Camtasia or Camstudio?

[Lloyd Buchinski]

Originally Posted by sylviad

Does anyone save web pages to their computer when
they contain great information like this thread?

I go to thread tools at the top of the thread, select the printable version, then to file and then to save page as. Gives you a lightweight file. Glad you started this thread also. This was a massive amount of information. Not often a topic gets covered this well.

Also, thanks to Vince Courtney for the utube video. Seems like it covers some really good basic details.

[Josh Anderson]

Originally Posted by Neil S

To Josh or other CamStudio users:

When I am doing a screen recording of myself using a software program, the video tends to "blip" as in it can't seem to handle the recording seamlessly. The audio and video slightly cut out. Recording myself just clicking around is fine, but when I do something that requires additional system resources it never records perfectly.

I was thinking of purchasing Camtasia for this reason. But would this be a foolish purchase? Is the problem not CamStudio but my own computer?

It would not be "foolish" to purchase Camtasia... but Camstudio is not the problem.

Watch the two videos posted to this thread about how to properly use Camstudio. Follow those suggestions. See if that resolves the issue.

Other than that it sounds like a playback issue so it could have to do with your video card as well.

[Josh Anderson]

Originally Posted by LastWarrior

I have both and with small short segments, Camstudio worked fine. One thing I didn't like is the quality wasn't as good as Camtasia and the file sizes were too large, but that could be due to my lack of experience using it.

I tried the 30-day free trial of Camtasia and LOVED it. It is awesome. However, somehow it errored on me and I only got to use it or had the ability to use for only about 13 days because it defaulted to 0 days left after using less than 2 weeks.

Get the free download, save the $300 in the next month, then when you go to purchase, you'll have the money and know how to use it!

LastWarrior

File size is due to the codec you use to capture your video. For example the Camtasia Techsmith codec is great for high level of compression.

In my own video I cover codecs so does the youtube video posted.

Some codecs offer you more compression than others... also there are many other things that effect file size such as the frame rate, the audio capture settings etc. The codec I use many times is called MSU lossless Screen Capture codec which offers great compression. In the Youtube video posted to this thread the Divx codec also is suggested which too offers great compression.

Also if you have an encoder you can encode and compress the video after capture.

[jthomas011]

Josh, I would like your assistance to help make sure that i get the right combination of screen capture and editing software that are compatible with existing equipment that will allow me to make produce videos using your transparent player. Keep in mind that my skill level is novice- but i want to make high quality videos initially.

So, here is the equipment I have-hp 64 bit processor running vista, and panasonic sdr-h18 hd camera.

Problem- Sony vegas 9 does not function with 64 bit according to the other video forums.

I found camtasia studio 5 for $60. at site durahamtownship.c/o/m


Questions
1 - Will camtasia studio 5 function as an editor for the output video? Would you do it this way for $60 bucks?

2- Does your transparent player come with video tutorials? or are they an additional charge?

Thanks for the help i found you player several days ago and have spent time trying to figure the right combination. John Thomas

[Nino C]

Camtasia No doubt... i never used camstudio before, but i use camtasia all the time... never had any problems with it and the quality is perfect..

and most important: Camtasia is extremely userfriendly not hard to learn at all.. just plug and record.

So Dumbs up for Camtasia

[prosperpreneur]

In my opinion Camstudio is your best option to get started, as you see some challenges to ithe first few videos you need,

After you get comfortable and see some profits coming in, you can buy the Camtesia and move forward. if you follow these steps you will be light aeard

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
-Gaj

[Shane Hale]

I use Camtasia It is great!

[Wade Watson]

I recently went through the same decision process. After checking the free options, I decided I could manage with CamStudio for now. The only thing I dislike about it is that it renders the final video in whatever resolution you capture, so if you do a long capture at full screen, the file will be huge. Also, the default frame rate is like 200/sec. which is monsterous.

