Hi there,

I'm working on a multimedia project that involves capturing images from a web cam, analyzing pixels and playing some audio.

I got a hold of some sample code that plays audio and reads images using DirectX, but I was really disappointed with the stability of the application overall (perhaps bad sample code? not sure...). This was in Visual C++ too. I think I'd like to do it in C#.NET or Java.

Does anyone have any library/API recommendations for the following:
- capturing images from a web cam. I've never done this before programmatically...
- reading pixels from graphic images (captured images)
- playing mp3 files; possibility for fade in/fade out would be ideal

I've done the research, but I thought I'd get your feedback as well in case you've actually worked with them. Even if not, feedback is still very much appreciated!

Thank You,
Tim

as far as playing MP3s go best .net solution I have found is a free library from here http://www.ambiera.com/irrklang/ its called irrklang and works great and is simple to use, comes with examples. That's what I use in my apps.

as for capturing video you have to programmatically build a "graph" that tells the system what device, what input, and what codecs to use. Its complicated and I don't have any working examples I could share.