Screencast Like a Pro

From expensive and feature-rich software to free online tools, screen capture has come a long way in the past few years. In January's Product Pipeline, we examined how the free tools stacked up against one another; in this issue, we'll cover some of the for-fee screen capture solutions. For the online-only reviews of Screenflow and iShowU for Mac OS X, see below.

What should libraries look for in a screen capture tool? Each library will have different needs and uses, but here are the major areas (for ratings given in the following categories, score is out of five possible stars, with five being best):

Usability: One of the most important features for a newbie to any technology tool, usability makes a big impact in working with screen-capture software. The most feature-rich tools tend to be difficult to learn or even navigate, giving the novice far too many options and overwhelming displays.

Flexibility: What kind of options does the tool have for recording and editing? Flexibility might not matter much for libraries needing a very simple recording, but it distinguishes the tools clearly.

Audio: Many of the tools vary in offering multiple compression formats or options for recording and compressing at different quality levels. In addition, the ability to upload audio or record system audio varies significantly across the tools.

Video: Many tools also let users select from a variety of video codecs (software that encodes and decodes digital video data). How the video is compressed greatly affects video quality and size, as does postproduction scaling.

Jing Pro by TechSmith

Jing offers a free version (reviewed in the January 2009 netConnect) as well as an inexpensive screen-capture solution. Jing Pro adds a few features, including the ability to create MPEG-4/H.264 formatted videos, a button that allows direct uploading to YouTube, better video compression for much smaller video size (particularly in SWF format), and, best of all, the removal of Jing branding.

For libraries: Jing Pro's lack of branding means no more worrying about advertising a product when creating a screencast. Jing Pro still restricts screen capture to five minutes maximum, however, and does not allow for postrecording editing, so practice will be necessary to perfect screencasts. The easy uploading to YouTube, rather than just to Screencast.com, makes it easier to share videos, though they take a few minutes to render. Because it is subscription-based, it may not be appropriate for patron computers, but the free Jing version is an excellent alternative.

HyperCam 2 by Hyperionics

HyperCam 2 is easy to use, primarily because there aren't many options available. It can only export in one format, AVI, and neither audio nor video can be edited postrecording. The capture area can be a customizable region (up to full screen) or a window. By default, HyperCam 2 will only record one window, but this can be adjusted in the preferences. The default capture and playback rate is ten frames per second, producing fairly high-quality video.

Default audio capture is 8 bit, 11.025 kHz, but can be increased. For the test video, this was increased to 16 bit, 22.05 kHz. The final AVI file for a 4:59 video was 20.7 MB. Available compressors include TechSmith Screen Capture, XviD MPEG-4, ffdshow, and others, with the default set to autoselect, helpful for users who may not know what tool best suits their production. The finished AVI file renders almost instantly upon completing a recording.

HyperCam 2 has several additional useful features. For instance, users can choose to leave off the cursor or add a starburst effect (with customizable size and color for both right and left click) or sound (with scalable volume) to mouse clicks. As with CamStudio (see Product Pipeline, LJ 1/09, p. S13), it's possible to precreate annotations, but with HyperCam 2, users can also pause their recording to make on-the-fly annotations. Another handy option removes the blinking effect from the capture area while recording.

For libraries: Though HyperCam is cheap, it may still be too costly for libraries just needing a quick-and-easy screen-capture tool. It's relatively easy to use, even for the uninitiated, but doesn't have video or audio editing, as you'd expect with a paid tool.

Adobe Captivate 4

Adobe's recently released Captivate 4 continues to deliver the high-quality video and interactive experience for which its predecessors are known. Captivate is more than just a screen capture tool; it is an e-learning platform designed to make online instruction easy and useful for both educators and learners. Because Captivate 4 is an Adobe product, its finished screencasts are produced in beautifully crisp, lossless Flash (SWF) format.

