[streaming] Re: Advice about VideoLAN

[Clément Stenac]

Hello,

> some questions which we hope you will help us answer.They may appear to be 
> many but we request for answers to atleast some of them for which I will be 
> grateful. 
I will only answer some of your questions, as I don't know answers for
all

> Is it necessary to use some kind of video switching software within my 
> video conferencing system when using VLC and VLS?If so which software do 
> you recommend? 
I do not really understand your question.

> What specifications for the sound capture cards would you recommend and
> what standards do they need to conform to? 
I don't know

> In your opinion,is videoLAN suitable for use in classwide video 
> conferencing systems(audience of about 40 people)? 
Yes

> If we use a video capture card,do we need a separate audio capture card at 
> the client and is that all the capture cards I need? 
Unless your video capture card provides audio aquisition, you will need
an audio input card. You should not need anything more.
 
> Do we have to use Linux server software for VLS or can any linux platform 
> work? 
Any properly configured linux platform will work (you need kernel v2.4).

> For video on demand,if video is stored on the webserver,what graphical 
> interface can be used to access it at the client side if one is to use a 
> browser? 
VLC is available as a plugin for Mozilla, you can have a look at that

 
> If we download VLS,is that all the video server software I need? 
Yes.
Actually, according to your needs, you may find which one of  VLC or VLS
fits for your streaming needs.

> In the VLC features list what does'Direct show' mean for video acquisition? 
DirectShow is part of DirectX, it is a Windows video capture system.

> How can we incorporate the use of a document camera for the conferencing 
> system using videoLAN?Any particular requirements or specifications? 
You mean there will be two different streams ?
Then the clients will need (at the moment) to open VLC twice.
Alternatively, you could do videocompositing before acquisition.

> Does MPEG format software come with VideoLAN or do we have to install it 
> separately?If we have to, at which site can we get it? 
It comes with.

>Can one type the 
> location of the video from any point within the VLC graphical interface? 
Yes. 
For video on demand, you will use HTTP streaming, and clients will only
have to type the URL.

For live videoconferences, you might want to use UDP multicast, clients
will have to type the multicast IP, or even only click on a playlist
item if you use SAP/SDP.

> Is streaming from an acquisition card only possible with a linux machine?
> Cant we use a windows based VLC to do the same? 
Yes, you can, using DirectShow (you will need VLC 0.7.0 to stream, which
is due out... very soon. Before the release, you can use the test
release here: http://www.videolan.org/pub/testing/vlc-0.7.0-test3)

> If using a VLC we access a video announced by the SAP server,are we 
> automatically using the multicast facilities? 
If you announce a multicast address, multicast will automatically be
used.

> What specifications would the client and server platforms need to conform 
> to? 
VLC and/or VLS must work on these :). About power, for MPEG2 decoding,
I would advise at least 500 Mhz to get smooth images. The encoder needs
to be a rather powerful machine (at least 1Ghz)

-- 
Clément Stenac

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