Duckie, if you have video on VHS that you want to convert, you need a bit of hardware in between your VHS player and your computer.

Typically, these will have RCA plugs at one end, which go into your VHS player, and a USB plug at the other. Things like this can be had for between $15-$50 US, and usually come with software to convert the VHS video feed to a video file stored on your computer.

to get a still pic, you can either use a screen capture tool, use the included software, or use a video editor. Keep in mind that VHS video is low resolution, so any pics will not be great

There's a lot of choices for "video to picture converter" to pick from any search engine. Some are listed here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=video+to+picture+converter+app&hl=en&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=SRxWVa3YEI-wuASGkoCwCw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAA&biw=1440&bih=772&dpr=1

But maybe you have to convert your VHS video file first into a digital format before you can convert it into still images.

no, you cant do that with this.

If you can play your video through your computer, the little button marked "Print Screen" or PrtScn will allow you to make a snapshot of whatever is on screen at that moment.
It ought to be possible to paste multiple screenshots into today's giveaway and the result will be a GIF that can play each still image in turn, depending upon how long a delay you set.

The silent movies did not have sound. The music was provided by a piano player in the theater. The movies came with sheet music for the piano man to follow the movie.

Just thought you'd like to know (my dad and his dad before him owned a theater and in the earlier days they played silent movies). For perspective: I'm 70 and my dad was 40 when I was born. I don't know how old my grandfather was when my dad was born. My dad was the youngest of 8 kids.

ric. that is the nature of a gif. period. if it had sound it would be a video. one gif is an image. several images (gifs) hooked together is an animated gif but with the same file name 'gif'. you don't get sound from an image. i'm sure you probably know this already and 'thought about it later'? :)

jpgs are also images but you can't 'glue' those together to make an animated jpg, you've got to convert the jpgs to gif format, and then hook the gifs together to make the little animation.

gifs have their place and use but they obviously won't take the place of video.

p.s., ric. i thought animated gifs were 'dead' years ago. but no, they resurged and seem to be 'big' these days, bigger than i ever would have imagined. websites like 'buzzfeed' like to make long entries, so they'll have tons of animated gifs together on one 'page' since the file size is so small and they 'work on everyone's computer' without having to have a flash player or anything else installed.

I used it for my video lesson such as from CBT Nuggets. I do not have to run the video if I need just to find a certain part in the middle of the video. Such as topology and configuration example. It is very useful at least for me

A lot of gif users here: http://imgur.com/

@Tom,

Can you give an example of it? I am really interested in seeing how gif can be used for short video lesson.

Here's an article with some nice examples of Animated GIFs, though they're not from video. http://www.wired.com/2013/09/the-rise-of-subtle-tasteful-and-commissioned-animated-gif-illustrations/

The pro examples in that article are more designed to reenforce a story or article -- video is more to show what is or was, more to document & share. Because they're so much smaller, Animated GIFs can go many places where that video you recorded with your cell cannot.

HungryJoe...you asked why someone would
want to create an animated gif...

I just got an email with what appeared
to be a video PLAYING inside the email.

there was no audio...when I clicked on
the "video" to see where the volume
was, I was redirected to a new page
where the actual video played.

it was a really cool marketing tool

and, I have no idea if this tool can
produce the same sort of product

Please see my reply to comment #6 ric. That's just one way that I use it. I usually turn the video to a Charlie Chaplin type movie or like a Key Stone Cops movie. They can be lots of fun to do and the kids like them. They usually share them with their friends.

Let me share this one idea with you:

I wanted to teach my kids how to paint a room. So I created a series of videos and converted them to GIF. In the videos I ALWAYS do something wrong. My wife walks in after the mistake and chases me around the room with a rolling pin. Then I stop and have an idea. At this point I run the video backwards to the beginning (This is funny too. this is actually part of the training video). Then I start all over again but this time I put down a plastic sheet. My wife walks in and is happy and give me a hug and a kiss (lots of hearts flying everywhere). The video is fun to make and fun to watch.

Hope this helped.

1) why would a modern day user want to convert a video to an animated GIF?
You can use movies to make your very own meme, put up fun little animated emoticons or other animations on web pages, etc.
Remember, not everyone has high speed internet, and some people hate/can't use flash

2) what is the commercial viability of such a software product There's a saying about fools and their money :)
Why do we still get Nigerian banker scams, or "enlarge your member" emails? At least here, you get an actual product. From the reviews, looks like not much has changed, so not a lot of money invested in this product. Put it on GAotD and if a few people decide to buy it later, profit!

"why would a modern day user want to convert a video to an animated GIF?"

If you mean why Animated GIFs, they can be much tinier than video, & can often be used where video cannot, e.g. forums &/or message boards. A good Animated GIF can reproduce or at least mimic most any color [that 256 color palette does not have to be the std. 256 colors in Paint], and similar to video compression, it can store only changes from frame to frame.

