Ilya Feynberg

Hey fellow Warriors!

So I'm looking to buy a video making making software...you know the kinda where I can capture what every I want on my screen, speak, click around etc...and since this is my first step into the video making world I need some help!

I know that Camtasia is the bomb and the top of the line software out there, but I don't want to spend $300 just yet on it.

I've gone to Cam Studio Pro and it looks great, and the price is great too! But you usually get what you pay for...

Basically all I need to do is be able to talk into a mic. and have everyone follow along with me for as long as I want.

I need to be able to edit the video of course, and since I'll be making purchases and accessing accounts live, I need to be able to also blurr out anything that I want to.

Can I accomplish all this through Cam Studio Pro? Is there something else I need to look into? Or is my only option to go right with Camtasia?

Also...do I need anything other than a mic and my computer to properly run the software?

Thanks to everyone here in advance!!!

Corwinnx

mdunn,

I just got WebCamMax. They have a free trial, BUT...
if you have a blog indexed by Google, and you write a 400 word or longer review of WebCamMax on that blog, they will give you a free lifetime liscense.

I signed up for ustream to be able to stream live video screen capture and ustream said this was the app you needed to stream a live screen capture video.

So, I went to WebCamMax got the app, and it is EASY to use.

Has some 'nifty' features too. Check it out.

-Marcus

Josh Anderson

When you say "video making" what kind of video?

If you are asking about screen capture video... then sure Camtasia is great...

But CamStudio - Free Screen Recording Software is just as good for capturing video and its free.

The key is to capture video, save as an avi, then encode it to flv using a pro quality video encoding software such as flix standard which is only $39. Then embed the flv using a nice free flv player.

I recommend against spending money on Camstudio pro as the only thing it offers over the free opesource version are a couple fixes to its encoding and embedding features.

I own camtasia but I still use Camstudio for all my scree capture video projects. Never encode your video with camstudio just save it as an avi and encode it with a quality encoder.

If you are planning on creating video other than screen capture then Sony Vegas Movie Studio is under $100 and is just plain great.

WebCamMax is a nice little app but the only thing it is useful for is streaming desktop on live streaming services such as Ustream.

Jamie Iaconis

Hi,

I have CamStudio for a very reasonable price:
CAMSTUDIO Internet Marketers Version

I like the software very much and it
comes with some IM'er features!

Jamie

Micheal Perkins

I use the free CamStudio version that Josh mentioned in his reply. I like it a lot. I did some research on microphones because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on one and then have problems with it. I ended up getting one for $10 from Target.

The only thing CamStudio does not do that I can say I miss right now is the ability to add a watermark on the video. I don't have Windows Movie Maker on my computer. I used a friends computer that has it though and used that to put a watermark with my website name at the bottom of the video. I was very happy.

So my opinion is go with the free version of CamStudio. It does just fine. Then once you have money coming in you can get Camtasia if you still want it.

Corwinnx

Hey Josh,

I specifically downloaded Webcammax for doing just that, streaming live screen capture on ustream. Now I was messing around in there today, and I noticed two things...

1.) the video is small, and people couldn't really 'see' what I was 'doing' on my screen. I had a lot of 'things going on' and didn't really get too deep into how I could make the picture bigger. Would you happen to have this information?

2.) There seems to be a Camtasia feature in it. When I first started looking at ustream for streaming live screen capture, the site claimed that I could only use webcammax on a PC (something else on a Mac, but I dont' remember what it was.) But then, in there today I saw the Camtasia feature, so I wondered if it was possible, and if it would be of better quality than WebcamMax. If you could let me know the answers to these questions, I sure would pree-shee-ate it. LOL.

TY.

-Marcus

Joe Giannetti

I thought Cam Studio was free???

bluet

For a pretty good medium price range you might consider BSR Screen Recorder.
The free version has no time limit, except you get a little watermark in the lower right corner.
The registered version is around $39.95 Upgrade later to the Movie Lab add-on for $49.95, or get both for $89.95 at the start. Get the Movie Lab also and you have a pretty good video/movie editor with a whole bunch of extra features, like conversions, capture anything, add text boxes, images, videos, effects, edit frames, re-size, speed changes, cut and paste different parts from movies and put them together into a new one, and much more.

BSR Screen Recorder - Screen Capture Software

Yeah, a mic and computer should get you by to do basic videos.

Josh Anderson

It is but it is also open source so a few people have modified it to improve on some of its features.

Personally I do not use the encoding and embedding features that they improved upon because they lack the professional quality that I demand.

Anyone using Camstudio will get great results if they save as an avi and use Flix Standard ($39) to encode the flv and any other player besides the one in cam studio to embed it.

Hey Josh,

Actually believe it or not I tested using camtasia as the source vs webcam max and I found that I was able to show 1:1 image ratio with web cam max but when I used camtasia it delivered a proportionately smaller image that was worthless.

There is another issue that comes into play though... and that is the streaming service you are using, the software they use to encode and display the video stream, and the dimensions of the player or display which they show your live stream to audiences.

So far I was most happy with Stickam - The Live Community, Live Streaming Video and web cam max combination for this purpose but the limitation was that their player was quite small so the area I could show was fairly limited and I had to use "auto pan" in the screen capture software to move around to show more of what I was speaking about to the audience.

I also use a Microsoft Wireless mouse with magnifier which gives you one click real time magnification which is good for focusing in on areas of interest in real time without having to do it in post.

For mac here are a couple popular solutions:

Telestream ScreenFlow - Overview

Telestream Wirecast - Overview

I have not tested them for live streaming.

