Timer/Video

If the Timer is started, a program saves frames on timer event at a specified directory. You can specify the Directory, Interval, Format and more parameters on the Preferences | Timer/Video page.

If the Video Capture is started, a program saves the dynamic image as an .AVI file at a specified directory. You can specify the Directory, Frames Per Second (FPS), Compressor (codec) and more parameters on the Preferences | Timer/Video page.

There are three ways of starting the timer.

1. Capture a region, then click button or click the Capture | Timer menu command or press the Start/Stop timer hotkey (default hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+T).
2. Select a region and click the Start Timer command from the context menu (instead of Grab Now) command.
3. The program can start the timer automatically when finished. See the Preferences | After Capture page for details.

To stop the timer click this button again or press the hotkey.

After a capture is finished you will be prompted to play a captured movie if the Video Capture mode is set. Select OK if you want to play it or Cancel if you want to skip it.

To capture a video, click the Video button, select an area to record, and finally click the Start... button.
Click the Red button to stop the recording.
You can also use the <Capture Video> hotkey to Start/Stop the recording.

Notes on the Quality and Performance:

Recording performance widely depends on these factors:

Hardware:

• CPU speed.
• HDD and controller's speed (SCSI controllers are faster than EIDE) .

Other:

• Size of captured area (the smaller area the better).
• Number of colors (the smaller this number the better).
• Running other applications during recording slows the process.

These issues finally affect the playback quality. For example, if you try to capture fast or large movies on slow computer the playback will not be smooth and the effect of "image jumping" can distort your animation.

Please read before you ask questions:

• If you still have problems with the recording a screen action (black screen), try to turn off the hardware acceleration of the graphical card. In many cases it helps.
• If the playback speed differs from the recording one, it means your hardware fails to capture a screen action with that speed. Try to decrease a FPS (Frames Per Second). When the capture is finished, a final dialog shows the real speed of the recording. Set a FPS it displays.
• Current version of Mr. Captor doesn't record a sound.