If you mean why convert video rather than do it more-or-less manually, it's easier & faster, & compared to an Adobe CC subscription, cheaper too. Sometimes the results may not equal a good artist's work, but then not everyone can or wants to. Other times you may capture something on video where the attraction is the fact that "This actually happened" -- in today's YouTube world anything other than video [or video -> GIFs] would be seen as & called fakes.

My 2 cents:

"why would a modern day user want to convert a video to an animated GIF?"

A modern day user might want to turn a boring video to something fun to watch.

Example: I often use video to try to get a message across to my children and as you probably know, kids Know Everything. They'll watch a funny video especially if it involves me. I get the message across and sometimes they don't even know it.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents and how and why I use video to animated GIF but I sure wouldn't pay for it given that there are so many free options.

Hope this was helpful.

From one of the free tools mentioned just above:

"There are several reasons why someone would want to convert a video into a GIF animation. The main one is so that people can put an animation of a video online without streaming the video itself. For those not acquainted with the process, it can seem difficult. Free Video to GIF is a great free tool for users to transfer their video files to GIF which can be integrated within webpages, used as avatar, screensaver for cell phone, cool element on website, or to be added to your signature in forum/email."

Thank you Jahid for coming back and posting again your awesome comments and suggestions. Your input is very much appreciated by many of us, who visit this site daily to check out new offers, as well as to learn a lot from people like Karl, mike, MikeR, tomcat, XP-man, and many many others. Too bad, we do not see here Giovanni anymore.

Regards,

consuella

It's been available since November.

That's correct. KB3000850 is already part of the Windows 8.1 Update chain. Windows 8.1.3 is a myth.

If you pay attention to the comments you will discover that Karl is correct and update 3 was optional. It was in yesterdays comments along with a link to the explanation. Many people comment here without reading the often answered questions of the best reviewers like Karl and the missing Giovanni (I hope I spelled it correctly out of respect for his time, quality reviews and alternatives). To the others here please take note of my reply because your questions/replies are repeated day after day. If you question their reviews and comments then just move on to something else in life because your efforts are too weak for a reasonable review here. I don't want everyone to think that you never question a review, but if you just read them often you will find that all the common misunderstandings were answered. This does mean you might have to do a little internet research on your own. If you don't like their reviews then skip them altogether. @Steffo, If you got that information today from MS website then your comment should have been to them and not Karl. Karl and others make mistakes, but I've never seen him fail to correct them ASAP.

@1toomany, Really? Lonely or just like to hear yourself think?
@Kestrel, to help you understand what's changed in 8.1.3..
◾Refreshed language packs
◾Defence-in-depth security and Schannel hardening
◾Support for newer hardware (boot order allowance, SD card improvements, USB debugging)
◾Improved Web Services for Devices (WSD) printer support during network switches
◾Performance and reliability improvements in clustered virtual machine mission-critical environments
◾Improved manageability
◾Additional hardware support (devices that have third-party disk encryption software enabled can now be upgraded to Windows 8.1 more easily)

Can be found here: ◾Refreshed language packs
◾Defence-in-depth security and Schannel hardening
◾Support for newer hardware (boot order allowance, SD card improvements, USB debugging)
◾Improved Web Services for Devices (WSD) printer support during network switches
◾Performance and reliability improvements in clustered virtual machine mission-critical environments
◾Improved manageability
◾Additional hardware support (devices that have third-party disk encryption software enabled can now be upgraded to Windows 8.1 more easily)

Have a nice day..

Wow.. that url didn't go so well. lets try it again.
http://www.winbeta.org/news/microsoft-has-quietly-released-windows-81-update-3-november-update

Even still, throwing around a version number of 8.1.3 is somewhat odd...I work in IT and have never heard it referred to 8.1.3 by anyone. Disclaimer: I work on the server side and not the desktop side, so there may be some who call it that, but I do read quite a few trade journals and technical blogs and have still never seen Windows 8.1 update 3 called 8.1.3 by anyone but Karl on this website. Someone please prove me wrong so I can stop being annoyed every day when I read Karl's post. (Although his posts are helpful and much appreciated!)

If you want to indicate the update level in dialog, I believe most people would refer to it as Windows 8.1u3 or 8.1UR3 since technically Windows 8.1's *version* number Windows 6.3-xxxxx - Build x.x.xxxx.xxxx. I cant recall what the EXACT version number is, but it certainly isn't 8.1.3.

Even still, throwing around a version number of 8.1.3 is somewhat odd…I work in IT and have never heard it referred to 8.1.3 by anyone
Keep in mind, that might be true for the US or UK, but perhaps in the Bundesrepublik Deutschland, that may be the common appellation.

@1toomany
I, more than one hundred percent, agree with your comments.

People does it really matter? This is supposed to be about Thundersoft Video to Gif. Karl devotes a LOT of time to eval. these programs, if you really have an issue with 8.1 or 8.1.3 or even if he refers to it as monkey business. I think the bottom line is if you get the point thin hease dun what he set owt tu du.

Amazing the concern over Win 8.1.3. Who cares? This has been explained several times in the past weeks. I would hope we could finally put this to rest. Myself, I am more concerned with the review itself than the version of the Windows update Karl is using. What do you say that we give this a rest.