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Async Filter Sample

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[The feature associated with this page, DirectShow, is a legacy feature. It has been superseded by MediaPlayer, IMFMediaEngine, and Audio/Video Capture in Media Foundation. Those features have been optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft strongly recommends that new code use MediaPlayer, IMFMediaEngine and Audio/Video Capture in Media Foundation instead of DirectShow, when possible. Microsoft suggests that existing code that uses the legacy APIs be rewritten to use the new APIs if possible.]

Description

The Async Filter sample is a file reader filter that supports progressive download. This sample filter implements the IAsyncReader and IFileSourceFilter interfaces. It supports MPEG files, but not AVI files.

Usage

This sample includes a small command-line application, Memfile.exe, that demonstrates the filter. The command-line arguments specify a media file and a bit rate, in kilobytes per second. The application reads the file into memory at the specified rate and plays the file. To do so, it creates an instance of the filter, adds the filter to the filter graph, and renders the filter's output pin.

At the command line, type:

Memfile Filename BitRate

The Async sample filter does not support AVI files, because it cannot connect to the AVI Splitter filter. The Async filter's output pin proposes MEDIATYPE_Stream and MEDIASUBTYPE_NULL for the media type. The input pin on the AVI Splitter filter does not accept MEDIASUBTYPE_NULL, and does not propose any types of its own. Therefore, the pin connection fails. The Async filter could be enhanced to offer MEDIASUBTYPE_Avi when appropriate. For example, it could examine the file format, or use the file extension.

Downloading the Sample

To download the DirectShow SDK samples, install the latest version of the Windows SDK.

This sample is installed under the following path: [SDK Root]\Samples\Multimedia\DirectShow\Filters\Async.

DirectShow Samples