I'm trying to get some screen captures for a few different things, such as TF Wiki and a few other projects.

Problem is, my default DVD player program - Power DVD - doesn't allow screencaps to be taken normally (the print screen option). You try it and all you get is a black picture.

How does everyone else here get screencaps? Real DVD player? Another method?

Thanks.

If I'm after DVD captures, I can usually rip it with a decrypting program and take screenshots with BS Player like I do with fansubs. It's a hassle, though, so I don't do it often.

I don't have anything fancy like that.

I have a DVD player, a DVD-ROM drive, and a digital camera I got for Christmas.

Google 'DVD Decrypter'. It's free and very easy to use. As for BS Player, last time I checked the current versions were crippled, spyware-loaded garbage. However, I have the last good version they released. If I can find the installer, I'd be happy to pass it along to you, if you like.

if your desperate cant yah just do an old fasion print screen.

I'd try VLC, Media Player Classic, something like that. I think the latter was my standby a year ago, which is when I last used printscreen to copy a frame of a DVD for a desktop background on my old Windows machine.

I don't think it's necessarily some kind of crazy DRM stuff, just the way the current Media Player and things like PowerDVD handle the video. I had the same effect (the blank box) trying to take a frame from a video I was recording from a digital tape camera. Still, again, I think the problem's unique to those apps.

If your player uses DirectDraw to render video, then you'll get the empty dark boxes in your screencaps. Sometimes you can disable DirectDraw and the screencaps will then work. But my preference is to use a player with its own capture function.