Cam Studio v Camtasia
Hello,
A long time since I posted and this topic is part of the reason.
I have been trying to sort out video creation to use in my upcoming ebook and had many problems. In the hope it will help anyone else I’ve just jotted a few comments about it all below:
I first downloaded Camtasia on a free month’s trial. It seems to be the recommended tool used by most internet marketers. However I had some problems with the audio. I have noticed on many videos I watch on the web that the audio can be low. After trying Camtasia I realised it is the result of all the filtering you can put in to cut out background noise. Which of course is excellent that you have these tools and there may have been ways to compensate for the low audio, however because I had so many other work commitments I ran out of time on the trial before I had it working right. The question was then did I want to pay $300 and risk not getting it working?
So I decided to try CamStudio which is available as a free download (it is based on an earlier version of Camtasia but has had improvements since). I soon realised that the audio problems I was having was a result of my computer hardware. I searched on the net and found much discussion about it, tried a new headset/microphone, and finally realised that the background noise was down to my soundcard. As I was using a laptop this was potentially a problem but fortunately I had another slightly older laptop which I was able to try and thankfully with this I can produce noise free videos.
Anyway as CamStudio works perfectly and IMPORTANTLY has a new release which corrects a bug which stopped flash working properly in web browsers, I have no reason to pay for CamTasia and can recommend anyone to try CamStudio.
An important point from the whole saga is that your computer hardware is vitally important if you want to create good quality noise free videos. If you use a desktop computer then you can easily upgrade the soundcard but if like me you use laptops then you may need to research if you have problems. At least now you can use a free tool instead of paying out a lot of money and then finding your equipment isn’t up to the job.
Hope this experience helps someone.
Good luck
Dave
Brilliant post, Dave, thanks so much for sharing this information with us. I haven’t ventured into video yet but have found this really useful.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Hi Dave, thanks for posting this. I have made 2 videos now and found that my voice started running behind the video, so that when i was talking about one task the video was on the next one.
I bought a new headset with mike, which seemed to improve it slightly and did cut out all the background noise. It’s still not perfect and i have to try and speed up my actions and talk slower, no nooooot like thaaaat ha ha, just trial and error.
As a result i have not made any more videos as yet. Thanks to your post i now know what the problem is likely to be and can get it sorted out.
Spot on Dave, great post, thanks.
Regards, Barry
http://easethesqueezewithauctions.com/
Thanks Mandy, much appreciated.
Barry, glad the post has helped. One thing, when I was looking into my problems I saw comments about USB microphones or headsets, is yours USB, if so try a microphone that plugs into headphone/microphone sockets instead of USB as the USB may be delaying the audio.
Best regards
Dave
Apart from Camstudio you could try Movie Maker or Powerpoint together with Jing by Techsmith.I have tried both and give a reasonable job if you don’t want the expense of Camtasia.
Nice blog. You know, I think that most audio devices should be external usb devices. But what will happen if you have too many audio devices connected to one PC?
the best usb microphone is made by Sennheiser and also Creative makes great usb microphones too;-:
A4tech ang Genius both makes cheap but great performing usb microphones;:~