Available in the Portable Apps suite is a portable version of VLC. VLC is a great program that can play many different type of audio and video files, here we will focus on how to do video capture.  This was inspired my someone asking me how they could do a video capture using freely available software.

First, open VLC and then go to Media, then Open Capture Device. VLC Open Capture

The next dialog box will ask you to further configure the video capture. Change the Capture Mode to Desktop using the drop down box. Change the Desired frame rate for the capture to 60.00 frames per second or to the desired setting. When finished with the settings on this page, click the down arrow next to Play and select Stream, or Alt and the S key at the same time.

VLC Open Capture Mode

At the next box, just click Next.

VLC Source

Next dialog box, use the browse button to determine where the output file will be saved and the name of the file. I always end the file name as a .mp4.

VLC Destination File

The next dialog box is selecting the Transcoding Options and leave them as the default. This will give you an mp4 file format.

VLC Trancoding Options

The next dialog box confirms your set up. Once you click on Stream, the capture begins. At this time it is best to set up your screen the way that it will be captured.

VLC Options Setup

Then to stop the capture, click the stop button on the VLC Media Player. The file can then be located where it was chosen in the set up.