Background Video Capture WIth Ease

Background Video Capture With Ease

Bruce Von Stiers

A couple of years ago I reviewed a cool audio / video capture suite from a software company called Applian Technologies. The essence of the software was that you could capture video and audio from a variety of sources and save it to be viewed/ listened to later.

Now, a few years later, Applian has a brand new video capture program out. Well, it's not brand new. But it is a new and improved version of their earlier video capture program. According to the information that the company provides, this is supposed to be the only program that was specifically designed for on-screen high speed video capture. The name of the programs is WM Capture. Like I said, it is an update of the original program, it is now labeled as WM Capture version 6.2.

So what kinds of things can this program capture? To start with, it can capture web cams and video chats. Want to record your Skype or Facetime sessions? How about something from a web cam feed you're watching? This program will capture the video and save it for later. How about a webinar that is providing information that you might want to refer back to? You can capture virtually any webinar out there.

Okay, so far we've got video chat, web cams and webinars. What about capturing Vimeo or Youtube videos? You bet. It's quick and easy to do. I'll explain more later.

Now comes the tricky part. Can you capture DVDs? Yes. Even if they are copy protected? Yes. With a very few exceptions any DVD that can play on your computer and be shown on its screen can be captured by the program. And the program will allow you to capture things like Powerpoint presentations and assorted documents. Basically anything that appears on your computer screen can be captured and saved by WM Capture.

How it works is the program establishes a specific area on the screen to capture content. . You set this up by clicking on the Get Video button on the program's user interface. Sometimes it will automatically set the transparent capture window to an area of the screen that it thinks your content will appear. You can use that window or resize it to fit your needs. You then can either click on the Record button in that capture window or the button on the interface. When you're done, click the Stop button. Simple as that.

One of the key elements of this upgrade is that the whole capture process can now be done in the background. In earlier versions, you had to make sure nothing invaded the capture area or it would be shown upon playback. Things like corners of documents or other elements were constant problems in capturing video in those older versions. But with this new version, simply elect to have the program run in the background. The capture window and whatever it's capturing will be in the background. That means you can check your Facebook status, check email or work on a spreadsheet or document while the capture is going on.

The program accepts a wide variety of video formats. You can save it in DVD format, MPEG-2, Mpeg-4 or Windows Media.

Having learned about this new version, I was anxious to try it out. I had liked the earlier versions, except for the fact of having to keep everything away from the capture area. So was this really going to work?

I had just gotten Django Unchained and used it to try the program out. I set everything up just like I was going to watch the DVD on my computer. Then I opened up the WM Capture program. I established the capture window, started the DVD and then started the program. I clicked on the Hide button so the capture would be in the background. I then opened up my email and checked it. About five minutes later, I stopped the recording and the DVD. I then viewed the video clip that I had just captured. The video clip was clean and the audio was good. There was nothing else on the screen except the content of the DVD that the program had captured. So far so good.

I wanted to check to see if the program would capture a YouTube video. There is a strange but funny clip on YouTube called Sexy Pool Party. It involves two teen boys, a dog and, eventually, Nathan Fillian of Firefly and Castle fame. I set up the capture just like I had for the DVD. This time I left it unhidden. The program captured the clip with no lag in either the video or audio. As it worked okay once, I did a second try at YouTube. This time I used the program to capture a showreel for British actress Sonia Mason. It mostly consisted of an interrogation scene she did. Once again, the video and audio of the captured clip was exactly as it appeared on my screen.

The program worked with YouTube, but how about Vimeo? I selected a video on Vimeo featuring model Valhri Hart. The video was a showcase on seduction. As with the YouTube videos, both the audio and video of the captured clip were the same as what had appeared on my screen.

So for me, the program worked fine. I do know that it will take a lot of computer space if you are going to capture an entire DVD. But as Applian points out in their documentation, you can record video clips for your personal use. But it is not legal, nor do they condone, using the program “to circumvent copy protection of copyrighted DVD's.”

The program also has a couple of slight hiccups. The hide feature doesn't work well on older computers. In fact, it wouldn't work at all on my old computer, which had Vista and was dying a slow, grinding death. But on my new computer, with Windows 8, the program worked without any hardware or software issues. I was told that with Windows 8, the program wouldn't support the hide mode in Internet Explorer. But it will with Chrome and Firefox. As I use Chrome anyway, this wasn't a problem for me.

The system requirements aren't extensive and the program should work on older computers. You will need a 2 GHz or better processor and 512mb or more of RAM. The program will accept Windows XP sp.2, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 with the minor exception I noted earlier. The program can also be used on a Mac with Bootcamp or Parallels.

I really liked the improvements that have been made to the WM Capture program. Especially the hide mode. It makes doing work on the computer screen and capturing video at the same time seamless. The program is easy to use too.

You can download a trial version of the program from the WM Capture web site. Or you can purchase a downloadable full version of the program.

For more information, or to download either a trial or full version of the program, visit http://wmrecorder.com/products/wm-capture/

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