VideoLAN Wiki - User contributions [en]

MediaControlAPI

2011-07-22T12:14:07Z

Newport25:

== Description ==

The MediaControl API is a generic Media player API. The idea is to define a generic video-player API, that could be reused with other players. It is implemented in VLC by using the new [[LibVLC]] API, and both APIs can cooperate (i.e. you can instanciate a MediaControl object from an existing libvlc instance, and vice-versa).

Its core part (playback control) has been taken from the [http://www.omg.org/docs/formal/00-01-03.pdf OMG Audio/Video Stream specification], and extended with additional functionalities. An [http://liris.cnrs.fr/advene/download/MediaControl.idl IDL specification MediaControl.idl] has been the base of this work.

FIXME : The API is defined in [http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/browser/trunk/include/vlc/mediacontrol.h "include/vlc/mediacontrol.h"] and implemented in [http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/browser/trunk/src/control "src/control"].

The Doxygen documentation can be found at [http://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc/doc/doxygen/html/mediacontrol_8h.html].

== Current status ==

The API currently includes functions for the following things:

*Playback
**Basic features (play/pause/stop)
**Seeking
**Setting/getting the played media
**Getting stream information
*Audio/Video
**Snapshot control (on the fly only)
**OSD display (of text and SVG graphics through the svg rendering module)
**Volume setting
**Setting the visual ID of an embedding window

== Current uses ==

The MediaControl API is used by the following modules :

*the [[PythonBinding]]
*the [[JavaBinding]]

== Foreseen evolutions ==

The following evolutions should be integrated in the API, but discussion is necessary to ensure that they are sufficiently flexible to match various needs :

*sound_[sg]et_volume: normalize volume in [0..100]
*implement get_api_version() or get_capabilities() (which would return the list of capabilities supported by the player: ("core", "svg", "snapshot", etc)
*Complete the implementation. For instance, the frame-by-frame unit (mediacontrol_SampleCount) is not implemented, and the stop/pause do not take the Position parameter into account (they are applied immediately).
*Fix VLC initialization on Win32 so that it uses the registry key to find the default plugins directory by default. Currently, it uses the vlc.exe path, which it cannot find when using VLC embedded. A workaround is to chdir to the vlc.exe directory before instanciating the MediaControl() object.

== Current API ==

Here is an IDL description of the current version of MediaControlAPI (from git rev. 445d63e0e38053, on 20080423). In case of doubt, refer to the [http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/browser/trunk/include/vlc/mediacontrol.h mediacontrol.h file].
<pre>/*
Module inspired by the MediaControl IDL
*/
module VLC {

const float VERSION = 0.2;

enum PositionOrigin {
AbsolutePosition, RelativePosition, ModuloPosition
};

enum PositionKey {
ByteCount, SampleCount, MediaTime
};

struct Position {
PositionOrigin origin;
PositionKey key;
long long value;
};

exception PositionKeyNotSupported { string message; };
exception PositionOriginNotSupported { string message; };
exception InvalidPosition { string message; };
exception InternalException { string message; };

typedef sequence<octet> ByteSeq;

struct RGBPicture {
short width;
short height;
long type;
ByteSeq data;
long long date;
};

typedef sequence<RGBPicture> RGBPictureSeq;

/* Cf stream_control.h */
enum PlayerStatus { PlayingStatus, PauseStatus, ForwardStatus, BackwardStatus, InitStatus, EndStatus, UndefinedStatus };

struct StreamInformation {
PlayerStatus streamstatus;
string url; /* The URL of the current media stream */
long mux_rate; /* the rate we read the stream in bytes/s */
long long position; /* actual location in the area (in arbitrary units) */
long long size; /* total size of the area (in arbitrary units) */
};

