Tutorial - High Resolution Screencaps with PowerDVD 4 and Paintshop Pro 8

[anesthezea.livejournal.com]

Notes

Special thanks and chocolate go to the lovely and mega-talented isabellecs who taught me the PSP8 process described in this tutorial. All credit for this tutorial's creation should go to her. She was the inspiration and the knowledge. I just got bored and decided to play on my computer for a few hours.




High Resolution Screencaps with PowerDVD 4 and Paintshop Pro 8


Note: This tutorial is meant to be used with PowerDVD4 and Paintshop Pro 8. It may or may not work with other versions of the programs. You must have a DVD-ROM drive to play/screencap dvds. Dvds will not play in CD-ROM, CD-R, or CD-RW drives.


PowerDVD Configuration

1. Before loading a dvd into your player, let's check your PowerDVD settings by clicking on the configuration button.



2. A dialog box pops up. Under the GENERAL tab, select ADVANCED. A second dialog box will pop up. Click on the CAPTURE tab and select "Capture to File" as your default capture mode. I save my caps to PowerDVD's image folder (C:\PROGRAM FILES\CYBERLINK\POWERDVD\Images\) so they are easier to find. Select "Current video window size" as your captured aspect ratio. Click OK to close that dialog box.

3. With the other dialog box still up, click on the VIDEO tab. If HARDWARE ACCELERATION is checked, UNCHECK it. Select "Keep Aspect Ratio" under SCREEN CONTROL. Select "Original" as your color control profile (Using Bright, Theater, and Vivid uses up more CPU power).

4. Click on the ADVANCED tab. Yet another dialog box pops up. Click the SCREEN tab. Choose "Auto-Select" as your VIDEO MODE. Select "Don't change resolution" on BOTH of the drop down menus below that. Click OK to close BOTH dialog boxes.


Capturing Images with PowerDVD

1. Insert your dvd of choice into your dvd player. When the dvd loads, DO NOT RESIZE THE SCREEN. Let the player select the window size automatically. Remember, some dvds will play at a rather large default window size.

2. When you see something you'd like to cap, press "C" to capture, or alternately, click the CAMERA icon on the player. If it helps you to make a clearer cap, press SPACEBAR to PAUSE the dvd and then make your capture. Press ENTER to continue playing the dvd.



3. When you've finished screencapping, close PowerDVD4.


Enhancing Screencaps with Paint Shop Pro 8

1. Open a screencap in Paint Shop Pro.

(I've chosen a cap of a recuperating Stephen Maturin - as played by Paul Bettany - from the film Master and Commander)

If you captured from a widescreen dvd you may choose to crop the black areas from your image. Select the CROP tool and drag it around the image area of your cap. Double click the selected area and the black areas disappear.





Note: You can crop multiple screencaps by taking the cropped screencap's size (in this case, 959 x 394) and using IMAGE/CANVAS SIZE on each screencap. In the dialog box that pops up, enter the pixel data for width and height. Click OK. The cap will automatically crop itself to the specified size without the black areas.

2. Once you've cropped your screencap to your liking, go to ADJUST - BRIGHTNESS AND CONTRAST - AUTOMATIC CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT. A dialog box will pop up. Select "Neutral" Bias, "Normal" Strength, and "Natural" Appearance. Click OK to close the dialog box.





3. Use SAVE AS to change your cap from a bitmap to a jpeg.


Before and After

Comments

[nowherelander.livejournal.com]

i feel so stupid asking this but i can't find my caps after i cap them.i tried to look into powerdvd in program files only to find it doesn't exist.help me?

[anesthezea.livejournal.com]

Ok. Let's see.

Open PowerDVD and click on the Configuration tool (see the 1st image of the tutorial if you don't know where it is) and click on the GENERAL tab. At the bottom of the dialog box is a button that says ADVANCED. Click it. Another dialog box pops up. Click on the CAPTURE tab. Under "Default Capture Mode" make sure you have selected "Capture to File" and that the box below it has this in it: C:\PROGRAM FILES\CYBERLINK\POWERDVD\Images\PDVD_.BMP

This will save all of your captures into one folder - as bitmap files (example: PDVD_000.bmp, PDVD_001.bmp, and so on).

You will need to use another program (IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com), Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, etc) to change the files to gifs.

Please let me know if this helps you any. ^_^x

[nowherelander.livejournal.com]

oh thank you soooo much:)))thanks for your time (http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=time&v=56) i really appreciate it