Camtasia Question: SOLVED

[Ashish Moon]

I recorded a screencapture for the first time with FULL screen for 30 seconds, and produced the flash video from the captured camrec file to get a final file size of around 1 MB.

I recorded agian for 25 seconds with smaller capture area and the file size shot to 3 MB.

The next day, I made another screencapture for 30 seconds with FULL screen and I got the flash file of about 9 MB.

Now all the additional videos I produced are in the range of 9 to 15 MB
The screens captured are similar in graphic quality and other conditions are almost same.

Why does the file size go on increasing for the same quality of capture?
Has anyone faced this problem? I have googled for the info but in vain.
Is there any trick or tip to produce highest quality captures with low file size?
Please help.

[David_Thompson]

What else are you doing in your videos that you didn't
do in the first one?

If you are adding callouts and other stuff that also
makes your filesize go up...

I'm not a 100% sure it's just an obs form all the
videos I've been creating lately...

--David

[Ashish Moon]

I am breaking my head over the same question...I just dont seem to find anything different in my approach.

It may help you to know that I have a set of minisite graphics suitable for membership sites and I wish to show them to prospective clients over the net. For fear of getting robbed even before they are sold off once, I am capturing the sales page and inside pages over the screen and preseting the preview to the clients so that tehy get a full idea of the quality of graphics.

The graphic file sizes and the html files sizes etc. too are all similar, so there is no reason to say that the captured input file sizes are the reason.

[David_Thompson]

Originally Posted by Ashish Moon

I am breaking my head over the same question...I just dont seem to find anything different in my approach.

It may help you to know that I have a set of minisite graphics suitable for membership sites and I wish to show them to prospective clients over the net. For fear of getting robbed even before they are sold off once, I am capturing the sales page and inside pages over the screen and preseting the preview to the clients so that tehy get a full idea of the quality of graphics.

The graphic file sizes and the html files sizes etc. too are all similar, so there is no reason to say that the captured input file sizes are the reason.

It has nothing to do with the graphics or html or what ever you are doing
if you have done something different than when you did the first video
then camtasia adds more if your are scrolling camtasia adds more to the
filesize you get what i mean.

While capturing if you do all the things like scrolling on a page, writing
with the catasia pens or while editing the size gets bigger, plus if you
add audio to that as well the filesize increases.

--David

[Ashish Moon]

Thanks for the inputs David... but I am not doing anything different like more scrolling (wrt the low file size ) or writing with pen. I am not even editing. It is just a simple screen capture for 30 seconds.
I am simply dazed.

[David_Thompson]

bro that is weird man sorry to hear that...

--David

[thomasukm]

Assuming everything else remain the same, and changing to a small screen capture size should drive down the size of file size, and that's what camtasia recommend to do also, since some of the people are still using small monitor esp laptop.

The best place to have your question answer is still back to techsmith.

By the way, recently i wrote a post about learning camtasia (not sure whether i can post the link here, anyway is on my blog at my sig, 2nd page), do you know that they have a bunch of camtasia learning video on their site that is available for free, and they are really good?

Thomas

[Hendry Lee]

If you record with standard quality, for long video, audio is going to take more space than video, especially if there is a little of screen changes. That's how the compression technology compress stuff.

And if you are sure you don't do anything differently, chances are it is your preset.

Which version of Camtasia do you use? I use 4, 5, 6 without any problem as yours.

[Adam Kenzington]

Hey man,

I think you will get a better answer here:

TechSmith User-to-User Forums

That's the Camtasia Forum. They are more product specific then we are, here.

[Robert Plank]

Ashish,

I always capture Camtasia in full screen, but I resize down to 640x480.

Cuts the filesize way down and when people view your video on a DVD, or even on a blog, any text looks microscopic on a larger resolution.

Also set the framerate to 1, I used to experiment with 15 fps or 7 fps but with screen capture, you get just about the same thing with 1 fps and the file size is WAY smaller. (Picked up on that trick after realizing most webinar software only transmits 1 fps...)

[Ashish Moon]

Thomas,
“Assuming everything else remain the same, and changing to a small screen capture size should drive down the size of file size, and that's what camtasia recommend to do also, since some of the people are still using small monitor esp laptop”
That is what surprises me. I have changed the capture size to smaller screen but still the file size in nowhere close to what I go the first time. (I still have the FULL screen 1st video with just 1.1 MB size. All other videos I am trying now are around10 MB (10 times! The first video size), and smaller size captures are about 5 MB)

“The best place to have your question answer is still back to techsmith.”
Will check with Techsmith now.

”By the way, recently i wrote a post about learning camtasia (not sure whether i can post the link here, anyway is on my blog at my sig, 2nd page), do you know that they have a bunch of camtasia learning video on their site that is available for free, and they are really good?”
I have checked and rechecked the videos and help files at Techsmith, but I am not getting the solution. Will check your blog too.

Thanks for your support.

[Ashish Moon]

Hendry,


If you record with standard quality, for long video, audio is going to take more space than video, especially if there is a little of screen changes. That's how the compression technology compress stuff.

Agree. But that is not the problem I face.

And if you are sure you don't do anything differently, chances are it is your preset.
Which version of Camtasia do you use? I use 4, 5, 6 without any problem as yours.

It is just 3 days back I have begun using Camtasia (version 3, the one that was given for free by Techsmith few months back)
I am not doing anything different. How does one look into presets?

Thanks for your support.

[Ashish Moon]

Adam
I did check the forum earlier, but just looked around for the solution. Will put up the question there now.
Thanks.

[Ashish Moon]

Robert,

I always capture Camtasia in full screen, but I resize down to 640x480.
Cuts the filesize way down and when people view your video on a DVD, or even on a blog, any text looks microscopic on a larger resolution.

I wish I could do that, but the whole vid is about showing the quality of graphics, and hence resizing is not an option for me.

Also set the framerate to 1, I used to experiment with 15 fps or 7 fps but with screen capture, you get just about the same thing with 1 fps and the file size is WAY smaller. (Picked up on that trick after realizing most webinar software only transmits 1 fps...)

Have not yet played with the frame rate, although I compared it for the video with high file size with the one of smaller file size, and it is same i.e. 15 fps. Will now try your suggestion of altering the same and report back. I hope that works.

Thanks for your support.

[Ashish Moon]

Robert
Reducing the framerate to 1 has reduced the file size to 2MB (against previous around 10MB), so in a way, it is a solution. But the reduced framerate makes the video look like jumping from one step to another - this is still acceptable because it does not scarifice the quality of the graphics.
Thanks for the guidance :-)

[Ashish Moon]

Hey Guys, I have achieved what I wanted to!
Basically, I experimented with flash files types when producing the videos, and changing from .swf format to .flv format brought down the file size like a meteor!
Now my 30 sec capture for 13MB .camrec file is slim and trim at less than 1 MB for the flash file (these were going as high as 30 MB earlier).
Thank you everyone who pitched in to help me. Hurrey!

[Josh Anderson]

There are only a couple things that effect file size:

1. Video file type format
2. Codec used to encode
3. Bit rate of the audio and video in the video itself (smaller bit rate means smaller file size).
4. Mono audio is smaller file than stereo.
5. Frame rate (less frames reduces file size).
6. dimensions (cropping or reducing dimensions reduces file size)
7. Length of video.
8. Complexity and number of layers... more effects and layers makes for larger files.

There are even less things that effect how fast a video plays:

1. Combined total of video and audio bit rate
2. Bit rate of visitors internet connection
3. Buffer time setting in player or embed

Size has no impact at all in how fast a video plays unless you are using a buffer setting of 100%