Debian Multimedia :: How To Get VLC To Start At Specific Time In Media File

How do I get vlc to start at a specific time in a media file. I can do it easily in mplayer2, mpv but not vlc. Let's say the media file is named abc.avi (file format,container not important for this example.) Also the running time is around 2+ hrs. In mplayer2 and mpv I can simply do :-

Code: Select all$mpv abc.avi --start=00:59:00

And it will start running at that point in time.

In vlc, it also seems to have something at :-

Code: Select all[$] vlc --advanced --help
......
......

Playback control:
      --input-repeat <integer [-2147483648 .. 2147483647]>
                                 Input repetitions
      --start-time <float>       Start time

Now I don't understand what the <float> bit. I tried :-

Code: Select all$vlc abc.avi --start-time=00:59:00

But that didn't work. It's possible that it might be a bug, then again I might not have done it correctly.