Quizzes are a major feature of Captivate. Though Camtasia (see below) also offers quizzes, Captivate really makes the quiz interactions the backbone of the product, not an add-on feature. It's possible to add multiple types of quiz questions like sequence (putting items in order), multiple choice, fill in, and more. When completing a quiz, students can get feedback instantly depending on how the quiz has been designed. Educators can create question pools from which quizzes can pull questions randomly to create on-the-fly tests, as well as collect, manage, and publish quiz results. SCORM/AICC compliance means that Captivate-created screencasts and quizzes can be integrated easily into learning management systems (LMS).

As a screen-capture stand-alone, Captivate is not as user-friendly as other options. Editing is done to the Adobe Captivate project file, which splits the recording into arbitrary “slides.” The slides are sections of the captured audio and video broken into chunks slightly under a minute in length. Each slide must be edited individually instead of along a time line as Camtasia allows.

Though some basic flexibility is available, like changing the video-capture size and adding effects to highlight the mouse and clicks, Captivate will only export to one file type, SWF. Though file size is minimal for these videos (a 3:11 SWF file was 3.2 MB, including the addition of captions, interactivity, and a quiz), the SWF format is what limits the length of capture. It renders very quickly, however—the same video took about ten seconds to render fully as an SWF file.

By default, Captivate compresses audio with MP3 compression at 96 kbps, 44.10 khz. The audio is nice and loud, though in every capture tested using a built-in microphone, it had a lot of background static. Audio can be recorded and added post–screen capture, or added to a project by importing existing audio in WAV or MP3 formats. One extremely nice feature is the ability to normalize the sound across all “slides” so that audio recorded at different times will sound similar.

For libraries: Academic libraries with extensive info literacy programs, or those offering embedded librarian services for courses may appreciate the ability to create interactive tutorials with quizzes. Captivate 4 is too costly for most libraries, however, so it should not be used for basic screen capture and casting—it is only recommended for those libraries that would benefit from its superior quizzing capabilities.

Camtasia Studio 6

Of all available screen-capture tools, Camtasia is perhaps both the most well known and the best. It offers an extraordinary amount of flexibility and can be easily used by novices and experts alike.

Camtasia Studio is a full-featured product, allowing all of the standard options you would expect in a paid screen-capture program—custom capture size, adding video and audio postrecording, creating title clips and captions, recording web cam video for picture-in-picture view, mouse and click highlighting, etc. It also offers interactivity and SCORM-compliant quiz creation for highly customizable tutorials and allows users to import multiple types of audio and video files to add to the time line.

A standout feature of Camtasia is its audio editing capabilities. Camtasia will automatically even out audio levels and can automatically detect and remove noise. Finicky editors can select small portions of audio to delete or edit, either adjusting volume or removing the sound entirely. It's easy to get rid of those extraneous ums, coughing, or slip-ups. Default audio capture is 16-bit mono PCM at 22.050 kHz, but that can be changed to MPEG-3, WMA, or other options.

After a screen-capture session, Camtasia offers a number of preset size options when editing the recording to help the user create a perfect final product. Some options include web (640x480), iPod, blog (400x300), Screencast.com, YouTube, CD, DVD-ready, iPhone, HD, and custom sizes as well.

Camtasia also offers postrecording zoom and pan. The SmartFocus option homes in on key frames automatically when it senses mouse movement or typing. Key frames can also be added manually, and zooming and panning can be edited for size, speed, duration, and placement. Multiple forms of callout are also available, including highlighting, arrows, and blur callouts.

Producing a Camtasia video can be an easy process—just use the wizard to help suggest settings. Alternately, output can be highly customized for a number of video and audio formats, including MP4/SWF, WMV, .mov, AVI, m4v (iPod, iPhone), Real Media, and camv (Camtasia for Real Player streaming video). The default AVI output produces the highest quality video and audio output, because it uses the lossless TechSmith Screen Capture codec. Using this lossless codec produces an extremely large video file, however; a 4:35-minute-long video is 50 MB in AVI format, whereas the same video compressed using the MP4 video settings is only 8.4 MB.

For libraries: For libraries with a budget for screen capture software and using a Windows platform, Camtasia Studio 6 is the best option for creating highly customizable, high-quality screencasts.

iShowU by shinywhitebox

For Mac users, iShowU is an extremely easy to use and inexpensive, yet high quality screen capture tool. It comes with numerous preset capture options, including high definition options (1080p, 720p), presets for YouTube and Blip.tv (including full screen for Blip.tv), a World of Warcraft setting for in-game capture, PAL, NTSC, and more. Each preset is customizable based on a user’s specifications; a clearly laid out starting screen makes editing these presets a quick process.

 Though iShowU only offers one output option, a Quicktime .mov file, and does not offer post-recording audio or video editing, the capture and compression options available are impressive. The capture frame rate is flexible (between two and 40, with a default frame rate of 25), making it suitable for capturing even fast action. Capture size is likewise customizable from full screen to 1/8 of a screen; the default capture size is 640 by 400.  Recording the mouse is optional, and users can additionally select from three display options if highlighting mouse clicks is desired.

Audio can be captured from a microphone or from system audio using Soundflower, which comes with iShowU. By default, audio is compressed using the H.264 codec, but several other options are available as well. The audio and video quality will vary depending on the presets and options selected, but using the default “Medium” settings, the video was extremely sharp and produced good audio.

Better yet, rendering is nearly instantaneous. For a 3:44 long screen capture, file size was 16.9 MB, about average for the low cost tools, but excellent compared to other tools producing .mov files.

For libraries: iShowU is a good option for libraries with Macs, both for library staff use and library patrons. It’s easy to use, can capture high quality and even HD video, and has enough flexibility to be used for basic screen capture and saving footage of in-game exploits. Because iShowU only outputs into .mov files, it would be advantageous to have a Quicktime streaming server if many videos were being hosted, although the YouTube and Blip.tv presets make it easy to upload videos there.

Screenflow by Telestream (formerly Flip4Mac)

Screenflow has deservingly won much praise for capitalizing on the features of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Though it could be used to create a relatively straightforward screencast, Screenflow is really designed for creating highly creative and professional screencasts. Video and audio can be edited post-recording, and additional video and audio clips added to the Screenflow capture using drag and drop.

Though it is quite easy to create a very basic video in Screenflow, the impressive range of post-recording editing options can make creating a short video very complex—with equally complex and impressive results. Unlike every other screen capture tool, Screenflow will only record the entire screen, but also unlike every other screen capture tool, the capture size can be edited after the recording is completed, or just scaled. Starting with a full screen capture is what allows Screenflow to be so flexible.

Screenflow has several unique features. For instance, users can add mouse callouts that highlight where the mouse is. That’s a fairly standard feature, but what makes it special in Screenflow is the ability to decide a custom callout size by sliding a scale bar, use a custom background blur and callout feathering, and zoom in on the area within the callout. Mouse clicks can also be made more prominent using a radar screen effect.

System and microphone audio can be captured simultaneously, or an audio track can be recorded and  added to the timeline later. Though it is possible to edit audio (for example, lowering the volume or increasing the volume), it is not as user-friendly as Camtasia’s audio editing is. It could take considerable time to get audio, particularly audio recorded simultaneously with the screen capture, perfected. The audio captured from the in-computer microphone is superb, though, so less editing may be necessary than with other tools. By default, audio is captured in AAC stereo at 96 kbits/sec.

Screenflow captures at an extremely high frame rate, which makes image quality fantastic. When exporting a completed video, by default it will use H.264 encoding at 850 kbits/sec for high web quality (Screenflow produces a .mov file). If the final video size is too large, other output options are available (e.g. low web quality, PAL, NTSC, Lossless, iPhone, iPod) in the Export dialog—the frame rate can be changed for most codecs using the Customize option. Using the default options, a 3:28 long video with added zooming, callouts, and audio editing was 20.1 MB.

For libraries: Screenflow is cheap for the sheer number of features it offers, but it is a Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) product only. Because it can capture even high definition video with ease, not to mention in-gaming action,  it works well for every type of capture scenario, from demonstrating a library software tool to recording game exploits to demonstrating how to edit video. Though it is lauded as being simple to use, its wealth of features do make it rather complex for new users—however, for Leopard users with a budget and a flair for artistry, there is no better screen capture tool than Screenflow.