Microsoft DirectX Media 6.0 SDK Readme.txt (c)1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the DirectX Media SDK. The DirectX Media 6.0 SDK and runtime shipped on the DirectX 7.0 CD is unchanged from the DirectX Media 6.0 release. New on this CD is a patch that addresses issues in the DirectX Media 6.0 runtime. See redist\dxminstall.txt for more information. This will be the final release of the DirectX Media SDK and runtime. The next planned release of DirectShow will be as part of DirectX 8.0. Windows Media Player is available as a stand-alone release from the Microsoft web site http://www.microsoft.com. For updated information on DirectAnimation, refer to the microsoft website http://www.microsoft.com. This document gives an overview of the product and describes the layout of the SDK, installation, and hardware requirements. Be sure to review the licensing agreement in License.doc, and its addendum, Redist.txt. Please see the following sections: - What's New - Overview - How to Use the Documentation - SDK Layout - Installation - Hardware and Software Requirements - Known Issues - Contact Information ----------------------------------------------------------------- What's New ========== - DirectX Media 6.0 Runtime patch New on this CD is a patch that addresses issues in the DirectX Media 6.0 runtime. See redist\dxminstall.txt for more information. - Directory Structure The directory structure for the samples has changed in this release to enable future integration with the Microsoft Platform SDK. You'll now find the sample source code installed in the samples\multimedia\ directory off of your DirectX media installation directory. is DShow (DirectShow), DAnim (DirectAnimation), or DTrans (DirectX Transform). - DirectDraw Exclusive Mode Support This release adds support for video playback from within applications that are using DirectDraw Exclusive Mode. See the DirectShow documentation for the IDDrawExclModeVideo interface and the DDRAWXCL sample in the Samples\Multimedia\DShow\src\DDrawXCL subdirectory for more information. - Expanded MPEG-2 Support DirectShow has two new filters and two new interfaces to support MPEG-2 applications. See the "What's New in the DirectShow SDK?" topic in the Getting Started section of the DirectShow documentation for more information. - DirectX Transform DirectX Transform is new with this version of DirectX Media. - Documentation See the What's New topics in the Getting Started sections of the SDK documentation for specific detailed information about these and other new features. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Overview ======== This release of Microsoft DirectX Media contains the following DirectX media run time and SDK components: - DirectShow - DirectAnimation - DirectX Transform For detailed last-minute notes pertaining to these technologies see their respective readme files in the DXMedia\Help directory: ReadmeDAnim.htm - DirectAnimation readme ReadmeDShow.htm - DirectShow readme ReadmeDTrans.htm - DirectX Transform readme DirectShow DirectShow enables capture of multimedia streams from devices and playback of multimedia streams from local files or Internet servers. The streams can contain video and audio data compressed in various formats, including MPEG, Apple QuickTime, audio-video interleaved (AVI), and WAV files. Capture can be based on either Video for Windows or Windows Driver Model (WDM). DirectAnimation DirectAnimation provides unified, comprehensive support for animation, streaming, and integration of diverse media types, such as two-dimensional (2-D) vector graphics, three-dimensional (3-D) graphics, sprites, audio, and video. Because it is a Component Object Model (COM) API with an underlying engine/run time, DirectAnimation functionality can be accessed - in different ways - by a wide variety of programmers and authors: HTML and scripting authors, and programmers using Java, Visual Basic, and Microsoft Visual C++. DirectX Transform DirectX Transform is new with this release. It provides 2-D and 3-D image transformations and effects. ----------------------------------------------------------------- How to Use the Documentation ============================ You must have a Web browser to view the SDK documentation. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01, is recommended for viewing HTML files and is required for the new HTMLHelp standard. The DirectX Media SDK documentation is supplied in two formats: HTML and compressed HTML (HTMLHelp). The HTMLHelp files DXMedia.chm and DXMedia.chi are in the subdirectory DXMedia\help within the SDK and contain the DirectShow, DirectAnimation, DirectX Transform, and Direct3D Retained Mode documentation. The HTMLHelp files require that Internet Explorer version 4.01 be installed on the system. HTMLHelp files offer features such as full-text search and printing of entire chapters that are not available in plain HTML. The HTML documentation opening page, Default.htm, is in the DXMedia subdirectory within the SDK. You can also bypass this opening page and go directly to the default pages of documentation that interests you. These default pages can be viewed in any browser and are installed in the following directories (assuming the default installation directory): DirectShow - DXMedia\help\ds\default.htm DirectAnimation - DXMedia\help\da\default.htm DirectX Transform - DXMedia\help\dxt\default.htm Direct3D Retained Mode - DXMedia\help\d3drm\default.htm. Note: The DirectX Media SDK does not install the Direct3D Retained Mode SDK component as that component is installed by the DirectX Foundation SDK. The DirectX Foundation SDK is also supplied on this CD. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SDK Layout ========== The DirectX Media SDK contains the following top-level directories: DXMedia - DirectX Media SDK Extras - Updated HTMLHelp control for non-Windows 98 systems; extra DV and DirectX Transform files Redist - Redistributable DirectX Media run tim and optional image transforms ----------------------------------------------------------------- Installation ============ Install the DirectX Media SDK by running DXMedia\_setup_\\setup.exe where is x86 or alpha. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hardware and Software Requirements ================================== You should have a 486 processor or faster, at least 16 megabytes (MB) of RAM, and 200 MB of hard disk space before installing the DirectX media SDK. If you want to hear the sound in the movies and samples, you need a sound card and speakers. If you want to do video or audio capture, you need capture equipment. Your system must include Windows 95 or higher or Windows NT 4.0 SP3 or higher. Some features, such as 3-D DirectX Transforms, require the DirectX Foundation version 6.0 run-time. DirectAnimation requires at least DirectX Foundation version 3.0a for most funtionality. See the readme for each technology for details. The documentation and portions of DirectAnimation and DirectX Transforms also require Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.01 or higher for complete functionality. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Known Issues ============ - DirectX media SDK Setup If you plan to install both the DirectX media SDK and the DirectX foundation SDK from this CD, be sure to restart your system between SDK installations. Before installing the DirectX media SDK you should uninstall previous versions of the SDK. Setup on Alpha machines with a removable boot drive is not supported. - International install If you install the DirectX media SDK on an international version of Windows and change the destination directory for the install to include a 5c trail byte, then setup will appear to proceed normally but it will not copy any files. The problem does not occur with the default English directory name. - DirectX media run-time setup The system must normally be restarted after installing the DirectX media runtime and before playing any multimedia content. See the Redistribution Information section (help\ds\Oview\redist.htm) of the DirectX media SDK documentation for information about installing the DirectX media runtime from an application, detecting if a reboot is required, and turning on the run-time's user interface. Note: The following documented return values for dxmedia.exe installations on Windows NT are not currently implemented: - ERROR_MEMBER_NOT_IN_GROUP (administrator privileges are required) - ERROR_OLD_WIN_VERSION (Windows NT 4.0 service pack 3 is required) Your installation program should check for these minimum requirements (administrator privileges and at least Windows NT 4.0 SP3) before installing dxmedia.exe on Windows NT. You might receive an oleaut32.dll error on Windows 95 or OSR2 in the Intel Indeo 5 portion of setup. Upgrading to Internet Explorer 4.0 or later or installing the latest Indeo 5 codecs (http://developer.intel.com/ial/indeo/video/driver.htm) and then re-installing the DirectX media run-time should eliminate the error. - Building samples The DirectX media C/C++ samples build with Microsoft Developer Studio version 5.0 and higher. If you build from the command line be sure your path environment variable lists the most recent products first. For example, list Microsoft Developer Studio before an older edition of the Platform SDK. - DirectShow DVD Sample build error If you get a build error in Developer Studio involving SetWindowHookEx when building the DirectShow DVDSampl then define STRICT in Developer Studio's pre-processor directives (Project Settings, C/C++ tab, Preprocessor category, Preprocessor definitions). - Debug version of DirectShow DDrawXcl Sample faults on startup Before building the debug version of the DDrawXcl sample, define DEBUG in