Ask HN: What software do you use to make screencasts for you product?

[psaccounts]

What software do you use to make screencasts for your products? Are there any good tools on Windows or Mac that are available for free?

[josefresco]

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=289420

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37987

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=436523

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=133349

all found with http://searchyc.com

[tomsaffell]

I'm glad you asked - I've been wanting to compare notes with others on this for a while...

I use CamStudio. It's free, and easy to use. It doesnt have many bells or whistles, but I don't need it to. I get it to output a very high bitrate avi file. The real issue for me is how to then encode and stream the video. Here's what I tried, and where I'm at now:

1. Use the SWFProducer app that comes with CamStudio. It produces an SWF that is nice and small, but it doent not allow progressive streaming, which is a big no-no for me..

2. Use FFMpeg to convert the avi to an .flv file, and then use FlowPlayer to allow users to watch the video online. Works, but .flv isnt great quality for the file size.

3. Use FFMpeg to convert the avi to an H.264 .mp4 file. Then either use FlowPlayer to allow users to watch the video online, or post as an .mp4 and allow users watch it using QuickTime plug-in. It Works, but it doesn't allow progressive streaming, which is a big no-no again...

4. (What I'm using today). Use FFMPEG to convert the avi to an H.264 encoded .f4v file (the new flash video standard). Use FlowPlayer to allow the user to watch it online. Allows progressive streaming and is decent quality.

5. (What I want to get to one day..) Encode using a codec designed specifically for screen-casting. I tried the 'Flash Screen Video' codec in FFMPEG and it produced a very nice quality file, but the size was ~2.5x the .f4v file, so I decided not to go with it. I'm hoping there is a better codec out there somewhere...

Using (4) my video is: 650x620 pixels 24 fps ~700 kbps (includes a 320x240 video - so a screen casting codec may not do the trick anyway - maybe I need a hybrid?)

Looking forward to learning about what others are doing.

[bprater]

Over at the peepcode, they have a nice video for explaining this: http://peepcode.com/products/screencasting-on-the-mac. Not free, but very good.

[jaskew]

http://freescreencast.com

disclaimer: I made it.

But seriously, I do use it constantly.

[kungfooey]

I recommend Wink. It works in Windows and Linux and creates it in a Flash file you can embed on your site with notes, etc.

[SingAlong]

I noticed a handful of sites having thir screencasts done by http://demogirl.com

I had this problems of converting my screencasts sometime ago Most tools I found were either trial or were putting a big moronic "limited version" text in the center of the screen apart from limiting but found a good and free converter called "Super" (it's for Windows and uses ffmpeg).

Download super here: http://www.erightsoft.com/S6Kg1.html

Just browse and move to the bottom of that page and find the text "Download SUPER". That page should also serve as a guide to how to use Super although you'll figure it out yourself.

The direct download link: http://www.erightsoft.info/GetFile.php?SUPERsetup.exe

But there seems to be bug with converting .rm files. The last time I tried an rm file it popped errors.

P.S-- Their dirty website design might give you an impression that the software is really dumb. But actually it's really cool and powerful with a nice pretty good UI and plenty of options (it uses ffmpeg in the background). I waded thru the pages to give the exact download link.

[jraines]

Camtasia Studio kicks the crap out of all the free products I've tried (Wink, CamStudio, some builtin Windows Media thing).

It's easy and produces small, high-quality output files in just about any format you desire.

I plan on trying some of the ones mentioned here, though. Anyone know of a good one for Ubuntu?

[PStamatiou]

screenflow for OSX is fantastic.

[callmeed]

I second that. I've tried a ton of them for both Mac and PC. ScreenFlow is hands-down the best.

In fact, I'd even put it in the top 3 best apps I bought last year.

[amjith]

A setup for screencast definitely goes beyond a screen capture utility. You need a way of capturing and displaying keystrokes without interfering with the application you are trying to demo. Does anyone have any recommendations? What about adding text to the video at certain locations, like annotations?

edit: What about video sharing services, which ones are good at rendering text? I know that youtube does a poor job, but what other services are better?

[tomsaffell]

> edit: What about video sharing services, which ones are good at rendering text? I know that youtube does a poor job, but what other services are better?

I decided that I didn't want the hassle of not knowing how a 3rd party video streaming service (e.g. YouTube) might alter the quality. So I use FlowPlayer (an OS flash video player) and hosted the video file (.f4v) and the flash .swf on my webserver. It works fine, so long as you have BW..

[critic]

Windows Media Encoder, then upload wmv to blip.tv, who convert it to flash and host it (Got this idea from the Clojure guy)

Not sure why the other Windows Media Encoder user got downmodded. Perhaps it would be more useful to explain why you think your approach is better (other than your hate of Bill Gates)?

[thorax]

I've been using Jing for a while now.

http://jingproject.com

[SingAlong]

Hey thanks for that! Cool tip! (and also love the fact that its free)

But sounds ridiculous to me. TechSmith also has Camtasia Studio which is a paid software that does the same job.

[phil_KartMe]

i'm using jing by techmsmith too. in addition to allowing you to create and save screencasts, -it hosts shared images and videos, providing unique urls -you can write write on screengrabs

its a freemium, but i have yet to need the -mium.

[matthall28]

Ya i use Jing to, works pretty well

[Hoff]

Apple's Podcast Capture is a potential option here.

It's part of Mac OS X client, and connects with Podcast Producer running on Mac OS X Server.

Which means it's either free or (if you don't have a Mac OS X Server box around) it's not free.

[AndrewWarner]

If you check out myself you can see that I do much more than screencasts with CamStudio. I use it as a full video editing program. (mixergy.com) Email me if you want direct questions answers about video (mail at awarner.com).

[andrewhyde]

http://www.synium.de/products/screenium/index.html is what I use.

[davidw]

I'm holding out hope that those horrid things are just a passing fad. I can't stand them:-/

[ucdaz]

I find that screentoaster.com is pretty straight forward and NO INSTALL required.

[braindead_in]

i used Windows Media Encoder 9, converted it to wmv and then used ffmpeg to create an flv.