Record Video of Screen using .NET technologies

Is there a way to record the screen, either desktop or window, using .NET technologies.

My goal is something free. I like the idea of small, low cpu usage, and simple, but would consider other options if they created a better final product.

In a nutshell, I know how to take a screenshot in C#, but how would I record the screen, or area of the screen, as a video?

Thanks a lot for your ideas and time!

From stackoverflow

• There is a dll out there that can do it. Don't remember the name of it but it's used by Jing. A friend of mine implemented a screen recorder in just a few minutes by using that dll, just for testing. Check out Jing and you'll probably find the dll they use.

  kinjal : I am trying to check out the jing project. I was given the impression that jing has a limit on the duration of recording that you can do. Maybe that limit is built right into the dll you are talking about. Also, it might not be under gpl/lgpl so it may not be "free" strictly speaking.

  kinjal : In the jing license agreement: Separation of components - [...] Its component parts may not be separated for use [...]. My advice: be safe. try searching google for: c# screen capture

  CJCraft.com : Just making sure everyone understands the goal is to record video of the screen, and not a simple bitmap screen capture.

  PEZ : I have no clue about the licensing deal for that dll. It's probably not open source or even free. But it does record video of the screen.

• There is no need for a third party DLL. This simple method captures the current screen image into a .NET Bitmap object.

      private Image CaptureScreen()
      {
          Rectangle screenSize = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds;
          Bitmap target = new Bitmap(screenSize.Width,screenSize.Height);
          using(Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(target))
          {
              g.CopyFromScreen(0,0,0,0,new Size(screenSize.Width,screenSize.Height));
          }
          return target;
      }
  

  I am sure you can figure out how to capture a smaller portion of the screen, if that is needed :-).

  CJCraft.com : Thanks, sorry I didn't make that clear enough, that I want to record video of the screen.

  justin.m.chase : video is just many single frames pressed together, you could take these snapshots and create an AVI out of them pretty easily.

  justin.m.chase : http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/csharp/avi/write_avi.html

  CJCraft.com : I have considered this option, just threading the bitmaps together. I was just "assuming" there was something more "canned". Kind of like you shouldn't roll your own security API, there is already something better out there.

• Hi, You can use Windows media Encoder SDK to build a c# application to record the screen. There are i-built options to record the entire desktop or a particular screen in the desktop or a portion of desktop.

• you can use media Encoder SDk but it is not support windows 7 so