Screencasting (ScreenVidCap) software recommendations, please

Topic

New Reply

I want to capture onscreen action–maybe even on two monitors–to a video file, which I can then edit, add audio, etc. Could be software UI demo or training, video gameplay, including text slides, support tutorials, etc, for sending to individuals via Dropbox, or posting to YouTube. I prefer to start with something inexpensive, and move to dearer options if it proves viable after learning the ropes and gotchas.

I’m new to this, and have only been aware of:
Camtasia [expensive];
Camstudio [free, talk of adware at Gizmo’s];
Fraps [$37 atm];

I haven’t gone thru Wiki’s listComparison of screencasting software. Searching around, a few that look interesting are:
Active Presenter [free, top choice on Gizmo’s];
LoiLo Game Recorder [free];
Ezvid [free].

I’d appreciate your recommendations and experiences with any suitable software, whether listed above or not.

I’m on Win7 x64, with separate graphics cards and plenty of RAM. Hopefully a few of us can learn from this 🙂

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

Reply | Quote

Replies

Not sure if this meets your requirements, but FastStone ($19.95) works well for me to capture video of webinars etc. Does a good job with screen shots as well.

FastStone Screen Capture
http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm
“FastStone Capture saves images in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIFF and PDF formats. Built-in screen recorder saves videos in WMV (Windows Media Video) format.”

Reply | Quote

FastStone ($19.95) works well for me to capture video of webinars etc. Does a good job with screen shots as well.

Thanks Bubble, I liked FastStone’s image viewer when I tried it, so I’ll definitely add this to my list of “worth checking”.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

Reply | Quote

An effective screen recorder that’s also free is SMRecorder. The learning curve is about 5 minutes. You may be able to annotate the recording. i can’t remember for sure. However, you can always open Windows MovieMaker (also free) and add text in the form of titles or captions or credits. At home we’ve made several video tutorials using SMRecorder and it worked fine. You can also capture webcam video if you want to record yourself or to show something that’s not on your monitor screen.

Regarding spyware/adware: A lot of free software comes bundled with “extras” such as toolbars, shopping helpers, and other add-ons that often cause more annoyance than help. During installation of the software you actually want, please be alert to uncheck or decline, or skip all the extras they offer in the dialog boxes as you step through the install process.

Regarding capturing video of gameplay: certains apps such as FRAPS are designed for recording gameplay without causing any major slowdown or lag or stuttering. Simpler apps such as SMRecorder don’t handle gameplay video nearly so well unless you keep the capture framerate and resolution fairly low. For high res or 30 frames-per-second video you’ll need FRAPS or similar. …. But don’t let that stop you from trying a simple free app like SMrecorder or Camstudio.

Reply | Quote

SMRecorder. The learning curve is about 5 minutes.

Thanks Marvin, that’s my kind of learning curve. I appreciate your personal experiences re additional apps to enhance or supplement SMR, very useful. Rated “Outstanding” on Cnet with nearly 3/4 million downloads, I will definitely check it out.

Hope you get a good meal soon 🙂

PS Cnet description says:
“…captures desktop video and audio but also camera and microphone inputs. You can add onscreen annotation and narration…”.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

Reply | Quote