DId Quicktime 7.6.5 Windows fix QT for Java? Best video for JavaFX?

Question

Greetings,

I have read that QuickTime for Java is esentially broken on both Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. I can't tell how broken -- doesn't seem broken, but could just be my setup. I'm trying to determine whether this is a good technology stack, or if I should look elsewhere.

Objective: I want to build a specialized desktop video player and annotation program for both Mac and Windows (and Linux if possible). I think I want to use JavaFX (JavaFX as a Flash/Flex alternative that can use all Java libs and can build a decent UI.) I need to use something like QuickTime vs. Flash video as I need frame-accurate playback and wide codec support. I'd prefer to code in a relatively high-level language (not C++).

Thanks, Cameron

Answer 1

Have you tried Xuggler? It should work for you.

Answer 2

Apple seems to have abandon QT for Java. Wikipedia's QuickTime for Java page seems to sum it up well. A select quote:

Currently most of QTJ is broken on recent windows-running computers. Windows machines that use the no-execute (NX) page-protection security feature of recent CPUs cannot run even the demos without changing the configuration. This can be easily verified by a developer via a test-run of one of the demos coming with QTJ. An "execution protection violation" is reported and the program is aborted by Windows. This renders QTJ unsuitable for end-user application development due to the necessary complicated configuration of the NX feature.

So, not good.

Following the 2003 release of QTJ 6.1, Apple has made few updates to QTJ, mostly fixing bugs. Notably, QuickTime 7 was the first version of QuickTime not to be accompanied or followed by a QTJ release that wrapped the new native API's. QuickTime 7's new API's, such as those for working with metadata and with frame-reordering codecs, are not available to QTJ programmers. Apple has also not offered new classes to provide the capture preview functionality that was present in versions of QTJ prior to 6.1. Indeed, QTJ is dependent on some native API's that Apple no longer recommends, most notably QuickDraw.

And probably not going to look good. Ever.