[nibeck]

Anyone have any ideas on how to do screen grabs of a DVD screen?

- Mike

[Nebrie]

Never gonna happen unless Apple wants to get sued by the MPAA.

[mr_sonicblue]

Only way I know is to use an external capture device.

[Teronzhul]

i thought somebody said you could with snapz pro? I don't personally know since i have a lombard

[Oneota]

Supposedly, if you have a GeForce3 and SnapzPro, you can capture DVD images. I wouldn't expect it to stay that way for long, though. 10.1.1 will likely take care of that little oops-ie.

[iamnotmad]

I can take grabs with a DVD playing (and the movie shows up) just fine. GF3, digital display.
This is using snapz

[xi_hyperon]

Originally posted by iamnotmad:
<STRONG>I can take grabs with a DVD playing (and the movie shows up) just fine. GF3, digital display.
This is using snapz</STRONG>

This is the only way to do it. Any other card and it won't work.

[spauldingg]

I was gonna suggest trying snapperhead, but stimpsoft has removed it forever.

[moki]

Here's a screen capture of a DVD movie playing under Mac OS X 10.1, taken with Snapz Pro X (scaled down 50% -- click on the image to see the full size version).



The ability to capture DVD images works only with NVidia graphics cards and you need Snapz Pro X version 1.0.1 or later; if you have an ATI graphics card, you're out of luck (for now).

[mr_sonicblue]

Well I'll be damned.

[moki]

Originally posted by mr_sonicblue:
<STRONG>Well I'll be damned.</STRONG>

Purty, ain't it?

[neps]

for those with ati cards, you can run a DVD with videolan (www.videolan.org) and you'll be able to do screen grabs with that. You won't have the purty apple interface, but so what?

[moki]

Originally posted by neps:
<STRONG>for those with ati cards, you can run a DVD with videolan (www.videolan.org) and you'll be able to do screen grabs with that. You won't have the purty apple interface, but so what?</STRONG>

Yeah, I took a look at this -- unfortunately, it seems fairly unfinished and unrefined, to put it kindly. hopefully they're working on spiffing it up a bit.

[michaelb]

You got that right!

Am I right in thinking the GUI's menu commands are completely non-functional and the only way to use it is from the Terminal with a command like:

./vlc dvd:/dev/rdisk1

?

[michaelb]

Originally posted by Nebrie:
<STRONG>Never gonna happen unless Apple wants to get sued by the MPAA.</STRONG>

I've never understood comments like this. You may be right, but has the MPAA actually sued any DVD software maker for doing screenshots?

(They do tend to sue people hosting DeCSS on a server with a big message saying "Get it here!")

After all, every Windows-based DVD player, which only represents the bottom 90% of the market can do a screenshot just by pressing PRNTSCRN (I know, because that's how I do 'em for a DVD review site, and it is legal).

[moki]

Originally posted by michaelb:
<STRONG>After all, every Windows-based DVD player, which only represents the bottom 90% of the market can do a screenshot just by pressing PRNTSCRN (I know, because that's how I do 'em for a DVD review site, and it is legal).</STRONG>

Yeah, me taking a screenshot of a DVD movie for my own personal use is unquestionably "fair use" and legal.

If you then throw the said screenshot of a DVD movie up on a web page, you are probably violating copyright law -- but realistically, I can't see anyone caring to much -- and if they do, they'll just tell you to take it down.

[michaelb]

The copyright laws of many countries allow extracts from copyrighted material to be used in the context of a review.

Thus, a newspaper reviewing a novel or a film can include a short extract or a still while discussing the content.

This is perfectly legal and unless you are defaming or harming the reputation of the copyright owner, you are not breaking the law.

(At least, this is the case in Australia, and I believe the UK, from where we inherited the basis of most of our lawmaking.)

[digdog]

Originally posted by moki:
<STRONG>The ability to capture DVD images works only with NVidia graphics cards and you need Snapz Pro X version 1.0.1 or later; if you have an ATI graphics card, you're out of luck (for now).</STRONG>

Andrew, could you tell us why it only works on NVIDIA graphic card?
and is that ture DVD player display the images in the special channel, so we can't grab them in a normal way?

[lythari]

Well, video lan is only at version 0.2.90 so don't be too hard on the guys.

Has anyone figured out how to navigate menus on the current version? I can get to the main menu of a DVD, but no further. The options to go to a DVD title or chaper don't seem to work, or more likely, I'm not using them correctly.

[mrchin]

I'm still trying to get my DVDs to work in the Desktop Background. My special green color isn't working. Is this maybe the case, that nVidia users get to take SnapsPro screenshots, but ATI owners get the magical green effect?

[lythari]

Originally posted by lythari:
<STRONG>Well, video lan is only at version 0.2.90 so don't be too hard on the guys.

Has anyone figured out how to navigate menus on the current version? I can get to the main menu of a DVD, but no further. The options to go to a DVD title or chaper don't seem to work, or more likely, I'm not using them correctly.</STRONG>

I figured it out. This works (or at least it works with my region 4 Macross Plus disks):
vlc -t ? -T ?? dvd:/dev/rdisk#
Where ? is the title number and ?? is the chaper number. For example, on my Macross Plus Collection 1 DVD, -t 1 gives you the copyright notice, -t 2 the madman logo, -t 3 the menu intro, -t 4 -T 2 gives you chapter 2 of episdoe 1, -t 5 -T 4 gives you chapter 4 of episode 2.

To find #, put a dvd in the drive and type 'df -kl' in the terminal (without the ' ' ) and read of the line that has the dvd name.

Interesting in that this lets you skip the all the warnings and whatnot that you get at the beginning of a DVD

[OwlBoy]

Originally posted by mr_sonicblue:
<STRONG>Well I'll be damned.

</STRONG>

Thats a Great Movie (^v^).

-Owl

[lythari]

Here's a pick of video lan taken with Snapz Pro. Because it's on geocities, I can't link directly to the picture and you'll have to click on the link below to see it. Be warned, it's big.

Picture

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: lythari ]

[moki]

Originally posted by digdog:
<STRONG>

Andrew, could you tell us why it only works on NVIDIA graphic card?
and is that ture DVD player display the images in the special channel, so we can't grab them in a normal way?</STRONG>

The reason it works with th eNVidia graphics card, and not the ATI card is simply due to the nature of the hardware itself. They use different methods for overlaying the DVD video with the video signal.

[moki]

Originally posted by mrchin:
<STRONG>I'm still trying to get my DVDs to work in the Desktop Background. My special green color isn't working. Is this maybe the case, that nVidia users get to take SnapsPro screenshots, but ATI owners get the magical green effect?</STRONG>

Exactly so. You will not be able to have your DVD play on your desktop if you have an NVidia card, but you can take screenshots of it with Snapz Pro X. A tradeoff based on the nature of how the hardware works.