Taking Screenshots in PowerDVD while playing Bluray

[sohaibrazzaq]

Can anyone tell me how to take a snapshot of Bluray video in PowerDVD 9? PowerDVD itself can't take a screenshot of bluray video and printscreen simply does'nt work when powerdvd is running. Is there any tool (preferably free) that can do it or i have to use a camera?
Thanks for any help, its driving me nuts
Regards,
Sohaib

[Baldrick]

I don't think it's possible with powerdvd. Maybe using some older version(7).

Another option would be to just play blu-ray m2ts files using for example MPCHC together with AnyDVDHD and use the file->save image....but anydvd is not exactly free then.

[nitro1973]

... is not exactly free then.

And I'm not sure if exactly legal in most of countries hehe

In powerDVD you will not grab a screenshot during bd playback. Bluray playback is secured for ripping/grabbing.
Like Baldrick said, you need to rip BD first with anydvd or similar software.

[jman98]

I wish I could tell you that this is a joke, but sadly it's not. PowerDVD used to be able to do this. Shortly after BluRay and HD-DVD were released, some guy posted something on a blog that showed how it was possible to use PowerDVD to do screen captures. This feature had been available in DVD playback with PowerDVD for many years, by the way. Hollywood flipped out when this blog post got a lot of press attention as someone could, in theory, use it to "copy" the disc. Now you as a presumably smart person would ask "But how does that have anything to do with the audio, which is also theoretically protected?" and "Would someone REALLY go to the trouble to take a photo of every frame and reassemble it to copy a disc? Really?"
Hollywood ordered Cyberlink (makers of PowerDVD) to remove this capability because "it might be used for copying" and Cyberlink complied. It's been missing from PowerDVD for years now and now you know why.

[sohaibrazzaq]

Well thats sad Cyberlink removed it, i tried Snagit but it was of no use. I already own AnyDVD, guess its time to upgrade to AnyDVDHD then.
Thanks everyone for the valuable input.

Sohaib

[sohaibrazzaq]

I just find it that ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 supports Frame Capture while playing bluray. Its far much better player then powerdvd and WinDVD. Supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD playback while powerdvd downsamples truehd to simple dd. It also has some other nice features that powerdvd and windvd lacks like playing bluray iso's and mkv playback.

[jman98]

Earlier in this decade PowerDVD was a great piece of software. But the people in the company are Hollywood's bitches and they made it less and less functional with each release to please their Hollywood masters. It's garbage these days. I haven't used WinDVD in years either. They're just as bad as PowerDVD. I'm glad that TotalMedia Theatre worked for you. We've had some good reports about it here so thanks for letting us know that you liked it too.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Yeah the last good version of PowerDVD was 6, too bad TotalMedia Theatre costs $100USD otherwise I would get it.

[dessieclive]

sadly ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 wont run on win 7 driver prob

[sohaibrazzaq]

Yeah the last good version of PowerDVD was 6, too bad TotalMedia Theatre costs $100USD otherwise I would get it.

I agree that TotalMedia Theatre is a bit overpriced, but i think its features make up for it. Well worth the money for anyone who watch blurays on PC frequently. I am definitely gonna buy it.
Great pieace of software.