Corwinnx

Josh,
Thanks, man. You are a treasure trove of great info.

-Marcus

dotcomsecretsonline

Well personally I use camtasia because I like it and all its features its a great piece of kit for any business online or offline. Plus I like the HD Video format camtasia 6 produces

Now cam studio pro is a good piece of software too I haven't used it myself but I few of my fellow business partners have and if you cannot afford
camtasia then cam studio pro will be your best bet. The video output format is good quality and if you are just going to use it for blogging then its great

But for me camtasia 6.

But all in all both pieces of software are good quality and they will get the
job done for you with fantastic results.

Hope this helps

Ian25

In Flix Standard I am Trying to encode the flv but when I click encode I am asked to"enter a frame rate greater than Zero and less than 60fps"
but swf frame rate is greyed outand can not be changed.any a help please?

Josh Anderson

I recommend contacting On2 Technologies - Making Video Possible, from Handhelds to HD for support with their software.

Ian25

Ok thanks I will contact On2

appsrus

Camtasia rules. It keeps getting better and better.

Don't waste your time with anything else.

Ian25

With regard to Flix video compression I had a problem with this and despite requests to On2 (flix ) for help and No response I was forced to look for another Video compression tool

Ian25

In camstudio .virtualdub is much better for making video file size smaller.
After dowloading virtualdub go:
File-open video file-video compression-xvid-Configure.
In drop down menu----AS atL5
Second drop down menu- single pass
target button-300
click ok
again click ok

File save as AVI .........

Ian25

In camstudio .virtualdub is much better for making video file size smaller.
After dowloading virtualdub go:
File-open video file-video compression-xvid-Configure.
In drop down menu----AS@L5
Second drop down menu- single pass
target button-300
click ok
again click ok

File save as AVI .........

Ian25

With virtual dub it will be necessary to get the latest version of xvid from xvid.org

yourreviewer

Try Jing | Add visuals to your online conversations It is free and easy to use.

sam520

Thanks Josh for the great info. I was in the process of buying the Camtashia software, but after reading this post I have decided to get the CamStudio software instead. When will your course be released?

Ian25

I tried jing and it jammed up my pc and other times made it go really slow. It appears to suck out all the functions from the cpu

Ian25

forgot to mention-to make sound file smaller click-audio-full processing mode-audio-compression-NPAG layer 3-20killobits stereo sound-ok

gerardhevey

Jing is limited to 5 minutes.

Not able to edit.

This is the best free screen capture tool in my opinion.

Can record in .avi and edit afterwards.

Make your own training videos.

uTIPu.com

Thank you
Gerard Hevey

LonNaylor

For small file size you should actually use mono...not stereo (at least for narration audio).

Unless you recorded with two mics (or a stereo mic), stereo does you ZERO good and doubles the audio data in the file...

cypherslock

I'm curious if I can do picture in picture with Camstudio or camstudio pro? Does anyone know?

prostarprofitsdotcom

For those interested there is a FREE video capture site Screentoaster it is the Youtube of screen capture sites.

Mark Jordan

I use Camtasia. You can go to their website. Click download -free trials and see if you like it.

craigbrown

I use Adobe Captivate CS4 for all this screen capture stuff - it's very expensive, but I do a lot of e-learning materials so I needed it for the LMS friendly features.

For video capture, a free alternative I haven't seen listed here is called Wink.

I do a lot of professional video crunching and having trained a few folks in video editing using Non Linear Editing suites such as Adobe Premiere and Avid Media Composer, I'd suggest that if you ONLY want the capability to edit the camtasia captures, then struggle with something free and easy like virtualdub, or you can go easy on yourself and use windows moviemaker if you're on XP or Vista - it will do everything you need and has a bunch of convenient presets for different end uses such as DVD, youtube, etc. It's much maligned, but I can't think of a better tool for someone who needs to punch out some edited video without dealing with the learning curve of more complex video editors.

Pierre!

Yup! It's true... AND you will not get software updates for Camtasia with a cracked/hacked version. THAT might matter depending on your operating system.

Hey, it's a deductible business expense. Why potentially face legal issues that you don't need or want. That always seems to happen when you REALLY don't need feces flying around anyway...

Learned lots as a young man that serves me well now!

Find the *right* tool
Pay a *fair* price for that *right* tool
Go forward with no need to check over your back... cause you did it right!

HTH

Barry Unruh

Depends on your needs. You could use a webcam program and get the look you are looking for. It will capture everything shown on the screen. Choose a program which allows you to select to keep it on top.

I have not tried doing this but it should work.

I'll have to give it a try, sounds like a fun idea to try.

B.Yameen

My in-house videographers and I love Camtasia!

We've tried Camstudio but for whatever reason I did not feel comfortable with the software's layout. When I eventually opted for the Camtasia trial it seemed as though everything just fit...

I then purchased a license and it has been one of the greatest purchases to date!

If I had to put a number on the number of products we have launched within two (2) days of simply using Camtasia and Audacity.

Just my 2c

Thanks

Howard008

You don't have to pay for Camstudio, especially that pro version which is rarely known.

Frankly speaking, Camstudio meets the basic needs for video marketing. But if you want to make your video unique and professional, it will be another story.

Many marketing gurus recommend Camtasia. It's a great screencasting software. But everyone can their own ideal. I use DemoCreator, a Flash-based screen recorder with video/audio editing features. It's simpler yet moderate to generate screencast tutorial. Recommend to all marketing newcomers.