Screen Capture engine – Medialooks Help Center

You can capture a whole screen, part of a screen or a window with Medialooks DXGI/DX11 ScreenCapture engine. You can use the engine as a video device in an MLive object in MPlatform SDK or in an MFLive object in MFormats SDK.

Usage with MPlatform SDK

You can use a full name of ScreenCapture engine to set up it:

myLive.DeviceSet("video", "Medialooks DXGI/DX11 ScreenCapture", "")

Usage with MFormats SDK

Devices in MFormats SDK are based on its index, so to find a correct index of the ScreenCapture engine you should get the amount of all possible video sources and check video sources names:

int deviceCount = 0;
liveObj.DeviceGetCount(eMFDeviceType.eMFDT_Video, out deviceCount);
for (int i = 0; i < deviceCount; i++)
{
    string currentDeviceName = "";
    int currentDeviceBusy = 0;
    liveObj.DeviceGetByIndex(eMFDeviceType.eMFDT_Video, i, out currentDeviceName, out currentDeviceBusy);
    if (currentDeviceName == "Medialooks DXGI/DX11 ScreenCapture")
    {
        liveObj.DeviceSet(eMFDeviceType.eMFDT_Video, i, "");
        break;
    }
}

Properties

You can manage the engine behavior with different properties by using a PropsSet method or by setting them through the system registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Medialooks\MFormats\MFLive\MFDeviceSCR

And once specified in the registry, all the instances of ScreenCapture engine use these values. PropsSet method manages only a single instance of the object.

Name	Default value	Description
capture.show_mouse	show	Sets behavior of the mouse pointer capturing. Possible values: show - display the mouse pointer on captured video. hide - don't display the mouse pointer. hide_inactive(<timeout>) - mouse pointer will be hidden if it is inactive after <timeout> milliseconds elapsed.
capture.show_clicks	true	Indicates whether mouse clicks are highlighted on video. Possible values: true, false
capture.focus_change_speed	0.2	Speed of focus changing in fraction per frame units. Possible values: from 0.1 to 1.0
capture.mode	auto	Screen capture mode. Possible values: auto - Capture modes are applied in the following order: DXGI -> DirectX -> GDI. The first applicable mode is used. DXGI - Fastest mode of hardware capturing DirectX - Software screenshot and hardware processing GDI - software-only processing
capture.current_mode	Pending	Current screen capture mode. Read-only.
capture.memory_format	HDYC	Pixel memory format for hardware mode. Possible values: HDYC - Faster capturing but slightly lower quality ARGB - Slower capturing but slightly better quality
capture.fps_limit	30.0	FPS value (for high values frames can be duplicated on low-performance machines). Possible values: range between 1 and 60. Otherwise, the default value is used.
capture.frame_size	1920x1080	Size of the captured frame. Possible values: <width>x<height> - desired size screen - frame size fits the screen size area - frame size fits captured area size
capture.screen_enumeration_mode	DXGI	Choose the enumeration mode. Possible values: DXGI - 0 is the default monitor. No matter what index it has in the system settings; GDI - monitors enumerate depend on the index in the system;
capture.screenshot_timeout	15	Integer value in milliseconds which indicates the amount of time that API waits for changes on the screen to take a screenshot. Affects only DXGI hardware mode. Possible values: from 5 to 50 ms.
capture.highlight_mouse	show	Show mouse highlight on screen capture frame. Possible values: show - highlight the mouse pointer on captured video. hide - don't highlight the mouse pointer. hide_inactive(<timeout>) - mouse pointer highlight will be hidden if it is inactive after <timeout> milliseconds elapsed.
capture.highlight_mouse_color	Yellow(136)	Color of mouse highlight. Possible values: <color_name>(<alpha>) - valid for limited number of colors, e.g. "green", "red", "blue" hex-code of a color
capture.show_keypresses	false	Show key presses. Possible values: true, false
capture.screen_index	0	Index of the captured screen (apply when many screens are used). Screens are enumerated according to the system order.
capture.keypress_text_size	1.0	Size of keypress info text. Possible values: range from 0.5 to 2.0
capture.following_mode	none	Following mode. Indicates behavior of the engine on mouse movement. Possible values: none - don't change a source active_wnd - follow the active window cursor - follow the cursor
capture.follow_window_by_handle	none	Capture window by a handle. Once set, "capture.following_mode" is ignored. Possible values: none - don't follow a window <window_handler> - follow specified window
capture.area		Capture rectangular area relative to the current screen. Once set, "capture.following_mode" is ignored. Format: <Left>,<Top>,<Right>,<Bottom>, for example "100, 150, 800, 600"
capture.background_color	Black(170)	Background color. Possible values: <color_name>(<alpha>) - valid for limited number of colors, e.g. "green", "red", "blue" hex-code of a color
capture.screen_edges	all	Capturing screen edges in following mode. Possible values: all - Show all edges scale - Scale visibly captured areas stick_to_visible - Capture only visible parts of screen without scaling
capture.aspect_ratio	keep	Aspect ratio mode. Possible values: stretch - Stretch to a frame keep - Use the screen aspect ratio frame - Use the frame aspect ratio
capture.sampler_type	linear	Type of a sampler for hardware rendering. Possible values: point - Point sampler used. Recommended for precise capturing of the full screen when the frame size is equal to the screen resolution. linear - Linear mode for good scaling. anisotropic - anisotropic mode.
capture.wait_frame_msec	0	Frame wait timeout in milliseconds.
capture.software_scaling	letter-box	Scaling type for software screen capture. Possible values: default ignore-ar letter-box crop no-scale none
capture.async_resize	false	Async output frame resize (experimental property). Possible values: true, false.
capture.audio_device	none	Audio device for capturing sound. Possible values: none - don't capture sound PC Sounds (Loopback) - capture system sound
timecode.print	false	Enable timecode overlay. Possible values: true, false.
capture.min_delay	false	Reduces frame delay but increases jitter. Possible values: true, false.
capture.no_frame_max_count	100	Sets an interval of "No Video" frames after which the engine is reset. Use "0" to disable.
capture.external_process	false	Once enabled, the ScreenCapture is processed in a separated MServer.exe process.

You can specify any of these properties with a PropsSet method.

MPlatform SDK:

(myLive as IMProps).PropsSet("device::capture.fps_limit", "29.97"); // note the "device::" prefix please

MFormats SDK:

(myLive as IMFProps).PropsSet("capture.fps_limit", "29.97");

Articles in this section

Usage with MPlatform SDK

Usage with MFormats SDK

Properties

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