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Best Video Capture Software for Mac?

by MikeLyons
20 replies
I'm leaning toward Screenflow at the moment, just want to make sure before I make the commitment.
#capture #mac #software #video
  • Profile picture of the author Melody
    It depends on what you want to do - if you are converting articles or screencaptures to videos - you can use Keynote which is part of the iworks package - if you want to actually show your actions on the screen (more of a true video nature) then, Screenflow would be better.

    I haven't tried it yet, but I think Jing also has a mac version now - the pro version is $15 a year!

    Melody
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    I use iShowU from shinywhitebox. It's only $29 I believe. Once you get your screen capture stuff done you can dump it into iMovieHD and add special effects if you want. You need an Intel based Mac to run this stuff.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
      Screenflow is awesome.

      Kills iShowU and Jing put together.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
        Originally Posted by Kyle Tully View Post

        Screenflow is awesome.

        Kills iShowU and Jing put together.
        Yes, Agree with Kyle 100% - waiting for a quick vid I just made for Tiff to process on youtube and will be up in her thread on Tweetdeck. Please note, I made a couple of quick edits and got it made quicker than the processing. Yes, could have added a LOT more effects, but the purpose was to just get it done and show something quick.
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      • Profile picture of the author Marty S
        Originally Posted by Kyle Tully View Post

        Screenflow is awesome.
        Kills iShowU and Jing put together.
        I had a look at screenflow (trial) and couldn't figure out how to make the capture smaller than the complete monitor. Am I missing something? In iShowu the capture is flexible and easy to figure out.
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        • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
          Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

          I had a look at screenflow (trial) and couldn't figure out how to make the capture smaller than the complete monitor. Am I missing something? In iShowu the capture is flexible and easy to figure out.
          Not sure what you're saying. I made this a while back. Can zoom in where you want to although not seen here - what did you want to do?

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        • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
          Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

          I had a look at screenflow (trial) and couldn't figure out how to make the capture smaller than the complete monitor. Am I missing something? In iShowu the capture is flexible and easy to figure out.
          By default Screenflow will record the entire screen.

          Then if you only need a small section of the screen for your video, you simply "crop" the screen during editing. Takes all of 3 seconds.
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          • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
            Here's a video showing you how it's done:

            Telestream ScreenFlow - Demos

            Modifying the global crop
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            • Profile picture of the author Marty S
              Hmmm... I like how the video is saying you don't have to constrain yourself with screenflow in regards to the recording window - the idea being you edit it after.

              To me, I think that`s a little azz backwards, because if you wanted to record the full screen (video file size is much larger) then you should just be able to mark it as such before you record.

              Anyway, it looks good, but I think thats a glaring oversight though. Thanks you two.
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              • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
                Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

                Hmmm... I like how the video is saying you don't have to constrain yourself with screenflow in regards to the recording window - the idea being you edit it after.

                To me, I think that`s a little azz backwards, because if you wanted to record the full screen (video file size is much larger) then you should just be able to mark it as such before you record.

                Anyway, it looks good, but I think thats a glaring oversight though. Thanks you two.
                Actually, because Screenflow ONLY records areas of the screen that change, the file size of a full-screen recording is not very different from the cropped one.

                Full-screen recording really does come in handy, especially when you're recording "on the fly" and don't have everything planned out ahead.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marty S
    Okie. Will give it another go.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jay Jennings
    You can see a review I did last year on Screenflow where I talk about my thoughts concerning the "grab the whole screen at once" thing...

    ScreenFlow Tips

    Just scroll down to the first post to see the review.

    In a nutshell -- Screenflow made it possible for me to ditch my Windows machine.

    As far as some of the other recommendations made here, none of them come close to the power and ease-of-use of Screenflow. And a special mention about Snapz Pro X -- it sucks dead bunnies through hot exhaust pipes. Ambrosia had a shot at being the "Techsmith of Macintosh" but squandered their lead because they didn't see the market. Or, because that market doesn't fit in what they want to do, possibly.

    The biggest failing with Snapz Pro X is that it takes for-freaking-ever to render a video. And unless they've changed things, after you render if you don't like the results you can't choose a different codec and try again. For static screenshots I like it -- for video, I'd buy a Windows machine again and use Camtasia if Snapz Pro X was the only option.

    Feature for feature Camtasia beats Screenflow -- but I honestly don't *ever* miss Camtasia anymore.

    Jay Jennings

    PS - I still do some tutorial videos in Windows, but I run it in Parallels on my Mac -- and Screenflow records the Windows side of things just fine, too.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Jay Jennings View Post

      You can see a review I did last year on Screenflow where I talk about my thoughts concerning the "grab the whole screen at once" thing...

      ScreenFlow Tips

      Just scroll down to the first post to see the review.

      In a nutshell -- Screenflow made it possible for me to ditch my Windows machine.