Developer Studio's pre-processor directives to avoid a fault when starting the sample. Note that defining "DEBUG" is in addition to defining "_DEBUG" that is already defined. To change the pre-processor directives in Developer Studio choose Project Settings, C/C++ tab, Preprocessor category, and add DEBUG to the Preprocessor definitions edit control. - Unresolved External const bits565 link error Building the DirectShow Ball and MPGVideo samples with Developer Studio version 6.0 produces the following link error. error LNK2001: Unresolved external symbol "unsigned long const * const bits565" (?bits565@@3QBKB) Rebuilding the DirectShow base classes (provided in the DirectX media classes\base directory) with Developer Studio version 6.0 and linking with the resulting strmbase library (either debug or retail versions) should fix the problem. - Documentation We strongly recommend that you have Internet Explorer 4.01 or later installed to view the documentation included with this SDK. Some features of the documentation such as inline samples might not work properly if you do not have Internet Explorer 4.01 or later installed. The compressed HTMLHelp files (.CHM) require Internet Explorer 4.01 or later and an updated HTMLHelp control. The DirectX media SDK setup can update this control for you automatically if you have already installed Internet Explorer 4.01. Otherwise you can update the control by running HHUpd.exe from the Extras directory on the CD. - Compatibility with previous DirectX foundation versions Most features of DirectX media are compatible with DirectX foundation version 3.0 and higher. By default the ddraw.h header file from the DirectX foundation SDK is marked with DirectX version 6.0 compatibility. If you want to build your application using the DirectX 6.0 foundation SDK and be compatible with an older DirectDraw run-time then define DIRECTDRAW_VERSION to be the earliest version of DirectDraw with which you want to be compatible. For example if you want your application to run on the DirectX 3 run-time then define DIRECTDRAW_VERSION to be 0x0300 in ddraw.h. Note: The DirectX media SDK no longer ships a version of ddraw.h. It used to ship a version marked with DirectDraw 3 compatibility. - DirectX Media and DEBUG DirectX Foundation Due to incompatibilities between ddrawex.dll and the debug version of ddraw.dll you should not install the debug version of DirectX Foundation 6.x if you intend to use any components (for example DirectAnimation and DirectX Transform) of DirectX Media 6.0. - Optional Transforms Uninstall The Optional DirectX Transforms provide a separate uninstall option in the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet. These optional transforms are not removed by the DirectX media SDK uninstall. - DirectX Transform and Windows NT 3-D DirectX Transforms require the DirectX foundation version 6.0 run-time. These transforms will not work on Windows NT 4.0 since DirectX foundation is not available on Windows NT 4.0. Web pages that use DirectAnimation to display DirectX Transforms will not work on Windows NT 4.0 with this release of DirectX Media. The DirectX Transform Demo page (help\dxt\overview\demos_intro.htm) to which the DirectX Media SDK program group points is one such web page. - Internal Protection fault with DirectAnimation and DirectX 5 If you encounter a fault in d3drg16f (the DirectX 5 rgb rasterizer) when using DirectAnimation, upgrade to DirectX 6. The crash is a DirectX 5 D3DIM bug that was fixed in DirectX 6. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Information =================== - Support See http://www.microsoft.com/support/ for the product support options available through Microsoft Technical Support. - Suggestions Email dxmwish@microsoft.com with suggestions for future versions of the products which have been part of DirectX Media. We cannot guarantee replies to all of your suggestions, but we will carefully consider all ideas. We appreciate your input. - Redistribution Be sure to read the license agreement for redistribution information concerning the DirectX Media Run-time. We'd like to get to know you and your product better. Email dxmrdist@microsoft.com to let us know you're shipping our run-time. We can perform compatibility testing of your product with our future versions to help ensure backwards compatibility. Include information such as your contact information (name, company name, phone/fax, shipping address), company focus (web development, games, content creation, etc.), product name, and a list of the DirectX Media technologies, versions, and tools you're using. Knowing who's using our technology helps us better meet your needs. DirectX Beta Program For enrollment in future DirectX beta programs, contact DirectX@Microsoft.com. The beta coordinator will send you a non-disclosure agreement and ensure we have your contact information.