screen capture and recording with or without cursor

Screen recording

Description

Screen recording

The screen recording is enabled when VideoSource = vs_ScreenRecording.

Then, all the preview and recording features of the video capture devices can be applied:
- the preview by invoking StartPreview,
- the frame capture by invoking CaptureFrameTo,
- the recording by invoking StartRecording,
- the compression on the fly or after capture (see the Recording section)
- the video processings and graphics and text overlays when the frame grabber is enabled.

The recording of the cursor is enabled or disabled with ScreenRecordingWithCursor.

The capture of layered windows (e.g. floating or transparent windows) can be enabled by the ScreenRecordingLayeredWindows property.

If some areas of the screen are not properly recorded, try to enable or disable the ScreenRecordingThroughClipboard property.

WMV screen recording compressed with the Windows Media screen codec

when recording in WMV, the following settings will automaticaly use the Microsoft's Windows Media screen codec:/line

VideoGrabber.VideoSource = vs_ScreenRecording
VideoGrabber.RecordingMethod = rm_ASF
VideoGrabber.ASFProfileVersion = apv_ProfileVersion_9
VideoGrabber.ASFVideoQuality = 95
VideoGrabber.StartRecording()

(note: ASFVideoBitRate and ASFVideoQuality are exclusive, ASFVideoQuality is mandatory)

If you are using a .prx profile, select the screen codec in the codec list when creating it with WMProEdt.exe

AVI screen recording compressed by using third-party codecs

The recording will give better results (quality/size) if codecs specifically designed for this purpose are used for the recording.

E.g. by using the Innoheim ISCC codec:/line

VideoGrabber.VideoSource = vs_ScreenRecording
VideoGrabber.RecordingMethod = rm_AVI
VideoGrabber.VideoCompressor = VideoGrabber.VideoCompressorIndex ("inno Screen Capture Codec")
VideoGrabber.CompressionType = ct_Video
if VideoGrabber.VideoCompressor > -1 then
VideoGrabber.StartRecording()
else
MessageBox ("screen codec not installed")
end

Specifying the monitor(s) to record when more than 1 monitor is available

If more than one monitor is available, the number of the monitor to record is specified by the ScreenRecordingMonitor property.

- to record the default monitor set ScreenRecordingMonitor = 0 (default value).
- to record the 2nd monitor, set ScreenRecordingMonitor = 1, and so on...

Recording the extended desktop

Simply set ScreenRecordingMonitor = -1, this will record the whole extended desktop across all the monitors.

Remarks:
- the preview or recording frame rate of the screen display is specified by the FrameRate property.
- when recording the full screen, it is recommended to use a low frame rate to prevent dropped frames.
- it is possible to record only a part of the screen by specifying a cropping area.
- when ScreenRecordingThroughClipboard is enabled, the clipboard is continuously flushed during preview and recording.