Frame grabs from DVD's, can anybody help?

[AlanMcKillop]

I have seen a similar topic discussed before and this time my usual good memory, has let me down.

What I am trying to do is take a good still picture from what sometimes, are quite poor quality DVD's of early Cliff and Shads shows/concerts/tv appearances. Most of these were originally recorded on various forms of tape (betamax, vhs etc), so the originals were not quite up to todays standard, and of course when transferring or copying to DVD format, a little more quality has been sacrificed.

Can anyone suggest a good program (free if possible ) that would help me?

[Didier]

Most DVD player softwares on PC allow image capture, but don't expect good image quality.

This pic was captured from the Knebworth DVD, using the the PowerDVD software (and later reframed) :



(I wanted a pic of Hank using a HM Strat).

Didier

[jim w]

Alan,
you already have the software Pinnacle.
Jim.

[RayL]

Because each TV frame is made up of two interlaced fields, the capture of a frame containing fast movement can be improved by capturing only one of the fields. This avoids the blur that occurs if both fields are combined. If there is no movement in the frame it doesn't matter but if, for example,a hand holding a plectrum is sweeping down, a field grab will be clearer than a frame grab.

I can't recommend software to do this because the software that I use only works with certain hardware that is no longer available, but it is worth checking for this feature when buying software.

Ray L

[AlanMcKillop]

Thanks for your help, I tried a few of the applications which I have and Nero Showtime provided the best results.

Jim, re Pinnacle. Would I need to upload into Pinnacle and then search for what I want before taking a Frame Grab? The other method of simply watching the DVD, pausing at a suitable point and then take the FG, seemed the easiest way to go.