Bitmaps to video

bankai123

Hi, I currently have bitmaps coming in as files from a usb input and I'm wondering what library is suitable for displaying the bitmaps into a video. If so can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks

Mark Salsbery

If you just want to display them as a video then you can draw the bitmaps to a window as they come in. If you want to save a video file then you'll need to know the file format, and if it's a compressed format, how to compress the images into a video stream. For free, if Windows Meda Format is acceptable, you can use the Windows Media Format SDK[^] to write an image stream to a Windows Media Video (WMV) file. There's lots of third party stuff available I'm sure, but I've never used any. Mark

"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder

bankai123

Thanks for the hints. I've heard DirectShow can also be a relevant library, or is that mainly for displaying video?

Mark Salsbery

DirectShow will work. The only problem I see with that is that there's no source filter available to dump images into so you'd need to develop your own. Otherwise it would be similar to using Windows Media Format. In fact, besides AVI, Windows Media (with MPEG-4) is the only included way of writing files. Windows Media Format would be simpler than adding an extra layer on top of it. Mark

"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder

bankai123

Which version of the Windows Media SDK do you recommend, or should I use the latest (version 11)? Thanks

Mark Salsbery

I suppose the latest one (11) is fine. I'm still on 9.5 for no other reason than I haven't used any of the newer DRM stuff in 11 and I haven't installed it. Maybe today if I'm bored :laugh:

"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder