VLS user guide

Cyril Deguet
Alexis de Lattre
VLS user guide
by Cyril Deguet and Alexis de Lattre
Copyright © 2002, 2003 the VideoLAN project

Abstract

This document is the complete user guide of VLS .

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 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 in the appendix GNU Free Documentation License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
What is the VideoLAN project ? ................................................................................... 1
Overview .......................................................................................................... 1
VideoLAN software ........................................................................................... 1
What is a codec ? ...................................................................................................... 2
How can I use VideoLAN ? ......................................................................................... 3
Documentation .................................................................................................... 3
User support ..................................................................................................... 3
Command line usage .................................................................................................. 4
Open a terminal ................................................................................................. 4
2. Installing VLS ................................................................................................................ 6
Installing VLS ........................................................................................................... 6
Windows ........................................................................................................... 6
GNULinux & Mac OS X ..................................................................................... 6
Uninstalling VLS ....................................................................................................... 7
Windows ........................................................................................................... 7
If you compiled VLS from sources ....................................................................... 7
3. Overview and basic concepts ............................................................................................. 8
VLS structure ............................................................................................................ 8
Administration interface .............................................................................................. 9
4. Configuration ................................................................................................................ 10
General structure ...................................................................................................... 10
Writing a vls.cfg ................................................................................................. 10
Section "Vls" .................................................................................................... 10
Section "Groups" ............................................................................................... 11
Section "Users" ................................................................................................. 11
Section "Telnet" ................................................................................................ 12
Section "NativeAdmin" ...................................................................................... 12
Section "Inputs" ................................................................................................ 12
Inputs configuration .......................................................................................... 13
Section "Channels" ............................................................................................ 14
Channels configuration ...................................................................................... 14
Programs Configuration ..................................................................................... 16
5. Running VLS ................................................................................................................ 19
Launching VLS ........................................................................................................ 19
Using the telnet interface ........................................................................................... 19
Interface commands .................................................................................................. 20
A. GNU Free Documentation License ................................................................................... 22
PREAMBLE ............................................................................................................. 22
APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS ........................................................................ 22
VERBATIM COPYING ............................................................................................. 23
COPYING IN QUANTITY ......................................................................................... 23
MODIFICATIONS .................................................................................................... 24
COMBINING DOCUMENTS ..................................................................................... 25
COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS ............................................................................. 26
AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS ....................................................... 26
TRANSLATION ....................................................................................................... 26
TERMINATION ....................................................................................................... 26
FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE ................................................................... 26
ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents ............................................. 27

iii
List of Figures
1.1. Global VideoLAN solution La solution VideoLAN globale .................................................. 1
1.2. Windows terminal ......................................................................................................... 4
1.3. Linux X terminal .......................................................................................................... 4
1.4. Mac OS X terminal ....................................................................................................... 5
1.5. BeOS terminal .............................................................................................................. 5
3.1. VLS structure ............................................................................................................... 8

iv
Chapter 1. Introduction
What is the VideoLAN project ?
Overview
VideoLAN is a complete software solution for video streaming, developed by students of the Ecole Cen-
trale Paris [http://www.ecp.fr] and developers from all over the world, under the GNU General Public
License [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html] (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 satel-
lite 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 :

Figure 1.1. Global VideoLAN solution La solution VideoLAN globale

More details about the project can be found on the VideoLAN Web site [http://www.videolan.org/].

VideoLAN software
VLC
VLC 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,

1
 Introduction

• 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 page
[http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html].

Note
VLC doesn't work on Mac OS 9, and will probably never do.

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 [http://www.videolan.org/streaming/features.html].

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.

What is a codec ?
To fully understand the VideoLAN solution, you must understand the difference between a codec and a
container format

• A codec is a compression algorithm, used to reduce the size of a stream. There are audio codecs and
video codecs. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Vorbis, DivX, ... are codecs

2
 Introduction

• A container format contains one or several streams already encoded by codecs. Very often, there is an
audio stream and a video one. AVI, Ogg, MOV, ASF, ... are container formats. The streams contained
can be encoded using different codecs. In a perfect world, you could put any codec in any container
format. Unfortunately, there are some incompatibilities. You can find a matrix of possible codecs and
container formats on the features page [http://www.videolan.org/streaming/features.html]

To decode a stream, VLC first demuxes it. This means that it reads the container format and separates audio,
video, and subtitles, if any. Then, each of these are passed decoders that do the mathematical processing
to decompress the streams .

