# Screen capture to DVD questions

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-capture-to-dvd-questions/365776>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 24, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-capture-to-dvd-questions/365776 "2006-07-24T03:39:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-capture-to-dvd-questions/365776/1 "2006-07-24T03:39:59Z")

</div>

Hi. I plan on making a non-commercial DVD video (for personal use only) and I have a few questons. I am going to be using a video capture tool to capture things like screen savers and other stuff. I was wondering if it matters what resolution I set my monitor to while I capture? Also, I understand that DVD is 29.97 fps for NTSC, if I double this for the rate of capture will it improve the quality when transfered to DVD? Is there anything else that is imperitive to know?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-capture-to-dvd-questions/365776/2 "2006-07-24T14:47:50Z")

</div>

Don’t know any answers to your questions, but I’d recommending poking around, and/or asking on the forums of this site: [http://www.videohelp.com/](http://www.videohelp.com/)

I’m sure someone on those forums can help you out.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-capture-to-dvd-questions/365776/3 "2006-07-24T15:22:56Z")

</div>

You are putting screen captures onto a DVD? Seems weird to me. Do you have a program such as Premiere for making stills into video?

Your monitor settings don’t really make a difference if the window is the same size and you crop the capture down. For maximized applications like a screen saver, you would want to be at 800x600 if you want small things to be visible. NTSC DVD resolution is 720x480, so you will be shrinking the image a lot if you capture at 1280x1024.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-capture-to-dvd-questions/365776/4 "2006-07-24T19:53:16Z")

</div>

Thanks awldune. I am not capturing stills but moving video with snagit to avi. Things like screenssavers and winamp visuals. Then I plan on editing it together and outputting it all to NTSC DVD. Is that clearer? Now I need to know if the setting of my monitor resolution matters when I do the video capture. You seem to indicate that it does and I should use 800x600?  
cormac262, I have just registered there, thanks. However, it take a day before you can post.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screen-capture-to-dvd-questions/365776/5 "2006-07-24T20:56:42Z")

</div>

It might be okay or preferable to capture at a higher resolution and shrink it down. I’m not sure how important the fine details are in what you’re capturing.

I would test a short segment and see how it looks at your regular resolution.