desktop capture

[yakinc]

Hello

I am looking for a way to capture the desktop activity on my
computer.
I need it for testing user usage of specific software that also includes live video. So I need to see mouse movements and what's on the screen at the same time. I want to see the video played on the software I'm testing but it doesn't have to be at full fps.
I was thinking of just capuring the desktop as a video. I tried a few programs like Aviscreen, Turbodemo, ACA Capture Pro, but they takes up a lot of cpu and memory, and I need the capture not to interfere with the software I'm testing.
The capture programs are very simple.

Does anyone know if using a capture card, or a very strong graphics card would help?

I'm not looking for different sofware solution because they all more or less do the same thing. I just want to know about the hardware side.

Thanks! :)

[jggimi]

A video card with "TV-Out" can send analog video to a video recorder (VHS or other recorder, DVD recorder, another PC with a capture card, etc.) -- but there are limitations.

My experience with TV-Out has been limited to ATI products. On those, the "overlay" output, unlike standard PC video, cannot be set to multiple output devices; only to a single output device at a time.

So if your application includes embedded video as you describe, the live video -- which uses a video card's "overlay" feature -- can only be set to the monitor OR the TV-Out, not both.