Screen Capture DirectShow Filter 2.0.3
3
from 2 Reviews
Screen Capture DirectShow Filter is a shareware component from MediaLooks that adds real-time desktop capture capabilities to any DirectShow-based video application - letting developers and power users feed screen content directly into filter graphs for recording, streaming, or processing.
Unlike standalone screen recorders such as OBS Studio or Bandicam, this tool is not a complete recording application. It is a DirectShow source filter - a building block that plugs into the DirectShow pipeline alongside decoders, encoders, and renderers.
If you work with tools like VirtualDub2, GraphEdit, or any custom DirectShow application, this filter lets you capture your desktop as a live video source within that environment.
Capture Modes and Features
Screen Capture DirectShow Filter supports several capture configurations. You can record the entire desktop, a selected rectangular region, or a specific application window.
Multi-display setups are fully supported, allowing capture across multiple monitors.
The active window tracking feature follows whichever window has focus, automatically applying pan and zoom to keep it centered in the frame - a useful feature for creating software tutorials and demonstrations.
Additional capabilities include mouse cursor highlighting for instructional content, automatic background fill that replaces inactive areas around the tracked window with a solid color, real-time scaling with adjustable output resolution, and overlapped window capture that correctly handles layered windows.
These features make the filter particularly suitable for producing training videos and technical walkthroughs.
DirectShow Integration
The filter's primary value lies in its DirectShow compatibility. Once registered on your system, it appears as a capture source in any DirectShow-aware application.
This means you can build custom filter graphs that capture your screen, apply video processing through filters like FFDShow, add subtitle overlays via DirectVobSub, and encode the output using codecs such as x264 Video Codec - all within a single pipeline.
For proper DirectShow decoding and playback, installing LAV Filters or the K-Lite Codec Pack ensures your system handles the captured output correctly.
Important Limitations
User reviews consistently report high CPU usage during capture, which can cause dropped frames on systems without sufficient processing power.
The installer has known compatibility issues on modern Windows versions - some users have needed to manually extract the DLL, copy it to System32, and register it with regsvr32. The "Pick Window" feature may not function correctly on all configurations. This filter was last updated in June 2016 and is shareware (not free).
Modern Alternatives for Screen Recording
If you need a complete screen recording solution rather than a DirectShow pipeline component, several modern tools offer far better performance and usability.
OBS Studio provides professional-grade screen capture with GPU-accelerated encoding, scene composition, and live streaming support. Bandicam delivers optimized game and desktop recording with minimal performance impact.
For open-source simplicity, Cap Screen Recorder handles quick recordings with instant sharing.
Screenshot-focused workflows benefit from ShareX for comprehensive capture and annotation, Screenpresso for GPU-accelerated 4K recording with built-in editing, or Snagit for professional documentation. Lightweight options include Kalmuri as a portable zero-install capture tool, ScreenToGif for creating GIF tutorials, and FastStone Capture for scrolling screenshots with annotation.
For DirectShow-specific screen capture encoding, the CamStudio Lossless Codec paired with CamStudio provides a free alternative that also works within VirtualDub and similar DirectShow applications - though it too is no longer actively maintained.
Screen Capture DirectShow Filter remains relevant for one specific use case: when you need a screen capture source filter inside a DirectShow graph. For that narrow but important requirement, download version 2.0.3 and test it with your pipeline configuration before committing to the shareware license.
JF
Installer works fine without any problem on Windows10 and also Windows 11.
This filter looks nice, it has a lot of features good for streaming some computer lessons. But it has very high CPU load. If you have multiple screens, you must manually set coordinates, it is unpleasant.
This filter looks nice, it has a lot of features good for streaming some computer lessons. But it has very high CPU load. If you have multiple screens, you must manually set coordinates, it is unpleasant.
LG
The installer does not work, so I had to extract it's contents using Universal Extractor.
I copied MLScreenCapturePXT.dll to System32 and registered it with the command "regsvr32 MLScreenCapturePXT.dll".
Then I laboriously made the default registry settings using the notes supplied in the help file. I opened the property page from GraphEdit, but I found that only the Track Foreground Window option would work.
If I selected Get From Window there would be nothing in the drop down dialogue box and the Pick Window button does nothing.
I did manage to record a a video using this filter in conjunction with VirtualDub but the CPU usage topped out at 100% and there were dropped frames galore.
I copied MLScreenCapturePXT.dll to System32 and registered it with the command "regsvr32 MLScreenCapturePXT.dll".
Then I laboriously made the default registry settings using the notes supplied in the help file. I opened the property page from GraphEdit, but I found that only the Track Foreground Window option would work.
If I selected Get From Window there would be nothing in the drop down dialogue box and the Pick Window button does nothing.
I did manage to record a a video using this filter in conjunction with VirtualDub but the CPU usage topped out at 100% and there were dropped frames galore.
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