program to make jpeg of single frame for DVD case cover?

[joeAgain------]

Is there a free utility that can pull a high quality image from one of my video files to create a jpeg file for me to insert into Nero, etc. to create a custom DVD cover with?

(I've looked, but have not found one yet)

what is a good free utility for pulling one frame out of a video file for making a clear jpeg file to use as a jewel case cover image?.

[BJ_M]

you can use windvd (hit the camera) , tmpgenc (set source start and end and save to frames) , vitec multimedia (great program), mpeg-vcr (use camera).


also In-sync blade, vegas video, adobe premiere 6.5, and a few other methods (i think power director also)

[joeAgain------]

are any of those free?

[joeAgain------]

I just tried TMPGenc with Source range end point being the same(or one frame higher than) as begin point.

And it doesn't let me convert it to Jpeg in a "known format" that will display.

Any other ideas?

All the others are pay software....any free ones for doing this?

[BJ_M]

it works fine in tmpgenc :
-set your range like you did
- close setting box and open -> "file" -> "output to file" -> "sequance ....."
-> "save as type jpeg -> <name file> -> quality to 80 or better -> "save"

you could also save to bitmaps or targa's etc ... same method..

[joeAgain------]

Yes, I see
that works pretty good.

thanks BJ_M,
(is there a little less complicated way to get one?)

[Thorn]

Any reason not to use printscreen? just play the video windowed (not full screen) and pause it at the right spot. Then press printscreen. Open up any good picture editing program (or paint... it can save in jpg in win2k) and paste the pic into an empty picture and crop off the rest of the screen. You don't loose resolution because your computer was displaying 1:1. I don't know if this would really work with an interlaced source, though.

[joeAgain------]

2 questions, please

Does your Printscreen key work?(mine does nothing in Win98)

How do you pause a video while it is playing?

Oops, 3 questions.....have you Actually done that successfully?

[BJ_M]

2 questions, please

Does your Printscreen key work?(mine does nothing in Win98)

How do you pause a video while it is playing?

Oops, 3 questions.....have you Actually done that successfully?

print screen (accually <alt> print screen to get only the infocus window) only works in your video doesnt play in overlay mode - which most do now.

if it does work - you open your paint program (even windows lame paint program) and just start any new empty pic and hit <cntrl> - v (paste)

[MrPhelps]

Sometimes I use the print screen and paste it into wordpad for later use.

1. Ctrl+ printscreen
2. open wordpad & paste it and save.

[alirio]

wow! I just tried that and it works really cool, I never knew that...

[Thorn]

JoeAgain: printscreen works for me if I'm just using media player or equivalent (6.4 - the last MS player that was actually designed to play media). If I have it in a small window without maximizing -- that's important (BJ_M: is overlay mode fullscreen video? I don't really remember) it works just fine. Are you pasting into paint and it's not pasting anything? You won't see any results until you try to paste the contents of your clipboard. This did work for me when I used win98.

Pausing is dependent on your player. Often something like the space bar or ctrl-p (who the hell thought that was more user-friendly than the space bar? More proof that realplayer and WMP7+ weren't designed with the user in mind)

Heh, I've been cropping out the rest of the screen for years and never knew you could use alt-printscreen to grab the in-focus window. cool.

[BJ_M]

i have a hardware based playback for all video pretty well that doesnt exsist on the main screen really (output from video card (splits) goes to another card and on to a seperate monitor) - so cant use screen capture (all i would get is a blue screen)