The fix is to go into Options>Video Options and set "Capture Frames Every" to 33 ms and "Set Key Frames Every" to 30 frames. Once I've done a recording, I import it into Windows Movie Maker for editing and save it as an AVI. I then import that file into Free Video Converter, which will size down the frame for YouTube (or whatever).

--Wade

[Mark Riddle]

Camtasia VS Camstudio

This reminds me of an article in sales and marketing management when starbucks spent 10's of thousands of dollars on a blind taste test.

The research company attended the meeting with all the execs at starbuck.

Co-founder and CEO Howard Schultz asked the researcher if there was a clear winner in the blind independent taste tests.

The Researcher said: Well yes there is....

Howard Probed: Great what were the numbers?

Researcher: One was selected the best tasting 68% of all surveyed.

Howard : That's fantastic, we need to get this information to the press as soon as possible!

Researcher: Well Mr Schultz, this is were we have a problem.

Howard: Yes 68% preferred sounds too good to be true.

Researcher: Well that's not the problem, Starbucks was favored in less than 8% of the interviews.

Howard: I thought you said there was a clear winner with 68%?

Researcher: I did, the favored brand was Folgers.

Researcher: Dunkin doughnuts coffee was 2nd with 18%

Howard: Well what do they know anyway. We're the best and I'm not going to let your faulty research get in the way of a great product and brand.

Camtasia is the clear winner in branding.

If an expert like Josh Anderson says camstudio records the screen with equal or better quality I am going to believe him

Mark Riddle

[Josh Anderson]

Originally Posted by jthomas011

Problem- Sony vegas 9 does not function with 64 bit according to the other video forums.

Your best approach will be to download and install it your self and find out. Sony offers free 30 day trials from their site.

That's the smart way

Vegas Pro supports 64 bit:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro

Not sure about the movie studio versions.

I found camtasia studio 5 for $60. at site durahamtownship.c/o/m

If it is not a physical stock version of the software that has been sitting around and now is on clearance then it is probably pirated. If its pirated... well you don't want to support that.

2- Does your transparent player come with video tutorials? or are they an additional charge?

It comes with two video tutorials on the basics of how to use it, it comes with other video tutorials on how to encode your video for optimized performance and streaming.

It also comes with documentation and access to a support desk when you get stuck.

[sylviad]

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

...
Also those features only matter if you use camstudio to encode your videos and embed them which you should NEVER do for many reasons but here are the primary reasons:

1. It uses inferior opensource codecs for compression and encoding sacrificing image quality and file size.

2. It lacks many play controls that are essential to optimized publishing and response boosting performance...

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

...
Camtasia includes encoding and embedding features such as its built in players. However, camtasia's encoder offers very limited encoding options and I cannot stand its players. They are quite limited...

Hi Josh,

Your info is invaluable, but I do have a question.

Above, you state that you should NEVER embed your videos into a web page but then later it sounds like you're saying it's okay. Are you suggesting that you shouldn't embed with Camstudio's features specifically or embedding in general? And why did you say that?

(Actually, I'm not sure what embed means, since aren't videos embedded into YouTube's site? And what's the point of having a video NOT embedded into your web page? How would it be viewable if it's not embedded?)

The reason I ask is that I was just about to download one of the two programs you recommend: FlowPlayer or Longtailvideo Player which seem to be for embedding into a webpage. Or am I just confused?

Could you clarify, please, Josh? Thanks.

Also, people reading this should realize that the longtailvideo cannot be used to create commercial products - it says so in the agreement where you can download it, whereas FlowPlayer can be used commercially.


Sylvia

[imran.qureshi]

Why not first use Camstudio... and if solves your purpose no need to buy Camtasia. But, if it doesn't go for the Camtasia

[Scott Lundergan]

Originally Posted by sylviad

Hi Josh,

Your info is invaluable, but I do have a question.

Above, you state that you should NEVER embed your videos into a web page but then later it sounds like you're saying it's okay. Are you suggesting that you shouldn't embed with Camstudio's features specifically or embedding in general? And why did you say that?

