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If you use to see screen recording presentation by any internet marketer, you must have came across Camtasia Studio, the well known proprietary screen recorder for demos, presentation and training. I was interested on that piece of software at the beginning, but when I saw the price tag of the software, I almost fainted. (Yes, it costs whooping $299 for the license). It happened a year ago. I never looked back to their website since then.

Until yesterday, when I decided to use the software for my next internet project. As an open source fan, I Googled “open source camtasia“. To my surprised, osalt.com pop up and revealed CamStudio.org. CamStudio is a free alternative and open source software for Camtasia Studio. And guess what? It’s free. If you are looking for an option for the hefty priced Camtasia, why not downloading CamStudio for a test run.

So, what is actually CamStudio?

Using “CamStudio - Free Streaming Video Desktop Recording Software” as the tagline, CamStudio are able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs).

In short, it is the best free tool for you to create any demos, presentations and training for your viewers from Windows. For Linux users, you may want to check out xvidcap.

Where can I get Camstudio?

As usual, you can download your copy of CamStudio from Sourceforge.net. Camstudio.org is their official website, and I would suggest that you read CamStudio’s blog to get updates on the software. Thanks to Nick Smith (the developer), for sharing his work.

What can I do with CamStudio?

  • You can use it to create demonstration videos for any software program
  • Or how about creating a set of videos answering your most frequently asked questions?
  • You can create video tutorials for school or college class
  • You can use it to record a recurring problem with your computer so you can show technical support people
  • You can use it to create video-based information products you can sell
  • You can even use it to record new tricks and techniques you discover on your favourite software program, before you forget them

So, how does it look like?

CamStudio - Free screen recording software for Windows

Upon running the software, the above window will pop up. I must say that the menu and navigation of the software is very straightforward. You can almost record your desktop screenshot almost instantly by clicking the red button.

However, I would advice you to read their “Help” section first, as it contains all the important information on how to optimize the usage of your presentation using CamStudio.

May I see CamStudio in action?

Well, I know, we like screenshots. So, I have recorded my screenshot using CamStudio for 40 seconds, just to give you an idea how does it look like.

Apology for the audio and video quality. It was just a test. The video clip becomes like that because:

  1. I did not manage to set up my microphone (the sound quality is bad) and my soundcard.
  2. The screenshot that I made was a full screen view. YouTube resized the video after the upload.

Anyway, it is just a preview. You can do mush better than what I did. And I suggest that you get one for yourself!

drizad :: Nov.03.2007 :: Video Capture :: 1 Comment »