PDA

View Full Version : Black Screen



tremaine
09-27-2009, 06:02 AM
I was about ready to try the Download Studio on a flash video but then I became afraid to try it. The reason I am afraid to even try is in the following, which you can see if you click on more information regarding a black screen warning that you get just before you commit to actually downloading the flash video:

QUOTE 1

When you capture video, DownloadStudio needs to turn off two special settings in Windows. Both these settings are restored when you finish capturing your video.

Turning on/off display hardware acceleration

DownloadStudio automatically turns off display hardware acceleration when it is capturing video. It needs to do this so that video is captured correctly. Otherwise, the captured video will be just black. It is turned back on again after capturing is finished.

When DownloadStudio turns off display hardware acceleration, your display will flicker black momentarily. This is the correct response and there is no need to worry.

When DownloadStudio restores display hardware acceleration, your display will again flicker black momentarily. This is the correct response and there is no need to worry.

QUOTE 2

Important: If your display stays black and does not restore its display, then you may need to adjust your display hardware acceleration settings. Follow these steps: .....

Quote 1 and Quote 2 are on the same help screen, but separated by an explanation for Vista users (I am using XP-Pro.) Quote 2 goes on to give six steps to try if your screen remains black.

My first problem with this is that there seems to be a contradiction here. On the one hand, you are saying not to worry and that the screen will only be momentarily black (twice) and that the settings will automatically be restored. But on the other hand, you are then saying it is possible that the "display will remain black" Which is it? Is there or is there not a chance that the display will remain black?

My second problem with this is that the instruction about what you might do if your screen did remain black does not make any sense to me. How would you use your control panel and adjust the display hardware acceleration settings if you have a black display (black screen)? How can you do much of anything with a black screen?

Also, for any user of Download Studio, have you personally ever had your display go completely black when attempting to download a flash video? If so, how do you get to control panel if it happens?

Thanks for any answers. I will be very interested to find out the answer to these questions, especially since I have been trying to solve the problem of downloading flash videos for years now, and especially since I am very impressed with the long list of capabilities of the Download Studio program.

Brent
09-29-2009, 10:38 AM
Hi,

We have raised the possibility of the screen remaining black under extremely rare circumstances. DownloadStudio is turning off hardware acceleration to enable us to capture the video, while our support team have never seen the screen turn black and stay black it may be possible with some very old graphics hardware, as every device may react differently to this and we cannot test all graphics devices.

You are right in that it is not possible to go to the control panel if your screen does turn black and stay black. You would need to shut down/turn off your computer and reboot, on reboot your screen will not be black, so you can then follow the instructions to go to the control panel.

tremaine
10-07-2009, 12:11 PM
Thanks for the very useful information.