(The reason I ask is that I was just about to download one of the two programs you recommend: FlowPlayer or Longtailvideo Player which seem to be for embedding into a webpage. Or am I just confused?

Could you clarify, please, Josh? Thanks.


Sylvia

Greetings,

He was referring to why people may or may not want to embed with certain players depending on their functionalities. This includes certain settings, etc.

Longtail can be great. I use Longtail's to embed certain videos with the multiple paid licenses myself and clients have with them.

[Bud Fox]

I have Camtasia, and it is great.

It also takes a bit of time, energy, and tweaking to get it right. Getting sound right (I can hear the fan of my laptop when I use it) and editing takes time to learn.

IS THAT THE BUSINESS YOU WANT TO BE IN?

These days, I record the screencasts (if I do them at all), and farm the rest out (sound, editing) to a third party.

Camtasia is akin to transcribing - I don't do it well. I don't like doing it. I don't do it anymore.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

I'm with Josh here. I'm a Camstudio + Sony Vegas guy. The former is perfectly capable for screencapture and the latter is my tool of choice for ALL video production.

Just make sure you tweak your Camstudio settings as instructed in the video.

[TelegramSam]

Can you make videos with camtasia about things that aren't computer type tutorials.

In other words, a lot of the camtasia videos I see, involve someone teaching someone how to use some software or where to click their mouse etc.

Is there a way to do more interesting things with camtasia. Do you have to learn how to make thinks in powerpoint and such like etc...

Pardon my ignorance, just that I have never used the software or done videos etc...

[sylviad]

Originally Posted by Scott Lundergan

Greetings,

He was referring to why people may or may not want to embed with certain players depending on their functionalities. This includes certain settings, etc.

Longtail can be great. I use Longtail's to embed certain videos with the multiple paid licenses myself and clients have with them.

I see Josh agrees with you on this reply, but I'm afraid it doesn't help me much. Functionalities? What does that mean and how does it affect embedding?

And why the warning about Never Embedding to a web page? What are the risks, concerns? Josh?

Also...

I'm not sure what I might need to ask at this point, except to say that I don't understand how you join/connect Camstudio with Sony Vegas and those other recommended programs to get them to work together. It's like having Photoshop and a digital camera and no way to connect them.

I'm kind of at the same level as TelegramSam on this stuff.

Sylvia

[Josh Anderson]

Functionality refers to various control that one player might offer but another might not such as buffer control, auto load, auto play, hyperlinked video, triggers etc., supported video formats (flahplayer 10 compatible players can play mov, mp4 and flv).

I never warned not to embed... just against embedding with crummy players like the default camtasia players. Just choose your players wisely because some introduce problems that can reduce response rates. You may want to go back and read the earlier posts again to get some clarification.

However, there is one advanced concept that I teach in my Trigger Players package and that is how to avoid loading issues by using light box modal popups to place videos on a page. This can help when you are using a player that does not have auto load control or when you are putting a lot of videos on one page and you want to keep them from loading all at once without worrying about auto load issues.

Don't worry so much about embedding... just focus on getting the bit rate, codec, buffer settings, and auto load issues right for best on page optimization.

For the most part though if all you are doing is putting one video on one page the main factors you want to focus on are encoding with the right bit rate and best codecs and using a player that gives you buffer time control.

Originally Posted by sylviad

I see Josh agrees with you on this reply, but I'm afraid it doesn't help me much. Functionalities? What does that mean and how does it affect embedding?

And why the warning about Never Embedding to a web page? What are the risks, concerns? Josh?

Also...

I'm not sure what I might need to ask at this point, except to say that I don't understand how you join/connect Camstudio with Sony Vegas and those other recommended programs to get them to work together. It's like having Photoshop and a digital camera and no way to connect them.

I'm kind of at the same level as TelegramSam on this stuff.

