IEEE 1394 Reader Class

The IEEE1394Reader object maintains a connection to a DV camcorder. It reads DV frames from the camcorder and stores them in a queue. The frames can then be retrieved from the buffer and displayed, stored, or processed in other ways.

The IEEE1394Reader class supports asynchronous operation: it starts a separate thread, which reads as fast as possible from the ieee1394 interface card to make sure that no frames are lost. Since the buffer can be configured to hold many frames, no frames will be lost even if the disk access is temporarily slow.

There are two queues available in an IEEE1394Reader object. One queue holds empty frames, the other holds frames filled with DV content just read from the interface. During operation the reader thread takes unused frames from the inFrames queue, fills them and places them in the outFrame queue. The program can then take frames from the outFrames queue, process them and finally put them back in the inFrames queue.

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