Techy: How To Grab Screenshots
No, this isn’t the latest picture in the “Guess That Movie” competition (nobody’s guessed the last one yet so I can’t even announce a surprise I have waiting), it’s more a techy entry (haven’t had one of those in a while) about how I actually get the screenshots. Sorry for all the Linux, Unix, Solaris, Mac, and RISC OS users reading this - this post is for the Windows audience only…
First of all - how to get a screen shot of your entire desktop. Simply press “Print Screen” (it’s usually on the top right hand corner of your keyboard - it might be labelled “Prnt Scrn” and/or “Sys Rq”), then load your image editor (for example, Paint - I tend to use Microsoft Photo Editor that comes with Microsoft Office ![[Order from Amazon.co.uk]](http://blog.rac.me.uk/photos/amazonbutton.jpg){kind=small}
or Adobe Photoshop , create a new image and then press CTRL+V (the keyboard shortcut for paste). And you’ve got a copy of your desktop. Woo!
But, let’s be honest - most the time you want a copy of a single window on your desktop and not the whole thing don’t you? Again, this is extremely simple - just ensure the window you are active is ‘active’ (which usually means it’s the topmost window and the bar at the top is lit-up), then just press ALT and Printscreen. Do the load image editor, create new image and paste - and Bob’s your Mother’s sisters husband.
But wait! There’s more! (I’ve wanted to say that for ages). Here’s how to take a screen capture of a movie that’s playing in Windows Media Player, Real Player or Winamp 3!
What happens when you try and take a screen shot of a movie that Windows Media Player or (shudder) Real Player/Real One is playing? You get a black square don’t you? The technical reason for this is because they are using “Hardware Acceleration” to overlay the movie - this is just a geeky way of saying the movie is being played in front of everything else on the screen (as it’s faster that way). Of course, it’s so far in front (try and forget the screen is 2 dimensional 
), that the print screen trick won’t work.
So how do you get the images?
Well, you’ve just got to disable hardware acceleration. Have you got a screwdriver handy? How about a soldering iron? You haven’t? Not to worry, you can disable hardware acceleration without even having to reboot - and it’s just as simple to re-enable afterwards.
Windows Media Player 6
Load WMP (Windows Media Player) and click on the “View” menu and select “Options”. Then just slide the “Hardware Acceleration slider” to None. To re-enable, just slide it back again.
Windows Media Player 7 and 8
Load WMP and click on the “Tools” menu and select “Options”. Select the “Performance” tab and slide the “Video acceleration” down to None. To re-set, just slide it back again (told you it was simple).
Real Player
Load Real Player and select the “View” menu and then “Preferences”. Click on the “Performance” tab and at the bottom it’ll say “Video card compatibility”. Remove the tick from the “Use optimized video display box”. I’ll leave you to figure out how to turn it back on.
Winamp 3
Load WinAmp, right click on one of the windows and select “Options” and then “Preferences”. Click on “Video” and remove the tick from “Allow video overlay”. I had to re-start Winamp before this worked, but that could just be my setup.
Of course, it’s advisable to actually pause the image before taking the screenshot, but at least you know how to do it now.
April 15th, 2003 at 1:39 pm
How do you do this in Real One Player?
There is no preferances tab in the veiw menu.
How do you do this?
April 19th, 2003 at 11:38 am
Good job !
Thanks to you, I was able to take a few screenshots from a beautiful videoclip !
Keep up the good work !
Fransl
Waubach - Netherlands
April 20th, 2003 at 10:57 pm
Hi Guys,
thank you for the suggestions but…..
I need some more….. i.e., could someone tell me how to record a video clip during streaming in RealOne?
Thanks
Greg
May 8th, 2003 at 6:41 pm
Thanks man…it was rather hard to get a decent answer to this question, let alone someone who who actually knew what i was talking about. By the way i found you by doing a search for “taking screenshot media player” just so ya know. Thanks again.
May 9th, 2003 at 10:26 pm
I did that with the Real Player and WMP but when I copy paste the shot into Adobe Photoshop, the pic “slips” around when I resize the picture and vanishes altogether if I remove the DVD. ??
July 9th, 2003 at 2:51 pm
hey, thank you so much for this information- i’ve been looking everywhere for how to capture screenshots of my favourite movies in windows media player and now i can… thanks again!!!
July 20th, 2003 at 5:12 am
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU…. Ive been searching for weeks on how to get Screen shots on win media player, VERY COOL… good job
July 30th, 2003 at 11:14 pm
i’m having the same problem as ke!!y- i follow the directions for wmp, and no matter where i paste the image (photoshop, paint, etc) it slips, and turns black if i close wmp. whats up with that?
August 2nd, 2003 at 1:13 pm
::Altavista Reference::
>>I noticed you arrived here via Altavista.
>>Unfortunately, I was unable to find the search >>terms (how to capture images in windows media >>player?) you were looking for.
“But I did and this was the exact infomation I was looking for and then some. Thank you.”
August 8th, 2003 at 2:49 am
For the RealOne Player:
If you go to:
Tools > Preferences > Hardware
And slide the Video Card Compatibility bar to
“Most reliable” instead of “Best performance”
And click OK
And restart the video
You can get screenshots!
August 22nd, 2003 at 7:33 am
Wow Ive been looking for how to do this for a long time!
September 4th, 2003 at 12:40 am
Thank you *so* much! You have no idea how long I’ve been searching for a way to take screenshots….. (ok, less than 2 days, but STILL!).
Anyway, thanks again for your help. I know that to people who didn’t know this before, you are doing them a great favor!
P.S. I found this by typing “Windows Media Player” screenshots — on Google.
