Does anyone know if it’s possible to capture an image from a Real Player movie using nothing more than Paint (from the accessories menu) in Windows? Installing other programs is not an option.
Thanks,
indieFan
I’m not the most computer savvy person around, so I apologize in advance. You might be able to use the screenshot function to get a still image.
Try pausing RP at the image you want. Then hit the “Print Screen” button on your keyboard to take a screenshot. Open Paint and paste the screenshot in. You should be able to take away everything except that piece you want.
Hope that helps.
I had tried the “print screen” method before posting previously. The image does not seem to be transferred correctly.
Thanks anyway,
indieFan
RealPlayer deliberately blocks <Alt>+<PrtScn>, and various such things. You might have better luck with an image-capture option like the one in Paint Shop Pro. (File | Import | Screen Capture, if I’m not mistaken.) Photoshop ought to be able to do this too.
Hmm… Unless Real hooked the message, that may mean the Real uses an overlay (like your cursor), which is not captured by PrtScn (alt or otherwise).
Is this RealOne or an older version?
I tried the print screen command again holding down the alt key, and it grabs the image. However, the information that is stored in the previous image of the two that I did, has changed from the original to that of the second screen shot.
Thanks again,
indieFan
P.S.- This is version 6.x
You are correct, Real does use an overlay. However, at least in older versions, you make it so it doesn’t use one by fiddling with the video settings.
On v6, the only option that appears to be remotely right is under the Performance tab, “Use optimized video display”.
I tried researching this, and in short, I found the answer to be this isn’t possible. It seems whenever you try and grab a screenshot, it gets you just a blank screen. It wasn’t clear whether this was intentional or just a result of the way the video is decompressed/played, but the analogy that stuck with me best is that of a projection screen; you can see the video, but if you try and take a picture of it with your camera, the flash results in you getting nothing. Just about every video player - Windows Media, DivX Player, DVD software - does this, so thats what leads me to the intentional vs. non-intentional debate.
Anyways, I know that some DVD playing programs have specific screen capture features. My guess is because the formats are open, its possible to write code to save the frame as an image rather than display it on the “projection screen.” Real uses a proprietary closed format, though, so I don’t think you’ll find much luck finding a program that does this for Real videos.
Try this very interesting experiment. (It won’t get you what you want, but it’s very interesting, and it might spark an idea in someone’s head about how to actually get a screen shot.)
- Play your video in Real Player.
- Press Alt-PrtSc to capture the Real Player window image.
- Paste the captured image into Paint.
- While the video is still playing (or play it again, if you need to), position the Paint window so that the region of the Paint window where the video image would be is over the Real Player window.
What you’ll see is the video playing in Paint!
Another interesting thing: As I was looking for a video to play in Real Player, I came across this video archive page for the Central Florida Regional. You’ll notice that there, on the page, is a perfect screen capture of a match being shown in a Real Player window! Just a thought: Maybe NASA paid for their Real Player, and if we all weren’t so cheap, we could do screen captures too. :rolleyes:
You could try going to full screen, then putting it on media through a recorder hooked to your computer. Then copy the media back on your computer.
Try getting Real Alternative. That can save screen captures.