// MediaControl interface is similar to
// ControlledStream interface in MSS.
// It can be inherited by flow endpoints or
// FlowConnection interfaces.
interface MediaControl
{
Position get_media_position(in PositionOrigin an_origin,
in PositionKey a_key)
raises (InternalException, PositionKeyNotSupported);

void set_media_position(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, PositionKeyNotSupported, InvalidPosition);

void start(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, InvalidPosition, PlaylistException);
void pause(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, InvalidPosition);
void resume(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, InvalidPosition);
void stop(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, InvalidPosition);

oneway void exit (); // Exits the player (not in the original spec)

// Set/get the current media file/URL
void set_mrl (in string a_file)
raises (PlaylistException);
string get_mrl ()
raises (PlaylistException);

// Returns a snapshot of the currently displayed picture
RGBPicture snapshot (in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException);

RGBPictureSeq all_snapshots ()
raises (InternalException);

// Displays the message string, between "begin" and "end" positions
void display_text (in string message, in Position begin, in Position end)
raises (InternalException);

StreamInformation get_stream_information ()
raises (InternalException);

unsigned short sound_get_volume()
raises (InternalException);

void sound_set_volume(in unsigned short volume)
raises (InternalException);

};
};
</pre>

MediaControlAPI

2011-07-22T12:13:31Z

Newport25:

== Description ==

The MediaControl API is a generic Media player API. The idea is to define a generic video-player API, that could be reused with other players. It is implemented in VLC by using the new [[LibVLC]] API, and both APIs can cooperate (i.e. you can instanciate a MediaControl object from an existing libvlc instance, and vice-versa).

Its core part (playback control) has been taken from the [http://www.omg.org/docs/formal/00-01-03.pdf OMG Audio/Video Stream specification], and extended with additional functionalities. An [http://liris.cnrs.fr/advene/download/MediaControl.idl IDL specification MediaControl.idl] has been the base of this work.

FIXME : The API is defined in [http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/browser/trunk/include/vlc/mediacontrol.h "include/vlc/mediacontrol.h"] and implemented in
[http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/browser/trunk/src/control "src/control"].

The Doxygen documentation can be found at [http://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc/doc/doxygen/html/mediacontrol_8h.html].

== Current status ==

The API currently includes functions for the following things:
* Playback
** Basic features (play/pause/stop)
** Seeking
** Setting/getting the played media
** Getting stream information
* Audio/Video
** Snapshot control (on the fly only)
** OSD display (of text and SVG graphics through the svg rendering module)
** Volume setting
** Setting the visual ID of an embedding window

== Current uses ==

The MediaControl API is used by the following modules :

*the [[PythonBinding]]
*the [[JavaBinding]]

== Foreseen evolutions ==

The following evolutions should be integrated in the API, but discussion is necessary to ensure that they are sufficiently flexible to match various needs :
* sound_[sg]et_volume: normalize volume in [0..100]
* implement get_api_version() or get_capabilities() (which would return the list of capabilities supported by the player: ("core", "svg", "snapshot", etc)
* Complete the implementation. For instance, the frame-by-frame unit (mediacontrol_SampleCount) is not implemented, and the stop/pause do not take the Position parameter into account (they are applied immediately).
* Fix VLC initialization on Win32 so that it uses the registry key to find the default plugins directory by default. Currently, it uses the vlc.exe path, which it cannot find when using VLC embedded. A workaround is to chdir to the vlc.exe directory before instanciating the MediaControl() object.

== Current API ==

Here is an IDL description of the current version of MediaControlAPI (from git rev. 445d63e0e38053, on 20080423). In case of doubt, refer to the [http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/browser/trunk/include/vlc/mediacontrol.h mediacontrol.h file].

