A customer approached us with a specific request: they needed a code snippet that could compress video into the H.264/AVC video format. Additionally, they were developing an application for the hashtag#Microsoft hashtag#HoloLens, which was the previous generation of hashtag#mixedreality headsets.
Upon closer examination, we realized that the purpose was to enable video encoding and decoding in a hashtag#lowlatency, hashtag#realtime, multi-party video conferencing application. The challenge lay in achieving this on low-powered hardware with its unique platform and limitations.
The HoloLens utilizes the Microsoft UWP platform, which typically allows developers to avoid rewriting software for different platform devices. However, in this particular case, adaptation was necessary. The only viable approach for handling real-time video was to leverage hardware-assisted video encoding and decoding through Microsoft Media Foundation.
These devices come equipped with specialized GPUs that share similarities with traditional desktop graphics adapters but also have their own distinct characteristics. Essentially, we developed a subsystem specifically tailored for Microsoft HoloLens 1, enabling real-time video capture, compression, decompression, seamless camera integration, hashtag#unity3d integration, and audio hardware support.