Essential JMF - Java Media Framework

Rating:
Summary: Excellent intro to JMF, but only covers 1.0
Review: I'm about halfway through this book. After being mystefied for a while by the Player, Contoller, Clock, the various transition states, when calls are legal, syncStart, etc., I finally decided to read up on it. The good news is that the API and JMF architecture are explained thoroughly and in detail. The bad news is that JMF has been significanly enhanced since the book was published. I would recommend reading the JMF Programmer's guide from the JMF web site to get up to snuff on version 2.

The point is that you can intelligently read the programmers guide, which assumes a lot of knowledge, if you've become grounded in the basics. There is no way you can read through this book and not have a very clear understanding of the underpinnings of JMF.

The other thing I enjoy about this book is the programming examples. The authors clearly understanding the Java language and how it was intended to be used. I think this is important for guys like me out in the field who are self-taught. In particularly, the threading code is nicely done and provides good instruction in an area this book isn't necessarily intended for.

The authors implement a framework for JMF in part 2. Studying how this framework is implemented gives a great "under-the-hood" look at JMF. I've gotten a chapter or two into that and plan to finish out studying Part 2 this week.

I found out that the author's work for sun and at least one was part of the JMF development team. This makes sense, because the primary focus of the book is the JMF API. I feel much more competent looking through the JMF docs now, in part because of the familiarity with the JMF API developed from this book.

Rating:
Summary: What is EJMF?
Review: If you want to learn how to develop applications using JMF don't but this book! If you want to learn how to use EJMF then buy this book. What is EJMF I hear you ask. EJMF is the Essential JMF Toolkit, which most of the examples in this book are based on. Most of what I wanted to learn about JMF is hidden away in EJMF and not explained very well. What a waste of money. Perhaps the authors should bring out another book, EJMF Explained.

Rating:
Summary: Not a good book.
Review: It is good book for someone want learn the basics of JMF. But it doesn't cover some important topic like broadcasting and conferencing. This cover only javax.media. Not good for advanced users.