Hi
direct=1 for an image means you will display the image directly from the merchant's server. Example: merchant.com/image.jpg
direct=0 means the image URL gets masked so it might look like yoursite.com/image.jpg
Same for affiliate links, direct=1 means you show the raw affiliate link. direct=0 means you show the masked or cloaked affiliate link.
tag=1 means we generate the <img /> tag for the image.
tag=0 means only the URL is returned and you are responsible for adding it to an <img> tag.
Eric