Re: JMF and rendering formats with a processor

Question

Don't ask me how it works, I don't know :-). Got it from somewhere I don't remember.
package gui;
// Fig 21.6: MediaPanel.java
// A JPanel the plays media from a URL
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.util.List;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.media.CannotRealizeException;
import javax.media.Codec;
import javax.media.ConfigureCompleteEvent;
import javax.media.ControllerEvent;
import javax.media.ControllerListener;
import javax.media.EndOfMediaEvent;
import javax.media.Manager;
import javax.media.NoPlayerException;
import javax.media.PrefetchCompleteEvent;
import javax.media.Processor;
import javax.media.RealizeCompleteEvent;
import javax.media.ResourceUnavailableEvent;
import javax.media.UnsupportedPlugInException;
import javax.media.control.TrackControl;
import javax.media.format.VideoFormat;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class MediaPanel extends JPanel implements ControllerListener
   Processor processor = null;
   Component visualComponent = null;
   Component controlPanel = null;
   List<Codec> effects = null;
   Object waitSync = new Object();
   boolean stateTransitionOK = true;
   public MediaPanel() {
        Manager.setHint(Manager.LIGHTWEIGHT_RENDERER, true);
        setLayout(new BorderLayout());
   public MediaPanel( URL mediaURL )  {
       this();
      open(mediaURL);  
   public void setEffects(List<Codec> aEffects) {
        effects = aEffects;
   public List<Codec> getEffects() {
        return effects;
   public void open(URL mediaURL) {
        try {
               if(processor != null) {
                    processor.stop();
                    processor.close();
                    remove(visualComponent);
                    remove(controlPanel);
              // create a player to play the media specified in the URL
              processor = Manager.createProcessor( mediaURL );
              processor.addControllerListener(this);
              processor.configure();
              if (!waitForState(Processor.Configured)) {
                   throw new Exception("Failed to configure the processor.");
              processor.setContentDescriptor(null);
               // Obtain the track controls.
               TrackControl tc[] = processor.getTrackControls();
               if (tc == null) {
                   throw new Exception("Failed to obtain track controls from the processor.");
               // Search for the track control for the video track.
               TrackControl videoTrack = null;
               for (int i = 0; i < tc.length; i++) {
                   if (tc.getFormat() instanceof VideoFormat) {
               videoTrack = tc[i];
               break;
          if (videoTrack == null) {
          throw new Exception("The input media does not contain a video track.");
          System.err.println("Video format: " + videoTrack.getFormat());
          // Instantiate and set the frame access codec to the data flow path.
          try {
          if(effects != null && ! effects.isEmpty()) videoTrack.setCodecChain((Codec [])effects.toArray(new Codec[effects.size()]));
          } catch (UnsupportedPlugInException e) {
          throw new Exception("The processor does not support effects.");
          processor.prefetch();
          if(!waitForState(Processor.Prefetched)) {
               throw new Exception("Failed to realize the processor");
     // get the components for the video and the playback controls
     visualComponent = processor.getVisualComponent();
     controlPanel = processor.getControlPanelComponent();
     setLayout(new BorderLayout());
     if ( visualComponent != null )
          add( visualComponent, BorderLayout.CENTER ); // add video component
     if ( controlPanel != null )
     add( controlPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH ); // add controls
     validate();
     } catch ( NoPlayerException noPlayerException ) {
          System.err.println( "No media player found" );
     } catch ( CannotRealizeException cannotRealizeException ) {
          System.err.println( "Could not realize media player" );
     } catch ( IOException iOException ) {
          System.err.println( "Error reading from the source" );
     } catch (Exception e) {
          System.err.println(e.getMessage());
* Controller Listener.
public void controllerUpdate(ControllerEvent evt) {
     if (evt instanceof ConfigureCompleteEvent ||
               evt instanceof RealizeCompleteEvent ||
               evt instanceof PrefetchCompleteEvent) {
          synchronized (waitSync) {
               stateTransitionOK = true;
               waitSync.notifyAll();
     } else if (evt instanceof ResourceUnavailableEvent) {
          synchronized (waitSync) {
               stateTransitionOK = false;
               waitSync.notifyAll();
     } else if (evt instanceof EndOfMediaEvent) {
          processor.close();
          // System.exit(0);
* Block until the processor has transitioned to the given state.
* Return false if the transition failed.
boolean waitForState(int state) {
     synchronized (waitSync) {
          try {
               while (processor.getState() != state && stateTransitionOK)
                    waitSync.wait();
          } catch (Exception e) {}
     return stateTransitionOK;

Answer 1

OK, the fog is slowly clearing.
I have a machine with a new installation of XP on it. I installed JMF2.1.1e, and tried to play an MPEG2 video - and got an error (a somewhat opaque "Failed to realize" message). So JMF does not come with a MPEG2 codec. So far so good.
Comparing the new machine with my development machine I realised that a key difference was DVD playback software....I guess this installs DirectShow MPEG-2 capability (thanks for the suggestion, andyble).
Installing a similar DirectShow MPEG-2 codec (FFDShow) on the new machine allowed the video to play without any changes to the installed JMF!
So...conclusions so far are
- JMF does not take advantage of hardware acceleration (not surprising, really).
- JMF will pick up "native" codecs automagically.
I was fooling myself into thinking that the various MPEG-2 codec libraries I was plugging into JMF (JFFMPEG, FOBS) were actually being used. Instead it was bypassing the lot and using a direct line into the hardware (note, I am using the Windows optimised installation of JMF, but I wasn't expecting it to completely ignore the setup information!).
So the final question has to be how to select between internal codecs and the native DirectShow? Any ideas, anyone?