There is a particular thing about MPEG:

• MPEG is a codec. There are several versions of it, called MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, ...

• MPEG is also a container format, sometimes refered to as MPEG System. There are several types of
MPEG: ES, PS, and TS

When you play an MPEG video from a DVD, for instance, the MPEG stream is actually composed of
several streams (called Elementary Streams, ES): there is one stream for video, one for audio, another
for subtitles, and so on. These different streams are mixed together into a single Program Stream (PS).
So, the .VOB files you can find in a DVD are actually MPEG-PS files. But this PS format is not adapted
for streaming video through a network or by satellite, for instance. So, another format called Transport
Stream (TS) was designed for streaming MPEG videos through such channels.

How can I use VideoLAN ?

Documentation
The user documentation of VideoLAN is made up of 4 documents :

• the VideoLAN Quickstart. This document will give you a quick overview of VLC, VLC's stream output,
the Video On Demand solution and the channel information service system.

• the VideoLAN HOWTO. This document is the complete guide of the VideoLAN streaming solution.

• the VLC user guide. This document is the complete guide for VLC.

• the VLS user guide. This document is the complete guide for VLS.

• the VideoLAN FAQ. This document contains Frequently Asked Questions about VideoLAN.

The latest version of these documents can be found on the documentation page [http://www.videolan.org/
doc/] .

You can also have a look at the VideoLAN Wiki [http://wiki.videolan.org]. This is a website that everyone
can change. We use it to document everything that is not in the "official" documentation: the tips and tricks
for each O.S., the graphical interfaces, etc...

User support
If you have problems using VideoLAN, and if you don't find the answer to your problems in the docu-
mentation, please look at the online archive of the mailing-lists [http://www.via.ecp.fr/via/ml/videolan/in-
dex-en.html]. There are two English-speaking mailing-lists for the users :

• [email protected] for the questions on VLC ,

3
 Introduction

• [email protected] for the questions on VLS, mini-SAP-server and the network .

If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe to the mailing-lists, please go to the mailing-list page [http://
www.videolan.org/support/lists.html].

You can also talk with VideoLAN users and developers on IRC : server irc.freenode.net, channel #videolan
.

If you find a bug, please follow the instructions on the bug reporting page [http://www.videolan.org/
support/bug-reporting.html] .

Command line usage

• VLC has many different graphical interfaces, that are organized quite differently in order to be in har-
mony with the guidelines of each operating system supported. Documenting the use of each graphical
interface is too long, and some features are only available via the command line interface. Therefore
we decided to document only the command line interface, but in many cases it shoud be easy to guess
how to use the graphical interface for the same use !

• VLS has a command line and a telnet interface, but no graphical interface !

All the commands that show up in this document should be typed inside a terminal. .

Open a terminal
Windows
Click on Start, Run and type :

• cmd Enter (Windows 2000 / XP),

• command Enter (Windows 95 / 98 / ME).

The terminal appears Le terminal apparait

Figure 1.2. Windows terminal

Note
Under Windows, you need to be in the directory where the program is installed to run it.

Linux / Unix
Open a terminal :

Figure 1.3. Linux X terminal

In the documentation, we adopt the following conventions for the Unix commands :

• commands that should be typed as root have a # prompt :

4
 Introduction

# command_to_be_typed_as_root

• commands that should be typed as a regular user have a % prompt :

% command_to_be_typed_as_regular_user

Mac OS X
Go to Applications, open the folder Utilities and double-click on Terminal :

Figure 1.4. Mac OS X terminal

Note
Under Mac OS X, you need to be in the directory where the program is installed to run it, and
start the command with ./ .

