Video Capture
Getting started
When you use AMCap for the first time, it is recommended that you go to the setup once to configure general options: click Capture > Setup... then review all the options (not only for video capture).
The Video Capture tab holds most options to enable and to manage video capture. You have at least to choose whether you want to capture to a pre-allocated file (recommended for slow PCs) or to unallocated files, then configure the folder and the filename.
If you choose to capture to a pre-allocated file, select a filename then click the Allocate... button to create the optimized file.
By default, captured video will be uncompressed. The benefit is that you get the best picture quality and you can choose to compress the file at a later time with the best possible results. You can also choose to make real-time compression (if you have a PC powerful enough). To enable and to control compression, click the Compression tab and adjust the options.
Click OK to validate.
Capturing video
1. Select the video source and enable preview
- select the video capture source (e.g. your webcam) from which you want to capture video in the Devices menu. This is not needed if you only have one source.
- tick the Options > Preview menu if it is not already ticked. Please note that preview is not required at all but it will be needed most of the time to control what is actually captured.
2. Select the audio source and enable audio capture (optional)
If you want to capture audio as well:
- tick the Capture > Capture Audio option.
- select the audio capture source (e.g. your sound card) in the Devices menu (see notes).
- if an Options > Crossbar Audio Input menu is available, make sure the tuner audio input is selected.
- select the right audio input in the Options > Audio Input menu.
or
- tick the Capture audio from video source option in the Devices menu if the video capture source also provides audio (e.g. a TV tuner or a DV camcorder.) In this case, the possibly selected audio source is ignored.
3. Capture and save video
- click Capture > Start Capture then OK, or simply hit Ctrl+C to start the capture.
- stop the capture using the Capture > Stop Capture menu or hit the ESC key.
- if you configured AMCap to capture to a pre-allocated file (in Capture > Setup... > Video Capture tab), click the File > Save Captured Video... menu to export the video you just captured and before making a new capture.
- you can click the File > Open Folder > Video Capture... menu to open the folder where the video files are stored.
Notes:
- exporting the video from the pre-allocated file may be a long and boring process so if you have a fast PC, you may prefer to configure AMCap to capture to unallocated time-stamped files. That latter option will create a new file every time you start a capture.
- if you want to capture video using the Windows Media 9 (WMV9) compression, you will have to download and to install the redistributable Windows Media Format component. You can download the file by clicking the Help > Redistributable Components > Windows Media Format menu.