The VideoLAN streaming solution includes two programs:
VLC media player which can be used as a
server and as a client to stream and receive network
streams. VLC is able to stream all that it can read.
VLS (VideoLAN Server), which can stream MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and
MPEG-4 files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial
television channels and live videos on the network in unicast or
multicast. Most of the VLS functionality can now be found VLC.
Usage of VLC instead of VLS is advised.
The network on which you setup the VideoLAN solution can be as
small as one ethernet 10/100Mb switch or hub, and as big as the whole
Internet. The VideoLAN streaming solution has full IPv6
support.
Examples of needed bandwidth are:
0.5 to 4 Mbit/s for a MPEG-4 stream,
3 to 4 Mbit/s for an MPEG-2 stream read from a satellite card, a
digital television card or a MPEG-2 encoding card,
6 to 9 Mbit/s for a DVD.
VLC is able to announce its streams using the SAP/SDP standard, or using Zeroconf (also known as Bonjour).