BeOS
In the deskbar, go to Application and then Terminal :

Figure 1.5. BeOS terminal

Note
Under BeOS, you need to be in the directory where the program is installed to run it, and start
the command with ./ .

5
Chapter 2. Installing VLS
Installing VLS
Windows
Download the ZIP file from the VLS Windows download page [http://www.videolan.org/streaming/down-
load-vls-windows.html], unzip-it and run setup.exe .

GNULinux & Mac OS X

Install the libraries
Many libraries are needed for particular uses

• libdvbpsi (always needed)

• libdvdcss if you want to be able to access encrypted DVDs ,

• libdvdread if you want to be able to stream DVDs ,

• libdvb if you want to be able to stream from a DVB card (a satellite card or a digital terrestial TV card) .

Download the libraries from the VLS sources download page [http://www.videolan.org/streaming/down-
load-vls-sources.html] .

For each library, uncompress, configure (unless for libdvb which doesn't have a ./configure), compile and
install :

% tar xvzf library.tar.gz

% cd library
% ./configure
% make
# make install

Check that the configuration file /etc/ld.so.conf contains the following line :

/usr/local/lib

If the line is not present, add-it and then run :

# ldconfig

Install VLS
Download the sources of the latest release : get the file vls-version.tar.gz from the VLS sources
download page [http://www.videolan.org/streaming/download-vls-sources.html]. Uncompress-it and gen-
erate ./configure :

6
 Installing VLS

% tar xvzf vls-version.tar.gz

% cd vls-version

To get the list of configuration options, do

% ./configure --help

Then configure vls :

• if you want a basic VLS without DVD support, do :

% ./configure --disable-dvd

• if you want a VLS with DVD support, do :

% ./configure

• if you want a VLS with DVB support, do :

% ./configure --enable-dvb --with-dvb=PATH_TO_DVB_DRIVERS --with-libdvb=PATH_TO_L

Then, compile and install :

% make
# make install

You can also do a make uninstall, make clean or make distclean as needed .

Uninstalling VLS
Windows
Go to the Control Panel, click on Add and remove programs, select VLS and click on Modify/Remove and
follow the steps to uninstall the program .

If you compiled VLS from sources

Go to the directory containing VLS sources and run :

# make uninstall

Then you can remove the VLS sources .

7
Chapter 3. Overview and basic
concepts
VLS structure
From a user's point of view, VLS can be divided into four kinds of components :

• a manager ,

• inputs ,

• converters ,

• et des sorties .

Figure 3.1. VLS structure

Input
The role of an input is to read MPEG streams from a given source (file, DVD, DVB card, device, ...),
and feed the right converters with these streams. An input may be able to read several streams, which are
called programs. There are several kinds of inputs :

• the local input, which can read videos from files or DVDs ,

• the video input, which can read videos from MPEG encoding cards devices ,

• the dvb input, which can read videos from DVB cards, l'entrée dvb, qui peut lire depuis des cartes DVB,

• the v4l input, which can read from acquisition cards supported by the Video4Linux drivers .

You can use several inputs and play several programs at the same time .

Converter
The role of a converter is to receive a stream from an input, and convert it into the MPEG-TS format. VLS
is able to convert PS streams (from DVDs, for instance) into TS streams (ps2ts converter). Of course, it
can also read TS streams, and fix them by handling stream discontinuities (ts2ts converter) .

Channel
A channel receives a stream from a converter, and send it to a given destination (network, file, ...). If you
want, you can call a "channel" an "output": it is the same thing !). Currently, two kinds of channels are
supported: network and file. Note that, at the moment, VLS can support only one output per stream, so
you cannot play a stream on the network and write it into a file at the same time. The network output
is highly configurable: you can choose which network interface you want to use, and specify source and
destination IP addresses .

8
 Overview and basic concepts

Manager
The manager controls the way streams are sent. Through an administration interface, you can tell the
manager to start, stop, suspend, resume, forward or rewind the different programs. You can also get a list
of all programs available in the Program Table. The manager gets this table from the VLS configuration
file (vls.cfg), so it cannot be changed once VLS has been started. At the moment, you cannot ask the
manager whether a given stream is being broadcasted, but you will get an error message if you try to stop
a stream that was not broadcasted .

