From kde-multimedia  Tue Sep 14 22:14:48 2004
From: Matthias Kretz <kretz () kde ! org>
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 22:14:48 +0000
To: kde-multimedia
Subject: Re: kdemm backends & Helix
Message-Id: <200409150014.49089.kretz () kde ! org>
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On Tuesday 14 September 2004 20:25, Ryan Gammon wrote:
> A couple of quick questions:
> 1. Is anyone interested in a helix-based implementation of these
> interfaces? (helixcommunity.org, helix client is the open-source media
> engine that powers the RealPlayer).

I am. And I'm all for including it in kdemultimedia. I won't be the person=
=20
implementing it, though.

> 2. I'm a little confused by channels -- if there's something someone can
> point me at that talks a bit about what this is, it'd be much appreciated.

The Channel interface is not finished. It's pretty much a placeholder=20
currently for an idea of Dik Takken (look at his mails to kde-multimedia -=
=20
and the one to kde-core-devel if you want to know all the details). But=20
basically it's a means of making apps use more advanced features of the med=
ia=20
backend without the app actually knowing. So you could define a Channel tha=
t=20
would send the audio through some effects before playing to the soundcard. =
Or=20
another one that would send the data to a file or another computer.

> 3. If one wanted to provide access to extended media engine
> functionality with these interfaces, how would they go about doing it?

The idea currently is: "not at all". All the interface provides is the name=
=20
and some general info on the backend kdemm would use. If an app wants more=
=20
than the simple API in kdemm it's supposed to use the backend framework=20
directly and don't mess with kdemm at all (of course it's not disallowed to=
=20
do, but it's probably not a good idea).

> For example, we developed a simplifed gtk widget around the Helix Player
> for our Helix Player 1.0 / RealPlayer 10 for linux project. There's a
> lot of media engine functionality that we didn't want to add to the gtk
> api -- we wanted to keep it simple -- so we added a mechanism to get at
> the underlying engine.

And how do you do that? Thinking of kdemm that would mean installing a lib =
for=20
all backends that can then be used at compile time by apps? Isn't just usin=
g=20
the backend's API directly enough?

> Let's say I wanted to make playback statistics (packet loss, etc)
> available to an app, but that statistics was not something that was
> standardized enough across backends that it made sense for kdemm.
>
> Would I implement those methods on a hypothetical HelixVideoPlayer
> class, and cast from a VideoPlayer up to a HelixVideoPlayer in my app?

One could do that, but I don't think it's a good idea. What would be better=
=20
IMHO is to have Qt/KDE bindings (meaning C++ with Qt/KDE APIs) for the=20
framework.

=2D-=20
C'ya
        Matthias
________________________________________________________
Matthias Kretz (Germany)                          <><
http://Vir.homeip.net/
MatthiasKretz@gmx.net, kretz@kde.org,
Matthias.Kretz@urz.uni-heidelberg.de

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