Sylvia

[garovich]

Sylvia,

I'm just starting with videos myself, but here's what I can tell so far.

I think the main reason not to embed (at least with Flowplayer and maybe others) is because you can see exactly where the video is uploaded to on your site using the page source in your browser. Once people know that, then it may be possible for them to download the videos or if they also load Flowplayer on their site, then they can have your video show on their site and use your bandwidth.

I bought Josh's triggerplayers this morning and in my mind it's well worth the money because it eliminates the problems mentioned above.

Gary

[sylviad]

Thanks Josh,

I guess this phrase sounded like a warning:

Also those features only matter if you use camstudio to encode your videos and embed them which you should NEVER do for many reasons but here are the primary reasons...

In reading, it sounded like that "never" was all inclusive above using camstudio, so that part confused me.

But...you are absolutely correct! The second part of that quote does explain "primary reasons".

Sorry. I'm trying to do too many things at once here and that portion slipped right through my noggin'.

Thanks for the additional explanation.

Sylvia

[Roncham]

Thank you Josh!

Great information you gave out here.
I think CamStudio may be the only screen capture recorder that might run on this old RAM deprived laptop of mine.

Off to play with it now... crossing fingers

[sylviad]

I need to clarify something I said in an earlier post regarding FlowPlayer...

Also, people reading this should realize that the longtailvideo cannot be used to create commercial products - it says so in the agreement where you can download it, whereas FlowPlayer can be used commercially.

That was for the FREE version... so if you bought a license, you can use it for commercial needs.

Sorry for the misdirection.

Sylvia

[Stu Eaves]

One of my first ever products was marketed with a video I made using CamStudio (the early version without all the features it has now). That video alone sold over $30,000 worth of that product for me, so I can tell you that CamStudio IS FINE!

I think it's more about the content of the video your producing. Use whatever you can afford and get to grips with.

[Josh Anderson]

Also those features only matter if you use camstudio to encode your videos and embed them which you should NEVER do for many reasons but here are the primary reasons...

Ah...

That meant never use Camstudio to encode the video to flash and never use Camstudio players to embed the video.

Instead always save it as an avi and encode it with professional encoding software and embed it with a professional quality video player like my own players or one of the many we have discussed here.

[DomiS]

If you want to record simple videos without all fancy effects download Camstudio. It's easy to use and it's great for learning. Later, when you become familiar with all what involved in on-screen video recording you can try Camtasia and see if it would help you to improve your productivity.

[Popstar]

Josh,

If you're still reading this thread, I've tried your Camstudio settings to record a screen capture. But here's the problem...

If I only record for a few minutes, the .avi file saves and replays well.

But if I record for close to an hour, I get an error message when I stop recording and save the file. The message says "unable to open video file" and then ".avi was not found." And the file is gone.

Any ideas as to what's wrong? I have a Vista 64-bit Ultimate PC with 8 GB RAM and about 640 GB free space remaining on the hard drive. So space shouldn't be a problem... unless it has something to do with virtual memory or something like that.

Also, I'm using the Microsoft Video 1 compressor. I searched for the MSU Screen Capture Lossless Codec v1.2, but could only find a download from a .ru site and wasn't sure that was safe.

Thanks in advance,
Debbie

[Keith Gilbert]

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

No its not.

Its the exact same screen capture features as camstudio.

Please understand that I think Dave did a great job resolving the two major flaws in the software as well as making it more appealing to use... but since then the opensource project at Camstudio.org has released those same two improvements in the free open source version.

Hey, give credit where credit is due!

That was me that released CamStudioIM that resolved the 2 major flaws of CamStudio.

Dave Guindon and the CamStudio project itself then took the source code (under GPL, of course) and released their own versions.

