Hello! I just need to know whether to use Microsoft's DirectX in a certain application that I want to create. This is the case: I want to create a network application that sends a video file (eg. an MPEG file) over the Internet. I want my application to play out each received frame with a variable duration. The duration of each frame playout is going to be specified at the receiver's side and it is going to depend on the frame's time of reception. Can I use DirectX to do this? What are the components of DirectX that I should use in order to do this? (Would DirectShow suffice?) Thanks!

Hello again!

Does DPlay mean DirectPlay? Can't DirectPlay be used for non-game applications?

Thanx!

You can use DirectPlay in any internet-application. But it depends on your needs. If the server is only sending data to 1 client at the time, then I'd say WinSock. If it's supposed to send data to multiple clients at one time, go for DirectPlay/WinSock. In the second situation, I'd recommend you to go for DirectPlay because development time. DirectPlay is meant to be easily set up as server/multi-client, where WinSock is more server/client based and you have to code a work-around to make it server/multi-client.

As for video-output, yes, you can use DirectX (to be precise: DirectShow) to output frames. I don't know about the streaming though. Try searching the DirectX documentation. (available online)

Thank you Pipo DeClown!

Does anyone else here know whether DirectX is able to perform video streaming?