Can VLC stream a YouTube video?

Is it possible to stream a particular YouTube video's content with VLC?

The scenario is that you could paste a YouTube URL into a VLC dialog, and then have VLC stream the video as if it were a local media file.

Current version - when trying to open a file or network stream results in

VLC can't recognize the input's format: The format of 'http://www.youtube.com/v/foo' cannot be detected. Have a look at the log for details.

Any existing features in VLC, or workarounds that you know of to accomplish this streaming idea?

Yes. If you grab the actual video stream file (using a youtube downloader site, or firefox add-in), and pasting the URL into VLC, it will stream/play the file.

I do this all the time from an OS that doesn't support Flash (easily), but does support VLC & Firefox.

You can absolutely download and play YouTube videos with VLC.

1. Copy your video ID from the youtube URL. In this case I am using: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEiat9O74ms

2. I will use the following URL to view your video: http://www.youtube.com/embed/BEiat9O74ms Where BEiat9074ms is the video ID of the video you want to watch.

3. In VLC, under the Media menu, select "Open Network Stream" and paste the URL from step 2. into the network URL:

4. Enjoy your YouTube video in VLC.

Why are you pasting a YouTube URL into VLC? You use your web browser to display web pages, which in turn loads an instance of Adobe Flash which then retrieves a different URL to the video.

I used a YouTube URL retrieval service to try and get the FLV, and I put it into VLC and it came up with an error.

You can investigate the log files and see if it is possible to investigate further. It may be that YouTube does some User-Agent filtering, and you will need to have VLC masquarade as a web browser/Adobe Flash to retrieve the stream.

You can do it , with version 1.1.0. Just put the URl in Network tab