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Matthew Hunter
10-02-2005, 05:51 PM
My new computer doesn't have a VHS capture card, but it DOES have a DVD player. I have not figured out how to capture stills from it yet, though. "print screen" merely gives me the outline of the player software, not the picture in it. Any way around this, or is it some sort of copyright security bug? :bugs2:
David Gerstein
10-02-2005, 06:44 PM
If your computer is like mine (an OS 10 Mac), then it's a copyright security bug. There are shareware programs that claim to be able to get around the bug, but I know none that has actually worked for me— I ended up having to buy special software to override the bug.
(Ironically, I needed the screencaps for a licensed Disney project, so I was hardly breaking the law; but tell that to the software, which is actually in the computers to begin with thanks to Disney's own lobbying...)
Javeman
10-02-2005, 07:38 PM
What program do you have to play DVD? If it is PowerDVD, I can help you. You should see a button that shows a camera in the menu. Pause the movie in the frame you want to capture, click that button (shortcut: press "C" on the keyboard), and the frame will be copied in the clipboard. After that you can paste it in any picture editing program.
frizfrelengfan
10-02-2005, 08:02 PM
Ulead DVD player uses "G" on the keyboard to capture images. On my computer I can't figure out how to do it with Windows Media Player.
cbrubaker
10-02-2005, 09:39 PM
To capture images from my computer, I use a MagicDVDRipper. Just select the ifo file of the cartoon and select the scene you want to capture. I also make a mpg file from that software and convert it to wmv.
Tom41
10-03-2005, 06:56 AM
Most DVD player apps will have a button to click (or a key combination to press) to copy the current frame to the clipboard. Then you just paste it into your favorite image editing program and save it.

Bear in mind though, even PowerDVD won't take screenshots off certain copy-protected discs. The button to take the screenshot will be disabled.
I've never seen a classic cartoon DVD (or even 80s cartoon DVDs) that implement this protection, but I have seen it on some movies.
mbaker
10-03-2005, 07:15 AM
My eMac has a built-in DVD player, but i don't think you can capture stills with it. Is there a Mac specific application you can download that can capture images effectively?
Jeff
10-03-2005, 09:08 AM
What program do you have to play DVD? If it is PowerDVD, I can help you. You should see a button that shows a camera in the menu. Pause the movie in the frame you want to capture, click that button (shortcut: press "C" on the keyboard), and the frame will be copied in the clipboard. After that you can paste it in any picture editing program.

Yep, this is exactly what I use. I'm thinking most DVD software players should let you do this.

As for ripping your DVDs to your hard drive, I use MPlayer (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/news.html), though it takes some getting used to as it's only accessible from the command-line in Windows (and I think you'll need to install cygwin). It's a little clunky, but if you need help then PM me...
Jeff
10-03-2005, 09:09 AM
Bear in mind though, even PowerDVD won't take screenshots off certain copy-protected discs. The button to take the screenshot will be disabled.
I've never seen a classic cartoon DVD (or even 80s cartoon DVDs) that implement this protection, but I have seen it on some movies.

That's interesting, I've never seen that yet.