[vlc] Re: Questions about VLC

[rettw at rtwnetwork.com]

Hi Nelson:

> Dear Sir:
>
> I am trying to install VLC and VLS in our lab. However, I
> cannot find any
> information or document specifying the hardware/systems
> requirements for the
> VLC/VLS of VideoLAN solution. Can you please send me some
> info. regarding the
> hardware requirements for client and server in which I
> will install VLC and SAP
> together.
>
> Thanks
>

I am not one of the Videolan developers, but I have some
experience with VLS and VLC (but not SAP).  What is you
application?

For instance:

To stream DVD quality content, I would recommend that you
have a reasonable P3 machine (500-800 Mhz).  The actual
streaming process doesn't take much as long as the source
is already in MPEG form ie, DVD, WinTV PVR card, mpeg
files etc.  If you are looking to stream DVD's directly
from the disks, I believe Linux is the only platform that
this is supported on.  Also 100BaseTX ethernet is best for
the network connection - I have streamed content equal to
above 2 DVD's (~16 Mb/sec) just fine on an P3 850 with
100BaseTX ethernet.  This runs the CPU at about 20%.

I highly recommend using a switched ethernet medium, not a
"shared" medium like a hub.

As for the Client - Its a little trickier, as it needs to
be big enough to decode and display the video.  Using
Windows XP on a P3 500, VLC uses about 50% CPU to play a
DVD stream sent be VLS.  On Linux its a bit better, with
about 30-40% CPU on the same hardware.  I would recommend
if you are using linux to have a video card that supports
XVideo  extensions (Nvidia, ATI, and Matrox have support
for this). For the best performance.

I hope this helps, If you need more details, send me some
info on what you would like to do with it and I will be
happy to provide more input.

Rett

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