JMF : Java Glossary

JMF (Java Media Framework). The current release is 2.1.1e Last revised: 2003-05-23 Verified: 2011-02-15. It is stagnant, scheduled to be replaced by JMC (Java Media Components) in Java 1.7. JMF is the main way Java handles streaming video and audio. It is implemented as a set of native classes. It has been abandoned. The was supposed to be a replacement API (Application Programming Interface) coming, but I still have not seen it.

It will play video on your screen and sound on your speakers, headset or audio out and capture sound from your microphone or sound card input. It will capture sound or video files in

including Microsoft’s wav and Oracle’s AU. They refer to microphones and sound card inputs as capture devices. javax.media.CaptureDeviceManager.getDeviceList CaptureDeviceManager.getDeviceList will give you a list of capture (input) devices available on your particular machine. javax.media.control.FormatControl.getSupportedFormats will tell you the available input formats. javax.media.Codec.getSupportedOutputFormats will tell you the available output formats. If you need more information than that, you will have to use JNI.

JMF supports MIDI, MP1, MP2, RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) streaming JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), RTP H.261, RTP H.263 among other formats. New versions support MP3. Both Oracle and Intel developed packages. Intel called their package Intel Media Framework, Java Edition, though they seem to have erased all trace of it from their website. There is no sign of MP4 yet, presumably because the licence fees are too steep.

It is quite an elaborate scheme, capable of simultaneously controlling many channels of audio and video and synchronising them. I imagine was designed for professional digital movie making. The hard part comes using it for something simple since there are so many bells and whistles.

The JMF classes live in the javax.media package. Unfortunately it is not part of the standard JDK/JRE. You have to download separately. This means any of your clients must also download and install JMF separately from your application. You also have to download the documentation separately.

Beware installing JMF. It will destroy your classpath. You will have to manually repair the classpath after it has installed.

To use JMF you have to decide on a format to encode (compress them to prepare for transmission) and decode (decompress them to prepare for playback at the receiving end) them. There is special purpose DSP (Digital Signal Processor) hardware available to help and there is the MMX (Multi-Media extension) DSP-like features of the Pentium class chips that can accelerate the process, if the JMF codec software is smart enough to use it. Encoding takes more resources that decoding. Video takes more resources than audio. The more you compress, the more detailed an image stream you can send over the net. The more you compress, the more expensive the hardware you will need to do it in real time.

You want to avoid having to translate formats if you can. Don’t just assume everything will be able to plug seamlessly into everything else. There are many fine variations to the various protocols.

Simpler options include :

• Just repeatedly redrawing a *.jpg image, the way NetworkCam does.
• JAI to rapidly decode and display still images.
• Using a turnkey solution.

Storage & Traffic Efficiency

Video takes up even more space and bandwidth. Low quality, (small size, fuzzy picture, jumpy) takes about 64Kbps. This means one minute of video takes about .5 MB per minute. A better quality 512Kbps stream, that requires a high speed connection for live feeds, requires about 4 MB per minute, four times as much as audio.

So the key is to keep your audio and video clips short. Eventually, the Internet will be converted to fibre optics and there should be no more problem with bandwidth.

MP-3

MP-3 in an advanced compressed audio/video format popular for movies, pornography and pop music. Oracle offers an add-in codec for it by a separate MP3 download.

MPEG-4

Installing

• It comes as a self-extracting archive. If it gives trouble, manually clear out the temp directory when it unzips.
• It builds a silly classpath. Correct it and copy the jars into the ext directory instead.

Books

Book referral for Java How To Program (Early Objects) (10th Edition)

	recommend book⇒Java How To Program (Early Objects) (10th Edition)
	by	Paul Deitel, Harvey Deitel	978-0-13-380780-6	paperback
	publisher	Prentice Hall	978-0-13-380793-6	eBook
	published	2014-03-06	978-0-13-381303-6	WebBook
			B00IO7DD2I	kindle
This is an extremely expensive paperback. You normally only see paperbacks this costly aimed at a tiny academic market. It contains source for hundreds of complete working programs. This is my complaint with most books. They tend to show you just snippets leaving you at a loss with what sort of sandwich they need to make them work. The course MyProgramming lab is extra!
Online bookstores carrying Java How To Program (Early Objects) (10th Edition) abe books anz abe books.ca abe books.de amazon.ca amazon.de Chapters Indigo amazon.es Chapters Indigo eBooks iberlibro.com abe books.com abe books.fr amazon.com amazon.fr Barnes & Noble abe books.it Nook at Barnes & Noble amazon.it Kobo junglee.com Google play abe books.co.uk O’Reilly Safari amazon.co.uk Powells other stores
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock. Try looking for it with a bookfinder.

Book referral for Core Java Media Framework

	recommend book⇒Core Java Media Framework
	by	Linden deCarmo	978-0-13-011519-5	paperback
	publisher	Prentice Hall
	published	1999-06-24
Covers JMF 1.0.
Online bookstores carrying Core Java Media Framework abe books anz abe books.ca abe books.de amazon.ca amazon.de Chapters Indigo amazon.es Chapters Indigo eBooks iberlibro.com abe books.com abe books.fr amazon.com amazon.fr Barnes & Noble abe books.it Nook at Barnes & Noble amazon.it Kobo junglee.com Google play abe books.co.uk O’Reilly Safari amazon.co.uk Powells other stores
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock. Try looking for it with a bookfinder.

Book referral for Essential JMF — Java Media Framework

	recommend book⇒Essential JMF — Java Media Framework
	by	Rob Gordon, Stephen Talley	978-0-13-080104-3	paperback
	publisher	Prentice Hall
	published	1998-11-12
Online bookstores carrying Essential JMF — Java Media Framework abe books anz abe books.ca abe books.de amazon.ca amazon.de Chapters Indigo amazon.es Chapters Indigo eBooks iberlibro.com abe books.com abe books.fr amazon.com amazon.fr Barnes & Noble abe books.it Nook at Barnes & Noble amazon.it Kobo junglee.com Google play abe books.co.uk O’Reilly Safari amazon.co.uk Powells other stores
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock. Try looking for it with a bookfinder.

Book referral for Programming With the Java Media Framework

	recommend book⇒Programming With the Java Media Framework
	by	Sean Sullivan [Editor], Loren Winzeler, Jeannie Deagen, Deanna Brown	978-0-471-25169-9	paperback
	publisher	Wiley
	published	1998-04-06
Covers JMF 1.0.
Online bookstores carrying Programming With the Java Media Framework abe books anz abe books.ca abe books.de amazon.ca amazon.de Chapters Indigo amazon.es Chapters Indigo eBooks iberlibro.com abe books.com abe books.fr amazon.com amazon.fr Barnes & Noble abe books.it Nook at Barnes & Noble amazon.it Kobo junglee.com Google play abe books.co.uk O’Reilly Safari amazon.co.uk Powells other stores
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock. Try looking for it with a bookfinder.

Learning More