Zionworx

This thread is intended to capture requirements for a potential new feature in ZionWorx which would provide dedicated integration and control of the VLC application to display video (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)

We would definitely use this. We use VLC to display short video clips and the ability to load them up, start and stop them from within ZionWorx would make it easier to train new operators.

I don't know if it's possible, but we would find it helpful to be able to set the start and end point of a clip. For example, if you have a ten minute clip but only want to display the middle two minutes, you could start the starting point as 1 min 26 secs and finish point as 3 mins 2 secs.

An echo and extension of the previous request when applied to DVDs. The ability to select different videos from a DVD and then start and stop and different points would be really nice.

I suggest some kind of preview feature which lets you find the bit of the clip you interested in and save it all in the play list.

On a side note, when it comes to implementing this it might be easier (or then again it might not) to use libvlc rather than vlc itself although since vlc is GPL you might need to create a kind of "vlc server" that zioworx initiates and then passes command to. This "server" could then be GPL without having to make zionworx itself gpl.

Mmm... Thanks for this pointer in the right direction.
I've just been reading the developer's wiki and libVLC certainly appears to be the way to go:

http://wiki.videolan.org/ExternalAPI

By investing in developing a functional libVLC 'wrapper' to be used by ZW, it might be possible in the end to give this back to the VLC community if it was successful.

Cheers,
Christian.

This would be a fantastic addition. We too are using VLC alongside ZionWorx for audio and video (especially as our leaders seem to have found YouTube also to illustrate sermons ). I echo the comments about the snippets of DVD.

Does VLC support webcams? We are looking at trying to use cameras to put baptisms on a screen for those who cannot see to the back of our church? Having this kind of facility for live video of the service (and with VLC's ability to stream via UDP or http) would also be useful

Paul

<Update> VLC does indeed support webcams, and using the transparent background trick of words over video, set powerpoint background to be 0,0,1 and then run show over webcam. Liturgy of baptism words as subtitles to the video of the baptism on screen!