C# webcam

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mathieu Chavoutier
  • Start date Start date
M

Mathieu Chavoutier

Hi.

Is it possible to do a program that show the "film" that is currently on our
webcam ?

I do not have a Webcam for the moment, so, if you have advices to chose a
Webcam compliant (with what I want to do), I would be thanksfull.
 
You want to preview and capture video and audio from a webcam (or any other
WDM capture hardware)?

The managed code languages (C#/VB.Net) aren't the right tools if you want to
do that directly because of the lowlevel processing required.. It is
normally done using DirectShow which as I see it is Never Ever Ever going to
be fully available as a managed technology.

If you like C++ then get the free WMFormat SDK and DirectX SDK downloads
from MSDN, there are plenty of VC++ samples there. (The only managed
DirectShow sample, because it's the only thing you can do with Managed code,
is the sample for reading and modifying tags in Media9 audio/video and MP3
files).

If you want to tough it out from a non-.Net non-VC++ viewpoint, look to
www.shrinkwrapvb.com. This site has a number of samples showng how to do
video and audio capture with VBClassic and without any C++ support
libraries.

If you want to just get a good job done, then look to the many ActiveX
DirectShow/WMFormat wrapper components on the market and use them in .Net
via interop.

If it helps you at all... I worked for a media-oriented development company
and did extensive research on the various offerings about a year ago and
went with VidCapX from Fathsoft.com. My CEO thought I was picking it
because of its' low price, but the price wasn't the reason. I chose it
because it's lightweight but has a full load of features including capture
to avi or WMV with custom profiles, frame grabbing, framelevel control of
playback, edit/merge of recorded files, etc, etc) and all of them worked
flawlessly. I no longer work for that company ... but if it means anything
I bought my own copy of the control from Fathsoft because once you start
doing video apps, you start seeing a lot of great reasons to write more
video apps :).

Hope that helps.

Robert Smith
Kirkland, WA
www.smithvoice.com
 
smith said:
You want to preview and capture video and audio from a webcam (or any
other WDM capture hardware)?
Click to expand...

In fact, I only want to display the video. I don't want to treat it or save
it. But, I want also
to send it to a specific person over internet.
The managed code languages (C#/VB.Net) aren't the right tools if you want
to do that directly because of the lowlevel processing required.. It is
normally done using DirectShow which as I see it is Never Ever Ever going
to be fully available as a managed technology.
Oki.

If you like C++
Click to expand...

I speak C++ too :o)
then get the free WMFormat SDK and DirectX SDK downloads from MSDN, there
are plenty of VC++ samples there. (The only managed DirectShow sample,
because it's the only thing you can do with Managed code, is the sample
for reading and modifying tags in Media9 audio/video and MP3 files).
Click to expand...

I will look that website.
If you want to tough it out from a non-.Net non-VC++ viewpoint, look to
www.shrinkwrapvb.com. This site has a number of samples showng how to do
video and audio capture with VBClassic and without any C++ support
libraries.
Click to expand...

I don't (want to) speak VB. But I don't want to debate it :o)
If you want to just get a good job done, then look to the many ActiveX
DirectShow/WMFormat wrapper components on the market and use them in .Net
via interop.

If it helps you at all... I worked for a media-oriented development
company and did extensive research on the various offerings about a year
ago and went with VidCapX from Fathsoft.com. My CEO thought I was picking
it because of its' low price, but the price wasn't the reason. I chose it
because it's lightweight but has a full load of features including capture
to avi or WMV with custom profiles, frame grabbing, framelevel control of
playback, edit/merge of recorded files, etc, etc) and all of them worked
flawlessly. I no longer work for that company ... but if it means
anything I bought my own copy of the control from Fathsoft because once
you start doing video apps, you start seeing a lot of great reasons to
write more video apps :).

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Well, thanks for your long answer. There are a lot of informations, and I
think they could be usefull.
 
VBClassic, like C#, VB.Net, Delphi and C++ is a tool with it's own unique
advantages for certain situations so offhandedly discounting it as an option
isn't always the most professional approach ;-)

But we're getting closer what what you *really* want to do: Capture and
send over IP. Again, the Fathsoft control does this easily (as do many 3rd
party controls); You just start the capture and specify a port. Open that
port on your firewall (routing it to the correct internal machine) and tell
the remote users the address including the port as in:

http://mydomainname:8080

You can also just tap into the Window Media Encoder (free download from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx )
either with code using the Encoder SDK or just using the encoder GUI itself
with no code.

Use of the Media Encoder SDK or any DirectShow component in a .Net project
means using Interop because you'e automating ActiveX tools.

Note that encoding adds a delay (and the network adds latency), expect up to
20seconds between direct feed to the cam and receipt of the frames on the
other end. The exact delay amount depends on your quality settings. Use of
the Media Encoder or other WMFormat/DirectShow technologies is not going to
give you a satisfying real-time video "chat" experience, but if both sides
are running broadband then you can easily get tv quality, or better,
reception.

For more information, please switch over to the DirectX and
WindowsMedia\Encoder newsgroups.

Robert Smith
Kirkland, WA
www.smithvoice.com
 
smith said:
For more information, please switch over to the DirectX and
WindowsMedia\Encoder newsgroups.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for all your help, I will go on WindowsMedia\Encoder
newsgroups in a few minuts :o)
 
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