# DVD screen cap - how to do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-screen-cap-how-to-do/179663 "2003-06-04T18:40:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-screen-cap-how-to-do/179663/1 "2003-06-04T18:40:39Z")
I know I’m being lazy by posting instead of researching but - hey- I’m too busy 🙂 I’ve watched DVDs on my laptop (using WinDVD, not sure of version as I’m not home at the moment). I pause the movie. I do a CTRL Printscreen. I open mspaint. I paste from the clipboard and - voila! The screen cap has everythong but the movie - it is a black rectangle. Is WinDVD preventing the capture? How do I avoid this problem? PS - It is not porn! ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-screen-cap-how-to-do/179663/2 "2003-06-04T18:58:38Z")
1. FWIW, the same thing happens in Window’s Media Player 2. What makes you think we aren’t busy too? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-screen-cap-how-to-do/179663/3 "2003-06-04T19:02:17Z")
No, it is because it uses DirectX which writres directkly to the screen. Normal behavior. ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-screen-cap-how-to-do/179663/4 "2003-06-04T19:05:50Z")
I assume the reason you want to do a screen cap falls under fair use. DVD’s don’t use the normal video method of drawing, thats why even with a 2 meg card you could watch collor correct DVD’s. They use an Overlay. Your DVD software has a fucntion to save screen saptures to the hard drive, you need to read the manual If you have version 4 the letter p will do a screen capture ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-screen-cap-how-to-do/179663/5 "2003-06-04T21:55:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BwanaBob \* > \*\*I’ve watched DVDs on my laptop (using WinDVD, not sure of version as I’m not home at the moment). I pause the movie. > I do a CTRL Printscreen. I open mspaint. I paste from the clipboard and - voila! The screen cap has everythong but the movie - it is a black rectangle. > > Is WinDVD preventing the capture? How do I avoid this problem?\*\* WinDVD may very well be preventing the capture, for a very good reason; the program probably has its own built-in screen capture feature. I have this software on my computer at home, I’ll check it out later (if I remember). The other piece of DVD software I have on my other computer _definitely_ has its own screen capture feature. Check the help file, and click on all the buttons on the console. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-screen-cap-how-to-do/179663/6 "2003-06-04T22:38:35Z")
All the DVD software I’ve ever used have a little screencap feature. It’s usually a button on the player interface with a stills camera icon. It will either save the frame to the clipboard, or put it into a nominated folder on your HDD. ---
**Author:** ![JRootabega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e7dd6/32.png) [@JRootabega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRootabega)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-screen-cap-how-to-do/179663/7 "2003-06-04T23:09:31Z")
You may need to turn off any hardware acceleration, too.