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GenICam Vision Source: DirectShow Capture Filter for USB3 Vision and GigE Vision Cameras

The Datastead GenICam Vision Source is a DirectShow video capture source filter that exposes any GenICam / GenTL compliant camera (USB3 Vision, GigE Vision, …) as a standard Windows video capture device, usable from the TVideoGrabber SDK or from any DirectShow application.

An industrial camera seen as a webcam

The filter registers as a regular video capture device named Datastead GenICam Vision Source: the camera shows up in the camera list of everyday DirectShow applications (OBS Studio, VLC, ffmpeg, AMCap, GraphStudioNext, recording, streaming and conferencing tools), exactly like a webcam. No vendor SDK or viewer is needed to get a live picture. This use, without an application of your own, is covered by the workstation license.

How it works

The filter is a generic GenTL consumer: it talks to the camera through the vendor’s GenTL producer, the .cti file installed with the camera driver (for example the VimbaUSBTL.cti shipped with Vimba X for Allied Vision cameras). It does not include any vendor transport layer.

The camera settings are exposed three ways:

  • the property pages of the filter (Device, Image, Exposure, Trigger, Features, About), from any DirectShow host showing the filter dialogs;
  • the standard DirectShow interfaces IAMCameraControl and IAMVideoProcAmp, so the usual camera control and video quality dialogs of the host work as with any camera;
  • the custom IGenicamControl / IGenicamControl2 COM interfaces, to drive the camera without any dialog, down to every GenICam (SFNC) feature by name.

From the TVideoGrabber SDK (recommended)

TVideoGrabber sees the camera as one more video capture device: select Datastead GenICam Vision Source in VideoDevices, then start the preview or the recording as with any camera. The property pages open with ShowDialog, and the exposure, gain, white balance and image adjustments are reachable through the standard video quality and camera control properties. The TVideoGrabber sample code is included in the package.

From any DirectShow application

The filter is enumerated in the video input device category like any capture device, and configured through its property pages or its COM interfaces (IGenicamControl, IGenicamControl2).

Features

  • Pixel formats delivered to the graph: RGB24 (on-board debayering), Y800 (Mono8), UYVY (YCbCr422_8) or raw RGGB Bayer, with an Auto mode picking the best format the camera supports.
  • ROI, binning, exposure and gain (manual or auto), frame rate, white balance, gamma, hue, saturation, sharpness, brightness and contrast.
  • Free-run, software or hardware trigger.
  • Generic access to any GenICam feature by name.
  • Settings persisted per camera, re-applied automatically when the camera opens.

Requirements

  • Windows 11 or Windows 10, 64-bit, or Windows Server 2025, 2022, 2019 or 2016 (64-bit) with the Desktop Experience feature. The package ships the 64-bit (x64) filter: the host application and the GenTL producer must be 64-bit too.
  • A GenTL producer (.cti) for the camera, installed on the machine.
  • The Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64).

Evaluation and license

There is a single package: the same binary is the evaluation version and the licensed version, the license key alone makes the difference.

The filter is fully functional and unrestricted during the first 30 days following its first use on a computer: every pixel format, no watermark, no time limit. After 30 days the video keeps streaming, with a permanent evaluation overlay, until a license key is installed: the filter never stops and never refuses to start. Need more time to evaluate? Ask us for a trial key: it removes the overlay until its expiry date, with no other restriction.

Two licenses never expiring are available, depending on how the filter is used:

  • available as developer license: royalty-free, for applications built with the TVideoGrabber SDK or with DirectShow. The application passes the license key to the filter at run time, and the licensed filter is redistributed with the application: the end users need no license. 2 years of upgrades, new versions and e-mail support included.
  • available as workstation license: to use the camera from OBS Studio, VLC, ffmpeg or any other DirectShow application, without writing code. A license file is copied once on the PC and unlocks the filter for every application running on it: no activation, no internet access, no hardware binding. One license per PC, 2 years of updates and e-mail support included.

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