Control vlc via linux fifo (pipe)

macey · 07-01-2014, 02:03 PM

Hello, I am looking for a real vlc 'expert' here..
I can easily control mplayer like this:-

Code:

mplayer -slave -input file=/my_fifo  myfile

and 'pipe' commands to the fifo with shell scripts like this:-

Code:

echo 'pause' >my_fifo

This works fine with mplayer,
How do I do this with vlc please?
I have seen posts which say use --rc-fake-tty, I have tried various set-ups but can't get it to work..
Help PLEASE, would much prefer to use vlc over mplayer...

suicidaleggroll · 07-01-2014, 02:38 PM

Does vlc just read from stdin normally? If so you can probably use "<" to redirect stdin from a file, like a fifo

vlc < myfifo

Maybe the combination of --rc-fake-tty and redirection from a fifo is what you want?

This is the applicable section of the help menu:

Code:

Remote control interface (oldrc)
      --rc-show-pos, --no-rc-show-pos
                                 Show stream position (default disabled)
          Show the current position in seconds within the stream from time to time. (default disabled)
      --rc-fake-tty, --no-rc-fake-tty
                                 Fake TTY (default disabled)
          Force the rc module to use stdin as if it was a TTY. (default disabled)
      --rc-unix <string>         UNIX socket command input
          Accept commands over a Unix socket rather than stdin.
      --rc-host <string>         TCP command input
          Accept commands over a socket rather than stdin. You can set the address and port the interface will bind to.

macey · 07-01-2014, 02:47 PM

@suicidaleggroll thanks, I'll give it a try...

ok, this is what I did:-

cat vlc_fifo | cvlc --rc-fake-tty mymediafile

vlc plays mediafile ok, then did this:-

echo 'stop' > vlc_fifo
or echo stop > vlc_fifo

no effect, also linux prompt does not return, looks like system is waiting for i/o to complete.
I know that something like this should work.... Just need the detail sorted....
Someone out there must know..

macey · 07-02-2014, 08:16 AM

ok, it's easy:-

vlc -I rc --rc-host localhost:1250 {file/playlist} (-d optional to daemonise)

echo pause | nc localhost 1250

open up a port (1250 in this case) between your host & clients & have full remote
control over vlc.

At last, been messing with this for months off and on...
Very happy, managed to work this out for myself....admittedly, doesn't use fifo (pipe) but does the job even better.