Table of Contents

Class D3D11H264DecoderBlock

Namespace
VisioForge.Core.MediaBlocks.Sources
Assembly
VisioForge.Core.dll

Direct3D 11/DXVA H.264/AVC hardware-accelerated video decoder block.

public class D3D11H264DecoderBlock : MediaBlock, IMediaBlock, IDisposable, IMediaBlockInternals

Inheritance

Implements

Inherited Members

Extension Methods

Remarks

This decoder block provides hardware-accelerated H.264/AVC video decoding using Direct3D 11 and DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) 2.0 on Windows platforms. It leverages the GPU for efficient decoding of H.264 video streams, significantly reducing CPU usage compared to software decoders.

Key Features:

  • Hardware-accelerated H.264/AVC decoding (Baseline, Main, High profiles)
  • Support for resolutions up to 4K and beyond (hardware dependent)
  • Low CPU usage through GPU offloading
  • Direct3D 11 surface output for efficient rendering
  • Zero-copy decoding pipeline when used with D3D11 renderers

Use Cases:

  • High-performance video playback applications
  • Multi-stream video surveillance systems
  • Real-time video processing pipelines
  • Low-latency streaming applications
  • VR/AR video applications requiring minimal CPU overhead

Requirements:

  • Windows 7 or later with Direct3D 11 support
  • GPU with H.264 DXVA2 decoding capabilities
  • Compatible graphics drivers with DXVA support

Performance Considerations:

The decoder automatically utilizes the GPU for decoding operations. For optimal performance, ensure your graphics drivers are up to date and the GPU supports the H.264 profile and level of your input video. The decoder outputs D3D11 surfaces which can be directly rendered without additional memory copies when used with D3D11-based video renderers.

Constructors

D3D11H264DecoderBlock()

Initializes a new instance of the VisioForge.Core.MediaBlocks.Sources.D3D11H264DecoderBlock class.

public D3D11H264DecoderBlock()

Remarks

Creates a new H.264 hardware decoder block with default settings. The decoder is configured with one input pad for receiving H.264 encoded data and one output pad for providing decoded video frames as D3D11 surfaces.

Properties

Input

Gets the input.

public override MediaBlockPad Input { get; }

Property Value

MediaBlockPad

Inputs

Gets the inputs.

public override MediaBlockPad[] Inputs { get; }

Property Value

MediaBlockPad[]

Output

Gets the output.

public override MediaBlockPad Output { get; }

Property Value

MediaBlockPad

Outputs

Gets the outputs.

public override MediaBlockPad[] Outputs { get; }

Property Value

MediaBlockPad[]

Settings

Gets or sets the decoder configuration settings.

public D3D11DecoderSettings Settings { get; set; }

Property Value

D3D11DecoderSettings

Type

Gets the type.

public override MediaBlockType Type { get; }

Property Value

MediaBlockType

Methods

Build()

Builds and initializes the D3D11 H.264 decoder element within the pipeline.

public override bool Build()

Returns

bool

true if the decoder was successfully built and initialized; false if an error occurred.

Remarks

This method performs the following operations:

  1. Creates the underlying D3D11H264Decoder element
  2. Initializes the decoder with the specified DXGI device settings
  3. Configures the output pad for D3D11 surface output
  4. Sets up the input pad for H.264 stream reception
The method is idempotent and will return immediately if already built.

CleanUp()

Performs cleanup of the decoder resources and resets the build state.

public void CleanUp()

Remarks

This method releases the underlying D3D11 decoder element and associated GPU resources. It is called during disposal to ensure proper cleanup of hardware acceleration resources.

Dispose(bool)

Releases unmanaged and - optionally - managed resources.

protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)

Parameters

disposing bool

true to release both managed and unmanaged resources; false to release only unmanaged resources.

GetCore()

Gets the core GStreamer element wrapper for advanced pipeline integration.

public BaseElement GetCore()

Returns

BaseElement

The base element wrapper containing the D3D11 H.264 decoder.

GetElement()

Gets the underlying GStreamer element for direct GStreamer API access.

public Element GetElement()

Returns

Element

The native GStreamer d3d11h264dec element.

IsAvailable()

Determines whether hardware-accelerated H.264 decoding is available on the current system.

public static bool IsAvailable()

Returns

bool

true if D3D11 H.264 hardware decoding is supported; otherwise, false. This depends on GPU capabilities, driver support, and proper SDK redistribution.

Remarks

This method checks for:

  • Direct3D 11 runtime availability
  • H.264 DXVA2 decoder support in the GPU
  • Required GStreamer D3D11 plugins
  • Proper Windows Media Foundation codecs

IMediaBlockInternals.SetContext(MediaBlocksPipeline)

Sets the media pipeline context for this decoder block.

void IMediaBlockInternals.SetContext(MediaBlocksPipeline pipeline)

Parameters

pipeline MediaBlocksPipeline

The parent media pipeline that contains this decoder block.

Remarks

This internal method is called by the pipeline during initialization to establish the connection between the decoder block and its parent pipeline context.

See Also