VLC media player

VLC media player (originally VideoLAN Client, and often referred too simply as VLC) is the best known software from the VideoLAN project. VLC supports DVB and some analog devices in Linux.

Analogue

Scroll down to the Play from an acquisition card section for instructions on setting up an analogue device.

An example with an Analog capture device

To record to x264 with VLC, use something like this:

vlc v4l:/dev/video0:norm=ntsc:frequency=77250:size=640x480:channel=5:\
adev=/dev/dsp1:samplerate=32000:audio=0:stop-time=60 \
--sout "#transcode{vcodec=h264,fps=29.97,acodec=mp3}\
:std{access=file,mux=ts,dst=output.mpg}" aspect-ratio "4:3" -I dummy

Note that vlc uses alsactl to find sound devices, so oss devices may not work.

DVB TV with VLC

w_scan has an experimental option to create a vlc playlist which is probably the easiest method to view dvb streams with vlc. To create a playlist (-ft -terrestrial, -c DE Germany) and start viewing TV use

w_scan -ft -c DE -L >vlcchans.xspf
vlc vlcchans.xspf

In older versions VLC reads a channels.conf file. When your DVB device is working and you have made a channels.conf file, just use the Open File command to point to your /home/user/channels.conf. Notice: At http://www.melodax.de/code/ you can find a perl script to convert from channels.conf to a xml playlist (i.e. channel.xspf) for VLC.

To start TV everytime you start VLC, open up Preferences > All > Playlist and enter /home/user/channels.conf in the default stream.

The fastest way to change channels is to view the Playlist (View > Playlist or Ctrl+L) and select the required channel. Channel flickers can change channels with the "Previous media in the playlist" and "Next media in the playlist" buttons.

Electronic Program Guide Information

Go to Tools > Media Information (or Ctrl+I), then Codec Details and scroll down to find the EPG information

External Links

• VLC media player homepage
  • VLC media player wiki
  • How_to_Use_a_Capture_Card
  • VLC's How to Create a DVD
  • Codec names
  • Permitted combinations
• Some common VLC parameters explained