Video capture device drivers can capture video input images that device hardware has stored in a frame buffer. They can pass these images to client applications as device-independent bitmaps (DIBs). If the hardware allows, they can display captured images as an overlay on an output display device.
APIs provided by the Microsoft Video for Windows Development Kit and the AVI capture (AVIcap) window class allow applications to capture either single video images or streams of images, and to view images on an overlay display as they are captured. The AVIcap window class is described in the Win32 SDK.
The Video Compression Manager allows applications to play back previously recorded bitmap images. For more information about the Video Compression Manager and its drivers, see Video Compression Manager Drivers.