Screensaver into viewable DVD format.

[johanume]

Hello there,
Any experience or hints around "how to capture a screensaver file (.scr) and transfer it into viewable DVD-format". Please let me know what you think.
I am serching for really high quality of resolution since it's for my big 42" TV back home.
Thanks in advance!
Johan

[Megahurts]

Hello johanume,

You can use Snagit to capture scr files. If you touch the mouse or keyboard while capturing, the screen saver will stop but will keep on capturing the desk top.

On my system I found that using a Mjpeg codec was the best at capturing full screen (1024x768) @ 30fps.

Hope this helps.

Chas

[johanume]

Ok, sounds like a good idea. Thanks for your answer.
Any possibilities to simply convert the .scr file to viewable fileformat directly? Instead of capture it? (thinking of getting as good quality as possible)

[guns1inger]

If the screensaver used a video as the basis for display then a resource editor might be able to extract it. Most screensavers however are actually programs that need to execute to create the images you see. If this is the case then you have no choice but to follow the advice given above and capture in real time. Until the program is running, there is nothing to convert.

[johanume]

Ok I understand. Thank you for your good answer. So in this case, where my screensaver creates the motions and pictures after execution, I will have to go for capturing.
Any ideas of how to keep the captured quality as high as possibe? How high quality could one create?

[Megahurts]

johanume,

The highest resolution would be your screen res. But you'll need a lot of horse power since it's capturing in real time.

When I captured at 1024x768 30fps, every 4th or 5th frame was duplicated. Reducing the capture frame rate to 20fps solved the problem.

I changed the screen res and captured at 800x600 30fps, it was fine and the file size was smaller.

I used the ssmyst.scr and the PICVideo MJPEG codec for the test. Both resolutions played back on WMP full screen were perfect.

When you convert the avi file to mpeg2 for dvd, you'll be limited to 720x480 or PAL equivalent.

Hope this helps.

Chas