Many people ask how to capture a still shot off a video clip, how to do a screenshot. If you have WindowsXP it is relatively easy as you can do it with Windows Movie maker which comes preinstalled. It can also be done with Nero Vision Express.

You need to have the video clip saved somewhere on your hard drive before starting, not left as an attachment to an email.

Windows Movie Maker - Open movie maker and click on Import Video on the left. Navigate to the video clip, select it and click on Import. Once imported use the preview pane on the right to find the part of the clip you want to take the still shot of. On the very bottom right of the preview screen you’ll see a little icon of a camera. You click that to take the still shot and a dialogue box will come up giving you the option of naming it and choosing where you want to save it. It will be in jpg format.

Nero Vision Express Open Vision Express (or Nero Start Smart, select DVD and click on Applications then on Vision Express. In the “What would you like to do� box, choose Make DVD…DVD video. In the next box click on Add video files… and navigate to the video clip you want to take the stillshot from and click Open. Now make sure the video clip is selected and click on Edit movie. Use the preview pane to find the stillshot you want to take. Under the slide bar, the 4th icon from the left is a camera. Click it to take your still shot. A popup will tell you where the clip was saved. The default appears to be .png format. To change it to .jpg or .bmp click on the More button at the bottom and then click on Configure and you can change it in the dropdown box in the General tab.