How do you take a screenshoit of a video playing ?

[power2084]

Hello !

Newb question here, I'd like to get a screenshot of a video playing, that will produce a .jpg or .bmp file. I've looked thru Windows Media Player, couldn't find any option to do that...

The only tool that I have and that has such an option is Media Player Classic, but it produced a much darker image of what I have taken as screenshot.

Help please, what media player or other (free) tool can I use to take a screenshot ?
Thanks for your help.

[steveryan]

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=239865

[guns1inger]

VLC can do screen grabs as well.

[power2084]

This is funny, I DO have VLC also, but never found what you need to do with it to take a screenshot...

So... ?

[steveryan]

Hit the video tab then snapshot.

[power2084]

Ok, it worked with VLC, but there is another problem.
Take a look at this captured snapshot: (from Star TrekS9)




As you can see, the image I get is very dark, you can barely see anything !
When I play the file with VLC, it's bright and just fine.

I've captured a screenshot also using Windows Media Player (by first disabling the overlays) and I've got the same result.

Why do I get dark images ?

[Scorpion King]

Freeware?

VIrtualDub or if the file is mpg then VirtualDubMPEG2. Load the video, scan to desired frame, then click Video - Copy source frame to clipboard. If you've added filters such as deinterlace, etc, then hit Video - copy output frame to clipboard. (It sometimes helps, to get a better looking still shot, to add a deinterlace filter and maybe hit the "key frame" button)

Open your photo editor and create a new photo document. Example: 720x480, then Edit - Paste in the frame.

Windows "Paint" program will work. Open Paint, click File - New, then Image - Attributes. Enter 720 and 480 (or whatever the actual size of your video is), make sure Pixels is checked, then OK. Edit - Paste. Then File - Save As, Select BMP, JPG, or whatever you want.

Good luck.

[power2084]

My source file is .avi

I tried VirtualDub and it doesn't work ! First of all, my video while it is displayed by VirtualDub is very dark it the video player itself. It's the first media player that I've seen doing that.

With Windows Media Player and VLC (and others), at least the video is bright is just fine when playing back. Now with VirtualDub, even the playback is very dark. Take a look:

[power2084]

Please do not consider the 2 screenshots I have posted above. They do look very dark to me, from my computer when I check my post, but after asking a friend about what he sees, he says the pictures are just fine and he can see everything in clear details.

[Scorpion King]

As I look at your photo I can see bright whites and blacks. Looks fine to me. I loaded your photo into photoshop and the levels are fine...

Good luck

[PTsniper]

Hi!

You can use the print screen button or use power DVD.

Power DVD works great for me (it's not freeware, but with the trial you can take photos too [I beleive :P])

So good luck.

[DianeHelen]

Paintsho Pro, which is now owned by Corel has a really nice, easy screen capture feature. If you pause the video, then invoke the screen capture, you can get what you are looking for.

Also, there is a freeware tool called 20/20, you can find it with a google search for 20/20 graphic software. That also has a nice screen capture feature, and its FREE!

[tonyp12]

When video is playing in a Media Player it uses Overlay.
Most video cards have one color correction settings for overlay and one for desktop.
Just click on your nvidia icon and maybe set them both to default.

You can always adjust the brightness and contrast a little on the picture after you saved it.

[Drahken]

The problem with the darkness of it is gamma related. The players can adjust their gamma seperately from the rest of your computer, resulting in the problem you mention. Also, different computers have different gamma settings, so images don't look the same on your computer as the do on someone else's. If you plan to do a lot of such screenshots, grab a simple freeware program like Irfanview or Xnview to fix the images. Such programs can open almost any image file, convert it to JPG or whatever you want, and allow you to enhance the image by adjusting the gamma, brightness, contrast, and other things.