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Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder

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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 It has been superseded by MediaPlayer, IMFMediaEngine, and Audio/Video Capture in Media Foundation.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.]

This filter decodes MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.264 video.

Note

Decoding of H.264 video requires Windows 7.

 

Note

This filter is not supported on IA-64-based platforms.

 

In the registry, the friendly name of this filter is "Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder".

Filter Information

Filter Interfaces

IAMDecoderCaps
IBaseFilter
ICodecAPI

Input Pin Media Types

Video input pin:

  • MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK, MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO
  • MEDIATYPE_MPEG2_PES, MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG1Packet
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG1Payload
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO

Subpicture input pin:

  • MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK, MEDIASUBTYPE_DVD_SUBPICTURE

Starting in Windows 7, the video input pin also supports the following input types:

  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_AVC1
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_H264
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_h264
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_X264
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_x264

See H.264 Video Types for more information. The input media type can change dynamically between MPEG2 and H.264 types.

Input Pin Interfaces

ICodecAPI
IKsPropertySet
IMemInputPin
IMFSampleProtection
IPin
IQualityControl

Output Pin Media Types

Video output pin:

  • MEDIATYPE_Video, DXVA_ModeMPEG2_A (DXVA 1.0)
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, DXVA_ModeMPEG2_C (DXVA 1.0)
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_I420 (Software decode or DXVA2.0)
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_NV12 (Software decode or DXVA2.0)
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_YUY2 (Software decode or DXVA2.0)
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_IMC3 (DXVA2.0 only)
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_IMC4 (DXVA2.0 only)
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_S340 (DXVA2.0 only)
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_YV12 (DXVA2.0 only)

Line-21 output pin:

  • MEDIATYPE_AUXLine21Data, MEDIASUBTYPE_Line21_GOPPacket

Subpicture output pin:

  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_AI44
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_ARGB32
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_ARGB4444
  • MEDIATYPE_Video, MEDIASUBTYPE_AYUV

Output Pin Interfaces

IAMVideoAcceleratorNotify (video output pin only)
IKsPropertySet
IMediaSeeking
IPin
IQualityControl
IVPConfig

Filter CLSID

CLSID_CMPEG2VidDecoderDS (defined in wmcodecdsp.h)

Executable

msmpeg2vdec.dll

Merit

MERIT_NORMAL - 1

Filter Category

CLSID_LegacyAmFilterCategory

 

Remarks

This filter has two input pins and three output pins.

Input pins:

  • Video input
  • Subpicture input

Output pins:

  • Video output
  • Line-21 output
  • Subpicture output

The filter does not create the subpicture output pin unless the video input pin is connected with a MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK media type.

MPEG-1/2 Support

For MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, the decoder supports the following formats:

Label Value
Profiles/Levels Any combination of the following profiles and levels:
  • Profiles: Simple, Main
  • Levels: Low, Main, High, High 1440
Chroma Formats 4:2:0 chroma
Maximum Resolution 1920 × 1088 pixels
DXVA The decoder supports DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) version 1 and version 2.

 

The decoder does not support scalable bitstreams. The input must be an elementary video stream.

The decoder does not support 4:2:2 chroma formats.

H.264 Support

For H.264, the decoder supports the following formats:

Requirement Value
Profiles/Levels Baseline, Main, and High profiles, up to level 5.1. (See ITU-T H.264 specification for details.)
Chroma Formats 4:2:0 chroma or monochrome
Minimum Resolution 48 × 48 pixels
Maximum Resolution 1920 × 1088 pixels
DXVA The decoder supports DXVA version 2, but not DXVA version 1. DXVA decoding is supported only for Main-compatible Baseline, Main, and High profile bitstreams. (Main-compatible Baseline bitstreams are defined as profile_idc=66 and constrained_set1_flag=1.)

 

The decoder does not support Film Grain Technology.

For information about the H.264 media types, see H.264 Video Types.

Codec Properties

The input pins support the following property sets through IKsPropertySet:

The input pins support the following properties through ICodecAPI:

Property Requires
AVDecCommonInputFormat Windows Vista
AVDecVideoInputScanType Windows Vista
AVDecVideoPixelAspectRatio Windows Vista

 

The filter supports the following properties through ICodecAPI:

Property Requires
AVDecMmcssClass Windows Vista
AVDecVideoAcceleration_H264 Windows 7
AVDecVideoAcceleration_MPEG2 Windows 7
AVDecVideoDropPicWithMissingRef Windows 7
AVDecVideoFastDecodeMode Windows 7
AVDecVideoImageSize Windows 7
AVDecVideoSoftwareDeinterlaceMode Windows 7
AVDecVideoThumbnailGenerationMode Windows 7

 

Requirements

Requirement Value
Minimum supported client
 Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Ultimate [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server
 None supported
Header
Wmcodecdsp.h

See also

DirectShow Filters

DVD Media Types

H.264 Video Types