[HowTo] Making a Screen Capture (Screenshots of a Video)

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 8:03 pm Post subject: help please Post Rating: 0

can anyone tell me how to take a screen caption, i use realplayer to try to take screen captions i pause the video and i press print screen, then i paste it into paint but then when i paste it on . . . . it comes out as a black screen? so i was wondering if anyone can tell me how i can fix that problem or is there any program i can use to do this? >;\

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 8:35 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

There are a few solutions to this. I use BSPlayer for all of my screen captions. Most DVD software-based players like WinDVD also do screen captures.

The technical explanation to the black screen effect is that, under Microsoft Windows (and also Mac OS X. I'm not sure about how the Linux GUIs do it), motion video is actually a video overlay. An overlay, for this explanation, is basically a layer of video separate from the rest of the operating system. What most video players do is project a black box within the player's window (the black color is the "color picker"). Windows will use the video codec to read the video file, and then transfer the result to the video card's high-speed memory. From there, the video hardware will then take the high-speed memory and blend it in with the rest of the video that comes from Windows (stored in system memory). The video hardware knows the exact x/y coordinates of the black box, also reported by the video codec, and then blend the the motion video with that section of the Windows video. And then, this blend of Windows video and motion video is sent out of the video card and onto your display. And that's how you see video in Windows! Video overlaying is also used in your local news weather report, except they usually use either a green or blue background for the overlay.

The purpose of video overlaying is to accelerate the rest of the Windows environment (menus, desktop pattern re-draws, browser windows, etc.) Without video overlaying and video hardware acceleration, the motion video will be just part of the Windows environment, slowing things when the video is sent through the video card to your display. For example, if video overlaying was not in use, even a slight change in the Windows desktop (moving of an icon, a message popping up in your IM utility, etc.) would affect the video playing performance.

The Windows PrintScreen function (alt, ctrl, etc.) captures only the contents of the Windows video memory, stored in your PC's system memory. In order to capture the video overlay, the capture utility must know how to tap into the video codec to obtain the frame shot. Windows PrintScreen doesn't know how to do that.

A work-around, although I highly recommend you do not do, is to disable hardware video acceleration and instead allow the Windows OS to dump everything, including motion video, into system memory. To do this under Windows XP:

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Display

In the Display properties, click the Settings tab, and then click the Advanced button. In the window that pops up next, click the Troubleshoot tab, and then move the Hardware acceleration lever to the "None" position. Click OK on all the windows to close them and save the change. Once hardware acceleration is disabled, a screenshot using alt-PrintScreen will work.

--- groink

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 10:14 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 10:17 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

^Uh, I wouldn't think groink would tell you how to do something he didn't recommend unless there was a way he did recommend o__o

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 10:26 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 10:49 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 11:02 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Yea... Neo is right.... Groink's recommendation is in the first paragraph. Try reading it again.

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 11:09 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

download the newest MEDIA PLAYER CLASSIC then u should be able to take screens. is very easy with MPC

here a link if u wish:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 12:17 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 12:18 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 12:29 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Just get VirtualDub, open the file there and you can get a screenshot with printsreen since it doesn't use overlay.

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 12:45 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

P-Star is right, Media Player Classic can play RMVB files!

As for BSPlayer, that's another player (dunno if it plays RMVB, but it's a very good player, and it's very easy to take screenshots--you just press the letter 'p').

http://www.bsplayer.org/

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 12:51 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hmmm, okay, time to endorse jholic's newly designed and very comprehensive FAQ. Check this out, specifically, Q3. What video player do I need? Which one should I use? What's the most popular one?.

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 3:32 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

i tried media player classic, it doesnt work >;[ its still black screenshots? unless im doing it wrong because i was pressing print screen ;x and bsplayer didnt work for me.

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 3:56 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

You know what... I just realized that another thread already exist for this topic. Try reading it. If you're using WMP, there's a trick to do a frame capture. The trick is mentioned in that thread.