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Capture Activities on Screen in a Movie

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24 Nov 2004CPOL1 min read 603.2K   17K   147   181
An article on how to capture activities on screen as a movie file using Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9.

Sample Image - CaptureScreenAsVideo.jpg

Introduction

bkniazi asked me a question on experts-exchange.com, about how to capture the activities going on on a machine as a movie. I found the question interesting, so looked for it, but could not find any good solution for it. Though, I found some software which do this kind of work. I found Windows Media Encoder 9 very interesting. While looking into it, I found its SDK and I started looking into it. It is quite interesting. So I made this small sample after looking into the API and seeing some samples.

Prerequisites

You will be needing Windows Media Encoder 9 Series and SDK.

Using the code

Best thing about this API is that it is totally interface based. WMEncoder is the main class. Set its parameters and start the encoder to start encoding. Stop it to save in file.

VB
Encoder = New WMEncoder

Create a Source Group named SG_1 in Encoder's Collection.

VB
Dim SrcGrp As IWMEncSourceGroup2
Dim SrcGrpColl As IWMEncSourceGroupCollection
SrcGrpColl = Encoder.SourceGroupCollection
SrcGrp = SrcGrpColl.Add("SG_1")

Specify the input types for Video and Audio. Specify the screen capture plug-in to set up the video source.

VB
SrcVid.SetInput("ScreenCap://ScreenCapture1")
SrcAud.SetInput("Device://Default_Audio_Device")

Find the profile and set Encoder's group profile from all the profiles available.

VB
ProColl = Encoder.ProfileCollection
lLength = ProColl.Count
For i = 0 To lLength - 1
    Pro = ProColl.Item(i)
    If Pro.Name = "Windows Media Video 8 for Local Area Network (384 Kbps)" Then
        SrcGrp.Profile = Pro
        Exit For
    End If
Next

Specify header information of the Encoder. I.e., description or attributes.

VB
Dim Descr As IWMEncDisplayInfo
Descr = Encoder.DisplayInfo
Descr.Author = "Armoghan Asif"
Descr.Copyright = "Copyright information"
Descr.Description = "Text description of encoded content"
Descr.Rating = "Rating information"
Descr.Title = "Title of encoded content"

' Add an attribute to the collection.
Dim Attr As IWMEncAttributes
Attr = Encoder.Attributes
Attr.Add("URL", "IP address")

You may do some cropping of the Encoder if required.

VB
' Crop 2 pixels from each edge of the video image.
SrcVid.CroppingBottomMargin = 2
SrcVid.CroppingTopMargin = 2
SrcVid.CroppingLeftMargin = 2
SrcVid.CroppingRightMargin = 2

Specify the Local File as output. You may also set additional fields of the file, like size of file, seconds of file etc.

VB
Dim File As IWMEncFile
File = Encoder.File
File.LocalFileName = "C:\OutputFile.avi"

Start the encoding process:

VB
' Start the encoding process.
Encoder.Start()

Stop the encoding process:

VB
' Stop the encoding process.
Encoder.Stop()

Points of Interest

No fancy things are placed in the demo. It just illustrates the screen capture. It can be easily added in any existing application. Nothing else :)

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


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Comments and Discussions

 
AnswerRe: can i capture a small custom area from anywhere on screen Pin
Armoghan Asif14-Aug-06 20:34
Armoghan Asif14-Aug-06 20:34 
GeneralRe: can i capture a small custom area from anywhere on screen Pin
Member 370354830-Mar-09 22:30
Member 370354830-Mar-09 22:30 
Questiontransferring movie one to another PC with delay 5-10 seconds Pin
raven sajid12-Aug-06 8:23
raven sajid12-Aug-06 8:23 
AnswerRe: transferring movie one to another PC with delay 5-10 seconds Pin
Armoghan Asif14-Aug-06 20:15
Armoghan Asif14-Aug-06 20:15 
Generalimage Pin
ndox13-Jun-06 23:56
ndox13-Jun-06 23:56 
GeneralMulti Screen Pin
Iain@zedsystems1-Jun-06 3:35
Iain@zedsystems1-Jun-06 3:35 
GeneralRe: Multi Screen Pin
Armoghan Asif1-Jun-06 18:44
Armoghan Asif1-Jun-06 18:44 
QuestionNeed Administrator priviliges to run this program? Pin
Dave Lenz3-May-06 18:18
Dave Lenz3-May-06 18:18 
QuestionScreen capture Qlty Pin
vijupoonthottam18-Apr-06 5:37
vijupoonthottam18-Apr-06 5:37 
AnswerRe: Screen capture Qlty Pin
Armoghan Asif18-Apr-06 19:32
Armoghan Asif18-Apr-06 19:32 
GeneralRe: Screen capture Qlty Pin
vijupoonthotam26-Apr-06 5:23
vijupoonthotam26-Apr-06 5:23 
Generalcapture activities Pin
raja prabhuji1-Mar-06 21:09
raja prabhuji1-Mar-06 21:09 
GeneralRe: capture activities Pin
Armoghan Asif5-Mar-06 18:07
Armoghan Asif5-Mar-06 18:07 
GeneralVideo Quality Pin
gutoborelli3-Feb-06 4:50
gutoborelli3-Feb-06 4:50 
GeneralRe: Video Quality Pin
Armoghan Asif13-Feb-06 22:41
Armoghan Asif13-Feb-06 22:41 
Generalusing C++ but have a red border Pin
Brian Lion12-Jan-06 19:20
Brian Lion12-Jan-06 19:20 
GeneralRe: using C++ but have a red border Pin
Armoghan Asif13-Feb-06 22:51
Armoghan Asif13-Feb-06 22:51 
GeneralRe: using C++ but have a red border Pin
Brian Lion17-Feb-06 17:12
Brian Lion17-Feb-06 17:12 
Questiondisable video capture Pin
Lorien.NET5-Jan-06 20:39
Lorien.NET5-Jan-06 20:39 
AnswerRe: disable video capture Pin
Armoghan Asif13-Feb-06 22:47
Armoghan Asif13-Feb-06 22:47 
QuestionDo u hav ur own logic for capturing and encoding that using WMEncoder ???? Pin
hiroli4-Jan-06 1:26
hiroli4-Jan-06 1:26 
AnswerRe: Do u hav ur own logic for capturing and encoding that using WMEncoder ???? Pin
Armoghan Asif13-Feb-06 22:49
Armoghan Asif13-Feb-06 22:49 
GeneralUnable to run the Program Pin
hiroli1-Jan-06 0:15
hiroli1-Jan-06 0:15 
QuestionHow can i write hours into movie file! Pin
Andlah28-Sep-05 12:21
Andlah28-Sep-05 12:21 
AnswerRe: How can i write hours into movie file! Pin
Armoghan Asif28-Sep-05 19:15
Armoghan Asif28-Sep-05 19:15 

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