Do AVI Compression Filters require a Microsoft Digital Signature in LV

[AstroMed_Glen]

Hello all,

        My company has written a custom video codec. I installed the custom codec onto my machine. When I did I was warned that this codec did not have "Microsoft Digital Signature". I said "ok" and installed it anyway. The codec appeared in my Hardware codec properties tab. I figured all was good. I was wrong.

         When I run the VI "IMAQ AVI get filter names" it does not appear in the returned list. I assumed the reason for this to be because the VI only returns Microsoft approved codecs. Am I right? I also tried using the codec by using a string constant and placing its name exactly how it appears in the HArdware properties tab into the "IMAQ AVI create" VI. This did not work either.

         Am I right by assuming that I cannot run non-microsoft approved codecs in IMAQ LV?  Is there a way around this? Any feedback???

Foiled by MS,

Glen D.

[DJ_L.]

Hey Glen D.,

The Get Filter Names VI returns only the filters that are able to work the NI's AVI functions. What the VI does is it gets the list of filters from DirectShow and then it tests each one with a sample frame to see if it can compress the image or not. Then the function returns a list of the codecs that work. This does not necessarily mean that the function works only with Microsoft approved codecs. So if your custom codec can somehow align with the DirectShow architecture, then your codec should be detected by the IMAQ AVI functions.

I hope this answers your question. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. Thanks, and have a great day.

Regards,
DJ L.

[AstroMed_Glen]

Thank you for your response. I will inquire with the writers of the codec.