1) How to install and launch CaptureFlux 3.3

Download a zip-file by clicking on the pink button above. It contains an exe-file called captureflux_33en_setup.exe. Double-click on it to install automatically CaptureFlux on your system. You may choose a full installation, or a minimal installation without directshow filters. The full installation is warmly recommended if you want to use the advanced features of CaptureFlux.

Before launching CaptureFlux with the Start menu (or with an icon on your desktop), it is recommended to connect at least one video source: It could be a DV camcorder on a firewire link, a webcam on a USB link, or an analogic video acquisition card. You may also try with a MovieBox USB from Pinnacle, if it is of type B. Check it by opening Pinnacle's Studio under the tab capture, and look if the device name is Pinnacle MovieBox-B, then close Studio without changing any setting on the moviebox and its connection. This procedure is compulsory every time you want to use CaptureFlux with the Moviebox, because it cannot launch the Moviebox directly. The other types of MovieBox are not supported by now. .

When you are done connecting a video source and then launch CaptureFlux, you will get the main window.

back to top

2) How to get started with the program user interface

Normally, if you have connected a video source before launching CaptureFlux, you should see the video displayed in real time on the video window included in the main form. If you have several connected sources, you should first check if the current active source is the good one.  A list of all available video sources is given in the combobox 1 where you may change the selected one, if necessary.  If you connect new sources while CaptureFlux is active, you must click on the button in order to update the list of video sources.

After that, you should manage the audio part. This happens in 2. In some cases,there is nothing to do, because the audio is interleaved in the main video stream. It happens for DV or mpeg2 streams, like the MovieBox. You may nevertheless remove all audio streams ("No Audio") or put another audio stream, coming from a separate audio device.

If there is no standard included audio, or if you want to capture another audio stream. you may select an auxiliary audio source (or else stay without audio). To understand what an audio source is here, consider that a sound card is an audio source. Generally there is only one, appearing in a combobox. On my system it is SoundMax Digital Audio. But selecting a sound card is not sufficient. You must also select an entry, for instance the microphone, the Line In, the CD player or even the general mixer that brings all sounds passing through the sound card (even the little jingles of Windows when you make a mistake!). This could be done directly with the software provided with your sound card. If you don't find it or don't like it, I have included in CaptureFlux a the little icon  for changing some settings of the sound card. But be aware that this is not really a part of CaptureFlux, but rather a part of the sound card driver called by CaptureFlux. It is not very convenient to use this button, and you may make mistakes while operating this way. If you know how to setup directly the sound card for recording, and if you can use a better program to do it, then use it.

After that, you will have to notice the default folder and name of the video to be captured. Look at 3. The default name is made from a root (here video), an optional date and time when the present session of CaptureFlux has started, (here in french style: 21th of August 2005 at 22 hours 58 minutes and 8 seconds) and a rank number starting with 0. This folder and name may be changed in the Folder panel that will be presented below. To open the folder where the clip is to be saved, it is easy to click on the button  in 6.

It's now time to start your first capture. To start, click indeed on the Button Capture 4. But you may alternatively simply type the Space bar. The border of the screen becomes red to indicate that a capture is in progress. To stop the capture, click again on the button, or type the Space bar. The format of the captured video depends on the choice made in 7. Generally you may choose:

either the native format, that is recommended if your system is short on power, and if you fear to drop frames. With a DV source you will in fact have two native formats DV type 1 or DV type 2 (normal). The good side of this format is that it does not need much CPU time (the hard compression work is done in the video device) and delivers the best quality available with a given video source. The drawback, is that the files are often very big, and no inlay of datetime is possible, because the video frames are not recompressed by the processor. So in these formats, even if the datetime is displayed on preview, it is not kept on the recorded file.
either the format DV type 2 recompressed. The main advantage of this format is to allow the inlay of datetimes. It is also useful if you have a non DV source, for instance a webcam, and you want to capture a clip that will be included in a DV video editing project.  For me, DV type 2 is the best format for non linear video editing. On the other hand, it needs a decompression/recompression and so looses some quality. Sometimes you may also get interlacing issues.
the format wmv (Windows media video) is a solution proposed by Microsoft which may be compared to DivX. It gives files that may be very smaller that in other formats, and often with an acceptable quality. Choose the High Quality  if you want good images; with the medium setting, you may record very long videos (several days on a big hard disk) with a quality sufficient for some purposes..

