I was using the file manager function (and another function like movie or something), using the network option. The way I understand it, this isn't really streaming, but is using the network drive as an SMB type share. It's similar to streaming, but not quite the same.
Using the file manager / network option, you just get a file listing, choose the file, be it mp3, mpg, etc, etc, click on it, and it plays.
I've really been having a hard time remembering how I once was able to play the .vob files on my computer using VLC. I'm 99% sure that I did this, because I remember fooling around with play lists to make it go to the next numbered file when one file ended, but I can't seem to get it to work at all with a couple DVDs I've tried. It's possible, however that I remembered wrong and I wasn't doing this from the actual DVD, but perhaps I extracted the files to the computer first, and the program I used might have changed the files to some extent.
But in any event, it seems that playing a DVD is different than playing individual files on a DVD or CD. There is no problem playing .mpg, mp3, or other formats that the Azbox will play. Playing a DVD in the same way that a DVD player does, is apparently a different capability. I'm sure that the Azbox can be capable of it if they can deal with the region copy protection issues, but I don't see that as a high priority right now, because this isn't really an important use of this box. I'd much rather see them fix the 20,000 bitrate issue, and give us some degree of a blind scan capability (even if it takes all night for one sat). I'm perfectly happy with being able to play audio video files that I've created, and play commercial DVDs from a real DVD player.