Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

1) VirtualdubMOD -does- handle mkv files, it's plain virtualdub which does not.
2) You can save screenshots directly to a BMP, PNG, or TGA (targa) file from within VDM. Just hit SHIFT+1 instead of ctrl+1, and you'll get a prompt. You'll get prompted for the filename & location each time, and you can choose the file format from that same dialog.
3) Another method which you can use on just about any operating system, and with almost any file is the VLC player from http://videolan.org/vlc To save a snapshot in VLC, either click video->snapshot or just hit ctrl+alt+s. VLC can save to either PNG or JPG formats (go into settings->prefs->video to set which format, you can also set the folder to save the snapshots to from that page. Default is your "my pictures" folder).


Regarding the format, is there any reason we can't use PNG files? Just about any imaging program made within the past several years can open it for editing/cropping/resizing & convert it to JPG for the website. Additionally, PNGs have the advantage of being lossless (unlike JPGs), but much smaller than BMPs (even when you stick a BMP in a RAR file, with maximum compression, it's still distinctly larger than a PNG).

Also, what about including 7-zip in the archive options? 7z files get compression & features comparable to RAR, but 7-zip is open source & 100% free. Unzipping of 7z files is already supported in many archiving software (including winrar), and there are a lot of programs to choose from to create 7z files. IZarc and 7-zip are the best choices imo (at least for windows). More info on the format, along with a list of programs which support it for windows, linux, and mac can be found on the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7z

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

PNGs are big. REALLY big compared to JPEGs (I am of course talking about 24-bit images). Unless you require lossless compression (additional processing needed, archiving purposes, video/image quality comparisson or playing with alpha) it is inefficient to use PNGs on web (and almost everywhere). Traffic and all.

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

PNGs are infinitely smaller than BMPs (which have to be converted before they can be used on the website anyway).

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

i strongly prefer jpg because it doesnt use 5 times the bandwidth to email me the attachment :p

and 99% of the time, my vdubmod won't handle mkv. occasionally it deos, but that's VERY VERY RARE (always gives errors about hte subtitles, or other shit)

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

Virtualdubmod can only save to BMP and PNG formats.
Also, a lossless format is better in this situation in order to maintain high quality in the screenshots. They already suffered lossy compression in the original video file, and they suffer more loss when you crop and/or resize them for use on the site. Saving the screenshots to a lossy format before sending them to you would degrade the quality even further.

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

you can send png if you want, i just strongly prefer jpg for bandwidth reasons.

(i personally just paste into PS after ctrl+2ing in vdubmod)

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

It'd be quicker & easier to save all the shots to file from within VDM using shift+1, then go & batch convert from BMP or PNG to JPG. I'm not certain whether or not PS has a batch covnersion capability since I can't stand the program, but most freeware viewers do. (Xnvew is my favorite prog for viewing & converting images, and for taking screenshots & doing image enhancement & adjusting. For more involved image editing, I use PSP7 (PSP8+ are too damned much like PS).)

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

And who is talking about BMPs here?
If you are taking screenshots from some low quality fansub/TV capture, I don't think there will be such big quality loss that would make up for the huge filesize. In other words - lossless screenshot won't redeem crappy source.

Regarding screenshots - I think the easiest way is just to take them via VMR7 (I basically don't see ANY advantages in using overlay over VMR nowadays - aside some weird stuff like old TVs and similar) - for example in MPC player the default key for screencaps is "P"... I haven't noticed any major quality improvements/differences when using VirtualDub so I stopped using it for framecaps...

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

i use it over a player because i can very easily scan throughout the file without lag or weirdness and find all the pics i need. the only way i can make myself use a player is if im watching it through completely. then ill stop when i see a good shot and will snap a pic. but doing them after the fact, now way id use a player

Re: Errors in the screenshots FAQ
 

Someone who actually read my first post, or the FAQ on the site. The FAQ speicifically lists BMP, but not PNG. A fact that makes absolutely no sense to me. If it said "please submit your images in JPG format" it'd be a different story, but it says to submit them in BMP -or- JPG, but not PNG or anything else. PNG is as lossless as BMP, has broader support, and has smaller filesizes. Why promote BMP over PNG? -THAT- was the whole point of that part of my post, but you completely ignored it to go on some rant about using JPGs.
From http://www.anime-planet.com/anirec/howtoaddanime.php:
Now I could see saying "JPG or PNG", or "JPG, PNG, or BMP", or even just "JPG only" but just "JPG or BMP" without PNG doesn't make any sense.


re VDM for screenshots: Yeah, using VDM isn't about quality, it's about the ease of finding the shot you want. When taking screens from a player, you have to watch the full episode in real time & it's very easy to miss the scene you wanted & have to backtrack. In VDM (or any similar prog), you can control the speed precisely. You can speed through it as fast as you want, and you can stop at exactly the point where you want to take the shot.