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View Full Version : PocketTV Now Does JPEG Screen Captures


Jason Dunn
11-01-2003, 06:53 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pockettv.com/release-notes.html' target='_blank'>http://www.pockettv.com/release-notes.html</a><br /><br /></div>"PocketTV can now capture and save images from the video in JPEG format (.jpg), using the "Save Image" command. On Pocket PC, this command is in the main menu. On Smartphone, this command is initially mapped by on "9" (to change the default mapping, go in "Functions"). If you are upgrading from a previous Smartphone version, you must select "Functions" to map the "Save Image" function on "9". JPEG images are small (a few KB's per image) and they can be viewed using PIE. On Pocket PC, you can open JPEG images using the File Explorer. All other Photo-album or Image viewer applications support JPEG files. <br /><br />Previous versions of PocketTV could only save images in an obscure format called Targa RGB (raw, uncompressed) that very few applications could read. The raw images were very large files, not suitable for mobile communications. PocketTV Enterpise Edition still has the option of saving images in raw Targa RGB format (.tga). PocketTV can now send captured JPEG images by email. JPEG images are small, so they will not need a lot of network bandwidth. The default quality of JPEG images created by PocketTV is high (80 on a quality scale 0 to 100). You can change this by chaging the "JpegQuality" value under the PocketTV key in the Registry. By default PocketTV saves the JPEG images with the Gamma adjustments currently selected, so that the captured images will look as good as the video."

The PocketTV Team
11-01-2003, 10:23 AM
Thanks for the front-page news :)

Remember that not only you can now capture JPEG images from movies, but you can also email them to your friends if you have a Pocket PC Phone Edition, or WiFi (802.11b) and internet connection, or a Smartphone.

PocketTV will offer you to send captured JPEG images (as an email attachment) after the image is captured.

If you have a regular Pocket PC with not wireless connection, you can use email too (if Inbox and ActivaSync have been preperly configured), but the mail will be sent only next time you sync your device.

We think it may be fun to share images from a movie... something that you cannot do (yet) with WMP and PocketMVP.

Please tell us how you like this new feature!

sponge
11-01-2003, 06:53 PM
TGA is an obscure format? *scratches head*

Jason Dunn
11-01-2003, 08:45 PM
TGA is an obscure format? *scratches head*

To the vast majority of computer users, yes. ;-) Heck, ask the average person what a TIFF file is and they won't know.

The PocketTV Team
11-01-2003, 10:52 PM
TGA is an obscure format? *scratches head*
Well, let's say it is not widely known and very few applications can read this format.

On Pocket PC, I know only one that can read TGA files: PQView
http://www.bitbanksoftware.com/PQV.html

By the way, has anyone tried the "email a JPEG" feature ? Can you confirm that it works as expected ?

Janak Parekh
11-02-2003, 01:51 AM
TGA is an obscure format? *scratches head*
To the vast majority of computer users, yes. ;-)
Sponge, you might showing your age. :lol: TGA was big back in the days when you needed a 24-bit format and JPG, BMP, or PNG didn't exist -- your only choices then were TGA or TIFF, and I think TGA had a big following on several alternative platforms, including the Amiga.

--janak

The PocketTV Team
11-02-2003, 01:59 AM
> TGA was big back in the days when you needed a 24-bit format and JPG, BMP, or PNG didn't exist.

Yes, and also PPM and BPM... ahhh, good old times!

Gerard
11-02-2003, 05:27 AM
Another program which supports TGA files (both oens and saves images as .TGA or .targa) is Idruna's Photogenics. It's done this since the initial release, in fact, since the earliest beta versions. However, several attempts at opening saved TGA images from the previous Pocket TV versions always caused 'illegal operation' program shutdowns with Photogenics, for me, on both a Casio EG-800 and iPAQ 3835. I couldn't figure the problem, because other TGA files opened just fine. But Photogenics was buggy enough that I eventually stopped running it on the iPAQ. My kid still uses it on the Casio, as she likes the 'cloud' and transparency effects, but she's always saving in GIF or JPG formats so it's not relevant to her. I suspect it was a glitch in the way Photogenics handled some unusual feature in the Pocket TV-generated file headers, but don't know enough about that stuff to be sure.

Just thought I'd mention it... not important now, as this new JPG save thing seems to work just fine in the iPAQ. Thanks for keeping up the innovations, unlike Paul Nolan, who seems preoccupied with other projects. (Got a bit of a clipped note back last time I pestered him about Photogenics being so buggy, a year ago, where he said he'd not be doing any further bughunting for a long while. Uncool for a $50 release.)

sponge
11-02-2003, 06:30 AM
I'm only 16 actually :P I know all of the Quakes use TGAs, and Q3 uses TGA for textures, so for us gamers it's not too obscure.

The PocketTV Team
11-02-2003, 07:09 AM
> I suspect it was a glitch in the way Photogenics handled some unusual feature in the PocketTV-generated file headers, but don't know enough about that stuff to be sure.

Probably so, since Photoshop has no problem reading our TGA files.