Is there any way to screenshots of movies playing on my pc? I'd like to take some shots from my star wars dvd and make myself some wallpaper for my pc.

Yes, its possible, just goto the place that you'd like (in fullscreen mode), press the "PrtSc" button, and go into paint or somthing of the like, and press ctrl+v. Then save wherever you like.

That doesn't usually work, i am not a nerd. Pressing the Print Screen button copies the contents of the Windows video memory in RAM to the clipboard. Most media playing software doesn't use that; they send the information directly to your video card.

I've heard of programs that will do this, but I don't know any off-hand.

Cyberlink Power DVD can do that. It came with my graphics card, so it can't be that expensive. It has a little button that says "Copy Frame to Clipboard" when you hover over it. Stop on the frame you want to copy, press the button, go into paint-photoshop-paintshop or whatever you use and make yourself your wallpaper.

Actually, I just checked the site and it's $70... but you can go get the 30 day trial here:
http://www.gocyberlink.com/multi/download/dl_file_new.jsp?ProdId=1&lang=ENU

I've been using PowerDVD for years and am very familiar with the capture function, so allow me to elaborate a bit. There are two ways you can capture a still in PowerDVD, by clicking on the capture button (which, obviously, has a camera icon) or by pressing the "C" key on your keyboard. You can specify the directory that you want to save your vidcaps to by clicking the "configuration" button, then going to "advanced" and selecting from the various options (in the latest version, you can even specify the size of the still frame you want). PowerDVD only saves in .BMP format, so you will need to use another application such as Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop or IrfanView to convert the images to another format. (Since you want to make wallpaper, though, you probably won't need to convert since wallpaper files are BMP's.)

You can get PowerDVD (the OEM version) for $10 to $15 from any reputable vendor at a computer show, or at any independent/mom-and-pop computer store, or get it bundled with many DVD-ROM drives and burners (though you might get an older version in that last case). I've also tried InterVideo's WinDVD and find, IMO, that PowerDVD's capture function is superior.

-Joe-

wow! so many responses so soon! thanks. I have xp and it came with PowerDVD but is must be a freeby version so it can't do what you've described. So. . .I download the free trial.

Also, Would it be possible to copy my dvds to my hd? I've used media player to do that with music but can't find a way to do it with a dvd.

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/

theres a lot of software to rip your videos to .VOB (video object) files to your pc... most media players will support them... I used free software from that site to make a action-clip video from all my favorite movies for an audio-theater room I used to run at a previous job... it came out awesome... had matrix, bourne identity, last samurai, lots of good stuff...

the forums there are great too...