Developing a Device Driver for a Networked Media Device (Windows CE 5.0)
You may need to develop additional device drivers for your networked media device (NMD). For more information, see Developing a Device Driver. For information about the device drivers supplied with Windows CE, see Windows CE Drivers, and Driver Catalog Items.
The following table shows recommendations for device drivers for an NMD.
| Driver | Recommendations |
|---|---|
| Audio Drivers | The audio driver must be efficient for the type of audio experience desired. For example, digital output or basic stereo. The audio driver must provide the user interface (UI) with the minimal sound requirements, and the audio driver must support 16-bit stereo data. |
| Display Drivers | For best results, the UI requires a display driver with support for per pixel alpha blending, transparency, 2-D bit blitting for source-to-destination copying and stretching and resizing of bitmaps, and support for one or more overlays.
The display driver should make the best use of the hardware by utilizing hardware flipping, hardware color space conversions, and so on. Intel provides a display driver with support for interlaced video and a vertical blanking interval. To obtain Intel's Digital Set Top Box Display Driver, visit their Web site. |
| DirectShow Architecture for Filter Developers | A DirectShow filter driver is required to properly take advantage of hardware features. If the functionality is not implemented in a DirectShow filter driver, the functionality defaults to software rendering, which is slow and CPU intensive. Consider investigating media acceleration in the DirectShow filter driver and the DirectShow DirectX Media Object (DMO).
For more information, consult the documentation in the Microsoft Windows DDK. |
| Network Drivers | The wired or wireless network drivers must be efficient to support the design goals of the device. |
Third-Party Device Drivers
Third-party device drivers and BSPs are accessible from the Platform Builder Start page by choosing Downloads, and then choosing the Downloads or Drivers tab.
For more information about third-party software, see Hardware Compatibility and Third-party Device Drivers.
See Also
Troubleshooting a Device Driver | Windows CE Test Kit
Send Feedback on this topic to the authors