https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/mediafoundation

You will still need to download the Windows SDK in order to build the samples.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms694197(VS.85).aspx

 Highlights:

• Updated MFPlay documentation: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd389294(VS.85).aspx
• Source Reader tutorial: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd757929(VS.85).aspx
• New codec and file-format support: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd757780(VS.85).aspx

Please remember that everything new in the SDK is still pre-release and subject to change.

- Mike

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

All of the new features for Media Foundation mentioned here require Windows 7 to run. You can install the Windows 7 SDK on a Windows Vista or XP machine and use it to build the new samples, etc, but any application that uses the new features will run only on Windows 7.

- Mike 

Media Foundation, like DirectShow before it, has focused on the end-to-end pipeline. The application passes in a URL and streaming happens on another thread. The application gives commands (play, pause) and gets events (end of stream).

While this approach is convenient for playback, it makes it relatively hard for the application to get access to the bits as they travel from the source to the renderer.

The Source Reader uses a different model. The application passes in a URL and then requests samples by calling IMFSourceReader::ReadSample in a loop. You can use the Source Reader to get compressed or uncompressed data from the source. For uncompressed data, the Source Reader hosts any decoders that are needed.

I see two very broad categories of application for the Source Reader:

1. Applications that implement their own playback pipeline -- say, by using Direct3D to draw the video frames directly.
2. Applications that need to perform non-real-time processing on media data, such as encoding, signal processing, video thumbnails, etc. For this type of application, all you want are the uncompressed samples; you don't need the API to manage streaming threads or a presentation clock.

Format SDK programmers will find the Source Reader looks similar to the FSDK reader object. (The Source Reader can operate in either synchronous or asynchronous mode). 

For DirectShow programmers, the Source Reader fills approximately the same niche as the Sample Grabber filter, except it is (IMO) easier to use.

More information here:

• IMFSourceReader: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd374655(VS.85).aspx
• Overview: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd389281(VS.85).aspx

Please remember that everything new in the SDK is beta. There have been minor changes to the Source Reader API for the upcoming RC.

 - Mike

 1.  The TOC for the Media Foundation documentation is out of sync. Anything that is new for Windows 7 is not in the TOC. So if you navigate through the topics in Media Foundation, you wil find lots of "orphaned" pages.

Update: This issue has been fixed. 

 2. The latest version of the DirectShow documentation has a new URL, and the old link points to an older version of the documentation. The latest DirectShow documentation is here:  https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd375454(VS.85).aspx

Update: No ETA for fixing this issue. 

 I do not have an ETA for when these issues will be fixed. Apologies for the inconvenience. My only advice is to install the Windows SDK and use that documentation.

 - Mike

Previously, to play a file in Media Foundation, the application had to:

• Use the source resolver to create a media source.
• Enumerate the streams and find the media types (audio or video).
• Construct a partial topology, connecting the streams to the right renderers.
• Set the topology on the media session.

With MFPlay, the equivalent steps are just one line of code:

const WCHAR *sURL = L"C:\\Users\\Public\\Videos\\example.wmv";

hr = MFPCreateMediaPlayer(
    sURL,
    TRUE,   // Start playback automatically?
    0,      // Flags.
    NULL,   // Callback pointer.
    hwnd,
    &g_pPlayer
    );

MFPlay also uses a much simpler event mechanism than the media session. The media session requires asynchronous calls to BeginGetEvent/EndGetEvent, and the event callback is invoked from a separate workqueue thread. MFPlay uses a single callback method that passes an event structure:

STDMETHODIMP MediaPlayerCallback::OnMediaPlayerEvent(
    MFP_EVENT_HEADER *pEventHeader
    )
{
    switch (pEventHeader->eEventType)
    {
    case MFP_EVENT_TYPE_PLAY:
        OnPlay(MFP_GET_PLAY_EVENT(pEventHeader));
        break;

    // Other event types (not shown).

    }
}

By default, the event callback is invoked on your application's WndProc thread, so you can treat MFPlay events much like window messages.

You can read more about MFPlay here:

• Using MFPlay for Audio/Video Playback
• IMFPMediaPlayer

There is also an MFPlay sample in the Windows 7 BETA SDK, located under Samples\Multimedia\MediaFoundation\SimplePlay.

Please remember that everything new in the SDK is beta and subject to change.

- Mike

And some stuff about a "key provider" and required libraries, etc.

Background: WMV playback in DirectShow is built on top of the Windows Media Format SDK. When the Format SDK was first released,  applications needed to "unlock" the runtime and link to a special "stub library" in order to use the SDK. The VMRPlayer sample took the easier route and simply didn't support WMV, hence the message box.

