Quicktime and directx

Question

I am trying to figure out how I can extract single frames one by one from a quicktime movie and load them as textures. Apple has a lot of info, but aparently not anything about extracting frames.

Is this something that directx can handle. Perhaps through a plugin?
I was looking at using directshow to render to a texture and then use it, but aparently this can not be done with quicktime movies?

Answer 1

I would imagine you'll have to look at this from the QT end rather than DirectX. By all means use Direct3D to present, but you'll probably have to use QT and it's SDK's (if they exist) to actually extract the data.

Unless QT publish the necessary driver/codec/filter (etc..) for DShow to handle QT I don't think it's an option. Given that DShow is pretty much dead these days it's probably not a reliable long-term API to be basing a new product off.

Bare in mind that it's often very difficult to get correct timing and suitable performance - even if you find a way to access the QT frame buffer you've got a long way to go

hth
Jack

Answer 2

I had been looking at it from the QT side, but was unable to find any specifics relating to frame extraction.
Later on I found quicktimeAlternative which includes directShow filters for QT, but aparently it doesnt work. The problem is most likely not with directx, so I will spare you the details.

The question is what is the alternative to directx show? I realize that managed support for it has been removed, but if I want to render a video as a texture, what is the new way of doing it? Is this something that dx will just not bother with anymore, or has something new been introduced?

Answer 3

Thomas Greenleaf wrote:

The question is what is the alternative to directx show? I realize that managed support for it has been removed, but if I want to render a video as a texture, what is the new way of doing it? Is this something that dx will just not bother with anymore, or has something new been introduced?

To be completely honest, I don't know what the state of play is with DirectShow. One thing is for sure is that it's dead though

Regarding a replacement, maybe one of the DX team can step in and say something... but I seem to remember that most official (or semi-official) things I've heard recommend either 3^rd party libraries or "Video For Windows" (iirc). Maybe a search of these forums will yield some previous answers - this isn't the first time this question has been asked.

Given that there is a huge push for multimedia type stuff in Windows Vista, I'd hope a replacement is on it's way..

hth
Jack

Answer 4

What about Ogg Vorbis Video ( Theora )? 

See http://theora.org/

Free to use, distribute, develop, C++ SDK, examples .... And even DirectShow codec if you need it...

Answer 5

It is absolutely untrue that DirectShow is dead.  It is definitely alive and well, and I have moved this thread to the _dedicated_ DirectShow forum (which I'd hazard to guess is a sure sign it's not dead here )

Answer 6

David Weller wrote:

It is absolutely untrue that DirectShow is dead.  It is definitely alive and well, and I have moved this thread to the _dedicated_ DirectShow forum (which I'd hazard to guess is a sure sign it's not dead here )

I thought those comments were a bit odd (not yours David).  In fact why would this particular forum be in the Windows Vista group if its dead?  Hmmm....keep it going, good for me though.

Answer 7

Hi Thomas. I've the same question of what you want to do. I could do it but with a QTControl ocx and exportes, so I couldn't encapsulate it in a library or methos like Bitmap getVideoFrame(string fileMovName, int frame). Did you resolve the problem?

 

Thanks a lot.

Answer 8

We've recently updated our QuickTime DirectShow Source to support frame accurate seeking. Please see here:

http://blog.medialooks.com/archives/984