What Is Capture?

Capture is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. When you capture something, you're taking it from one form—an analog signal, for example—and converting it into another condition that can be stored and used later. A video capture card converts an analog TV signal (the kind you get over your cable or satellite) into a digital video file on your computer, so you can watch it on your computer or upload it to YouTube or Vimeo. A screen capture takes a picture of what's on your computer screen, then stores it as an image file so you can share it with others. Screen captures are helpful when writing documentation about the software or showing others how something works. They allow us to illustrate our point without drawing out every step ourselves—and they're just fun! Analog data is a thing of the past. It's everywhere, but it's all digital now. When capturing analog data, you must consider converting it into a digital format to be stored and shared online. Fortunately, there are many different ways of doing this. One method is video capture. For example, suppose you have an analog video signal from a VCR or over-the-air broadcast and want to store it digitally for later viewing or editing. You can use a video capture card to convert that signal into a digital format such as MP4. Similarly, audio capture refers to digitally recording analog audio—for example, using an audio interface connected via USB cable between your computer and microphone or guitar amplifier/effects processor combo unit (or another amp/effects team). Finally, screen capture refers to taking pictures of what appears on your computer screen—often used to show off programs in action or customize your desktop background image!