Administration interface
There are currently two ways to launch the streaming :

• you can use the command line to give arguments at startup;

• or you can use the telnet interface to start/stop/pause the streaming whenever you want .

When using the telnet interface, you must authenticate before typing any command, because any user may
not be allowed to execute any command (this can be configured in the vls.cfg configuration file) .

9
Chapter 4. Configuration
VLS reads its configuration from the vls.cfg configuration file, which is supposed to be located
in the current directory or in SYSCONF_DIR/videolan/vls (where SYSCONF_DIR is /usr/lo-
cal/etc if you built and installed VLS by hand, or is /etc if you installed the debian binary package) .

To write a vls.cfg file, use the one supplied with VLS as a start-point .

General structure
VLS configuration file vls.cfg is divided into sections, and each section may contain several variables :

BEGIN "FirstSection"
Variable1 = "value1"
Variable2 = "value2"
[...]
END

BEGIN "SecondSection"
Variable1 = "value1"
Variable3 = "value3"
[...]
END

[...]

All section names, variable names and values are not case-sensitive. There can be empty sections and
subsections. Comments must follow a # character. Some variables have a default value; it means that you
can ommit to declare these variables, and then they will be given their default value .

Writing a vls.cfg
Here is an explanation of all the sections you can find in a vls.cfg :

Section "Vls"
This section contains application wide settings .

LogFile = "name"

Name of VLS log file. If left empty "", then no logging to files is done. Default is "vls.log" .

SystemLog = "[disable|enable]"

Logging to the SystemLog. Today, only the SystemLog using syslogd is implemented: compile with ./
configure --enable-syslog .

10
 Configuration

Caution
If VLS is started as vlsd, then the following configuration is mandatory :

BEGIN "Vls"
LogFile = ""
SystemLog = "enabled"
ScreenLog = "disabled"
END

ScreenLog = "[disable|enable]"

Logging to the console .

Example :

BEGIN "Vls"
LogFile = "vls.log"
SystemLog = "disable"
ScreenLog = "enable"
END

Section "Groups"
In this section, you can define some groups of users, and which commands these users are allowed to
execute. For each group you want to define, you must add a line in the following format :

groupname = "command1|command2|..."

This adds a group "groupname", the users of which are allowed to execute command1, command2, and
so on. At the moment, the available commands are: help, browse, start, suspend, resume, forward, rewind,
stop, shutdown, logout .

Example :

BEGIN "Groups"
monitor = "help|browse|logout"
master = "help|browse|start|resume|suspend|forward|rewind|stop|shutdown|logout"
END

Section "Users"
This section contains a list of users allowed to control VLS through an administration interface. For each
user, add a line in the following format :

username = "password:groupname"

This adds a user "username", who belongs to the group "groupname" (defined in the "Groups" section)
and can log in with the password "password" .

11
 Configuration

• Under Unix/Linux, the password must be encrypted, with a tool such as mkpasswd, or with the UNIX
function "crypt" .

• Under Windows, the password must be in clear text .

Example for Unix/Linux :

BEGIN "Users"
monitor = "3BcKWoiQn0vi6:monitor" # password is 'monitor'
admin = "42BKiCguFAL/c:master" # password is 'Vir4Gv5S'
END

Section "Telnet"
In this section, you can configure the telnet administration interface .

LocalPort = "port"

Defines which port will be used for the telnet server. Default port is "9999" .

Domain = "domain"

Either "inet4" or "inet6" (default is "inet4"). If you want to use IPv4 addresses, put "inet4", and if you
want to use IPv6, put "inet6" .

LocalAddress = "IP address"

Defines on which IP address the telnet server will listen for requests. Default address is "0.0.0.0" (or "0::0"
with IPv6) .

Example :

BEGIN "Telnet"
LocalPort = "9999"
END

Section "NativeAdmin"
Same syntax as "Telnet". Not used yet .