<pre>
/*
Module inspired by the MediaControl IDL
*/
module VLC {

const float VERSION = 0.2;

enum PositionOrigin {
AbsolutePosition, RelativePosition, ModuloPosition
};

enum PositionKey {
ByteCount, SampleCount, MediaTime
};

struct Position {
PositionOrigin origin;
PositionKey key;
long long value;
};

exception PositionKeyNotSupported { string message; };
exception PositionOriginNotSupported { string message; };
exception InvalidPosition { string message; };
exception InternalException { string message; };

typedef sequence<octet> ByteSeq;

struct RGBPicture {
short width;
short height;
long type;
ByteSeq data;
long long date;
};

typedef sequence<RGBPicture> RGBPictureSeq;

/* Cf stream_control.h */
enum PlayerStatus { PlayingStatus, PauseStatus, ForwardStatus, BackwardStatus, InitStatus, EndStatus, UndefinedStatus };

struct StreamInformation {
PlayerStatus streamstatus;
string url; /* The URL of the current media stream */
long mux_rate; /* the rate we read the stream in bytes/s */
long long position; /* actual location in the area (in arbitrary units) */
long long size; /* total size of the area (in arbitrary units) */
};

// MediaControl interface is similar to
// ControlledStream interface in MSS.
// It can be inherited by flow endpoints or
// FlowConnection interfaces.
interface MediaControl
{
Position get_media_position(in PositionOrigin an_origin,
in PositionKey a_key)
raises (InternalException, PositionKeyNotSupported);

void set_media_position(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, PositionKeyNotSupported, InvalidPosition);

void start(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, InvalidPosition, PlaylistException);
void pause(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, InvalidPosition);
void resume(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, InvalidPosition);
void stop(in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException, InvalidPosition);

oneway void exit (); // Exits the player (not in the original spec)

// Set/get the current media file/URL
void set_mrl (in string a_file)
raises (PlaylistException);
string get_mrl ()
raises (PlaylistException);

// Returns a snapshot of the currently displayed picture
RGBPicture snapshot (in Position a_position)
raises (InternalException);

RGBPictureSeq all_snapshots ()
raises (InternalException);

// Displays the message string, between "begin" and "end" positions
void display_text (in string message, in Position begin, in Position end)
raises (InternalException);

StreamInformation get_stream_information ()
raises (InternalException);

unsigned short sound_get_volume()
raises (InternalException);

void sound_set_volume(in unsigned short volume)
raises (InternalException);

};
};
</pre>

VLC HowTo

2011-07-22T11:58:13Z

Newport25:

__NOTOC__
Below are some handy guides for using {{VLC}}

=== Playing Video and Audio ===

;How to...

*[[What can vlc do#How_to_enable.2Fuse_subtitles|Use Subtitles]]
*:Playing movies with subtitles
*[[How to Use a Capture Card|Use a Capture Card]]
*:This explains how to watch TV or get video from your capture card.
*[[What can vlc do#Play_DVD.2FSVCD.2FVCD_iso.27s_.2F_Images|Play DVDs and Disks from the image file]]
*:This explains how to use movies encoded onto an ISO file.

=== Adjusting Settings ===

;How to...

*[[What can vlc do#How_to_adjust_picture_brightness.2Fcolors.2Fcontrast..|Adjust Picture Brightness and Contrast]]
*[[What can vlc do#How_to_control_the_aspect_ratio_of_the_video|Edit the Aspect Ratio of a video]]
*[[Crop|Crop video]]
*[[How to disable acceleration in Win32|Disable video acceleration in Win32]]
*[[How to save bookmarks|Save bookmarks]]
*[[How to play multiple instances of VLC|How to play multiple instances]]

===Remote Control for VLC===
;How to...
* [[Control VLC via a browser]]
*: This explains how to use the HTTP [[interface]]
* [[Control VLC via a widget]] on the Mac desktop
* [[Control VLC from an iPhone]]
* [[Control VLC from an Android Phone]]
* [[Control VLC from a Palm Web OS Phone]]
* [[How to Use Creative Remote]]
*: Explains how to control {{VLC}} with Creative brand remote controls

