QUESTION :
I’d like to get a still image from a digital video I’ve taken.
A quick search has revealed these two possibilities,
- capture-still-image-video which uses vlc player
- extract-still-image-from-video which uses Imagegrab
Any suggestions on which might be better or alternatives?
I’d be using Windows OS
Update
In the end I used Windows Live Movie Maker
ANSWER :
I like VLC and have it installed so for ease of use I would probably use that. If I didn’t find those results satisfactory I would probably attempt to use ffmpeg with one of the autobuilds from tripp.
Syntax as follows:
ffmpeg -i foo.avi -ss 00:01:43 -t 1 -s 1280×720 -f mjpeg bar.jpg
That should take one shot at 1 minute 43 seconds and output a jpg, at 1280×720
VLC has a snapshot item on the Tools menu, which will take a snapshot of the video and save it as a bmp file.
How can I take screenshots?
To take a snapshot of the video
displayed by VLC, you just need to
press the pre-defined snapshot hotkey:* Windows / Linux / Unix: Ctrl+Alt+S * Mac OS X: Command+Alt+sTo change it, go to Preferences ->
Interface -> Hotkeys settings, check
Advanced options, and set Take video
snapshot.You can also take a snaphot via the
menu Video -> Snapshot.To change the snapshot format or
directory, go to Preferences -> Video.
“Alt-Prt Scr” with the video player’s window active to copy the window to clipboard.
“Shift-Prt Scr” will capture the entire desktop.
Paste it into your favorite image editor (ie: MS Paint) for cropping, etc.
Hope that helps…