How to capture image from a movie (Media Player, RealPlayer/RealOne, DVD etc.) or a game screen?

Video playing on Windows machine, no matter if it comes from a movie file, Internet, VCD or DVD, can not be captured by regular screen capture methods, because it is usually playing in a hardware overlay. The overlay it almost as if there was another, smaller screen in front of your regular Windows desktop screen. The desktop contains in that place only the so called "overlay key color" - a solid block of color, usually black, blue, magenta or pink, but it can be anything.

How to deal with this problem? There are three methods to capture image from video and game screen:

Method 1: Enable DirectX/Direct3D Capture Mode on ACA Capture Pro

As a windows professional screen capture software, ACA Capture Pro allows you to capture the screenshots from DirectX/Direct3D game or video player screen. To enable this feature, please do followings steps:

1. Click here to free download ACA Capture Pro, and then install it. If you have installed ACA Capture Pro on your computer, you can skip this step.
2. Launch ACA Capture Pro, select menu Capture -> Enable DirectX Capture, the DirectX/Direct3D Capture dialog opens.
3. Check Enable Capture DirectX/Direct3D Primary Surface, DirectX Overly option to capture from software using Microsoft's DirectX and Direct3D technology or an overlaid screen, such as that you would see inside the region of a DVD player application like Windows Media Player, or a game like Empire Earth.
4. Click OK button to close the dialog.
5. Please use [Scroll Lock] as the hot key to capture game/video screens. Games that are currently running may need to be closed and re-started for captures to work correctly.

Method 2: Disable "hardware acceleration" from your video player.

In some movie players (e.g. Windows Media Player, RealOne/RealPlayer, QuickTime) you may disable "hardware acceleration" through their "settings" or "options" menu. This turns off the overlay use, the movie is played then normally, within Windows desktop and every screen capture program can get it. Example:

1. Capture Screen from Apple's QuickTime Player:

• In Version 7.x
1. Select "Edit/Preferences/Quick Time Preferences" from the menu.
2. In "QuickTime Settings" window, select the "Advanced" tab at the top.
3. Check the option "Safe Mode (GDI Only)" in the Video section, it is shown as in the following figure:
4. Close "QuickTime Settings", close completely and re-start QuickTime Player.
5. Launch ACA Capture Pro to capture the screen.
• In Version 5.x, 6.x
1. Select "Edit/Preferences/Quick Time Preferences" from the menu.
2. In "QuickTime Settings" window, select "Video Settings" in the selection box at the top.
3. Check the option "Safe Mode (GDI Only)".
4. Close "QuickTime Settings", close completely and re-start QuickTime Player.
5. Launch ACA Capture Pro to capture the screen.
• In Version 4.x
1. Launch QuickTime Player, and then select "Control Panel" from the menu
2. Uncheck the option "Enable QuickDraw Acceleration" in the Video Seetings.
3. Close the settings dialog, close completely and re-start QuickTime Player.
4. Launch ACA Capture Pro to capture the screen.

2. Capture Screen from Microsoft Media Player:

• In Version 11.x
1. Select Tools/Options menu, click the Performance tab.
2. Uncheck the option Turn on DirectX Video Acceleration for WMV files
3. Close the settings dialog, close completely and re-start QuickTime Player.
4. Launch ACA Capture Pro to capture the screen.
• In Versiion 7.x, 8.x, 9.x, 10.x
1. Select Tools/Options menu, click the Performance tab.
2. Slide the Video Performance - Hardware Acceleration tab down, all the way to None.
3. Close the Option dialog, and re-start Windows Media Player.
4. Launch ACA Capture Pro to capture the screen.

Note that this does not work for DVD playback in Windows Media Player - DVDs seem to be always played in a hardware overlay, not matter what you set for "Hardware Acceleration" - probably to protect from from copying.

3. Capture Screen from RealPlayer/RealOne Player:

• In version 6.x, 8.x, 10.x, 11.x:

Select "Tools" menu, then "Perferences". In the left "Category" panel, click "Hardware". Next, in the right panel under "Video card compatibility", click to remove the checkmark from "Best performance", drag the checkmark to "Most reliable" to disable optimized video and overlays. Close completely and restart RealPlayer or RealOne Player.

• In version 5.x

Select "Tools" menu, then "Install/Configure Devices...". In the left "Category" panel, click "Hardware". Next, in the right panel under "Video card compatibility", click to remove the checkmark from "Use optimized video display" button. Close completely and restart RealOne Player.

• In older G2

If you are in "compact view", switch first to "normal view" (from "View" menu). Then select Options/Preferences from the menu and click "Performance" tab. Then, at the bottom of "Preferences" window, turn off the "Use optimized video display" option and click on OK. Now you can capture screen with ACA Capture Pro whatever is playing inside RealPlayer window.

Method 3: Disable "Hardware acceleration" from your display properties.

• Windows 95/98/Me/2000/2003/XP
1. Select Display from Control Panel, open "Display Properties" dialog.
2. Click on Settings tab, and then click on Advanced button.
3. Click on Troubleshoot tab.
4. Drag the Hardware acceleration option to the left, disable all accelerations.
5. Click on OK button.
• Windows Vista
1. Select Personalization from Control Panel, open Display Settings dialog.
2. Click on Advanced Settings button on the Display Settings dialog.
3. Click on Troubleshoot tab.
4. Click on Change Settings button.
5. Drag the Hardware acceleration option to the left, disable all accelerations.
6. Close all settings dialog.

See also:

• Feature Tour: Capture DirectX game screen - Age of Empire II
  
• Feature Tour: Capture DirectX game screen - WarCraft III
  
• Feature Tour: Capture video screen from Windows Media Player
  
• FAQ: How to re-record other video files playing on the screen