What's a good DirectShow programming resource?

[JCipriani]

I'm about to get in to some serious DirectShow development, and in the past I've always had trouble finding help for DirectShow issues. There's the Microsoft Windows Vista DirectShow forum, which rarely gives satisfying results (and I've never understood why it exists only under the Vista category):

http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=129&SiteID=1

There's also the newsgroups microsoft.public.win32.programmer.directx.*, but DirectShow-related questions always seem to have a very long turnaround time.

I'm not sure why I always get the impression that DirectShow programming is some sort of weird, arcane, black magic that only a chosen few have mastered. Does anybody know if there's a good place, in general, to get reliable advice from knowledgeable people about DirectShow? (Is videohelp.com a good place? I've actually only been here once before I think).

Thanks a lot,
Jason

[JohnnyMalaria]

DirectShow programming is based on COM programming. Learn COM and DirectShow will be a lot easier. You don't need to learn the real hardcore COM stuff but you should learn about interfaces, references etc.

Take time to look at the DirectShow samples in the SDK. They provide the bread and butter from which to build your own DirectShow applications and/or DirectShow filters.

Also, have a look at:

http://mathinfo.univ-reims.fr/image/mmVideo/cours/DirectShow3Annexe.pdf

It's basically an amalgamation of Microsoft's SDK documentation but in a more readable form (i.e., one document instead of multiple help pages).