Some movie player applications use 'overlays' to boost performance - a hardware video acceleration feature. Overlays cannot be recorded by BB FlashBack. If you try to record an application that uses them, you will see a black space in the recording where the video should be.

To ensure the video player does not use overlays, you need to use one of two options:

1. Use the 'Disable video hardware acceleration' setting in BB FlashBack.
   On the Record Mode wizard step or tab in the Options window, click More Settings to see a window with the setting:
   
   Note: you will not see this setting when using Windows Vista or 7 with 'Aero' graphics. You will get better performance by using Vista/7 with a 'basic' theme instead. For more information on using a basic theme, click the 'Show Solution' link for 'Problem: I see the video but...' below and see the final tip.
   
   
   
   Turn the setting on, and before recording starts, BB FlashBack will allow you to disable video acceleration and overlays. Once you do this, you should restart any movie player applications that you want to record.
   
   When they start up again, they'll use an alternative method of display which should be recordable.
   
   Note: some movie players (e.g. KMPlayer) will still try to use overlays even when video acceleration is disabled. For these players, you'll need to use option 2 below.
2. Use a setting in the movie player
   Most movie player programs have the option to either use overlays or an alternative display method.
   
   The setting that controls this varies from application to application, but look for one labelled "Use hardware acceleration", "Use Overlays" or similar, and set it to OFF. Some movie players have a "Video Rendering" setting. If so, select something other than overlays.

BB FlashBack has 3 record modes: MPEG, GDI and Capture Driver. The best mode for recording moving video is MPEG mode.

Make sure its set on Record Mode step of the record wizard or the Recorder Options window.

However, be aware that older PCs with single core processors (e.g. Pentium 3 and 4, Celeron) may struggle to use MPEG mode to record a larger area at a good frame rate.

A higher frame rate usually means a smoother movie, but sometimes a higher frame rate causes performance problems by straining the CPU. In situations like this you can actually get a smoother movie by reducing the frame rate.

If you record the entire desktop, but are only really interested in a particular movie player window, you're not getting optimum performance. At the end of the record wizard, select to record a window, then select the movie player.

We've tested and found that you'll get better recording performance on Windows Vista and 7, when you put them in 'basic' graphics mode instead of 'Aero'.

Right click the desktop and select "Personalize". Then select "Window Color and Appearance":



On the next window, click 'Open classic appearance properties...':



Then select the 'Windows Vista Basic' color scheme:



To reverse this and re-activate Aero graphics, just select 'Windows Aero' from the schemes list.

Right click the desktop and select "Personalize".



Then scroll down and select a scheme from the 'Basic and high contrast themes' section:



To reverse this and enable Aero graphics, just select a theme from the 'Aero Themes' section.