      As far as some of the other recommendations made here, none of them come close to the power and ease-of-use of Screenflow. And a special mention about Snapz Pro X -- it sucks dead bunnies through hot exhaust pipes. Ambrosia had a shot at being the "Techsmith of Macintosh" but squandered their lead because they didn't see the market. Or, because that market doesn't fit in what they want to do, possibly.

      The biggest failing with Snapz Pro X is that it takes for-freaking-ever to render a video. And unless they've changed things, after you render if you don't like the results you can't choose a different codec and try again. For static screenshots I like it -- for video, I'd buy a Windows machine again and use Camtasia if Snapz Pro X was the only option.

      Feature for feature Camtasia beats Screenflow -- but I honestly don't *ever* miss Camtasia anymore.

      Jay Jennings

      PS - I still do some tutorial videos in Windows, but I run it in Parallels on my Mac -- and Screenflow records the Windows side of things just fine, too.
      Hasn't been my experience with SnapProX - I've been using it pretty-well every day for 3 years on Macs. It doesn't take forever to render and you can do it again if you don't like the Codec. I haven't tried Screenflow - I'll check it out now.
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  • Profile picture of the author blackhatzen
    I've tried just about every piece of screen capture software available for the Mac over the last 3 or 4 years and have begrudgingly been using iShowU HD for the last few months. I had a LOT of issues with that piece of software and it did not like to play nicely with Premiere Pro. I thought SnapzPro was pretty bad as well. Nothing I've used has come close to Camtasia.

    Thanks for the Screenflow recommendation!
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    • Profile picture of the author Scott Lundergan
      There are some great points in here. I really only use Screenflow, SnapzPro and Captivate from Adobe.

      I know people dog Snapz, but I use it for DIFFERENT purposes than everyone else in this thread. I use it because the animation codec matches my Screen Capture 2.0 video package in Final Cut Pro so when I master the project, all screen captures mixed with video are clear and don't come out grainy.

      I also use certain features in Snapz (auto drag with mouse) is a breeze to use for short demos and clips where I need to capture at 1:1 or something similar to it.

      With that said, Snapz is still very basic.

      For internet marketing demos, etc with zoom-ins and just editing the screen capture itself, then Screenflow is the way to go.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bus#6
        One more tip - Macvide ScreenCap - www macvide com.
        Captures the whole screen as well as the selected area.
        Outputs in various video and flash(!) formats.
        Costs around 30$.
        A trial is free
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        • Profile picture of the author mediadealer
          so i just recently bought a 2yr old macbook pro, and i spent a few hours digging and trying to figure out how to do screen capture on this bad boy.

          it's no where near as easy as camtasia where you just record, and then produce and upload...there's a few more steps involved..but the results are totally awesome!

          so here's my mini report/guide:

          how to do awesome screen capture videos on a mac for 1/2 the price of camtasia!

          what your going to learn:
          --exactly what software is needed, how much it costs, and where to get it
          --how to install and set it all up.
          --actually doing the screen capture, using screenflow
          --how to convert the .mov file into a .flv file for streaming using visualhub
          --how to use JW FLV player to actually stream your flv video.
          --how to skin your JV FLV player
          --how to add autostart, and redirect at the end of your videos.



          what your going to need to start:
          FREE ftp software: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...ties/cyberduck....
          FREE zip software: Apple - Downloads - System/Disk Utilities - Zipeg
          PAID: $99 screen capture software: screenflow: $99 Telestream ScreenFlow - Overview
          FREE video conversion (mov > flv): visualhub http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...visualhub.html
          PAID (ur supposed to pay but who'll find out): $35 flv player for your website: JW FLV player JW FLV Media Player | LongTail Video | Home of the JW Player
          FREE vlc player to play flv files on your mac: VLC media player for Mac OS X

          step 1.) install essential programs
          install ftp software
          insatll zip software

          step 2.) Install screen cap & conversion programs
          install screen flow
          install visualhub

          step 3.) do the video
          do the video...simply fire up screnflow and do whatever you want to record.
          use screen flow to crop, zoom in, pan, zoom out, and adjust the resolution of the video
          also use it for any call out/thought bubbles, etc.
          screen flow will save as a mov file.

          step 4.) convert the video
          convert your mov file from screenflow into a .flv file using visualhub.
          --this is easy, software is straight forward

          step 5.) publish online
          --download my special blend of the JW flv player from http://easytechvideos.com/jw-custom.zip (i added the tags for video size, auto start and redirect at the end)
          --create new folder on your computer and put the flv file and all these
          files in there.
          --configure the video: video size, skin, autostart? redirect?
          skins: AddOns | Skins | LongTail Video | Home of the JW Player
          then upload the whole directory to your server using your ftp program.

          then simply open that up in your browser and you should be golden.


          this is a first draft, and eventually i plan on turning this whole process into a video series...but for now I thought i'd share it here with you folks.

          leme know what you think.
          --corey
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Walker
    Screenflow is cool, and I'm really starting to really dig it. But I created PLF 2.0 with iShowU... it's hard to not to have a warm spot in your heart when you use a tool to make many millions of dollars.

    - Jeff
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