The tech team at InverseGeek, an independent tech website, shares what you can do with VLC player. Recently, the website featured how to stream videos from VLC to Chromecast. In this post, they explain more about what we can do with the VLC player aside from playing music.
The VLC Player offers numerous exciting additional functions. Music and video files can be found and saved, videos can be streamed over networks or videos can be recorded using the VLC player with the webcam.
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The “VLC Media Player” is ideal for playing back your multimedia files in almost all formats. But the all-rounder can do much more than most users know. We will introduce you to four useful functions that the free software will upgrade your PC with.
1. Record videos via webcam
With just a few clicks you can turn the free multimedia software into a video recorder, provided you have a webcam connected to your PC. To record videos with the webcam:
Before you can record videos, you need to set the output path for your recorded video in the settings. To do this, go to “Extras” in the menu and then to “Settings”. In the settings on the left, switch to the “Input & Codecs” tab and enter the path for the output movie under “Recording directory or file name”.
From the Media menu, open Open Capture Device.
Then select your webcam under “Device selection” in the selection field on the right. You can optionally adjust the video quality using the “Configure” button. Then click on “Play”.
If your VLC Media Player is missing the record button at the bottom, please do the following: Click on “View” in the menu and enable “Advanced Controls”.
2. View and save videos from the Internet
In addition to local multimedia files, you can also watch streams directly from the Internet with the VLC Media Player. For example, you can open YouTube videos directly on your computer by copying the video’s URL from the website. Then click on “Open URL from clipboard” under “Media”. The copied web address is automatically transferred to the input field so that you only need to start the video stream by clicking on “Play”.
3. Send videos via stream in the home network
You can also upgrade your home network with the VLC Media Player by streaming videos and music from your computer to other network PCs. You will find the necessary options somewhat hidden in the menu:
In the “Media” menu, first, click on the “Stream…” menu item.
Then under File Selection, click “Add” and select the video or music file you want to stream to your network. Then confirm the dialog with the “Stream” button.
In the dialog that follows, click on “Set target”. Then select the “ UDP ” protocol in the selection field and then click on “Add”.
Then enter the IP address of the target computer. If you don’t know this, you can read here [/news/82288_2-advice-finding-your-own-IP-address.html#IP address via command line mode] how to determine the private IP address in your network. Then select “Video -H.246 + MP3 (MP4)” in the selection field under Profile. Then click on the “Edit” button next to the selection field.
Now select the “MPEG-TS” option on the “Encapsulation” tab and confirm with “Save”. Finally, click “Stream” to start broadcasting.
On the target computer in your network, call up the stream by clicking on ” Media ” in the menu and then on “Open network stream…”. In the input field, enter: “udp://” followed by the internal IP address of the sending computer. Then click on “Play”.
4. Listen and save music from the Internet for free
You can even expand your music collection on the PC with the free multimedia all-rounder. You can easily access the online streams from the playlist. You can call this up via the “View” menu or by pressing the “L” key on your keyboard. In the playlist you will find, for example, the music streams of the “Free Music Charts” or “ Jamendo Selections ” under “Internet”. You can save the songs on your hard drive by right-clicking on the respective stream. You can also add your own podcasts there.