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javac++screen-scrapingvlc

Streaming the desktop

I want to create a C++ cross-platform (Windows and MacOS X) application that sends the screen as a video stream to a server.

The application is needed in the context of lecture capture. The end result will be a Flash based web page that plays back the lecture (presenter video and audio + slides/desktop).

I am currently exploring a few options:

  • Bundle the VLC (the Video Player) binary with my app and use its desktop streaming features.
  • Use the Qt Phonon library, but it doesn't seem to be powerful enough.
  • Send individual screenshots plus a timestamp to the server instead of a video stream. The server then would have to create the video stream.
  • Implement it in Java and use Xuggler (BigBlueButton uses it for their Desktop Sharing feature)
  • ...?

I would greatly appreciate your insights/comments on how to approach this problem.

Solution

  • My solution was to write a simple GUI application in Qt that invokes a VLC process in the background. This works really well.