreesettingsthatareimportanttocontrol:speed,autonegoriationandduplex
mode.Fixthesethreesettingstothemaximumthatyournetworkequipmentiscapableoff.Togeta
reliable100Mbpsnetworkdisabletheautonegotiation,becauseitdoesntalwaysusethebestsettingthat
isavailable.
Inourexampleabovefullduplexmodeisused,whichmeansthe100Mbpsisinbothdirectionsatthe
sametime.Ifitsayshalfduplex,thenthenetworkconnectionwillhavetotaketurnsinusingthecable.
Thiswillresultinextradelaysforthenetworkconnections.
Allnetworkequipment:hubs,routersandswitchesbetweenstreamingserverandclientmustsupportthe
samesettings.Inourexampletheyallneedtosupport100Mbps,noautonegotiationandfullduplexin
theirnetworkconnections.Onceallsystems(serverandclient)NICs,hubs,routersandswitchesare
configuredcorrectly,then7080%oftheircapacitycanbeusedformultimediastreaming.

Multimedia Stream bandwidth

Thebandwidthofthemultimediastreamdependsonthesourceofthestream.Isitreadfromsatellite
(DVBC/S/T),DVD,Acquisitioncard,Webcamorafile.Sometypicalnumbersare:
Source

Bandwidth

DVBC/S/T

Average:3.5MbpsMaximum:5Mbps

DVD

Average:5MbpsMaximum:10Mbps

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Source

Bandwidth

AcquisitionCard

Variesbutmostare1Mbps

WebCam

Variesbutmostare<1Mbps

Files

Variesbutmostare<1Mbps

Thetablealreadyindicatesthereisnosuchthingasthebandwidthforamultimediastream.When
usingfilesasinputitisevenmoredifficulttopredictwhatthebandwidthwillbe,becauseofthemany
differentwaysitcanbeencoded(MPEG2,MPEG4.DivX,H264,Theora,etc.).
Thebandwidthofamultimediastreamisnotconstant.Itvariesovertime,thisiscalledVariablebitrate
(VBR).Inthefollowingfigurethisisillustratedwithafictiveexample.Forclaritytheaverage,realand
maximumbandwidthhavebeenplotted.

Multimedia stream bandwidth

5

bandwidth (Mbps)

4.5
4
3.5
3
Average
Real
Maximum

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
60

120 180 240 300 360

420 480

540 600

660 720 780

840 900

960

time (ms)

Figure7:Multimediastreambandwidthexample
ThebitrateisvariablebecauseAudio/Videoencoderspartitionthevideoindifferenttypeofframes.These
frameshavedifferentsizes.TheyarecalledIntracoded(Iframe),Predictivecoded(Pframe)and
Bidirectionallypredictivecoded(Bframes).TheIframeisthelargestframe,followedbythePandB
frame.
IPBBPBBBPBBP
AvideostreamisconstructedofacombinationofI,PandBframes.Thehighestpeakinthebandwidth
iscausedbyanIframe.PandBframescausesmallerpeaks,sincetheycarrylessinformationthananI
frame.APframeneedsinformationfromanIframe,andaBframeneedsbothPandotherBframes.
ConstantBitrate(CBR)streamsareactuallyvariablebitratestreamspaddedwithzeros.
Figure7showsthattheaveragebandwidthandrealbandwidthneverexceedthemaximummultimedia
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bandwidth.Themaximumbandwidthisdeterminedfromthehighestpeakofthereal(observed)
multimediabandwidth.
Avg(bandwidth)<Max(bandwidth)andReal(bandwidth)<=Max(bandwidth)

Network planning
Whenplanningamultimedianetworkthemaximumbandwidthofthestreamistakenintoaccount.Notthe
averagebandwidth,becausethatwillresultinnetworkpacketlossifseveralofthepeaksoccuratthesame
time.Thenthereissimplynotenoughbandwidthavailable.Droppedpacketsmanifestitselfinlossof
pictureandlossofaudioquality.
InaboveexampleUDPnetworktransportisassumed.UDPisaunreliablenetworkprotocolsinceit
doesntcorrectlostpackets.WhenanUDPpacketisdroppedinthenetworkthenitislostforever.You
mightbetemptedtouseTCPbasedprotocolsinsteadtocountertheproblem.Thinkagain.UDPtrafficis
onlydroppedatthenetworklevelwhenthereisnotenoughbandwidth,butaTCPpacketisretransmitted
whendropped.Theretransmissionhappensonanalreadyloadednetwork!
WhenaTCPpacketisdroppedonthenetwork,theserverwillnoticethisandretransmitsthelostpacket.If
thenetworkisloadedthenthiswillresultinevenmorepacketloss.Theretransmissionmakestheload
evenhigher.ThisiswhatIcalltheTCPcascadeeffect.InastreamingnetworkaTCPbasednetworkwill
failsoonerthenanUDPnetwork.Withmultimediastreamingthereisonlyasmallwindowintime(40ms
200ms)thatalostpacketisstilluseful.Ifitarriveslater,thenitwillbetoolatetodecodeanddisplayand
isthusdroppedbythemultimediaplayer.
Thefollowingtableshowthenumberofmultimediastreamsanetworkcanhandleusingasatellite(DVB
S)assource.Remembertoloadyournetworkonlyfor80%.

Network

Maxload

#Streams

10Mbps

8Mbps

100Mbps

80Mbps

16

Streamingmultimediainthesamequalityasthesource(thinkofDVDsorDVBsstreams)consumesmost
ofthebandwidthavailable.IntheabovetableonlyoneDVBstreamcanbesentona10Mbpsnetwork,
while16streamscanbesentona100Mbpsnetwork.Toovercomethislimitationthequalityofthestream
canbelowered.
Loweringthequalityofthesourcestreamisdoneusingatechniquecalledtranscoding.Transcoding
involvesthecompletedecodingofthesourcestreamandencodingitwithnewsettings.Thisprocesswill
reducethequalityofthesourcestream.IntheexamplebelowaDVD(typicalbandwidthupto10Mbps)is
transcodedtoastreamof1,5Mbpsonaverage.

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$>vlcdvdsimple:///dev/dvdsout'#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,\
acodec=mpga,ab=192,channels=2}:std{access=udp,mux=ts,dst=192.168.0.20}'\
soutffmpegstrictrc
TranslatingthistoourDVBexamplewillgiveusabetterutilizationofthenetworkbandwidth.A10Mbps
networkcannowtransmitDVB5streams,whilea100Mbpswilltransmit53DVBstreams.Thisis35
timesasmuchnumberofchannelsthatcanbesent.
Network

Maxload

#Streams

10Mbps

8Mbps

100Mbps

80Mbps

53

Summary
TheVLCmediaplayerisbothastreamingserverandamultimediaplayercapableof
playingalmostallmultimediafiles.AslongasthereisanOpenSourcecompatible
implementationoftheunderlyingcodecs.VLCmediaplayeriswellknownforits
compliancetostreamingstandardsandusedbyindustryplayersinthebroadcast,
consumersandR&Dfield.ItiseasytosetupusingtheGUIwizardoroneoftheother
interfacesthatVLCoffers.
TheVideoLANwebsitehostsHOWTOdocumentsdescribingthemostusedVLC
optionsandoffersvarioussupportchannels(IRC,mailinglists,Forums).
SettingupastreamingserverandnetworkusingVLCmediaplayerrequiresknowledge
ofnetworkinginfrastructureandmultimediacharacteristics.Incaseoftroublesthereis
alwaystheVideoLANsupportchannelswherethedevelopershangout.Thebestadvise
todebugaproblemistostartsimpleandscaleupfromthere.

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