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Camtasia Screen Capture and Video Editor software review.
A disclaimer to my review. I was provided a NFR license from www.Techsmith.com for Camtasia.
I’ve been in the IT field since 1997, which none of them I’ve seemed to be talented enough to create videos. Some people are blessed with a creative gene, I wasn’t one of them. I recently started a new “Microsite” dedicated to Microsoft SMTP Service http://www.smtp.ws . I wanted to provide a section to have videos showing how to do basic configuration. A video is worth 10,000 words (still pictures is worth just 1000 words)
Enter Camtasia, it’s been one of the tools I was aware that performs screen captures. I’ve dabbled with prior versions, but never really created anything. One of the most common questions I’ve seen posted is “How do I install, configure a Windows Server running IIS and SMTP Service so applications can send email” For a basic SMTP Server, Microsoft’s SMTP Service provides enough functionality for most things.
The adventure began, I downloaded, installed Camtasia. The 7.1 version was quick on my laptop, which I was pleasantly surprised. The laptop I’m using is a Dell Inspiron 1500, dual processor, 2 GB of RAM running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I wasn’t sure the laptop had enough resources, but no issues came up. I capture my videos while using RPD to my servers.
My first video showing how to install, configure Microsoft SMTP Service literally took less than 30 minutes to capture, edit and publish to YouTube (http://www.youtube.com). I wasn’t aware a person could publish videos to YouTube. (Don’t laugh too hard, my son uses YouTube all the time). Camtasia has the ability to publish to YouTube or Screencast. I ended up doing three videos: 1) HD version 2) An AVI format 3) Regular format. After some testing, the HD version was used on YouTube.
One of the coolest features of Camtasia is how to edit videos. Techsmith has made it real easy. During my first couple of captures, there was some unnecessary footage I wanted to remove. There is an option within the editor to review the footage, place a marker and review slowly until you determine you’re at the right spot, and then remove the unnecessary footage. Here is a screenshot.
In conclusion, I’d recommend if you need a program to perform Screen Recording and Video Editing, Camtasia is worth considering. There are many more options I’ve not used, but are available such as Capture Web CAM and PowerPoint presentations.
PS – Techsmith is based out of Lansing Michigan, which is about 1 hour south and east of where I live!
Thank you
Steve Schofield
Windows Server MVP – IIS
http://weblogs.asp.net/steveschofield
http://www.IISLogs.com
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