Video Capture for App Demos

General (non-technical) Off-Topic
#1

I’m going to want to capture the screen of the Corona simulator so I can use that to post demo videos on YouTube, and also show progress to others working on our projects. I know that QuickTime now lets you do full-screen captures, but what I want is to just capture the window of the simulator and do it at a full 30fps, with the option to also capture system sound and/or microphone sound for narration.

I know there are a lot of them out there. The free ones I’ve tried can’t keep up with the framerate. I’m willing to pay for one, but wanted to know which apps people are using and are happy with. For example, iShowU HD, Screenflow, SnapZ Pro X, Screenflick… any others? I saw this overview but it really didn’t do a lot to weigh the pros/cons of each:

http://www.squidoo.com/macscreenrecorder

Thanks! [import]uid: 9905 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 304058[/import]

#2

I use ScreenFlow for all my needs.

C. [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12476[/import]

#3

I’m using jing [import]uid: 7911 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12480[/import]

#4

Thanks Carlos… I’ll check it out.

jstrahan, I tried it with the free version of jing and found it couldn’t keep up with the frame rate of my app… so dissolves or moves were jerky. Are you seeing that? It could be my MacBook Pro is underpowered for that jing, since the paid versions of other apps had no problem keeping up.

I tried a demo version of Screenium which lets you record 30 second snippets without displaying any sort of watermark. That worked for the quick demo I was putting together.
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#5

I’m using the paid version here a video I did last night see what you think and when I get home I’ll compare it to the simulator and let you know what I think

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?xl=xl_blazer&v=glpgffqiVb0 [import]uid: 7911 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12492[/import]

#6

jstrahan - can you double-check the URL you posted? I’m not getting anything (maybe it’s a private video?). [import]uid: 9905 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12494[/import]

#7

i was posting from phone must have copied wrong link heres the right one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glpgffqiVb0 [import]uid: 7911 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12496[/import]

#8

just compared and it does look as if its not recording every frame most likely to keep file size small but i did not see any settings to change this
ill check now to see if the original recording jumps frames or if iMovie cut some during the processing for youtube [import]uid: 7911 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12497[/import]

#9

Yes, I see it’s not smooth…

In testing the different screen capture programs, all of the free ones seemed to drop frames… even the ones where you can set frame rate to 30fps, they just weren’t able to keep up. I think it’s pretty critical to make sure you’re showing all frames or it looks choppy. Especially in contrast to your special effects and text overlays which are clearly rendered at the full frame rate… [import]uid: 9905 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12498[/import]

#10

looks like iMovie may have made video a little more jumpy then the original although the original doesnt look as good as the simulator but as it is right now the game is moving at a high rate of speed ill most likely slow it down in the final product [import]uid: 7911 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12499[/import]

#11

I got an app with the last MacHeist bundle I purchased. It is called Screenium. It is similar to ScreenFlow but allows for capturing a window rather than the whole screen (as in screenflow) On Windows I used to love Wink, but it got ported onto Linux, not the Mac OS X.

Screenium allows you to overlay the camera image on the screen capture. I guess it does not show Keystrokes like ScreenFlow. But shows mouse clicks quite well.

Cheers,

Jayant C Varma [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12547[/import]

#12

Thanks Jayant! [import]uid: 9905 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12849[/import]

#13

I bought SnapZ Pro X a long time ago. I like it, very useful. My only grief is that when I’m saving what I just recorded, and it’s encoding, I can’t record anything else until it’s finished. I also can’t just pause the recording and continue later. I don’t know if that’s common among all programs. Besides that, I like it a lot. Optonally tracks the mouse, records audio or microphone, and you can set the frame rate. [import]uid: 11024 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12851[/import]

#14

SnapZ Pro X is like the Model-T of screen recorders. Really cool to look at as an antique, but really lacking compared to current models. :slight_smile:

I used SnapZ for a while but things like the encoding taking long enough for me to take a nap or three drove me completely bonkers. I do a LOT of screen recording (dozens and possibly hundreds of hours per year) and you can’t imagine how productive a *decent* screen recorder can make you until you’ve played with one.

ScreenFlow is the only one I actually recommend at this point although I’m pretty sure I’ve played with all of them at one time or another.

As far as dropping frames goes, that may have as much (or more) to do with the encoding as the recording, so when you go to actually export to a viewable video, you’ll want to play around with those settings.

Jay [import]uid: 9440 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12853[/import]

#15

Thanks finnk and Jay… I think some of the free ones try to do their encoding on the fly, and that’s why they’re having a hard time keeping a steady 30fps. The better ones all record in an internal format (raw?) and do their encoding afterwards.

Some more good overview articles:

http://macapper.com/2008/12/18/screen-capturing-face-off/ – high scores to Screenium (partially based on its low price), iShowU and ScreenFlow.

http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/utilities-roundups/10-screen-recording-tools-for-mac/

It’s also clear that which one you choose depends on your application. ScreenFlow seems best if you’re doing LOTS of training screen captures. Screenium might be best if you don’t use it as frequently and don’t want to spend $99 on ScreenFlow… [import]uid: 9905 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12872[/import]

#16

I’d also recommend ScreenFlow. I tried half a dozen screen capture tools and almost all of them are… well, just crap (I really don’t know why there are so many crappy capture tools available on the Mac while there are tons of high quality tools available for Windows machines).

However, ScreenFlow was the only one that did the job (without crashing or lacking any fundamental features). On my Mac, it does not remember the export settings though, so I have to set them again each single time I export a video, but hey… it’s not Windows, so you can’t have everything… :wink:
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#17

Can screenflow record a specific area of the screen? I might consider jumping on board if it has this feature. [import]uid: 11024 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12884[/import]

#18

“Can screenflow record a specific area of the screen? I might consider jumping on board if it has this feature.”

No it can’t, and when I first tried ScreenFlow that was my BIGGEST complaint about it and I wondered how they could be so stupid not to allow that. I was coming from Camtasia Studio (Windows), which I loved, and that’s how that worked.

Now, some time down the road, I’ve flop-flopped and would never use a screen recorder that didn’t record the whole screen. Unless you’re doing a one-use very short video, it doesn’t make sense (in those cases, such as to answer a specific tech support question for someone, sometimes I use the free version of Jing).

So many times during a recording something happens just outside the recording area and you have to spend time dragging the window slightly to record it, pull a dialog back into the recording frame, etc.

With ScreenFlow you just record – and when you’re done, either pull the edges of the edit window in to crop down to what you want, or flick your mouse wheel up and zoom what you want to fill the window.

Jay
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#19

Jay, in my case, I think my primary use will be for grabbing demos of my apps from the Corona simulator screen. I don’t want a full screen recording since this isn’t going to be a training video. It’s a demo of the app. That’s one advantage to Screenium… it lets you select an area or an individual window. [import]uid: 9905 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12904[/import]

#20

“Can screenflow record a specific area of the screen?”

Yes, it can -but with a workaround. Simply grab the whole screen. When you finished recording, ScreenFlow switches to editing mode where you can use the cropping feature to show a desired area only. Only the cropped area will be exported then. [import]uid: 9644 topic_id: 4058 reply_id: 12919[/import]