Later, the SDK was changed and applications don't need the stub library to play clear content. (You still need a special lib for DRM playback.) But the VMRPlayer sample didn't get updated. Unfortunately, it turns out the sample also had a bug, because it assumed that a source filter would always have exactly one output pin. But surprise, the ASF source filter creates multiple output pins, one per stream in the file.

The latest version of the Windows SDK (for Windows Server 2008) fixes this bug. Here is the fix...

In the function CMovie::OpenMovie (in vcdplyer.cpp), replace the call to RenderFileToVMR9 with the following:

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// 
// THIS CODE AND INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
// ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
// THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A
// PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
//
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
//
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
#define SAFE_RELEASE(x) if (x) { x->Release(); x = NULL; }
 
#define CHECK_HR(hr) if (FAILED(hr)) { goto done; }

// RenderFileToVideoRenderer:
// Renders a media file to an existing video renderer in the graph. 
// NOTE: The caller must add the video renderer to the graph before 
// calling this method.

HRESULT RenderFileToVideoRenderer(
    IGraphBuilder *pGraph, WCHAR *wFileName, BOOL bRenderAudio = TRUE)
{
    if (pGraph == NULL || wFileName == NULL)
    {
        return E_POINTER;
    }
 
    HRESULT hr = S_OK;
 
    BOOL bRenderedAnyPin = FALSE;
 
    IBaseFilter *pSource = NULL;
    IPin *pPin = NULL;
    IFilterGraph2 *pGraph2 = NULL;
    IEnumPins *pEnum = NULL;
    IBaseFilter *pAudioRenderer = NULL;
 
    // Get the IFilterGraph2 interface from the Filter Graph Manager.
    CHECK_HR(hr = pGraph->QueryInterface(
        IID_IFilterGraph2, (void**)&pGraph2));
 
    // Add the source filter.
    CHECK_HR(hr = pGraph->AddSourceFilter(wFileName, L"SOURCE", &pSource));
 
    // Add the DSound Renderer to the graph.
    if (bRenderAudio)
    {
        CHECK_HR(hr = AddFilterByCLSID(
            pGraph, CLSID_DSoundRender, &pAudioRenderer, L"Audio Renderer"));
    }
 
    // Enumerate the pins on the source filter.
    CHECK_HR(hr = pSource->EnumPins(&pEnum));
 
    // Loop through all the pins
 
    while (S_OK == pEnum->Next(1, &pPin, NULL))
    {   
        // Try to render this pin. 
        // It's OK if we fail some pins, if at least one pin renders.
        HRESULT hr2 = pGraph2->RenderEx(
            pPin, AM_RENDEREX_RENDERTOEXISTINGRENDERERS, NULL);
 
        pPin->Release();
 
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr2))
        {
            bRenderedAnyPin = TRUE;
        }
    }
 
done:
    SAFE_RELEASE(pEnum);
    SAFE_RELEASE(pAudioRenderer);
    SAFE_RELEASE(pGraph2);
 
    // If we succeeded to this point, make sure we rendered at least 
    // one stream.
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        if (!bRenderedAnyPin)
        {
            hr = VFW_E_CANNOT_RENDER;
        }
    }
 
    return hr;
}
 
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Name: AddFilterByCLSID
// Desc: Create a filter by CLSID and add it to the graph.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
HRESULT AddFilterByCLSID(
    IGraphBuilder *pGraph,          // Pointer to the Filter Graph Manager.
    const GUID& clsid,              // CLSID of the filter to create.
    IBaseFilter **ppF,              // Receives a pointer to the filter.
    LPCWSTR wszName = NULL          // A name for the filter (can be NULL).
    )
{
    if (!pGraph || ! ppF) 
    {
        return E_POINTER;
    }
 
    *ppF = 0;
 
    IBaseFilter *pFilter = NULL;
    HRESULT hr = S_OK;
    
    CHECK_HR(hr = CoCreateInstance(
        clsid, 
        NULL, 
        CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, 
        IID_IBaseFilter, 
        (void**)&pFilter));
 
    CHECK_HR(hr = pGraph->AddFilter(pFilter, wszName));
 
    *ppF = pFilter;
    (*ppF)->AddRef();
 
done:
    SAFE_RELEASE(pFilter);
    return hr;
}

https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=mwasson&ReleaseId=939

• I added a topic on DXVA 2.0 Video Processing (https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc307964(VS.85).aspx).
• We have been expanding the section on the low-level ASF helper objects, particularly the ASF Splitter: See ASF Support in Media Foundation (https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb530119(VS.85).aspx)