I have successfully got DP to control VLC running on a Mac (but it could be PC or Linux too, same method). Quite simple, too.
-Enable Telnet control in VLC preferences, choose a port (default is 4212), choose a password, save, then restart VLC. At this point you may want to test the telnet connection from your Mac using Terminal, so the command would be (without the quote marks):
"nc <computer's IP address> 4212" You should then be prompted to enter the VLC password you set. If successful you'll get a message saying 'welcome, master' You can then also use Terminal to test VLC commands (list below).
-Add the computer as a device in DP the usual way with the port and password you set.
-In the 'initial command' bit, enter the password you set in VLC.
-Tick 'disconnect after each command' - to force DP to make a fresh connection for each command.
Here is a list of VLC commands:
| add XYZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . add XYZ to playlist
| enqueue XYZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . queue XYZ to playlist
| playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . show items currently in playlist
| search [string] . . search for items in playlist (or reset search)
| delete [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . delete item X in playlist
| move [X][Y] . . . . . . . . . . . . move item X in playlist after Y
| sort key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sort the playlist
| sd [sd] . . . . . . . . . . . . . show services discovery or toggle
| play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . play stream
| stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stop stream
| next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . next playlist item
| prev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . previous playlist item
| goto, gotoitem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . goto item at index
| repeat [on|off] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . toggle playlist repeat
| loop [on|off] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . toggle playlist loop
| random [on|off] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . toggle playlist random
| clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . clear the playlist
| status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . current playlist status
| title [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get title in current item
| title_n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . next title in current item
| title_p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . previous title in current item
| chapter [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get chapter in current item
| chapter_n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . next chapter in current item
| chapter_p . . . . . . . . . . . . previous chapter in current item
|
| seek X . . . . . . . . . . . seek in seconds, for instance `seek 12'
| pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . toggle pause
| fastforward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set to maximum rate
| rewind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set to minimum rate
| faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . faster playing of stream
| slower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . slower playing of stream
| normal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . normal playing of stream
| rate [playback rate] . . . . . . . . . . set playback rate to value
| frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . play frame by frame
| fullscreen, f, F [on|off] . . . . . . . . . . . . toggle fullscreen
| info [X] . . information about the current stream (or specified id)
| stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . show statistical information
| get_time . . . . . . . . . seconds elapsed since stream's beginning
| is_playing . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 if a stream plays, 0 otherwise
| get_title . . . . . . . . . . . . . the title of the current stream
| get_length . . . . . . . . . . . . the length of the current stream
|
| volume [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get audio volume
| volup [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . raise audio volume X steps
| voldown [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lower audio volume X steps
| achan [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get stereo audio output mode
| atrack [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get audio track
| vtrack [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get video track
| vratio [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get video aspect ratio
| vcrop, crop [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get video crop
| vzoom, zoom [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get video zoom
| vdeinterlace [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get video deinterlace
| vdeinterlace_mode [X] . . . . . . . set/get video deinterlace mode
| snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . take video snapshot
| strack [X] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . set/get subtitle track
Now, I use VLC to throw some RTSP camera streams onto my TV. I have also played with using VLC to play some IPTV streams that have their own individual m3u URLs.
It works pretty well, on a Mac you can completely hide the VLC window and then when you send the command to load a network stream it just appears and goes full screen (if you set the full screen command).
I may spend some time to try and get DP to play content from a NAS based on dynamically generated data, or from a list on a web view, when I have some time. But at the moment I'm quite happy using DP to display RTSP and IPTV on my telly!