Archive for September, 2009

Camtasia for Mac Review

Posted Sep.18, 2009 under Camtasia for Mac, Mac


camtasia_mac_box

Hello Friends,

Finally I am proud to give you some great news that many of you  have been waiting for or know someone who would appreciate that Camtasia for Mac has been released!

TechSmith  the leading provider of screen-capture and screen-recording solutions never disappoint their clients they are always ready to listen to you and provide what you the consumer needs.

If you are a Snagit fan no worries the Snagit for Mac is in development but in the mean time we have an alternative screen capture software that works with Mac ‘Voila‘. If you would like to be updated on the development of Snagit for mac you may subscribe here.

As a  Windows user who recently purchased an  iMac I downloaded the 30-day trial version to try Camtasia for Mac myself and truly it offers super cool things any Mac user would not want to miss.

I will give you a sneak preview of my findings…

SmartFocus®

TechSmith’s proprietary technology that keeps track of every detail that I use when editing, details such as window size, location, typing and mouse clicks – that sure saved me a “wholatta” time!

Camera Recording

Lets me capture a video from my iSight or a DV camera connected via firewire.

cammac-prod1Production Wizard

The Production Wizard allowed me to choose  which program I want to use to share, export or upload my work. With a bunch of options to choose including – upload to Screencast.com or Youtube.com, share export to iTunes, produce it into an MPEG-4, QuickTime Movie, AVI, DV Stream, 3G, and audio-only formats AIFF and AU.

Advanced Export

It gives me option to change the settings and export it to all standard formats.
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camtasiaformaceditorFamiliar Timeline

Good thing, the timeline still looks and functions the way it is in Camtasia Studio for windows where I can add, rearrange and drag-and-drop videos and images. Thus, less confusion and no adjustment needed on this part (that is if you’re already a Camtasia Studio user).

So what didn’t I like about Camtasia for Mac.. it does not offer all the features that Camtasia Studio for windows offers but is still bound to create a stir among the top video recording mac software already available in the market.

Before I forget the price is another plus Camtasia for Mac is  currently offered at a very low introductory price of $97.00 . Apparently its a limited offer so be warned.

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

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Camtasia Studio Blurry Screen Video

Posted Sep.01, 2009 under Tutorials

blurryvideoHello Friends,

I’m back with another Tutorial series for Camtasia Studio, answering the frequently asked questions from Camtasia Studio fans!

Have you tried recording an on-screen video and  when you played it back, the video appears blurry or has poor quality?

What Causes Blurry Screen Video in Camtasia?

There are two general causes of blurry videos in Camtasia Studio, but first a little  about  Camtasia Studio Codec….

Codecs are the algorithms being used to compress a video, most of the time installed as a software embedded within a hardware. They are of the same idea as in compressing files using a program like WinZip.

Video codecs are categorized into two types of compression:

Lossless codecs/compression - you lose nothing, but you can’t compress much.
Lossy codecs/compression - you lose quality in return, you achieve great downsizing.

Camtasia is equipped with a TSCC video codec that is lossless, thus, compressed videos with TSCC have great quality!

Having said that there is no reason why your Camtasia Videos should lose any quality unless you are doing something wrong.

Moving on, here are the general causes of blurry videos.

SCALING YOUR VIDEO IN A PLAYER OR IN THE CAMTASIA DURING VIDEO PRODUCTION

  • If you scale the video during playback to other sizes than the original size, quality will lessen.
  • If you use the default setup of Camtasia Recorder and produce videos with the TSCC codec, the playback should have a very good quality and looks similar to the screen.
  • If video is played in a Media Player, the quality is lessened due to the “skins” mode of Media Player causing the video to be played back at a different size than the required 100% original size. Trying to change the video size will still not work.

How to Fix Camtasia Studio Blurry Screen Videos

SOLUTION 1 – Configure Media Player to avoid videos from scaling.

For Media Player 11:

1. Open Windows Media Player.
2. Go to View.
3. Choose Video Size.
4. Fit PLAYER to video on Start.

For Media Player 9 or 10:

1. Change your Media Player’s skin mode to “Classic” mode, to do so, just press Skin Chooser button and select “Classic”.
2. Go to View.
3. Choose Video Size then set it to 100%
4. Run the player to Compact mode.
5. Select View, then choose Skin Mode.
6. Run it in 6.4 mode.

How to use Media Player in v6.4 mode:

1. Go to Program Files, then choose Windows Media Player.
2. Run MPLAYER2.EXE file.
3. On v6.4 mode  select View > Options > Formats, select All > Apply > OK.
4. Select View > Options > Playback , then set the Zoom level to 100%.

SOLUTION 2 – use  Camtasia Player or other player that doesn’t scale videos.

PRODUCING THE VIDEO USING A “LOSSY” CODEC

By default, Camtasia Studio will now scale the video. For you to be able to produce video with the same good quality,  simply follow these steps:

1. Once you’re done with your captures screencast, click on Produce.
2. Choose your desired output, click Next.
3. Select your desired format, click Next.
4. On the Fit in field, click on the drop-down arrow and choose the largest video size, click Next.
5. Click Next.
6. Select the output location, click Finish.

That’s all there is to it. I hope this has been again helpful to you!

Until Next Time ;-)

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

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