[streaming] How to stream high-def video over a LAN?

[Chhaya, Harshal]

Hi,

I am trying to stream a high-definition file (MPEG2 transport
stream @ ~19 Mbps) over a LAN and would like your advice on
the best way to do this.

I can stream using vlc (over unicast UDP) and play it on the 
other PC using vlc but the video is choppy. I suspect that 
this is because the CPU is fully utilized (100% usage) and
vlc cannot decode all the frames in time. If I dump the 
received video stream to file and play it layer, it plays 
back smoothly which confirms the 'not enough CPU' hypothesis. 
This is a 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4 and I don't have a faster PC.

So I assumed that I could buy one of the DxVA (DirectX video
acceleration) enabled MPEG decoders and offload some of the
video decoding to the video card (ATI Radeon 9000). I know 
that VLC cannot use these decoders but Windows Media Player 
can. However, from what I have read streaming from vlc to WMP 
means that I have to transcode the file to a lower bitrate 
which defeats the purpose. 

Is there a way to stream to WMP without transcoding? I read 
some mentions of a plug-in that allows WMP to decode MPEG-TS 
over UDP but I can't find any such plugin. Does such a plugin
exist?

Is there any other way I can stream these high-definition
files? Are there other players that can decode MPEG-TS over
UDP?

Thanks for any ideas and suggestions you can provide.

- Harshal

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