September 13th, 2003 at 4:17 am
This works great! I had problems doing it on Windows Media and RealOne. The image wouldn’t stick. Then I tried Winamp3 with no modifications to the preferences and it work.
Thanks for the info….
September 18th, 2003 at 7:22 pm
Hi, does anyone know how to take screenshots from DVDs whilst playing them through the computer? I thought the same technique as mentioned here would work but i still only get a blank screen. I use Real One Player and InterVideo WinDVD. I’d be really grateful if someone could help
Cheers
October 16th, 2003 at 2:55 am
Hey Richie. Thanks for the tip on how to get screenshots from media players. You’re the man!
November 11th, 2003 at 10:17 pm
Like many others I was searching so long for a grabbing tool - but I never thought it is so easy to switch off overlay in mediaplayer and just gran like normal. GOOD WORK!
November 11th, 2003 at 10:19 pm
Cheers: PowerDVD has a built in snapshot function. This should work always for DVD movies (for avi, divx etc. use the mediaplayer method, as PowerDVD makes problems here).
December 13th, 2003 at 11:24 pm
Thanks for the solution; though I have noticed a lot of quality loss to the image, the video appears to have more pixels, lower quality. Anything I can do to capture the image with the “optimized display”?
December 29th, 2003 at 5:03 am
Thats soo cool. Ive just started taking screenshots of Anime for my website now, i can!!! THANKS SOO MUCH!!!
December 29th, 2003 at 8:27 pm
Im having the same problem as april and ke!!y. I followed the instructions for wmp but when I copy and paste the screenshot into adobe photoshop the picture just slips, and turns black if I close wmp..
January 1st, 2004 at 2:51 pm
Thanks for teaching me how to take screenshots in media player!!!
January 3rd, 2004 at 8:20 pm
Thanks d1g1t4l. It works.
January 22nd, 2004 at 6:35 pm
hey i tried doing getting the screenshot from wmp and i changed the video acceleration to none and whene i go paste it it still comes out the same a black box..can u help?
January 23rd, 2004 at 5:51 am
I GET DOWN ON MY KNEES AND PRAISE YOU MASTER! thank you SO much!!!!
February 12th, 2004 at 7:45 am
I tried it in WMP 8 and I still get the black screen when I paste it into PS. I did exactly as you said (its not complicated)
February 12th, 2004 at 10:48 am
I´ve also tried the aboved but got the same results… the screenshot “slips” and you can´t do anything with it.
But there is a solution
Do as follows:
Start meny -> (XP:All programs) -> Accessories -> system Tools -> System Information
Select the Tools meny and choose DirectX Diagnostic Tool. There choose the display menu.
And finally, disable DirectDraw Acceleration.
Problem solved =)
I hope that was to some help. Good luck!
February 21st, 2004 at 11:13 pm
I did everything you said, the stuff for media windows player and the disabling DirectDraw Acceleration…image STILL won’t stay after I shut media player. I just don’t get it!!
March 14th, 2004 at 11:16 am
thank you soooooooooo much for how to take screenshots on windows media player, it actually did work once on full hardware acceleration i have no ida why
March 17th, 2004 at 6:36 am
wow, it was that simple?
thanks alot
April 7th, 2004 at 8:23 am
EEKK!!! Thank you soo much for putting this up!!!! *-* I couldnt find this kind of tutorial anywhere on the site till now! Buwhahhahaa
April 13th, 2004 at 4:19 pm
As of yesterday I could tyake screenshots and paste into paint (from windows media player 9) with no issues. Today, when I paste my screen shot, it pastes not a still photo but the moving video. If I close the WMP, the image in the screen shot goes black. Disabling hardware accelration fixes this, but I didn’t have to do that as of yesterady. Any ideas why?
May 1st, 2004 at 8:29 pm
Brilliant, i have been searching for this info for ages! Thanks!
May 8th, 2004 at 1:50 pm
Praise to the Techy!! Together with Andan’s post (how to disable DirectDraw Acceleration) I’m now finally able to work with DVD screenshots.
Thank you, sir!
May 30th, 2004 at 8:15 pm
Thanks Imperial and Richy. It’s odd how hard it is to find out how to do basic things.
July 2nd, 2004 at 11:04 pm
if only disabling in media player doesn’t work, try disabling it in ur monitor and videocard configuration… that helped me anyway
July 19th, 2004 at 8:31 am
d1g1t4l thanks for the info
July 20th, 2004 at 5:44 pm
what if you are using an apple ibook?
tehre is not print screen key
January 12th, 2005 at 10:10 pm
Thanks a million Andan for the tip about disabling the DirectDraw acceleration. That worked perfect for my WIN TV (Hauppauge TV)application. I think it will work with every media player application that uses DirectX. Great job. I’ll be a regular visitor to this site. This was a really great help. thanks again.
February 1st, 2005 at 5:21 pm
Does anyone know how to meka screenshots in VLC media player??
February 18th, 2005 at 10:11 pm
To everyone who this does not work for. To everyone who complains about the black screen still, and slipping…go to your desktop, right click, go to display, advanced, troubleshooting, and turn your hardware acceleration to none. Turn it back when you’re done.
You’ll see a marked decline in video quality with it turned off this way. If you want better video screenshots you will have to find a nice proggie to do it for you. So far there are only a handful and the majority only do a small screenshot, not a nice big full screenshot.
Aliset
September 20th, 2007 at 10:51 am
All the options won’t help me because I want to take screenshots out of a Delphi application which used the VideoGrabber component which in turn uses DirectShow and it won’t work with the Hardware acceleration turned off. Is there any screen capture software which I can install in order to take screenshots when the application is running and also give me proper screenshots