Techie question

[jj]

I've noticed over tha last few months that when I try to cap recent Private
titles [and a few other sources] I get 'fuzzy' pixelated images using VLC's
snapshot tool.
The video-playback quality of the material is usually excellent so I can't
see where the degradation is coming from. Is it my version of VLC getting
out-of-date and not being able to handle the source-coding? Or is it some
weird form of copy-protection?

[jj]

An absolutely pristine video-file gives me this:
[IMG]http://img200.imagevenue.com/loc177/th_15837_x_123_177lo.jpg[/IMG]

[mirko5]

You should try other software and compare. Personally I'm using this, lite and simple:
https://sites.google.com/site/imagegrabber2/

[Walter Burns]

jj wrote:

> An absolutely pristine video-file gives me this:
> [IMG]http://img200.imagevenue.com/loc177/th_15837_x_123_177lo.jpg[/IMG]
>
>

Use a Mac. !clown!

I take it that the example above has already been cropped and edited? Even been resized?

[unknownsoldi]

Which version of VLC? Newest is 2.1.3.

If the update doesn't fix it, or you already have the latest version, I would try reinstalling. Uninstall VLC, then install again, resetting settings to defaults by selecting the option during install.

If you have a lot of settings customized, you can back them up in case the reset doesn't fix the problem. How to do that will depend on the version of Windows.

Here is where VLC stores it's user config files:

Windows 2000/XP: C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\vlc

Windows Vista/7: C:\Users\%username%\Application Data\vlc

You can simply copy the files from there and restore them later if you need to.

[jj]

Says my version is 2.8.0.1.
I got it free, and of course I never update it as I make the Lotus Eaters look
like workaholics.

I did try a couple of newer versions, IIRC, but I didn't get on with the GUIs.
TBH at present its a minor nuisance- it still caps most vids beautifully and
it's so easy to use. I just wondered what the reason might be.

[Bill Malone]

There's a free bit of sotware called Capture Me which is shareware which takes stills from whatever is playing on your desktop, even DVDs. Just drag a window around it and click.

It doesn't work on OS Mavericks for mac but should still be ok on earlier OS versions and any Windows.

[jj]

Bill Malone wrote:
> There's a free bit of sotware called Capture Me


There's another bit of software around, called 'Chase Me' : -)
Author is a certain D Norvelle.

NB. This post will only be intelligible to Brits- and a tiny minority of Brits,
at that.