Video capture

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Video capture usually refers to the various methods of digitizing analog video to a computer from an outside source, such as a VCR or TV signal.

The term "video capture" is sometimes used interchangably with the term "video encoding". Analog video is digitally encoded during capture. However, "capture" is usually used to describe analog to digital conversion, and "encoding" is usually used to describe digital to digital conversion. A noteable exception to this is the transfer of DV video from a digital DV tape to a computer via FireWire, which is nearly universally (but incorrectly) referred to as "DV capture".

From a purist standpoint, the correct term for analog to digital conversion is capture OR encoding, the correct term for digital to digital conversion is re-encoding, and the correct term for digital to digital transfer (when the digital encoding is not changed) is transfer or copy.

Capturing full-motion video of what is displayed on a computer screen (to the same computer) is sometimes also called "video capture", but the correct terms for this are "video screen capture" or "screencast".

Capturing video from an outside source requires special hardware – like a video capture card.

Capturing video of what is displayed on the computer screen usually requires special software. None of the major operating systems have built-in mechanisms to record videos of the screen (recording how the user moves his mouse around, clicks icons, types text etc. as a movie). A multitude of utilities have come up to fill this void, though. Many computer games have built-in video screen capture capabilities.

Contents

[edit] Software

[edit] Linux

Video screen capture tools include:

  • vnc2swf (GPL)
  • Xvidcap (GPL)
  • Istanbul (software) (GPL)

[edit] Mac OS X

Freeware:

  • blip.tv (requires a free account)

Commercial software:

  • Snapz Pro X
  • Screentool
  • ScreenBroadcasting

[edit] Windows

Freeware:

  • Virtual Dub
  • WinDV
  • Avid Free Dv (free registration required for download)
  • Windows Media Encoder
  • Wink (software)
  • TimeSnapper Classic
  • AutoScreenRecorder (Windows)

Commercial software:

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