Tell me more ×
Answers OnStartups is a question and answer site for entrepreneurs looking to start or run a new business. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I used MS free development tool (sorry forgot the name and not on the computer where I did it) and the video was just old and not that good. I'm not good at the whole video thing but would really like to show the experience of my software so people can quick see that it does as advertises without needing to start the install. I am price sensitive so quality, simplicity and captures desktop activity.

Hey any suggestions on where to have some techniques for doing this right?

Cheers

share|improve this question

5 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

A good place to start would be past discussions on this site, and then Ian Ozvald's excellent handbook.

You write that you are price sensitive -- fair enough, but keep in mind that without prior experience it will probably take you many hours to create a really good screencast.

share|improve this answer
Appretiate the link with the appropriate search term as well as the handbook link. Thanks. – John Bogrand Jun 10 '10 at 15:55

If you want to use flash to display on a web page then you could try SCREEN2SWF. I've used this before and although simple it is good for quick demonstrations of your software. I use it to demonstrate new changes that people have requested. They send the request, I make the change, record a demo of it working, post the page on my website and let them see if it is what they were after.

If you want something more sophisticated with nice audio then you will need something that is a little pricier. Recording audio also requires someone who has a 'nice' sounding voice.

If you are after quick and easy then SCREEN2SWF is a good option.

Good luck!

share|improve this answer

A relatively new service that I haven't seen mentioned in the past discussions on this site is Jing. I've been seeing a few QA teams use these videos while logging interaction-level bugs, and it's been very helpful.

There are both PC and Mac versions. They primarily sell themselves as a screencasting tool.

The few times I've used it, I've found it somewhat easy to use. Took me a few times to get it just right though, but that could be me. You can define exactly which portion of the screen to record, which I found very helpful.

There's a free version (which I used) and a paid version.

The parent company is TechSmith, which - oh look - has another video-capturing tool called Screencast that is also positioned as a screencasting tool. I just discovered this now. The main difference seems to be that Jing saves the video onto your desktop, while Screencast hosts it on their servers. Huh. Interesting way to niche their products.

share|improve this answer

Screen recorder can help you to do it. I mean you record the whole operation process of your software and create a series of how-to tutorial videos for your customers.

There are many good, simple and free programs for you to choose by visiting the screencast software at wiki. Check them out and choose the proper one.

Personaly I use Wondershare DemoCreator. It costs about 1/3 of Camtasia and offers the most common video editing and publish features. It's enough for me to make a decent and useful voice over software presnetation.

share|improve this answer

I use Camtasia. It's paid, but it has some cool features to zoom/pan which is very important when you're showing software products (you'll need to zoom in some details of your tool). It also has some cool transitions to use between screens, which make the demos a little more lively and less dull (which is key to make sure your demos convert your website visitors into prospects).

hope this helps Michel

share|improve this answer
I have also used Camtasia a long time ago. It worked quite well, actually. Yes, it's paid, but I also got a good result. This product is also from Techsmith, by the way. – Jakob Jenkov Jul 11 '12 at 8:58

protected by Community Jul 11 '12 at 15:21

This question is protected to prevent "thanks!", "me too!", or spam answers by new users. To answer it, you must have earned at least 10 reputation on this site.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.