Best Resolutions with Screen Capture?

[TrackRanger]

I have some software that creates graphs and text tables.

I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to get these to display with some semblance of quality in an output video. I first purchased Twinpact 100 but the quality was so poor, that I ended up aiming my camera at the monitor screen and capturing that way. The results were better, but far from acceptable. I then purchased Pegasus. Set it to capture RGB (at various resolutions). Capture results are OK, but post processing is giving me some issues with losing quality.

Does anybody have any recommended settings for capturing graph and text data from an RGB input that gives good quality output (HD and / or SD)?

Thanks
Trevor

[antonsvideo]

press print screen on your keyboard

then use the screen capture in Photoshop , don't resize it, the result will look razor sharp, be sure to apply 90 degree by 1 pixel motion blur, this will remove shimmer of thin lines in the graphic when played as video

example for 16:9 Pal SD video:

1. set desktop resolution to 1024x768 or larger
2. display your graphic
3. press print screen
4. Photoshop, file new, edit paste
5. Photoshop, file new, set 1024x576
6. drag file from step 4 to the empty canvas of step 5 and position it so you see relevant graphics
7. apply the motion blur 90x1 to top layer
8. flatten image and save as 24bit tga
9. looks great in Edius, but blacks will be too black and whites will be too white
10. apply color balance filter and reduce contrast until the blacks no longer fall below 0 line and whites no longer exceed 100IRE line in waveform display

or, set levels in Photoshop to range from 16 to 235, that will achieve the same, however I prefer doing this in Edius, because I can fine tune according to waveform and vectorscope (I use real ones from tektronix)

http://www.videoproductions.com.au/html/waveform-vectorscope.html

[TrackRanger]

Thanks Anton - great advice, and appreciated. However, I need to have animation, as the graphs and the data change, and I want to capture this into the video. That's why I was using Pegasus.

Trevor

[antonsvideo]

in that case, shooting with a pro 2/3' CCD camera and good lens focused on LCD screen with variable shutter set to refresh rate of monitor should give you very good results

alternatively, use screen capture software such as Snagit or Camtasia

here is a Snagit capture to give you an idea of quality

http://www.videoproductions.com.au/edius46/

in order to use snagit for video, set capture frame to 720x576 for Pal and set 25fps and set uncompressed RGB for codec