(discussion) challenges in creating a video player that can stream a video from remote server

Question

hello guys...!

I am jay, I am supposed to write a video player which should have a capability to stream a video from a remote server.

There may be more than one video streams incoming.

please do help me discussing the issues in developing such a player based on following points.

1. Underlying framework for the player to use.
2. Language to prefer.(anyways I am thinking of java but your suggestions are most welcome)
3. Which player would be more efficient..? browser based or stand alone video player like the most ones we use.
4. Modifying a Open Source would be more efficient or shall I go for my own player to be written form scratch?

Answer 1

Use open source livemedia (VLC) library

1. It can work both on Linux and windows
2. Its in C++
3. Its a stand alone. With stand alone you can add many more features.
4. Livemedia is LGPL. You can change open source library, but you have to make it open or if you dont want to make it open then you cant make it commercial.

Answer 2

2) Language to prefer.(anyways I am thinking of java but your suggestions are most welcome)

Much as I like Java, a garbage collected language is likely to give you more issues with "freezes" during video playing.

3) Which player would be more efficient..? browser based or stand alone video player like the most ones we use.

From first principles, anything that you can do in a browser you can also do in a standalone application ... but not vice versa. In theory, that applies to performance too.

However, browser-based solutions have there own advantages, like ease of deployment and ease of use / user acceptance.

4) Modifying a Open Source would be more efficient or shall I go for my own player to be written form scratch?

It is usually a good idea to start from an existing (ideally high quality) codebase. It saves effort, reduces your learning curve, and if you do a good job your code will be an improvement on an already good product.

Answer 3

I would suggest trying http://www.xuggle.com/xuggler/

1. somewhat cross platform (prebuilt libraries for some, others you would have to build)
2. Java API using a native library (JNI/JNA)
3. stand alone
4. LGPL. I'd advise against starting completely from scratch