Section "Inputs"
In this section, you can define which inputs you want to use. For each input you need, add a line in the
following format :

InputName = "Type"

This adds a input named "InputName", the type of which is "Type". As explained before, there are several
types of input :

12
 Configuration

• "local" to play a stream from a file or a DVD ,

• "video" to play a stream from an MPEG encoding card ,

• "dvb" to play a stream from a DVB card ,

• "v4l" to play a stream from a Video4Linux device .

Each input must be configured in its own section (see next paragraph) .

Example :

BEGIN "Inputs"
local1 = "local"
pvr = "video"
dvb1 = "dvb"
tuner = "v4l"
END

Inputs configuration
For each input declared in the "Inputs" section, excepted "local" inputs, you must add a section with the
same name as the corresponding input. For instance, if you declared an input "pvr", there should be one
section named "pvr" too. The syntax of such sections depends on the type of the corresponding input .

To configure a local input, you don't have to do anything. Except when another trickplay strategy must
be used :

BEGIN "Local1"
ProgramCount = "1"
TrickPlay = "normal"
END

"Local1" is the name of the local input you want to configure. "ProgramCount" is the number of programs
assigned to this input. "TrickPlay" is the trickplay strategy that is used by this input (default is "normal") .

To configure a video input, add a section in the following format :

BEGIN "VideoInputName"
Device = "device"
Type = "type"
END

"VideoInputName" is the name of the video input you want to configure. "Device" is the path of the MPEG
encoding card you want to read from (default is "/dev/video"). "Type" is either "Mpeg2-PS" or "Mpeg2-
TS", depending on your device configuration (default is "Mpeg2-PS") .

Example for a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 card :

BEGIN "pvr"
Device = "/dev/video0"

13
 Configuration

Type = "Mpeg2-PS"
END

To configure a dvb input, add a section in the following format :

BEGIN "DvbInputName"
DeviceNumber = "devicenumber"
SendMethod = "0"
END

"DvbInputName" is the name of the dvb input you want to configure. Set "SendMethod" to "0" if you to
stream the complete DVB stream and set it to "1" if you only want to stream the MPEG audio and video
streams (default is "0"). "DeviceNumber" is the number of the DVB device you want to read from (read
from /dev/ost/dvr<devicenumber>, default is ""). The dvb configuration file is defined by the
driver. You can find it in $HOME/.dvbrc for /dev/dvb/adapter0 or in $HOME/.dvbrc.X for /dev/
dvb/adapterX .

Example :

BEGIN "dvb1"
DeviceNumber = "0"
TrickPlay = "normal"
END

Section "Channels"
In this section, you can define the channels (outputs) you want to use. For each channel, write a line in
the following format :

ChannelName = "Type"

This adds a channel named "ChannelName", the type of which is "Type". "Type" must be either "network"
or "file". Like inputs, channels must be configured in their own section .

Example :

BEGIN "Channels"
localhost = "network"
client1 = "network"
client2 = "network"
multicast1 = "network"
multicast2 = "network"
localfile = "file"
END

Channels configuration
For each channel declared in the "Channels" section, you must add a section with the same name as the
corresponding channel. The syntax of such a section depends on the type of the corresponding channel .

To configure a network channel, add a section in the following format :

14
 Configuration

BEGIN "NetChannelName"
Domain = "Domain"
Type = "Type"
SrcHost = "SourceHost"
SrcPort = "SourcePort"
DstHost = "DestHost"
DstPort = "DestPort"
TTL = "ttl"
Interface = "Interface"
END

• "NetChannelName" is the name of the network channel you want to configure .

• "Domain" is either "inet4" if you use IPv4 addresses, or "inet6" if you use IPv6 (default is "inet4") .

• "Type" is either "unicast", "broadcast" or "multicast" (default is "unicast"), depending on what you want
to do (and on your "DstHost" address) .

• "SourceHost" is the IP address (or DNS name) from which VLS will send the stream .

• "SourcePort" is the UDP port from which the stream will be sent .

• "DestHost" is the IP address (or DNS name) to which the stream will be sent .

• "DestPort" is the UDP port to which the stream will be sent (default is "1234") .

