How to Set the Video Capture Format

A video capture device might support several capture formats. Formats typically differ by compression type, color space (YUV or RGB), frame size, or frame rate.

The list of supported formats is contained in the presentation descriptor. For more information, see Presentation Descriptors.

To enumerate the supported formats:

1. Create the media source for the capture device. See Enumerating Video Capture Devices.
2. Call IMFMediaSource::CreatePresentationDescriptor on the media source to get the presentation descriptor.
3. Call IMFPresentationDescriptor::GetStreamDescriptorByIndex to get the stream descriptor for the video stream.
4. Call IMFStreamDescriptor::GetMediaTypeHandler on the stream descriptor.
5. Call IMFMediaTypeHandler::GetMediaTypeCount to get the number of supported formats.
6. In a loop, call IMFMediaTypeHandler::GetMediaTypeByIndex to get each format. The format is represented by a media type. For more information, see Video Media Types.

The following example enumerates the capture formats for a device:

HRESULT EnumerateCaptureFormats(IMFMediaSource *pSource)
{
    IMFPresentationDescriptor *pPD = NULL;
    IMFStreamDescriptor *pSD = NULL;
    IMFMediaTypeHandler *pHandler = NULL;
    IMFMediaType *pType = NULL;

    HRESULT hr = pSource->CreatePresentationDescriptor(&pPD);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        goto done;
    }

    BOOL fSelected;
    hr = pPD->GetStreamDescriptorByIndex(0, &fSelected, &pSD);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        goto done;
    }

    hr = pSD->GetMediaTypeHandler(&pHandler);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        goto done;
    }

    DWORD cTypes = 0;
    hr = pHandler->GetMediaTypeCount(&cTypes);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        goto done;
    }

    for (DWORD i = 0; i < cTypes; i++)
    {
        hr = pHandler->GetMediaTypeByIndex(i, &pType);
        if (FAILED(hr))
        {
            goto done;
        }

        LogMediaType(pType);
        OutputDebugString(L"\n");

        SafeRelease(&pType);
    }

done:
    SafeRelease(&pPD);
    SafeRelease(&pSD);
    SafeRelease(&pHandler);
    SafeRelease(&pType);
    return hr;
}

The LogMediaType function used in this example is listed in the topic Media Type Debugging Code.

To set the capture format:

1. Get a pointer to the IMFMediaTypeHandler interface, as shown in the previous example.
2. Call IMFMediaTypeHandler::GetMediaTypeByIndex to get the desired format, specified by index.
3. Call IMFMediaTypeHandler::SetCurrentMediaType to set the format.

If you do not set the capture format, the device will use its default format.

The following example sets the capture format:

HRESULT SetDeviceFormat(IMFMediaSource *pSource, DWORD dwFormatIndex)
{
    IMFPresentationDescriptor *pPD = NULL;
    IMFStreamDescriptor *pSD = NULL;
    IMFMediaTypeHandler *pHandler = NULL;
    IMFMediaType *pType = NULL;

    HRESULT hr = pSource->CreatePresentationDescriptor(&pPD);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        goto done;
    }

    BOOL fSelected;
    hr = pPD->GetStreamDescriptorByIndex(0, &fSelected, &pSD);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        goto done;
    }

    hr = pSD->GetMediaTypeHandler(&pHandler);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        goto done;
    }

    hr = pHandler->GetMediaTypeByIndex(dwFormatIndex, &pType);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        goto done;
    }

    hr = pHandler->SetCurrentMediaType(pType);

done:
    SafeRelease(&pPD);
    SafeRelease(&pSD);
    SafeRelease(&pHandler);
    SafeRelease(&pType);
    return hr;
}

The order in which formats are returned depends on the device. Typically, they are grouped first by compression type or color space; and then from smallest frame size to largest frame size within each group.

The frame rate is handled slightly differently than the other format attributes. For more information, see How to Set the Video Capture Frame Rate.

Related topics

Video Capture