DirectShow Introduction
The Microsoft® DirectShow® application interface (API) is a media stream system for the Microsoft® Windows® platform. DirectShow provides high quality media stream capture and playback. It supports loose format changes, including advanced stream format (ASF), Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), Audio-Video Interleaved (AVI), MPEG Sound Layer-3 (MP3), and WAV files. It supports capture using Windows Drive Modules (WDM) or old Windows video. DirectShow is integrated with other DirectX technology. If available, it automatically detects and uses video and sound hardware acceleration, but also supports systems with no hardware acceleration.
DirectShow simplifies media playback, format transformation, and capture. At the same time, it is required to customize the solution, which enables the application to use the fundamental stream control system. You can also create your own DirectShow components to support new formats or valid customization.
With various examples, you can write with DirectShow, including DVD players, video editing programs, AVIs to ASF converters, MP3 players, and digital video capture programs.
DirectShow is based on the Component Model (COM). Want to write a DirectShow application, you must understand the COM client programming. For most applications, you don't have to perform your own COM components. DirectShow supplies the components you need. (If you want to expand DirectShow by writing your own component, you have to implement them as a COM component.)
This section includes the following topics.
Navigation DirectShow Supported Format DirectShow Q & A Set of DirectShow
