'Filming' the vision on a computer monitor

[Sara Hardie]

Does anyone know how to go about recording what is on a computer monitor? I'm putting together some training material which includes instructions for an industry specific program. Having done some training through lynda.com, I can see what is possible but am not sure how to go about doing it. I'm working with Adobe Premiere CS3 however I need to connect to the client's system as the program is an in-house one. I'd be recording with the Sony A1P but hoped to connect to the system rather than just film the vision. Any clues would be gratefully accepted. Thanks.

[Richard Alvarez]

Camtasia is the software you are looking for. Captures what is happening on the screen while running a program, allows you to edit it like a video file.
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.as...googleCStmhome

[Sara Hardie]

Thanks Richard - had a quick look at the link. At $40 Australian dollars, it looks like a quick fix. Many thanks, Sara

[Andre Tira]

If you need to use it once, just download the camtasia trial version, which is the full version for 30 days. I used it once to record a powerpoint and worked perfect. Just make sure you adjust the settings.

[Sara Hardie]

Good idea Andre - thanks.

[Ervin Farkas]

Windows Media Encoder has a screen capture function where you can select either whole screen or a specific window (program).

Check out attached wmv file - only 250 KB for almost a minute and half of 640x480 video.

[Bill Mecca]

I use Cam Studio which is what Camtasia is based upon. Be sure to download their lossless codec as well. Best of all it's free!

[Sara Hardie]

Many thanks Ervin and Bill. I've had a quick look at both. The windows media encoder might well do the job at the public hospital as I'm not sure how happy they are letting me download or install programs on their computer (probably not very). The other programs might suit another client application where they want a powerpoint presentation to somehow meld with the filmed training material I've put together. I was quite excited when I looked on the Camtasia site and relised that I might be able to do this with the camtasia software although I'm not sure how the powerpoint runs with the video - I assume it is still in a non-interatcive format ie: powerpoint would run in conjuction with the film and would not have any interactivity. I'll download the freeware and check it out. Any further hints gladly accepted

[Ervin Farkas]

Bill, many thanks for the CamStudio link - FYI version 2.5 beta is available.

Sara, just a side note: unless the presentation has animation you need to keep, you don't need any additional software to bring your PowerPoint into your video - just open the file for editing (change the extension from .pps to .ppt) and save it as a series of still images, then import them into your video project.

If your client has issues with installing software on their system, they should feel comfortable with Windows Encoder, it's an official Microsoft program. On the other hand, if they are still reluctant, you can use CamStudio off of a USB stick, you don't need to install it on their PC.

[Bill Mecca]

Ervin,

I know someone in the UK has picked up Camstudio and is advancing it, but, the original audio source code is not available. the original creators of that part of the code were worried about some rights and it was not released with the source code. I know that had some impact on how later versions handle audio. Although I cannot remember exactly what at the moment. it might have been "recording from speaker" which is what I used it for (some audio how-tos where I needed the mic input and the background sounds)

I have the older version and it works fine for what I need. I know there are several other versions of it out there with different names, the joy of OSS. ;-) some will let you have it automatically forward to a url (with web marketers in mind).

But my philosophy is use what works for you.