# Recommend a computer program that will let me do screengrabs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382 "2012-04-10T17:08:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/1 "2012-04-10T17:08:17Z")
My laptop’s Media Player won’t even let me go frame-by-frame, let alone creating a JPEG from a moment fronzed from a DVD playing. What kind of program would I need to be able to do this? Other functions (downloading & editing clips) would be a bonus, but the screengrabs will be sufficient. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/2 "2012-04-10T17:13:28Z")
You want a single, still image? Have you tried shift/prtscr (Win/PC)? That puts the screen image in the clipboard, from which you can paste it somewhere else, like a graphics editor. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/3 "2012-04-10T17:17:43Z")
I haven’t used it in a while, but in my old job I was addicted to SnagIt. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/4 "2012-04-10T18:00:17Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You want a single, still image? Have you tried shift/prtscr (Win/PC)? That puts the screen image in the clipboard, from which you can paste it somewhere else, like a graphics editor. Given that my Windows Media Player doesn’t let me advance frame-by-frame, even if this seemed like a viable option, the painstaking trial-&-error task of eyeballing the exact second to hit pause is something I’d rather not go through (what I’m planning on doing does require a certain specificity). At work, I had something on my desktop called WinDVD I think, and that worked great. Just thought I’d ask around at what the Teeming Masses used. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/5 "2012-04-10T18:09:35Z")
Use VLC as your media player. If it can be played, VLC will play it. And it’s got frame-grabbing built in [info](http://tvcrit3.tvcrit.com/content/view/58/102/1/1/). ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/6 "2012-04-10T18:13:43Z")
I’m a little unclear whether you just want still images or video. For still screenshots, my go-to is the good old “Print screen” button. For video screen catpure, [Jing](http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html) is awesome and free. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/7 "2012-04-10T18:45:14Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > Given that my Windows Media Player doesn’t let me advance frame-by-frame, even if this seemed like a viable option, the painstaking trial-&-error task of eyeballing the exact second to hit pause is something I’d rather not go through (what I’m planning on doing does require a certain specificity). You don’t need frame-by-frame, just a pause button. It has that, but I’ll admit it would be hard to stop on exactly the right frame. All video editors have that feature and much, much more. How about Power Director? Under $100. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/8 "2012-04-11T03:38:41Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You don’t need frame-by-frame, just a pause button. It has that, but I’ll admit it would be hard to stop on exactly the right frame. > > All video editors have that feature and much, much more. How about Power Director? Under $100. EXACTLY. Stopping on the exact frame from a two hour movie just using that status bar at the bottom of the screen? Ridiculous. I’ll investigate some of the suggestions listed. Thanks everyone! ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/9 "2012-04-11T04:20:47Z")
I second VLC. It has built in screenshot capabilities, and you can turn down the playback speed extremely slow. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/10 "2012-04-11T04:35:06Z")
I think this sort of thing is basically what Virtualdub was made to do. ---
**Author:** ![eldowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@eldowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eldowan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/11 "2012-04-11T04:53:10Z")
I concur with virtual dub and vlc both.they are excellent programs. Also check out mplayer. It will actually take a section of the film, out the whole thing, and dump each frame into a jpg of it’s own. Oh you know around the time you want, it can give you a few frames before and after. Also, by default, the period key advances gene by frame. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/12 "2012-04-11T19:10:11Z")
Fraps maybe? ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-computer-program-that-will-let-me-do-screengrabs/618382/13 "2012-04-13T16:36:38Z")
I just use Picasa for screengrabs. If you start picasa it will automatically take a screen captures folder. You can click on the pop up window if you want to edit the picture immediately. The screengrab is a bmp file, but when you save it, it is converted to jpg. Picasa is free.