Can't paste mms: URL (from internet explorer) directly into VLC Player

Like many others here, I have used VLC for years and been able to paste what we have termed as a URL often preceded with mms: etc. into the URL field on the network stream tab. It may well be the case that these URLs are not valid from a pure technical standpoint but this is what many of us users actually see when we look at the properties of a streaming video clip on a web page.

If we can no longer paste what we see directly from the web page properties in internet explorer and copy it directly into VLC then this presents a serious roadblock for many of us.

I will often download (CONVERT/SAVE) many video clips in an evening and having to work out what's wrong with the URL I copied from internet explorer, paste it into notepad, try to fix each one before I paste it into VLC just makes what has been a brilliant product too time consuming and difficult to use.

I assume I am not alone.

I am running Windows 8.1, VLC 2.1.1 Rincewind Both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions do exactly the same thing.

Can we have some sort of patch / update so the functionality works as it did in previous versions?