e-d-n-a
commented
3 years ago Supported Formats in DirectShow (MS Docs):
DirectShow is an open architecture, which means that it can support any format as long as there are filters to parse and decode it. The filters provided by Microsoft, either as redistributables through DirectShow or as Windows operating system components, provide default support for the following file and compression formats.
File types:
Supported Formats in DirectShow File Type | More Information
Advanced Systems Format (ASF), including Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Windows Media Video (WMV) WM ASF Reader Filter WM ASF Writer Filter AIFF WAVE Parser Filter AU WAVE Parser Filter Audio-Video Interleaved (AVI) AVI Mux Filter AVI Splitter Filter MIDI MIDI Parser Filter MIDI Renderer Filter SND WAV WAVE Parser Filter
Compression formats:
Table 2 Format | More Information
AAC Microsoft MPEG-1/DD/AAC Audio Decoder Cinepak Digital Video (DV) DV Video Decoder Filter DV Video Encoder Filter H.264 Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder ISO MPEG-4 video version 1.0 Microsoft MPEG-4 version 3 MJPEG MJPEG Compressor Filter MJPEG Decompressor Filter MPEG Audio Layer-3 (MP3) (decompression only) MPEG-1 layer I and layer II audio Microsoft MPEG-1/DD/AAC Audio Decoder MPEG-1 Audio Decoder Filter MPEG-1 video MPEG-1 Video Decoder Filter Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder MPEG-2 audio Microsoft MPEG-2 Audio Encoder Microsoft MPEG-2 Encoder MPEG-2 video Microsoft MPEG-2 Encoder Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder Microsoft MPEG-2 Video EncoderFor information on the availability of particular third-party codecs for redistribution with DirectShow applications, contact the codec manufacturer.
cgohlke
It's nice, that this binding with a neat interface exists and is still maintained, but how does it compare to more modern options?
DirectShow seems pretty outdated now and, as I understand it, doesn't provide as much support for containers and codecs out-of-the-box as the more modern Media Foundation (MSMF) does.
I checked the corresponding articles at Wikipedia to see what I should be able to read via this binding. And I can only expect the DirectShow-features as they are totally separate from the MSMF-Interfaces, right!?
Features "DirectShow" [Wiki]:
Video-Containers: MPEG-1, WMV, AVI, ASF
Codecs: ??? mostly by extending through 3rd parties*!? Filter/Codec selection can become unclear with multiple alternatives available!
*"[...] Ogg Vorbis, Musepack, and AC3, and some codecs such as MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile, AAC, H.264, Vorbis and containers MOV, MP4 are available from 3rd parties like ffdshow, K-Lite, and CCCP"
Possible HEVC/H.265 codec from Microsoft for DirectX (?)
Features "Media Foundation" [Wiki]:
Video-Containers: 3GP, AVI, M4V, MJPEG, MOV, MP4, MP4V, WMV
Codecs: H.264, AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1, HE-AAC v2, MPEG-4 Part 2 ..., MJPEG, DV
So MSMF seems to offer all the common formats out-of-the-box and already organized since Win7, while DirectShow probably needs 3rd-party codec pack(s) to support any common set of formats apart from WMV (and hopefully without conflicts!).
So in which scenarios makes this binding still sense in this day and age? Is it still here just due to its simplicity, while not providing the complete solution!? How do the frameworks differ in performance and reliability in practical applications? Any sharable experience, hints and recommendations - as I couldn't find any documentation beyond the code example.
Just want to figure out, if this just exists as a relic for backwards compatibility with solutions in the realm of DirectX(9).
Also OpenCV offers a frame-based interface (but only sequentially afaik) and connects to various backends on multiple platforms. System Overview (v4.5.1) List of Backends* (v4.5.1) Basic Python-Example code
*including DirectShow, MSMF, FFMPEG, GStreamer etc.
Would it be possible to adapt this kind of simple interface with basic media info and random frame access to the MSMF framework instead!?