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    Capture video with integrated webcam

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by natsfan89, Nov 5, 2008.

  1. natsfan89

    natsfan89 Notebook Enthusiast

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    My R61 with Vista came with an integrated webcam. The computer came with no webcam software, and Skype has no feature which allows me to record video and save it onto my hard drive. I installed a third party software called amcap. This software allows me to record some video and save it, but it often displays an error message and shuts off after 20 seconds of recording.

    I can not find any capture video feature on windows movie maker. So, does anybody know how i can record videos with my integrated webcam, and save those recording onto my hard drive?
     
    natsfan89, Nov 5, 2008
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  2. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

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    Download Virtual dub. It can capture (as well as perform simple edits/compression) from almost any capture device (including webcams and screen capture software) into any format you like. I have used it for years (primarily for editing/transcoding video) and it is great and FREE. There is good documentation on the Virtual Dub site, as well as on Doom9 and other forums. You will probably want to install XviD and an MP3 encoder (Lame ACM) so that you can save your videos into relatively small files (uncompressed video takes up a TON of space).
     
    jonlumpkin, Nov 5, 2008
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  3. eyeojo

    eyeojo Newbie

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    Do you have the links for the compression programs you mentioned?
    Thanks!
     
    eyeojo, Dec 3, 2008
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  4. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

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    Here are download links for Virtual Dub, Lame ACM, and XviD. Install XviD by running the executable, Lame by right clicking on the .inf and clicking install, and Virtual Dub by extracting the archive to a folder.

    The codecs should show up automatically in Virtual Dub. I would generally recommend a XviD video bitrate between 500-1500 kbps for webcam video (640x480) you will need single pass for real time capture, and a Lame audio track of Mono, (22-48KHz, 22 is enough for voice, more is required for music), and between 32-96kbps. Hope this helps.

    If you intend to edit the video later, and want the maximum quality. I would recommend you start with a lossless codec. I find either Huffyuv or Lagarith best for the video, and uncompressed PCM (installed by default) for the audio. After editing you can then compress it using XviD with a two pass encode (first pass to determine a strategy, second to encode) and Lame.
     
    jonlumpkin, Dec 3, 2008
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