During the capture, or during a preview without recording, you may grab images from the stream and save them on the hard disk by clicking on the button Grab!  in 5 or by clicking on the video window. The panel "Grab Images" will then be displayed.

back to top

3) The buttons to operate on the video

Two groups of buttons are displayed in the toolbar at the top of the main form:

The group called A has effects on the displayed video, at least on its previewing. The following buttons are available:

Display the video in full screen . To come back  type Alt+enter (it toggles between Full screen and Windowed mode), or right-click on the screen to open a popup menu. It has no effect on the saved file.

Put the sound of CaptureFlux On or Off. It has no effect on the recorded video. Caution: this button has no effect on an auxiliary audio source, because in that case you hear directly the sound card of your system, and not the sound produced by my application.

This button starts to inlay the datetime into the video. In the inlay panel you may change many settings of this feature, for example choose between the real time or the datecode of the capture (for a DV stream). This feature is only enabled if you have made a full installation of CaptureFlux, and if it has not been unchecked in the Inlay Panel. You may also move the position of the inlay, by clicking on the right bottom corner of the video window. Two trackbars will then appear. When finished, click again on the corner and they will disappear.



This button has an effect on the captured video, only if it is recompressed. In format DV type 1 or DV type 2 (normal),the video frames remain unchanged, thus the inlays are not recorded to the file, but only displayed with the preview. It is the same for all native formats. But in DV type 2 recompressed, or in Wmw the inlay is permanently written to the captured video frames.

This button toggles between a native display of the video, and a display forced to the 4x3 proportions (Sorry 16x9 is not yet available). It has no effect on the captured video, but only on the preview. It is useful for a DV source to get the aspect ratio of 4x3, when the stream is delivered in 720x576 if it's Pal or 720x480 in NTSC. The same is true with the MovieBox that delivers images in format DVD.

This button is only enabled if the Video Deinterlacer Filter of Pinnacle Studio is installed on your system. If you activate it, the video preview will be deinterlaced, an so will the grabbed images. As for inlays, this has an effect on the recorded video only if it has been recompressed (DV type 2 recompressed, or wmv) but not in native format.

This button flips the video, up/down. It is enabled only if the inlay is enabled (checked in the inlay panel). It is sometimes useful, because some configurations may give a reversed image.

back to top

4) The settings panels

Without giving all the details, because this page is only a help to Quick Start, this section will present the panels for changing the settings of Captureflux. This is done by browsing the buttons of group B, each one calling a different panel:

The sources panel is the main panel for selecting video and audio sources. You may choose the format of the video capture, and choose an audio source, either included in the stream, or added by another device.

The folders panel lets you select folders and names for the captured videos or the grabbed images. You may also indicate a program to be launched with a click with all captured videos open in it. I suggest to keep the default DVdate  which can open many files at once to get data about them or to change them.

The schedule panel is the place to schedule  a future capture. You must of course keep the computer on and the video device connected during all the time.

The images grab panel shows the grabbed image, and lets you launch the intervalometer for taking snapshots automatically.

The inlay panel has many settings to modify the inlay, for instance the font of the inlay, or the format of the date and time. I find also very useful to modify the time before inlaying it, when I missed to set a time difference in my camcorder on a travel abroad.

The preferences panel is a collection of different useful settings. For example, you may choose a system profile for the Windows media capture in wmv, if the four default profiles that I have selected in the Sources Panel are not sufficient. Here you may also indicate if the grabbed images should be bmp or jpeg, and if they are jpeg, choose the compression rate. In this panel you may also choose if the preferences are to be saved in the registry or not, in order to find them again at next start. I recommend to check Save the preferences when quit.

The help panel  gives a list of keyboard shortcuts and some properties of your System.

The About panel  gives information about Paul Glagla and about CaptureFlux and its restrictions of use. Let me remind you that CaptureFlux is delivered freely only for personal use. Use by a company, an administration or during a professional activity is forbidden and unlawful. I give freely my products to web surfers and video amateurs who respect this limitation, but it is not fair for companies or professionals to make money (or save money that could have helped some professional programmers) by using my hard work without even supporting me.

The quit button exits from CaptureFlux when you are finished.

Do not hesitate to browse between these panels (you may type F6 to go to the next panel), and look at the hints that appear in places when the mouse moves. You should finally find the settings that are adapted to your needs, and then - if you have enabled the feature of saving the preferences when quit in the Settings panel - find these settings again over and over.

 You may even hide all panels when you are done by typing Alt+Backspace. Of course this is only safe if you know some keyboard shortcuts, because you won't have any possibility to click on buttons when the main form is reduced. Type Alt+Backspace again to come back to the panels if you need to make a change.

Have fun!

back to top