• "TTL" is an option useful only if "Type" is "multicast" (default value is "0"). You can use it to increase
the TTL of your multicast packets if they have to cross several routers .

• "Interface" is an option only supported under GNU/Linux, to force the stream to be sent through a given
network interface, "eth1" for instance" (to use this option, you must have super-user permissions) .

Note
"SrcHost" and "SrcPort" are optional (if you don't set them, VLS will not 'bind' the socket) .

To configure a file channel, add a section in the following format :

BEGIN "FileChannelName"
FileName = "file"
Append = "append"
END

"FileChannelName" is the name of the file channel you want to configure. "file" is the name of the file
where the stream will be stored (default is "fileout.ts"). "append" is either "yes" or "no", and indicates
whether VLS will append the stream at the end of the file, or rewrite it .

Example :

BEGIN "localhost" # The client is on the same host as the server

DstHost = "localhost"
DstPort = "1234"
END

15
 Configuration

BEGIN "client1" # unicast towards client1

DstHost = "192.168.1.2"
DstPort = "1234"
END

BEGIN "client2" # unicast towards client2 in IPv6

Domain = "inet6"
DstHost = "3ffe:ffff::2:12:42"
DstPort = "1234"
END

BEGIN "multicast1" # multicast streaming

Type = "multicast"
DstHost = "239.2.12.42"
DstPort = "1234"
TTL = "2"
END

BEGIN "multicast2" # multicast streaming in IPv6

Domain = "inet6"
Type = "multicast"
DstHost = "ff08::1"
DstPort = "1234"
TTL = "12"
END

BEGIN "localfile" # file output

FileName = "stream.ts"
Append = "no"
END

Caution
If you use Windows, you should specify the "SrcHost" and "SrcPort" fields. For example :

BEGIN "client1" # The client is on the same host as the server

SrcHost = "192.168.1.1" # IP of VLS
SrcPort = "1242" # Source port : the value is not important
DstHost = "192.168.1.2" # IP of the client
DstPort = "1234"
END

Programs Configuration
As explained before, you must define the programs. Each one is a MPEG stream (a file, for example).
To do this, you must add an "Input" section in your vls.cfg file. Each "Input" section must have the
following syntax :

BEGIN "Input"
FilesPath = "path"
ProgramCount = "count"

16
 Configuration

END

"path" is the path where your MPEG files are located (by default it is the current directory). "count" is the
number of programs defined ("0" by default) .

For each program you want to define, you must add a section with the following format :

BEGIN "number"
Name = "name"
Type = "type"
FileName = "file"
Device = "device"
END

• "number" is the program number: the first program has number 1, the second number 2, and so on .

• "name" is the program name, by which you will tell VLS to start this program (see next chapter "Running
VLS") .

• "type" can be "Mpeg1-PS", "Mpeg2-PS", "Mpeg2-TS", or "DVD". If your stream is stored in a MPEG
file (*.mpeg, *.mpg, *.vob, and so on...), it is probably in Mpeg1-PS or Mpeg2-PS format .

• if "type" is set to "Mpeg1-PS", "Mpeg2-PS", or "Mpeg2-TS", VLS will assume your stream is stored in
the file "file", in the directory "path" ("path" being the variable defined in the "Input" section) .

• if "type" is "DVD", the variable "Device" will be used instead of "FileName" (the variable "FilesPath"
is not prepended to the device name !). The variable "Device" is the device of your DVD drive ("/dev/
hdc" or "/dev/cdrom" for instance). You can also play a DVD copied on a hard disk: then "device" is
the directory where the .vob files are stored ("/mnt/data/VIDEO_TS" for instance) .

Note
VLS can stream MPEG files that meet two critera :

• the file must be MPEG PS (Program Stream) or MPEG TS (Transport Stream), that contain
video and audio multiplexed. VLS cannot stream MPEG ES (Elementary Stream), i.e. a file
with only audio or video .

In order to know if an MPEG file is MPEG PS, MPEG TS or MPEG ES, read the file with
VLC and look at the messages (select in the menu View / Messages, or use the command line
vlc -vvv) .

