I'd like to take some screen captures from my favourite DVDs.  How do I do this on my computer?

I tried pausing the movie and using the Print Screen key, but that didn't work.  I ended up with some very funky results (bringing it into PSP8) and wasn't able to save the image.

Any help would be much appreciated! 

I'm assuming Windows. A programme called "SnagIt" seems widely recommended. You have to avoid using hardware acceleration in the player. Available as shareware from www.snagit.com DVD resolution is pretty low, 720 pixels wide, and height matching the visible lines on a TV (NTSC and PAL are different). Also, the pixels aren't square.

Thanks very much Antonia!  And yes, I'm using Windows. 

Quote - You have to avoid using hardware acceleration in the player.

What does this mean exactly, and how do I avoid it?

Checking my copy of Power DVD, it's an option in the Video section of the Configuration display.

I have no problems using PowerDVD to capture screen shots from DVDs.  I have SnagIt, but since PowerDVD will do it for the DVD overlay, only use it for other screen caps.

And this is why 'Print Screen' won't work.  Most of the time, video is played in what is called 'overlay' mode.  The video is streamed through a different interface than the one regularly used by the OS and applications for screen display.  It's also related to the reason you can capture with or without the mouse in certain applications (like SnagIt).  What you see on the screen is layered up until the final image is sent to the video out buffer.

Thanks Kuroyume! 

So you would recommend PowerDVD over SnagIt?  And what about quality?  Antonia had mentioned that the resolution and size is not very good with SnagIt.  Is PowerDVD better or the same in that regard?

I just checked out both of those... I didn't realize you had to pay for them.  And the trial versions are only good for 30 days. 

Are there any free options out there for screen capture?  I really can't afford to buy anything right now.  :sad:

don't quote me on this, but don't the vob files that comprise modern DVDs allow for much higher resolution than 720X480 or whatever? although it may be illegal to do screencaps (I dunno, not an expert), looking at individual frames on this last dvd they sent (BVD) at 1680X1050, stepping thru the individual frames, they look pretty sharp at full-screen. but that may be due to sub-pixel rendering in OS X. it might look alot worse on an XP display.

Yep.  It's going to be hard to find a free screen capture that will do DVD overlays.  But here are some links that may help:

Screen Capture Utilities for Windows

Freeware Screen Capture (although this is a mixed bag of freeware, shareware, and software - note that there are more pages than just the one).

Computing.Net - Screen Capture

This is the Google search that I used to acquire these links (there are more): "DVD screen capture software free"

Hope you find something that works - let us know if and what does. :)

Robert

Miss Nancy, my experience is that normal DVD video is 720x480 (or whatever), but HD does and  Widescreen may contain higher resolution video.  I'd say that any sharpness beyond the default resolution is interpolation as there is only so much data that can be stored on a DVD.  Considering that many commercial DVD's contain some form of Surround Sound (5.1, 7.1, even 9.1 channels) and THX, that in itself occupies a good deal of space.  I'll admit though that things have changed in the past couple years, so don't quote me on this> :)

Thanks Kuroyume! 

I had just done a bit of Googling and found a little tut on how to use Windows Media Player for screen capture:

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/11/capture-still-images-from-windows.html

It worked, but the quality wasn't very good.  Also, WMP has a lot of "junk" in the window that you can't get rid of, and the screen shot ended up being a lot smaller than I would have liked.

I use Hot Llama which has the control panel in a seperate window that you can move around and minimize.  The actual window that the movie plays in is free of any extra stuff and I can drag it out to full screen.  So I'm hoping to find something that will allow me to take a screen capture while I'm using the Hot Llama player.

Going to check out your links now.  Thanks again!

or you can go and get Videolan - www.videolan.org - a freeware player thats veeery nice and has almost all codecs known to man built in.. and does a lovely screengrab off any media file.... (and yes it does play and cap DVD's. availible in Windows, Mac, Linux, Debian........)

Thanks so much Khai! 

VideoLAN is MUCH nicer than Hot Llama!  I really love the fullscreen option!

The screen capture seems to be a bit better quality than with WMP, and I can get a larger image now as well.

Is there a way to take a screen capture while in Fullscreen mode?  Some kind of shortcut? Or can you only access it from the drop down menu in the default window?   Also, what's the difference between Wallpaper and Snapshot?

the last time I checked, the "step-frame" keystroke didn't work in VLC, full-screen mode. it works in QT player, however (with latest mpeg-2 codec installed).

I tried pausing the movie and using the Print Screen key, but that didn't work.  I ended up with some very funky results (bringing it into PSP8) and wasn't able to save the image."

Errrmmm...
If, by PSP8 you mean "Paint Shop Pro 8", then you can use that to do screen caps.

See above.. (OK, it's PSP9, but the function has been there since PSP4, if not earlier...)

In PSP, set up the way you want to capture.
Then hit  "shift+C" (caps not neccessary). PSP will minimise itself and lurk in the background.
When you hit the key combination you've specified (I use F12 - doesn't usually conflict with any other apps), PSP will grab whatever's showing on the screen (or allow you to select an area, depending on how you set it up)  and either restore itself or start blinking in the task bar to prompt you to click there, which will restore.