===Transcoding and Streaming===
;How to...
* [[iPod Video Conversion Guide|Play videos on your iPod]]
*: This explains how to convert your videos so they play on your iPod.
* [[Play_on_Yan Micro|Play videos on your Play-Yan Micro]]
*: This explains how to convert your videos so they play on your Play-Yan Micro.
* [[Play_on_Xbox|Play videos on your XBox and XBox 360 ]]
*: This explains how to convert your videos so they play on your XBox.
* [[Play_on_Zune| Play video on your Zune]]
*: This explains how to convert your videos so they play on your Zune.
* [[Fixing .flv to .avi with Ffmpeg]]
*: This explains how to use ffmpeg to a convert broken .flv files to a perfectly good .avi file '''DEPRECATED'''
* [[Transcode_WM_to_Mov_or_MP4|Convert Windows Media audio/video files to MOV or .MP4]]
*: This explains how to convert Windows Media-encoded files to Quicktime or MPEG-4 files
* [[Streaming_to_ActiveX_for_Windows_Media_Player | Streaming from a webcam to an ActiveX embedded object page]]
* [[How_to_add_logo | Add a logo on your videos]]
* [[Mosaic| Create a Mosaic]]
*: This explains how to set up a mosaic from a few streams like a TV portal.
* [[How to DBox|Set up Video on Demand on a Dreambox]]
* [[How to Batch Encode]]
*: This explains how to set up a batch transcode with all files in a directory of a certain file extension being transcoded to a specified format.
* [[Transcode]]
*: This explains converting (transcoding) a file.
* [[How to merge and transcode multiple videos]]
*: This explains how to take several source videos and merge then transcode resulting in a single file output.
* [[Extract Audio From File]]
*: This explains how to extract the audio track from a file.
* [[Extract_audio]]
*: This explains how to extract the audio track from a DVD.
* [[Rip DVD]]
*: This explains how to rip a DVD using VLC

===Using VLC in other Applications===
;How to...
* [[ActiveX]]
*: Specification for ActiveX control
* [[LibVLC|Use VLC's External API]]
*: Information for using libvlc
* [[Use in Media Center]]
* [[Useful Firefox Extensions]]
*: Information about extensions to view embedded videos in web pages using VLC
* [[GWT]]
*: Google WebToolkit

===Other Stuff===
;How to...
* [[How to Create a DVD|Create a DVD]]
*: This explains how to make a DVD from your home videos
* [[ActiveX/Delphi|Use the ActiveX control with Borland's Delphi]]
*: Using the VLC ActiveX plug-in in your programs
* [[ActiveX/HTML|Use the ActiveX control within a webpage.]]
* [[HowTo_Integrate_VLC_plugin_in_your_webpage|Integrate ActiveX/Mozilla on your webpage]]
* [[Change the brightness or contrast of a video|Change a video]]
*: This explains how to edit a video and save the changes
* [[How to create thumbnails]]
* [[How to Use Lirc]]
* [[How to shut down computer]] when VLC playback is over...
* [[How to make VLC the default player]]
* [[How to use VLC for transcription in linux]]

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:How To]]'''
[[Category:How To]]

VLC HowTo

2011-07-22T11:57:16Z

Newport25:

__NOTOC__
Below are some handy guides for using {{VLC}}

=== Playing Video and Audio ===

;How to...

*[[What can vlc do#How_to_enable.2Fuse_subtitles|Use Subtitles]]
*:Playing movies with subtitles
*[[How to Use a Capture Card|Use a Capture Card]]
*:This explains how to watch TV or get video from your capture card.
*[[What can vlc do#Play_DVD.2FSVCD.2FVCD_iso.27s_.2F_Images|Play DVDs and Disks from the image file]]
*:This explains how to use movies encoded onto an ISO file.

