Vls can stream MPEG 1 or MPEG 2 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 -v) and look for a
line :
module: locking demux module `mpeg_XX'
If XX = ps or XX =
ts, then your file is MPEG PS and
MPEG TS respectively, and you may be able to
stream it. If XX = es, then your file is MPEG
ES and is not streamable.
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.