• If you see a line :

[00000107] main module debug: using demux module "ts_dvbpsi"

it means the file is MPEG TS .

• If you see a line :

[00000109] main module debug: using demux module "ps"

it means the file is MPEG PS .

17
 Configuration

• If you see a line :

[00000109] main module debug: using demux module "es"

it means the file is MPEG ES, VLS can't stream it. .

• the sequence header of the video must repeat itself regularly, which is often the case with
MPEG-2, but very rare with MPEG-1. There is no easy way to know if the sequence header is
repeated regularly. Files with a .vob extension are normally MPEG-2 files and files with .mpg
or .mpeg extension or usually MPEG-1 files .

You can download this streamable MPEG-2 PS file for your tests : presentation_short.vob [ftp://
ftp.videolan.org/pub/videolan/streams/presentation/presentation_short.vob] .

Note
In order to play DVDs, you need to compile VLS with DVD support, which uses libdvdread and
libdvdcss. You will need read and write access rights to the DVD device .

Full example :

BEGIN "Input"
FilesPath = "/home/videolan/streams"
ProgramCount = "4"
END

BEGIN "1" # MPEG2 stream stored in /home/videolan/streams/Dolby.vob

Name = "dolby"
FileName = "Dolby.vob"
Type = "Mpeg2-PS"
END

BEGIN "2" # another file

Name = "canyon"
FileName = "Dolby_Canyon.vob"
Type = "Mpeg2-PS"
END

BEGIN "3" # DVD

Name = "dvd"
Device = "/dev/cdrom"
Type = "Dvd"
END

BEGIN "4" # DVD stored on a hard disk

Name = "matrix"
Device = "/mnt/data/matrix/VIDEO_TS"
Type = "Dvd"
END

18
Chapter 5. Running VLS
Launching VLS
If you want to use the telnet interface, running VLS is very easy: just type vls in a shell console, and that's
all. Running vlsd will start VLS as a daemon and will detach itself from the launching shell. Remember
that VLS will try to load its configuration file (vls.cfg) from the current directory, and if there is no
vls.cfg there, it will try to load it from SYSCONF_DIR/etc/videolan (see section Configuration) .

Caution
If your log file is vls.log as in the example, VLS will need write access in the current directory,
or you will see something like :

*** Exception *** in copy constructor (0xbffffc98, copy of 0x80e30a8)

Unable to open the log file "vls.log": Error: Could not open file 'vls.log':
Permission denied

Remember also that you must be root when using the "Interface" option in vls.cfg .

If everything is right, you will see something like :

VideoLAN Server v 0.5.3 (Jun 6 2003) - (c)1999-2003 VideoLAN

2002-03-09 17:24:51 [INFO/Vls] Module "channel:file" registered
2002-03-09 17:24:51 [INFO/Vls] Module "channel:network" registered
2002-03-09 17:24:51 [INFO/Vls] Module "mpegreader:file" registered
2002-03-09 17:24:51 [INFO/Vls] Module "mpegconverter:ts2ts" registered
[...]

What you can see on the screen (stderr) is exactly what goes in the log file vls.log .

When VLS has been successfully started, it doesn't take any command from its standard input, so you can
put it into background (you can use the screen utility to do that) .

On the other hand, if you want to use the command line interface, please see the VideoLAN HOWTO
[http://www.videolan.org/doc/] .

Using the telnet interface

After VLS has been launched, it opens a telnet server (on the port 9999 by default). You can connect to
this server with the following command :

% telnet localhost 9999

You should see something like :

Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to vls.

19
 Running VLS

Escape character is '^]'.

Videolan Server Administration System

Login:

Then you must authenticate with a login/password pair defined in vls.cfg. When you have been suc-
cessfully authenticated, you should see a prompt like :

admin@vls>
>

Then you can type some commands, which are explained in the next paragraph. To log out, type logout
after the telnet prompt .

Interface commands
help
Usage: help [command] .

Called with no argument, "help" gives the list of all the commands (available or not). Called with one
argument it gives details about how to use the specified command .

browse
Usage: browse [input] .

