One of the DirectShow’s most important features is Intelligent Connect, which allows Filter Graph Manager to build graphs out of independent filters trying to connect them together including options to fall back to originally non-preferred alternatives and so on.
It is however important that filters are properly registered with the Filter Mapper. For the developers to do so, there are special guidelines for registering filters. Unfortunately it is not always the case that developers carefully take them into consideration, and so we have compatibility issues. In particular a faulty filter may break an application it is not intended to be used in in first place. Some examples were already mentioned: Ahead Nero NeResize Filter, FFDShow Video Decoder Filter, PICVideo MJPEG Decompressor Filter.
As we are moving on, the brilliant collection is expanding. New entry on the list:
MainConcept Color Space Converter Filter
Friendly Name: MainConcept Color Space Converter
File Name: mccsc.ax
File Version: 1.0.103.60203 (note that other versions might be hopefully free from this problem)
Merit: 0x00600000 (MERIT_NORMAL)
Symptoms: registers itself under higher merit and takes over standard Color Space Converter Filter. As such, might be used in various applications including those, where it is not supposed to appear. Does not fully implement functionality of the filter being replaced and can crash breaking expected operation of third party application.