===Adjusting Settings===
;How to...
* [[What can vlc do#How to adjust picture brightness/colors/contrast..|Adjust Picture Brightness and Contrast]]
* [[What can vlc do#How to control the aspect ratio of the video|Edit the Aspect Ratio of a video]]
* [[Crop|Crop video]]
* [[How_to_disable_acceleration_in_Win32|Disable video acceleration in Win32]]
* [[How_to_save_bookmarks | Save bookmarks]]
* [[How_to_play_multiple_instances_of_VLC | How to play multiple instances]]

===Remote Control for VLC===
;How to...
* [[Control VLC via a browser]]
*: This explains how to use the HTTP [[interface]]
* [[Control VLC via a widget]] on the Mac desktop
* [[Control VLC from an iPhone]]
* [[Control VLC from an Android Phone]]
* [[Control VLC from a Palm Web OS Phone]]
* [[How to Use Creative Remote]]
*: Explains how to control {{VLC}} with Creative brand remote controls

===Transcoding and Streaming===
;How to...
* [[iPod Video Conversion Guide|Play videos on your iPod]]
*: This explains how to convert your videos so they play on your iPod.
* [[Play_on_Yan Micro|Play videos on your Play-Yan Micro]]
*: This explains how to convert your videos so they play on your Play-Yan Micro.
* [[Play_on_Xbox|Play videos on your XBox and XBox 360 ]]
*: This explains how to convert your videos so they play on your XBox.
* [[Play_on_Zune| Play video on your Zune]]
*: This explains how to convert your videos so they play on your Zune.
* [[Fixing .flv to .avi with Ffmpeg]]
*: This explains how to use ffmpeg to a convert broken .flv files to a perfectly good .avi file '''DEPRECATED'''
* [[Transcode_WM_to_Mov_or_MP4|Convert Windows Media audio/video files to MOV or .MP4]]
*: This explains how to convert Windows Media-encoded files to Quicktime or MPEG-4 files
* [[Streaming_to_ActiveX_for_Windows_Media_Player | Streaming from a webcam to an ActiveX embedded object page]]
* [[How_to_add_logo | Add a logo on your videos]]
* [[Mosaic| Create a Mosaic]]
*: This explains how to set up a mosaic from a few streams like a TV portal.
* [[How to DBox|Set up Video on Demand on a Dreambox]]
* [[How to Batch Encode]]
*: This explains how to set up a batch transcode with all files in a directory of a certain file extension being transcoded to a specified format.
* [[Transcode]]
*: This explains converting (transcoding) a file.
* [[How to merge and transcode multiple videos]]
*: This explains how to take several source videos and merge then transcode resulting in a single file output.
* [[Extract Audio From File]]
*: This explains how to extract the audio track from a file.
* [[Extract_audio]]
*: This explains how to extract the audio track from a DVD.
* [[Rip DVD]]
*: This explains how to rip a DVD using VLC

===Using VLC in other Applications===
;How to...
* [[ActiveX]]
*: Specification for ActiveX control
* [[LibVLC|Use VLC's External API]]
*: Information for using libvlc
* [[Use in Media Center]]
* [[Useful Firefox Extensions]]
*: Information about extensions to view embedded videos in web pages using VLC
* [[GWT]]
*: Google WebToolkit

===Other Stuff===
;How to...
* [[How to Create a DVD|Create a DVD]]
*: This explains how to make a DVD from your home videos
* [[ActiveX/Delphi|Use the ActiveX control with Borland's Delphi]]
*: Using the VLC ActiveX plug-in in your programs
* [[ActiveX/HTML|Use the ActiveX control within a webpage.]]
* [[HowTo_Integrate_VLC_plugin_in_your_webpage|Integrate ActiveX/Mozilla on your webpage]]
* [[Change the brightness or contrast of a video|Change a video]]
*: This explains how to edit a video and save the changes
* [[How to create thumbnails]]
* [[How to Use Lirc]]
* [[How to shut down computer]] when VLC playback is over...
* [[How to make VLC the default player]]
* [[How to use VLC for transcription in linux]]

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:How To]]'''
[[Category:How To]]