Tekware of the Day: GraphEdit

GraphEdit is a free program that is part of Microsoft’s DirectShow Software Development Kit(tools for software developers). GraphEdit allows developers to manipulate media files via plug-ins and filters outside of the developed program itself, thus allowing developers from an array of programming languages and backgrounds to easily manipulate media files within Windows.

GraphEdit, however, is not just useful for developers – it is an essential tool for the digital media enthusiast as well. GraphEdit not only allows users to test and tune filters and plug-ins for a specific media file they are working with, it also allows them to set up a chain of filters and plug-ins that can be exported into other programs, thus enabling the user to manipulate the media file whichever way that can be imagined.

For example, with GraphEdit I can take an EVO file from an HD-DVD -

- and I can connect it to a transport stream splitter (Haali Media Splitter AR in this case) and then direct the video contained in the EVO file to a decoder (CoreAVC in this case).  By doing this, I can then save this as a GRF file that can be manipulated by other programs, such as a video player or into a video encoder for further compression.

 GraphEdit may seem like a complicated program, but after you fool around with it a little and get a good feel for it, it is a powerful and free piece of Tekware that no digital media enthusiast should be without.