DVD-Video API OS Design Development (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)
1/6/2010
The DVD-Video API for Windows Embedded CE provides an API that allows DVD playback.
The Windows Embedded CE DVD-Video API interfaces provide applications with the same functionality as the stand-alone DVD players familiar to many consumers.
More significantly, the DVD-Video API can be used to provide the DVD playback capabilities for devices that converge other media capabilities such as digital satellite, interactive television, and in-car devices.
OS Design Information
The following table shows operating system design information for the DVD-Video API.
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
Dependencies |
None. |
Hardware considerations |
A typical platform designed to play back DVD-Video will have a DVD-ROM drive and a hardware decoder card. These are not strict requirements for the DVD-Video API. |
The DVD-Video API is designed to operate in a small memory footprint and with low CPU overhead. It uses high-level rendering interfaces that enable the full functionality of modern multimedia hardware. The DVD-Video API is optimized for hardware-based decoding solutions.
Even though DVD-Video is commonly associated with optical discs, DVD-ROM drives, and dedicated hardware decoding cards, the DVD-Video API does not require any of these physical devices.
As a true middleware Component Object Model (COM) component, the DVD-Video API only requires that specific aspects of DVD-Video functionality be expressed through COM components and their interfaces.
For example, once a DVD-Video volume is abstracted through a COM component, it does not matter to the DVD-Video API whether data from that volume is actually read from an optical disc, a magnetic hard drive, or even a network resource.
The same holds true for DVD-Video decoding. The DVD-Video API only interacts with a COM component so the actual decoding can come from dedicated hardware or from a software solution. Of course, these COM components that interact with the DVD-Video API must meet the technical performance and operability standards that are part of the DVD-Video format.
The DVD-Video API requires the presence of a third party DVD-Video decoding solution on the device. If you are using a hardware decoder on your device then you must obtain the device driver from the decoder manufacturer.
Modules and Components
The following table shows the modules and components that implement the DVD-Video API.
| Item | Module | Component |
|---|---|---|
DVD-Video API data port |
dataport |
None |
DVD-Video API navigation manager |
dvdnav |
None |
DVD-Video API playback |
dvdata |
None |
Meta driver |
metadrvr |
None |
Implementation Considerations
The following table shows the relevant Sysgen variables.
| Sysgen variable | Description |
|---|---|
SYSGEN_DIRECTDVD |
Adds DVD-Video API support to your OS design. |
Application Development Topics
DVD-Video Renderer Registry Settings
DVD-Video API Application Development