Linden deCarmo

The multimedia objects in Sun's Java Development Kits are so primitive that they're worthless for serious development. Fortunately, Sun has overhauled Java's multimedia capabilities with the release of the Java Media Framework. In this article I'll explain why the JMF architecture is a significant improvement and show you how to use these objects in your applets or applications. Struggling with AudioClip If you've ever used the applet's AudioClip class, you've probably grieved over its limited functionality. The most irritating restrictions are its inability to determine the length of an audio file or how much of a file has already played. To be fair, AudioClip was designed for no-frills playback of AU digital audio content. Consequently, it can't play most digital audio files, or any digital video content or Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) files (see L... (more)

Unlocking the Secrets of JMF Part 2

RTP and RTSP: Protocols that address the transportation of multimedia content over IP The Internet is strewn with multimedia minefields. Lost or out-of-sequence packets and transmission delays can create havoc in your applications. Fortunately, you can overcome these problems by using protocols optimized for multimedia transportation. This article explains why these protocols are necessary, and examines how the JMF implements them and how you can use them to spice up your programs. Transportation Woes The TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) dominates IP (Int... (more)

Multimedia Evolution or Revolution

Java programmers have been anxiously awaiting the release of the Java Media Framework 2.0 for more than a year. Not only does JMF 2.0 finally let you capture audio and video content, but it claims to solve the most irritating limitations of the JMF 1.x release. Does JMF 2.0 live up to its hype? This article explores the new features and reveals whether this release was worth the wait. Although the JMF 1.x API was a dramatic improvement over Sun's previous multimedia efforts, it is a work in progress. For instance, you can't record (or capture) multimedia content. Furthermore, it... (more)

Interview with Randy Hietter

JDJ: Randy, tell us a little bit about Persistence. Hietter: Well, Persistence Software is an EJB application server vendor company. We actually got started back in 1991 building object-relational mapping tools. Our founders saw that relational databases weren't going to go away, that they were going to be the mainstream way of persisting data. However, they saw that the traditional coding methods were going to be eclipsed by object-oriented programming and design, so they married the two through object-relational mapping. We can take information out of a relational database and ... (more)