Just wanted to set that straight

[Rolliesworld]

OK, I need some help with the setup:

I followed the advice in the above mentioned Youtube video for the best compressor to be used and so I downloaded DivX Codec, as it did not appear in the list of available compressors in my version of CamStudio. After installation it appeared as "DivX 6.8.5 Codec (2 Logical CPUs)" in the list of available compressors, but when I start recording in AVI mode, an error message pops up saying "Error recording AVI file using current compressor. Use default compressor?" (that would be Microsoft Video 1). When I switch to SWF mode before recording, this error message does not come up.

So should I be recording in SWF? It seems to record in AVI in the background first (is that true?) as it then converts the recording to SWF - which takes forever, like a few minutes for a one-minute trial recording (full screen). I used the same settings as suggested in that YouTube video.

I am wanting to record online video tuitions (that I have subscribed to) for offline viewing, therefore I need CamStudio to also record the audio but this seems to pose another problem I don't know how to get this to work.

Any advice appreciated!

[zoomapoint]

Camtasia has become very robust in its capturing capibilty, the only real issue with the software is making sure you capture the video at the same size as you want it published, either wise, you will lose resolution.

[Instructor]

Originally Posted by Popstar

Josh,

If you're still reading this thread, I've tried your Camstudio settings to record a screen capture. But here's the problem...

If I only record for a few minutes, the .avi file saves and replays well.

But if I record for close to an hour, I get an error message when I stop recording and save the file. The message says "unable to open video file" and then ".avi was not found." And the file is gone.

Any ideas as to what's wrong? I have a Vista 64-bit Ultimate PC with 8 GB RAM and about 640 GB free space remaining on the hard drive. So space shouldn't be a problem... unless it has something to do with virtual memory or something like that.

Also, I'm using the Microsoft Video 1 compressor. I searched for the MSU Screen Capture Lossless Codec v1.2, but could only find a download from a .ru site and wasn't sure that was safe.

Thanks in advance,
Debbie

Did you ever figure this out?

[Catalin Ionescu]

I recall a while ago there was an issue on Windows with AVI files bigger than 2Gb. Perhaps this is something you may wish to look into and if possible split the AVI into smaller files...

Sincerely,
Catalin Ionescu

[CashBomb]

Camtasia Studio and Dragon Naturally Speaking are the two most important tools I have! Camtasia gives you a ton of editing, transition, overdubbing, and formatting tools that will enable you to create pro quality videos for everything from blog posts & youtube to full on DVD's.

It is one of the only reasons I have not gone 100% linux!

[Hyaku_Man]

I spent hours trying to install Camstudio and get it working on Vista and eventually gave up and got Camtasia, and it worked perfectly right off the bat.

[Popstar]

Originally Posted by Instructor

Did you ever figure this out?

Yes, I did.

I tried lots of things, but the only one that worked for me was to download and install the free DivX 6.8.5 Codec (4 Logical CPUs) from

http://www.divx.com/en/products/software/windows/divx

I believe DivX 7 is available now, but I haven't updated mine yet.

After installing the codec on my PC, I went to the Options menu in Camstudio, clicked Video Options, and selected the Divx 6.8.5 Codec as the compressor. I set the rest of the options under Video as Josh suggested in the tutorial he posted earlier on this thread.

The one tricky thing about this codec is the size of the recording. At first, I was having problems because I was using a recording region that was too big for the free codec. So here are the options I eventually settled on.

Under Video Options with the DivX 6.8.5 codec chosen, click Configure and then the Main tab.

Under the Main tab, you'll see Certification Profile. When I choose Home Theater Profile, I set the region as 640 (width) x 480 (height). In Camstudio, you do this under the Region menu. Click Fixed Region and type in 640 width and 480 height. I also check Drag Corners to Pan.

But if you want a bigger region, then go back to the Main tab I mentioned above. Under Certification Profile, choose 720HD Profile. I also changed the bitrate to 1000 kbps, although I don't remember why. (You can probably leave the bitrate at the 3000 kbps default.) Obviously, you press OK to change the setting.