PS. The above screen cap was taken using PSP (2 copies running, 1st one to do the screen cap, 2nd one to display the menus...)

Cheers,
Diolma

Thanks diolma.  I didn't know you could use PSP for direct screen capture. 

I've always used the Print Screen key and then opened the image up in PSP by doing Ctrl+V

But that way still doesn't seem to work for DVD stills.  I ended up with the movie playing in PSP and couldn't actually save an image.

Umm... OK I just tried it using VLC playing a movie I have, paused the movie and then captured using PSP.

It didn't capture properly. So I suspect the interlacing stuff mentioned above is the problem.

Oh, well, it seemed a good idea..

Drat!

But... at least you now know about another feature of PSP:-))

Cheers anyway,
Diolma

Quote - "I'd like to take some screen captures from my favourite DVDs.  How do I do this on my computer?

I tried pausing the movie and using the Print Screen key, but that didn't work.  I ended up with some very funky results (bringing it into PSP8) and wasn't able to save the image."

Errrmmm...
If, by PSP8 you mean "Paint Shop Pro 8", then you can use that to do screen caps.

See above.. (OK, it's PSP9, but the function has been there since PSP4, if not earlier...)

In PSP, set up the way you want to capture.
Then hit  "shift+C" (caps not neccessary). PSP will minimise itself and lurk in the background.
When you hit the key combination you've specified (I use F12 - doesn't usually conflict with any other apps), PSP will grab whatever's showing on the screen (or allow you to select an area, depending on how you set it up)  and either restore itself or start blinking in the task bar to prompt you to click there, which will restore.

PS. The above screen cap was taken using PSP (2 copies running, 1st one to do the screen cap, 2nd one to display the menus...)

Cheers,
Diolma

I tried this using PSP v7.04 and tried to get a screen capture of a Real Player window.  I do get a copy of the Real Player window inside PSP, but it's still the live feed  and not a screen capture at all.  And when I save it as a .jpg image the image saves as a black void.  If I save it as a .psp image when I open it up again it resumes the live feed.

Is there a free program out there that I can use to just get a screenshot of a Real Player window?  I'm not interested in downloading yet another viewer. All I want is a program that can take screen captures off of a video viewer.

http://www.fraps.com/download.php

Found this in another thread and it works!

Layers, people, layers.

Video for players like RealPlayer, MediaPlayer, Quicktime, PowerDVD, iTunes, etc. is using the video overlay from the video card.  For Windows, go to Control Panel->Display (or right click on desktop and select Properties).  Go to Advanced and then the cards setting tab.  There you will see settings for Video Overlay.  What this means is that streaming video isn't going to the normal screen display, but to a special overlay mode.  Most screen captures can't capture the video overlay - and thus the black void where the video shoulda been. :)

Check the link for ways to get around this:

Capture Pictures from DVD Movies

Robert

I don't have a "card settings" tab.

My card is a "Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000 Pro"

Screenshot Utility

I just tried this one and it works better. I found that with the Fraps one that my system was laggy and I was having a hard time getting Real Player to work once I opened the Fraps program.

I had totally forgotten about this handy little screenshot utility. I've been using it for years.

Install it. Click on the icon to open the program.  Set up a folder to deposit the screenshots.  Set up a key to use. I stuck with the default ESC key.  Minimize the program window. To take a screenshot simply press your desired key and it will take a screenshot of the window, minus the tool bar and save it as a .jpg file in the folder of your choosing.

Usually the drivers create a tab in the Advanced display window - but maybe not in this case.  If you have drivers/software installed for this card, there should be some Control Panel or Systray access.  Also check your Start menu "All Programs" to see if the settings are accessed from there.

Robert

PowerDVD is what I use for DVD captures.  My video capture card lets me capture stills or video from any source (read: camcorder, vhs, tv). ;)

WIndows Media Center, Windows Media Player and most other players work for me (except InterVideo or Inter Actual - can't remember which) with the Print Screen key.  Then I just go into Photoshop and trim out what I don't need.  No need to buy fancy apps or anything, since I already have an image editor. I've used this quite a bit in the past for collecting references of objects to be modeled.

Attached Link: XINEPLAYER

Anybody mentiob SnagIt?

Quote - Anybody mentiob SnagIt?

yup 2nd post made in this thread

Quote: On MAC osx any screen capture is disabled while the native apple DVD player is running... Try SnapNDrag (http://www.yellowmug.com). It's free and captures everything, including DVD from DVD Player and TV & VHS from eyeTV.

I'm using SnapZPro on MacOS - does this do any of this? (not a main concern for me, but may be informational for others). :)

I hope so, considering the price tag ;)

SnapZ Pro ($69) is beans compared to Camtasia Studio for Windows ($299).  I'm not on my Mac, so I can't check it out..  I do know that SnapZ Pro will capture screen video (great for tutorials), just not sure about DVDs and so on. :)

Yes, most of the video tutorials on the Mac are made with SnapZ Pro.

I've tried several but now use AVS dvd player(which is located at http://www.avsmedia.com/). It has a snapshot feature which works well.