Fast acquring of images using JMF

Question

Hello!
I have been trying to write a class for reading frames from a video camera using JMF, however the BufferToImage.createImage appeared to be very slow -- the code is fast if the method is commented out. How can I get the images faster? Or perhaps read pixels directly from the video stream buffer? Or is there another problem with the code? If BufferToImage was constructed using Buffer.getFormat, it was also slow.
I attach the code that I have used for reading the frames.
Sincerely,
Artur Rataj
* A video input driver that uses Java Media Framework.
* This file is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
* version 0.1, date 2004-07-21, author Artur Rataj
package video.drivers;
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import javax.media.*;
import javax.media.protocol.*;
import javax.media.control.*;
import javax.media.format.*;
import javax.media.util.BufferToImage;
* This is a video driver that uses Java Media Framework to access video input devices.
public class JMFDriver extends VideoDriver implements ControllerListener {
      * The input stream processor.
     Processor processor;
      * The stream from the input video device.
     PushBufferStream frameStream;
      * A converter from stream data to an image.
     BufferToImage frameStreamConverter;
      * A video stream buffer.
     Buffer videoBuffer;
      * Constructs a new driver.
     public JMFDriver(String deviceAddress, int width, int height, int bitsPerPixel)
          throws VideoDriverException {
          super(deviceAddress, width, height, bitsPerPixel);
          MediaLocator locator = new MediaLocator(deviceAddress);
          if(locator == null)
               throw new VideoDriverException("Device not found: " + deviceAddress);
          javax.media.protocol.DataSource source;
          try {
               source = javax.media.Manager.createDataSource(locator);
          } catch(IOException e) {
               throw new VideoDriverException("Could not read device " + deviceAddress +
                    ": " + e.toString());
          } catch(NoDataSourceException e) {
               throw new VideoDriverException("Could not read device " + deviceAddress +
                    ": " + e.toString());
          if(!( source instanceof CaptureDevice ))
               throw new VideoDriverException("The device " + deviceAddress +
                    " not recognized as a video input one.");
          FormatControl[] formatControls =
               ((CaptureDevice)source).getFormatControls();
          if(formatControls == null || formatControls.length == 0)
               throw new VideoDriverException("Could not set the format of images from " +
                    deviceAddress + ".");
          VideoFormat videoFormat = null;
searchFormat:
          for(int i = 0; i < formatControls.length; ++i) {
               FormatControl c = formatControls;
               Format[] formats = c.getSupportedFormats();
               for(int j = 0; j < formats.length; ++j)
                    if(formats[j] instanceof VideoFormat) {
                         VideoFormat f = (VideoFormat)formats[j];
                         if(f.getSize().getWidth() == this.width &&
                              f.getSize().getHeight() == this.height) {
                              int bpp = -1;
                              if(f instanceof RGBFormat)
                                   bpp = ((RGBFormat)f).getBitsPerPixel();
                              else if(f instanceof YUVFormat) {
                                   YUVFormat yuv = (YUVFormat)f;
                                   bpp = (yuv.getStrideY() + yuv.getStrideUV())*8/
                                             this.width;
                              if(bpp == bitsPerPixel) {
                                   videoFormat = (VideoFormat)c.setFormat(f);
                                   break searchFormat;
          if(videoFormat == null)
               throw new VideoDriverException("Could not find the format of images from " +
                    deviceAddress + " at " + bitsPerPixel + " bits per pixel.");
          try {
               source.connect();
          } catch(IOException e) {
               throw new VideoDriverException("Could not connect to the device " +
                    deviceAddress + ": " + e.toString());
          try {
               processor = Manager.createProcessor(source);
          } catch(IOException e) {
               throw new VideoDriverException("Could not initialize the processing " +
                    "of images from " + deviceAddress + ": " + e.toString());
          } catch(NoProcessorException e) {
               throw new VideoDriverException("Could not initialize the processing " +
                    "of images from " + deviceAddress + ": " + e.toString());
          processor.addControllerListener(this);
          synchronized(this) {
               processor.realize();
               try {
                    wait();
               } catch(InterruptedException e) {
                    throw new VideoDriverException("Could not initialize the processing " +
                         "of images from " + deviceAddress + ": " + e.toString());
          processor.start();
          PushBufferDataSource frameSource = null;
          try {
               frameSource = (PushBufferDataSource)processor.getDataOutput();
          } catch(NotRealizedError e) {
               /* empty */
          PushBufferStream[] frameStreams = frameSource.getStreams();
          for(int i = 0; i < frameStreams.length; ++i)
               if(frameStreams[i].getFormat() instanceof VideoFormat) {
                    frameStream = frameStreams[i];
                    break;
          videoBuffer = new Buffer();
          videoBuffer.setTimeStamp(0);
          videoBuffer.setFlags(videoBuffer.getFlags() |
               Buffer.FLAG_NO_WAIT |
               Buffer.FLAG_NO_DROP |
               Buffer.FLAG_NO_SYNC);
          processor.prefetch();
     public void controllerUpdate(ControllerEvent event) {
          if(event instanceof RealizeCompleteEvent)
               synchronized(this) {
                    notifyAll();
     * Acquires an image from the input video device.
     public Image acquireImage() throws VideoDriverException {
          try {
               frameStream.read(videoBuffer);
          } catch(IOException e) {
               throw new VideoDriverException("Could not acquire a video frame: " +
                    e.toString());
          frameStreamConverter = new BufferToImage(
               (VideoFormat)frameStream.getFormat());
          Image out = frameStreamConverter.createImage(videoBuffer);
          return out;
     * Closes the input video device.
     public void close() {
          processor.close();
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
          JMFDriver driver = new JMFDriver("v4l://0", 768, 576, 16);
          while(true)
               Image image = driver.acquireImage();
               System.out.print(".");
               System.out.flush();

Answer 1

This is how you do this:
First you must know upfront what type of a format your camera is using,
all the valid formats are static members of BufferedImage.
Next you need to create a BufferedImage of the same format.
Here is an example:
My creative webcam is set to: 640x480 RGB 24bit color. i Create a BufferedImage into which i will copy the buffer:
BufferedImage buff = new BufferedImage(640,480,BufferedImage.TYPE_3BYTE_BGR);
Next the copy operation where appropriate
cbuffer is my javax.media.Buffer from which i will copy the image data:
System.arraycopy((byte[])cbuffer.getData(), 0, ((DataBufferByte) buff.getRaster().getDataBuffer()).getData(),0,img_size_bytes);
Things to note here, are i cast the cbuffer.getData() to byte[] because that is the type of data this is. I cast buff.getRaster().getDataBuffer() to DataBufferByte because the bufferedimage is of type TYPE_3BYTE_BGR.
also, img_size_bytes equals to 640*480*3
This operation will copy the raw buffer into your buffered image avoiding the use of BufferToImage
Only problem is the image will be flipped, but just flip the webcam to correct this =)