Then go back to Fixed Region and change to 800 width and 600 height. I believe I was able to record at 1000x750, too, although I liked 800x600 better. The description under Certification Profile says it can support resolutions up to 1280x720.

I'm not an expert by any means. So play with it and see what works for you. This is what worked for me with the video playback.

I had one other problem and that was with the Audio settings. Under the Options menu, I checked "Record audio from microphone."

Then under Audio Options-Audio Options for Microphone, I chose "What U Hear" as the Audio Capture Device. I had to update the drivers for my Creative SB X-Fi soundcard to get that option. Otherwise, the sound wouldn't record for me. (The "Record audio from speakers" option didn't work for me.)

Debbie

[Sancho Sanches]

I say Camtasia. It allows me to do more of what I need/like to do. But until you're making money you shouldn't spend money on it. Find the lower cost or free ways.

But if Camtasia is something you don't need then there's no point. Just use something like Camstudio.

[AceHazel]

I personally like Camstasia though haven't tried Camstudio. Jing is good for 5-minute video.

[Adeel_Chowdhry]

CAMTASIA if you want a quality production.

Adeel

[Lance K]

Originally Posted by jthomas011

Problem- Sony vegas 9 does not function with 64 bit according to the other video forums.

I found camtasia studio 5 for $60. at site durahamtownship.c/o/m

I'm running Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8.0 on a 64 bit Vista machine. Not sure why Vegas 9 wouldn't be compatible. Have you contacted Sony's customer support?

[sdcast]

i'm interested in camstudio, too.

i finally found a camstudio support forum

CamStudio Support Forum - All Discussions



sdcast

[cconlan]

Camtasia is definately my preference.

[freudianslip27]

Camstudio is definitely okay for people starting out, but as others have echoed here, Camtasia is the professional choice.

If you are looking seriously into this, then go with that. There is a 30 day trial too. But if you are just dabbing in video, camstudio is nice and you can't beat that price....free!

Matt

[KatyaSenina]

I downloaded Camstudio but my voice turned out very soft, couldn't barely understand myself and the quality wasn't great. It could have been my crappy mic or...the software? I don't know.

Does anyone know a proper way of using it? It wasn't a great success for me.

[Josh Anderson]

Originally Posted by KatyaSenina

I downloaded Camstudio but my voice turned out very soft, couldn't barely understand myself and the quality wasn't great. It could have been my crappy mic or...the software? I don't know.

Does anyone know a proper way of using it? It wasn't a great success for me.

That has nothing to do with the software.

Its your mic and input volume levels.

[Jeffery Baxter]

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

Are you talking about the quality of a video?

Watch my video (big link in post above) and have your mind changed

Obviously camtasia is a quality application that offers some great quality features that camstudio does not...

But when it comes to the feature of screen capture of video and the quality of the actual captured video they are identical.

----

Here is a winning formula that will cost less and provide you many more features and abilities than camtasia:

Camstudio.org - Free
FlowPlayer or Longtailvideo Player - Free
Flix 8 Standard - $39
Sony Vegas Movie Studio - $55

Total cost = $99

You will have more and better features than Camtasia which costs $300.

Or you could just spend $300 on camtasia and have less features and less options ;-)

Dude you just saved me about 200 bucks! I always knew there was a combination that could come out cheaper! Great instructions too

Jeff

[rashamba]

I had a tough time uploading a camstudio video to youtube. It was completely frustrating and I had to buy Camtasia.

[garovich]

Originally Posted by rashamba

I had a tough time uploading a camstudio video to youtube. It was completely frustrating and I had to buy Camtasia.

Import your camstudio video into windows movie maker and then publish it and it will save it as a wmv file. The files are a lot smaller this way and they upload fast to youtube..

[paulie888]

If you're just starting out, I think camstudio will work just fine. You're not a power user who needs all the sophisticated bells and whistles that camtasia has, at least not just yet. Jing project is even easier (I think), though the free version is limited to recording 5 minutes or less of screen capture.