grabbing frame stills on macs - comp.sys.mac.apps

I'm looking for a software recommendation. I'm working on film stills for a book that is going to be published at a major press. Obviously, screen grabs are only 72 dpi, which isn't good enough. I thought I could find some kind of program that would take stills directly from the dvd. Recommendations, please!

In article <bdqdnVy9wLWEdqvQnZ2dnUVZ_sWdnZ2d@giganews.com>, AK in KY <user@compgroups.net/> wrote: > I'm looking for a software recommendation. > I'm working on film stills for a book that is going to be published at a > major press. Obviously, screen grabs are only 72 dpi, which isn't good > enough. I thought I could find some kind of program that would take stills > directly from the dvd. Recommendations, please! MPEG Streamclip does a nice frame grab, will de-interlace the image for you, or let you export a group of images to an "Image Sequence" if you need. <http://www.squared5.com> Look under File/Export Frame and look in the help file for the same thing. I have the beta version, it's very stable. -- If you could teach a cat to dance, you'd never have to leave the house. -- Pat Sajak

On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:46:01 UTC, AK in KY <user@compgroups.net/> wrote: > I'm looking for a software recommendation. > I'm working on film stills for a book that is going to be published at a major press. Obviously, screen grabs are only 72 dpi, which isn't good enough. I thought I could find some kind of program that would take stills directly from the dvd. Recommendations, please! > A program called DVDxDV will rip the DVD for you. Then you can import it to iMovie and capture frames. http://www.dvdxdv.com/rip-dvd/?gclid=CJ_Co7mTx6YCFRN-5Qod0URYhA It's not free. -- John Varela

In article <bdqdnVy9wLWEdqvQnZ2dnUVZ_sWdnZ2d@giganews.com>, AK in KY <user@compgroups.net/> wrote: > I'm looking for a software recommendation. > I'm working on film stills for a book that is going to be published at a > major press. Obviously, screen grabs are only 72 dpi, which isn't good > enough. I thought I could find some kind of program that would take stills > directly from the dvd. Recommendations, please! The DPI of the screen grab is meaningless; what matters is how big you choose to print it. DVD video has an image size of 720x480 pixels. If you take a screen grab and print it 8 inches high, it'll be only 60 DPI, but if you print it 4 inches high it'll be 120 DPI.

In article <wayne.morris-0F657D.15474219012011@mx01.eternal-september.org>, "Wayne C. Morris" <wayne.morris@this.is.invalid> wrote: > In article <bdqdnVy9wLWEdqvQnZ2dnUVZ_sWdnZ2d@giganews.com>, > AK in KY <user@compgroups.net/> wrote: > > > I'm looking for a software recommendation. > > I'm working on film stills for a book that is going to be published at a > > major press. Obviously, screen grabs are only 72 dpi, which isn't good > > enough. I thought I could find some kind of program that would take stills > > directly from the dvd. Recommendations, please! > > The DPI of the screen grab is meaningless; what matters is how big you choose > to > print it. > > DVD video has an image size of 720x480 pixels. You sure? What about those movies you buy or hire on DVD that are fabulous full screen quality on the biggest of home computer screens? > If you take a screen grab and > print it 8 inches high, it'll be only 60 DPI, but if you print it 4 inches > high > it'll be 120 DPI. Which is pretty low res, for publication, it is reasonable to want more. -- dorayme

In article <dorayme-3FD3EE.10100120012011@hello.network>, dorayme <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> wrote: > In article > <wayne.morris-0F657D.15474219012011@mx01.eternal-september.org>, > "Wayne C. Morris" <wayne.morris@this.is.invalid> wrote: > > > > > DVD video has an image size of 720x480 pixels. > > You sure? What about those movies you buy or hire on DVD that are > fabulous full screen quality on the biggest of home computer > screens? > 720x480 is correct to within a few pixels. Enlarged via interpolation on larger screens (i.e. "blown up"). -- Spenser

In article <190120111613529204%dogbreath@chaseabone.com.invalid>, sbt <dogbreath@chaseabone.com.invalid> wrote: > In article <dorayme-3FD3EE.10100120012011@hello.network>, dorayme > <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> wrote: > > > In article > > <wayne.morris-0F657D.15474219012011@mx01.eternal-september.org>, > > "Wayne C. Morris" <wayne.morris@this.is.invalid> wrote: > > > > > > > > DVD video has an image size of 720x480 pixels. > > > > You sure? What about those movies you buy or hire on DVD that are > > fabulous full screen quality on the biggest of home computer > > screens? > > > 720x480 is correct to within a few pixels. Enlarged via interpolation > on larger screens (i.e. "blown up"). Yes, so it seems, I guess it is for file size to be limited. I note that for PAL (used over here) is 720 x 576 pixels. -- dorayme

On 2011-01-19 09:26:38 -0500, Warren Oates said: > In article <bdqdnVy9wLWEdqvQnZ2dnUVZ_sWdnZ2d@giganews.com>, > AK in KY <user@compgroups.net/> wrote: > >> I'm looking for a software recommendation. I'm working on film stills >> for a book that is going to be published at a major press. Obviously, >> screen grabs are only 72 dpi, which isn't good enough. I thought I >> could find some kind of program that would take stills directly from >> the dvd. Recommendations, please! > > MPEG Streamclip does a nice frame grab, will de-interlace the image for > you, or let you export a group of images to an "Image Sequence" if you > need. > > <http://www.squared5.com> > > Look under File/Export Frame and look in the help file for the same > thing. I have the beta version, it's very stable. MPEG Streamclip won't work with commercial (encrypted) DVDs unless you use Fairmount <http://www.metakine.com/products/fairmount/> which requires VLC <http://www.videolan.org/> You can play DVDs directly with VLC and get stills with "Snapshot" from its "Video" menu.

In article <2011012003335043186-malcolm@invalid>, Malcolm <malcolm@invalid> wrote: > MPEG Streamclip won't work with commercial (encrypted) DVDs Fair enough, but the OP wasn't asking about that. There's all sorts of ways to decss a dvd anyway. -- If you could teach a cat to dance, you'd never have to leave the house. -- Pat Sajak

On 2011-01-20 05:24:24 -0800, Warren Oates said: > In article <2011012003335043186-malcolm@invalid>, > Malcolm <malcolm@invalid> wrote: > >> MPEG Streamclip won't work with commercial (encrypted) DVDs > > Fair enough, but the OP wasn't asking about that. There's all sorts of > ways to decss a dvd anyway. Decss? The OP asked: > Obviously, screen grabs are only 72 dpi, which isn't good enough. I > thought I could find some kind of program that would take stills > directly from the dvd. Are you saying the Fairmount/VLC combination won't provide a solution the OP's needs? -- If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?

In article <2011012008474577774-xxx@yyyzzz>, gtr <xxx@yyy.zzz> wrote: > Are you saying the Fairmount/VLC combination won't provide a solution > the OP's needs? No, it probably will. I've never used VLC that way. You can do it with Ffmpeg too, which VLC is based on. I just find that for my needs, Streamclip does a fast and easy job. The DVD's are decrypted by the time I start wanting frame grabs. -- If you could teach a cat to dance, you'd never have to leave the house. -- Pat Sajak