[gstreamer-bugs] [Bug 464630] New: Snapshot API improvement

[GStreamer (bugzilla.gnome.org)]

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  GStreamer | gstreamer (core) | Ver: HEAD CVS
           Summary: Snapshot API improvement
           Product: GStreamer
           Version: HEAD CVS
          Platform: Other
        OS/Version: All
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: Normal
         Component: gstreamer (core)
        AssignedTo: gstreamer-bugs at lists.sourceforge.net
        ReportedBy: fredrik.p.persson at gmail.com
         QAContact: gstreamer-bugs at lists.sourceforge.net
     GNOME version: Unversioned Enhancement
   GNOME milestone: Unspecified


The function "fetch a snapshot out of a video stream" currently requires an
unproportionally huge knowledge of gstreamer inner workings to accomplish.

The first problem is to fetch a frame (a buffer) out of the video stream. This
can be trivially accomplished if playbin is used, with the "frame" property. If
playbin is not used, however, it is not straightforward nor intuitive to fetch
the buffer.

Next, the buffer must be run through a special pipeline. This poses two
difficult problems:

1. To "manually" feed a single buffer into a pipeline is very difficult, and
various tricks exists that can solve the problem. None is straightforward nor
intuitive.

2. The special pipeline must be created so that the buffer is properly
converted into a gtk pixbuf. This is not straightforward nor intuitive.

All the things outlined above are not of interest to the application programmer
trying to solve his problem; they are irritating obstacles. My personal
experience is that this obstacle was so huge I considered not using gstreamer
at all for the application I'm developing. I have also noticed that the
question "how do I get a snapshot from a video stream?" regularly appears on
the mailing list and in the IRC channel.

Conclusion; I suggest that a snapshot element (or some other, equivalent
method) is introduced into gstreamer to hide this mess from the application
programmer.


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