VLC Thing. A Poor Man's Sonos. Version 2.0 Released 12/22/2016

I have VLC Thing up and working (about 70% of the time), but I see errors in the debug log and the status always states it is disconnected (red in the mobile app, tests fine). Is this just cosmetic or is it affecting the performance?

  • 10:30:13 AM: error groovy.json.JsonException: Lexing failed on line: 1, column: 1, while reading ‘<’, no possible valid JSON value or punctuation could be recognized. @ line 228
  • 10:30:13 AM: warn No connection!

Thanks in advance!

I set VLC Thing up and was able to perform the test successfully from the My Home section. However, when I go into the Big Talker app and try to send a phrase using the “Talk Now” function, it gives me an error like the one in this image. Any ideas on what is happening?

How do I change the VLC port from 8008? I tried changing the config file to 9090 but it goes back to 8080 whenever I launch VLC

VLC 2.0.0 and later (append the parameter after vlc command)
–http-host host
–http-port port
or on Windows platforms:
–http-host=host
–http-port=port

https://wiki.videolan.org/documentation:modules/http_intf/

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I still don’t understand, my IP is 10.0.1.3 and I want to change the port to 9090. Where do I enter this info??

How do I append the parameter after the VLC command??? Would appreciate some more info @Kelvin_Kueh

Thanks

Hi @kamran,

Check out my project. I put all of the instructions in a pictorial.

FYI I also replicated my project with Respberry Pi Zero W and it works great too.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/chip-vlc-thing-big-talker-sonos-killer/35899?u=lmosenko

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Thanks, I plan to follow this for my 2nd location. I picked up a raspberry pi 3 for the 2nd home. Plan to use it for VLC Notifications + Homebridge + VPN Server.

I didn’t find any info about changing the port. I just don’t know where to change it. Thanks
Currently using a Mac Mini

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Under the Lua Telnet change the port:

But I need to change the default port from 8080. That is deafulted to 4212. So I assume the 8080 default port setting is somewhere else???

Correct @kamran . You enter port 8080->Press “Save” Button->Clo0se and than re-open the VLC and Whala, your setting are saved.
Keep in mind to set the password. Either use the defaulte “vlcremote” or enter one of your own. I recommend to stay away from !@#%^&*()~ charaters as mine did not work properly with them.

Also you will have to get the IP from the device.
For Debian or Pi Jessie build, you can use “IP addr” commend and get it in the WLAN0 location.

I changed the port to 9090, rebooted VLC and made sure the port was 9090 on the smart app settings but no success with the test. Looks like the HTTP port wasn’t changed to 9090 from 8080.

Hi @kamran,

Did you confirm that you:

  1. get the correct IP address from the terminal. Ping the IP.
  2. did you enter the same password in the VLC app and the VLC Thing in ST?
  3. I am certain you did check; however, did you also enter 9090 for the port in the VLC Thing in ST?

I am not a network tech by profesion. (Just a desktop engenear.) But that is where I find most things going wrong.
FYI, I had to do these steps last night to setup my VLC Thing in ST app to connect to myVLC on my New Raspberry Pi Zero W. And it works great. Just missing an in-line battery for the occation the power goes out.

It still works with port 8080 (on st app) so IP must be correct but I can’t use that port in conjunction with the unifi controller (my wifi (system). That is why I need to change the port

I am using the same password as well

I’m using Linux, so I run the VLC by running its command line, this will change the http listening port to 9090

vlc --http-port 9090

my experience is if change the port in the GUI -> main interface, it will not work!

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Any idea on how to do this on a Mac? Any terminal command? Thanks

Does it hard code the 9090 port or does it reset?
I autoloud VLC to desktop when my Pi Zero loads up. This way I don’t need a video connection to verify the load.
Another question…
How do I enable SSH in Jesia? What is the command?

Found this on VLC’s site: https://wiki.videolan.org/Mac_OS_X/

Can someone setup a command that I can enter in Terminal to change the port. As @Kelvin_Kueh suggested on Linux

This looks promissing.
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/31376/how-can-i-open-port-8080-of-mac-os-x-lion

I already have another app on my mac using 8080. That is why I can’t keep it running with VLC simultaneously thus need to change port

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Ask @geko, This is his thread. The video at the top shows a MAC demo.

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