Screen Capture using PSP X

[Goldenblack440]

Hello, this is my first post, not sure if this is the correct area of the forum.

I have PaintShop Pro 10 and often use the screen capture feature. I find however that it cannot capture images from media players (eg WMP or Media Player Classic), the image just comes out all black. Does anyone know why?

However, it can capture paused or moving image stills from streaming material eg YouTube. My main question however is with Real Player. I find that images from Real Player (which plays files with ext *.flv) can sometimes be captured but other times not. This is strange because i played a movie through Real Player from my HDD (using File > New > Browse) and was able to capture some still images from that. However, the next day i came back and tried the same thing and it would not work. The images just come out black.

But all the movies or clips downloaded by Real Player itself still capture. I'm not sure if it has something to do with the type of file (.wmv or .flv etc) or how the player displays the image, because it won't work with normal media players.

Can anyone say what might be the problem and how i can fix it?

Thanks

 

[Nanobyte]

Hello, this is my first post, not sure if this is the correct area of the forum.

I have PaintShop Pro 10 and often use the screen capture feature. I find however that it cannot capture images from media players (eg WMP or Media Player Classic), the image just comes out all black. Does anyone know why?

Your media players are projecting the videos on screen using overlays. All that is actually on the "normal" screen is a black rectangle just like you capture.

I'm not sure of the exact process but basically the player tells the PC to put a black (or other colour rectangle) on the screen. The video is played in the "background" and anywhere there is black, the picture shows through. You may have noticed that if you put another application over the top of your player, anywhere it is black the video shows through.

The only ways to capture what is in the frame is to use the capture utility of that application, or to force the player not to use overlays. I think most players have such settings.

Edit:
WMP: Tools > Options > Performance > Video Acceleration > Advanced, uncheck all "use overlays" items. If not making captures you can restore settings.

 

[Goldenblack440]

Thank you very much, that's great background information on the video imaging and i tried what you said and it worked! I really appreciate the reply; i can't seem to find the same settings in Media Player Classic (which is a very advanced player compared to WMP) but now i have that basic info i should be able to have a look at all the different options and find something about layers. Thanks again

 

[Nanobyte]

In MPC you will find settings in View > Options > Playback > Output and there are notes as to which options will work.

If you are using MPC you may as well use its own capture, File > Save Image.

If using ffdshow with MPC (for example xvid or mkv) the hotkey is Ctrl+Alt+G. You have to have the Grab option enabled and set up (for single frame, 1), plus the Key & Remote enabled.

With MPC's capture you can pause and capture the frame as well as on the fly.

For ffdshow capture hit Ctrl+Alt+G. For multiple frames you can set the number in the Grab settings. Another method: Keep frames set to 1, pause (Space) the video at the point you are interested in, hit Ctrl+Alt+G the number of frames you want (Ctrl+Alt held down and x G's) then Space to resume and you will get x frames. Depending on the video size and your PCs capability, they may not be consecutive frames but close together nevertheless.

Best to use the native naming and rename the captures when done. You have to be careful about captures being in order if you jump back in the video and make more captures.

The idea of overlays is to take video rendering away from the CPU and have the graphics card do it. All the CPU is effectively doing is the normal windows and the black rectangle.

 

[Goldenblack440]

Well many thanks again, i've just been playing with Classic and have almost got it down to a fine art now. Just had a play with the settings and using the Save image (CTR I) as a jpg. It works great. I'm not sure how to engage the ffdshow but every so often when using a player (usually WMP i think) i see that ffd and another similar icon pop up in the tray below. And i have never realised why they came up. Greatly appreciated, you certainly know about the subject.