Question

I’m looking for resources (preferably books, but websites are fine too) for using FFmpeg and/or SDL with C++.

Stuff I’d like to be able to do (eventually):

• Decode and play videos in realtime to a QT widget (the QT part isn’t a problem)
• Overlay text and images on the video (in realtime)
• Loop video
• Cross-fade from one video to another (in realtime)
• Some kind of DVD functionality
• LIVE sources? (i.e. webcam, stream, etc.)

So far I’ve looked at (and consider helpful) the following resources:

• FFmpeg and SDL Tutorial by Dranger (extremely helpful)

• Stack Overflow: ffmpeg C API documentation/tutorial (not a duplicate, btw)

• Sample code bundled with FFMPEG libraries

  (I’ll try and update this list with anything helpful below)

Thanks for any help…

Also: Operating System is Windows (but maybe one day cross-platform)
Also 2: Resources using alternatives are welcome too… i.e. DirectShow, VFW, etc.

Answer 1

If all you need is to decode and play videos and require overlays I would consider using the Phonon framework, and use QT Graphics View by using a Phonon::VideoWidget inside a QGraphicsProxyWidget. That way you can easily get overlays, cross-fading, animations etc. Phonon in Windows uses DirectShow as a back-end. You can install FFDShow and get the same codecs ffmpeg has to play videos.