DirectShow (Compact 2013)

3/26/2014

DirectShow is a middleware architecture that provides a pipeline for media playback and capture. You can use the DirectShow API to play multimedia content from local storage, from streamed sources over a network, or from the Internet. The architecture is designed to support sources, formats, codecs, and hardware devices.

Ee493997.security(en-us,WinEmbedded.80).gifSecurity Note:
Because DirectShow opens network ports for streaming data to DirectShow applications, the devices that the applications run on are exposed to the typical security concerns associated with networking, such as denial of service attacks. By default, DirectShow streams HTTP content on port 80 and Microsoft Media Server (MMS) content on port 1755. You can override either of these ports by explicitly specifying a port number in the URL for streamed content.

DirectShow uses filters to manage and manipulate multimedia data. These filters perform actions, such as parsing, decoding, formatting, or rendering on a multimedia stream. You can extend DirectShow media support by writing your own filters.

You can direct the output of one filter to the input of one or more other filters in what is called a filter graph. By using filter graphs, you can use DirectShow to translate various types of input into various types of output.

DirectShow allows for high-quality playback of multimedia streams by supporting codecs for a variety of formats. More information can be found in DirectShow Media Types and DirectShow File Formats.

Qtzbase.lib contains the DirectShow base classes. You cannot modify this library file during the build process. Use Qtzbase.lib instead of Strmbase.lib to ensure that your application uses only DirectShow base classes that provide the default behavior.

To build a DirectShow filter, use __stdcall and set the entry-point symbol to DllMainCRTStartup@12. If you implement the filter as a DLL, include a .def file that exports the DLL functions.

To add this feature to your OS, see DirectShow Catalog Items and Sysgen Variables.

For reference information, see DirectShow Reference.

Sample application code is available at %_WINCEROOT%\Public\DirectX\Sdk\Samples\Dshow.

See Also

Reference

Audio, Graphics and Media