Snapshot using vlc (for snapshot in RAM)

I planned to use the vlc library to decode the H.264-based RTSP stream and extract each frame from it (convert the vlc image to IplImage). I studied the vlc code a bit and came to the conclusion that there is a libvlc_video_take_snapshot function that does a similar thing. However, the captured frame in this case is saved on the hard drive, which I want to avoid due to the real time of my application. What would be the best way to do this? It would be possible without changing the source of vlc (I want, if possible, to avoid recompiling). I heard about vmem, etc., but could not understand what it was doing and how to use it.

The picture_t structure is internal to the library, how can we access it. Waiting for your reply.

PS I used to try to do this with FFMPEG, but the ffmpeg library had a lot of problems decoding an H.264-based RTSP stream on windows, and so I had to switch to VLC.

Regards, Saurabh Gandhi