450 lines
6.5 KiB
HTML
450 lines
6.5 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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> What is the VideoLAN project ?
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</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="
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VLC user guide
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"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="UP"
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TITLE="Introduction"
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HREF="intro.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="Introduction"
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HREF="intro.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="
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What is a codec ?
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"
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HREF="x132.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="sect1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>VLC user guide</TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="intro.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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>Chapter 1. Introduction</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="x132.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect1"
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><H1
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CLASS="sect1"
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><A
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NAME="AEN48"
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></A
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>1.1. What is the VideoLAN project ?</H1
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN50"
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></A
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>1.1.1. Overview</H2
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><P
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>VideoLAN is a complete software solution for video streaming, developed
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by students of the <A
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HREF="http://www.ecp.fr"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Ecole Centrale
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Paris</A
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> and developers from all over the world, under the
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<A
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HREF="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>GNU General Public
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License</A
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> (GPL). VideoLAN is designed to stream MPEG videos on high
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bandwidth networks.</P
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><P
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>The VideoLAN solution includes :</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>VLS (VideoLAN Server), which can stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2
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and MPEG-4 files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial
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television channels and live videos on the network in unicast or
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multicast,</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>VLC (initially VideoLAN Client), which can be used as
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a server to stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 files, DVDs and live
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videos on the network in unicast or multicast ; or used as a client
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to receive, decode and display MPEG streams under multiple operating
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systems.</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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>Here is an illustration of the complete VideoLAN solution :</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="figure"
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><A
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NAME="AEN62"
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></A
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><P
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><B
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>Figure 1-1.
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Global VideoLAN solution
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La solution VideoLAN globale
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</B
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></P
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><DIV
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CLASS="mediaobject"
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><P
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><IMG
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SRC="images/global-diagram.jpg"></P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><P
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>More details about the project can be found on the <A
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HREF="http://www.videolan.org/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>VideoLAN Web site</A
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>.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN69"
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></A
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>1.1.2. VideoLAN software</H2
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><DIV
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CLASS="simplesect"
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><H3
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CLASS="simplesect"
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><A
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NAME="AEN71"
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></A
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>1.1.2.1. VLC</H3
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><P
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>VLC works on many platforms : Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS,
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*BSD, Solaris, Familiar Linux, Yopy/Linupy and QNX. It can read :</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files from a hard disk,
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a CD-ROM drive, ...</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>DVDs and VCDs,</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>from a satellite card (DVB-S),</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams from the
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network sent by VLS or VLC's stream output.</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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> VLC can also be used as a server to stream :
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</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files,</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>DVDs,</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>from an MPEG encoding card,</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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> to :
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</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>one machine (i.e. to one IP address) : this is called
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<EM
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>unicast</EM
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>,</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>a dynamic group of machines that the clients can
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join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address) : this is called
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<EM
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>multicast</EM
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>,</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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>in IPv4 or IPv6
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.</P
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><P
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>To get the complete list of VLC's possibilities
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on each plateform supported, see the <A
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HREF="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>VLC features
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page</A
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>.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="note"
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><P
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></P
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><TABLE
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CLASS="note"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="25"
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ALIGN="CENTER"
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VALIGN="TOP"
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><IMG
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SRC="../images/note.gif"
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HSPACE="5"
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ALT="Note"></TD
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><TD
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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VALIGN="TOP"
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><P
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> VLC doesn't work on Mac OS 9, and will
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probably never do.
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</P
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="simplesect"
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><H3
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CLASS="simplesect"
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><A
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NAME="AEN104"
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></A
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>1.1.2.2. VLS</H3
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><P
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> VLS can stream :
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</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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> an MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 files stored on a hard drive
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or on a CD,
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> a DVD located in a local DVD drive or copied on a hard
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disk,
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> a satellite card (DVB-S) or a digital terrestial
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television card (DVB-T)
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,</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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> an MPEG encoding card
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;</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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>to:</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>one machine (i.e. to one IP address) : this is called
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<EM
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>unicast</EM
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>,</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>a dynamic group of machines that the clients can
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join or leave (i.e. to a multicast IP address) : this is called
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<EM
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>multicast</EM
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>,</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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>in IPv4 or IPv6
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.</P
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><P
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>A Pentium 100 MHz with 32 MB of memory should be enough to send one
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stream on the network. When streaming a lot of videos stored on a
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hard drive, the actual limitation is not the processor but the hard
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drive and the network connection.</P
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><P
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>VLS works under Linux and Windows. To get the complete
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list of VLS's possibilities on each plateform supported, see the <A
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HREF="http://www.videolan.org/streaming/features.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>streaming features
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page</A
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>.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="simplesect"
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><H3
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CLASS="simplesect"
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><A
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NAME="AEN128"
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></A
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>1.1.2.3. Mini-SAP-server</H3
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><P
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> You can add a channel information service based on the SAP/SDP
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standard to the VideoLAN solution. The mini-SAP-server sends announces
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about the multicast programs on the network in IPv4 or IPv6, and VLCs
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receive these annouces and automatically add the programs announced to
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their playlist.
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</P
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><P
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> The mini-SAP-server works under Linux and Mac OS X.
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</P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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></DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="intro.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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>Home</A
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HREF="x132.html"
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>Next</A
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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>Introduction</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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HREF="intro.html"
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>Up</A
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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>What is a codec ?</TD
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