Vidoe Software? Cam Studio Pro? Camtasia?

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

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.

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.

I thought Cam Studio was free???

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.

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.

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

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?

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

Ok thanks I will contact On2

Camtasia rules. It keeps getting better and better.

Don't waste your time with anything else.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.