Called without argument, "browse" gives all programs of inputs. Called with one argument it only gives
the programs of the specified input. Each program is given with its status .

start
Usage: start <program> <channel> <input> [--loop] [--rtp]

"start" launches the specified program of the specified input and broadcasts it through the specified chan-
nel. The option "--loop" makes the program being repeated indefinitely. The option "--rtp" makes the TS
packet to be send through the RTP protocol, as defined in RFC 1889 and RFC 2250 .

stop
Usage: stop <channel>

"stop" ends the broadcast of the specified channel .

forward
Usage: forward <channel> <speed>

"forward" forwards the channel with the given speed. This does not work when reading directly from a
device such as an MPEG encoding card, a DVB card or an acquisition card .

20
 Running VLS

rewind
Usage: rewind <channel> <speed>

"rewind" rewinds the channel with the given speed. This does not work when reading directly from a
device such as an MPEG encoding card, a DVB card or an acquisition card .

suspend
Usage: suspend <channel>

"suspend" suspends the streaming of the specified channel .

resume
Usage: resume <channel>

"resume" resumes the streaming of the specified channel .

logout
Usage: logout

"logout" closes the current administration session and the remote connection .

shutdown
Usage: shutdown

"shutdown" stops all the programs and shutdowns VLS .

21
Appendix A. GNU Free Documentation
License
Version 1.2, November 2002

Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place, Suite
330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verba-
tim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

PREAMBLE
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free"
in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without
modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author
and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications
made by others.

This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative works of the document must themselves
be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license
designed for free software.

We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software
needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that
the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work,
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A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either
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22
 GNU Free Documentation License

The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover
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The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies
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VERBATIM COPYING
You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially,
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Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this
License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the
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distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.

You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.

COPYING IN QUANTITY
If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document,
numbering more than 100, and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the
copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover,
and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the

23
 GNU Free Documentation License

publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally
prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited
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If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first ones listed
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If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either in-
clude a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque
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It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before redistributing
any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.

MODIFICATIONS
You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and
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Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:

A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the Document, and from
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B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the mod-
ifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document
(all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement.

C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the publisher.

D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.

E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.

F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public permission to use
the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.

G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover Texts given in the
Document's license notice.

H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.

I. Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating at least the title,
year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no
section Entitled "History" in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of
the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated
in the previous sentence.

24
 GNU Free Documentation License

J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a Transparent copy
of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in the Document for previous versions it
was based on. These may be placed in the "History" section. You may omit a network location for a
work that was published at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of
the version it refers to gives permission.

K. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications", Preserve the Title of the section, and
preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/
or dedications given therein.

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numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.

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sion.

N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled "Endorsements" or to conflict in title with any Invariant
Section.

O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.

If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sec-
tions and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all
of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified
Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.

You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your
Modified Version by various parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been
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You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as
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may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names
for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.

COMBINING DOCUMENTS
You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms de-
fined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the
Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of
your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.

The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections
may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but dif-
ferent contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the
name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same
adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled "History" in the various original documents,
forming one section Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled "Acknowledgements", and
any sections Entitled "Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements".

25
 GNU Free Documentation License

COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License,
and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included
in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the
documents in all other respects.

You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License,
provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other
respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works,
in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting
from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the in-
dividual works permit. When the Document is included an aggregate, this License does not apply to the
other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.

If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Doc-
ument is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers
that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is
in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.

TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under
the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from
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the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all
the license notices in the Document, and any Warrany Disclaimers, provided that you also include the
original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case
of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer,
the original version will prevail.

If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", or "History", the requirement

(section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

TERMINATION
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under
this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will
automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or
rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain
in full compliance.

FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License
from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail
to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

26
 GNU Free Documentation License

Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a
particular numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of
following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been
published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version
number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software
Foundation.

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your

documents
To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and
put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:

Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or
modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version
1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is
included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the "with...Texts." line
with this:

with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the Front-Cover Texts
being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being LIST.

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those
two alternatives to suit the situation.

If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples
in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit
their use in free software.

27