Best Tool to Capture PC Screen - Video (ppt)

kraz wrote on 11/14/2006, 9:43 PM

Does anyone have a really good - high-quality solution for capturing either the full screen screen or a specific window.

Often I am asked to convert a powerpoint presentation to video - etc.
I then want to import it and put it as part of a video production.

using the video-out of a video card into a capture does not give great quality for full motion video.

The software PPT captures don;t do great either with video in the presentation -
any thoughts?

Thanks
Allen

Comments

farss wrote on 11/14/2006, 9:52 PM

Sony do make a 'anything' to video converter, the 1024 HD and it works very well. I'ts also rather expensive but I've yet to find a better and more flexible unit.
It'll also work the other way, video -> VGA, does PAL <-> NTSC also.

JackW wrote on 11/14/2006, 9:58 PM

Allen:

One of the best tools I've used was created by one of the editors here on the forum -- Liam, I think it was, although it may have been one of the others. There should be quite a few threads here on the forum, too.

Take a look here for the download.

It extracts the individual PowerPoint slides and lays them into Vegas. Very simple and neat.

Jack

Jim H wrote on 11/14/2006, 10:29 PM

I've been using Camtasia Studio. It allows you to do many things like drag a box around any part or all of the screen and record both audio and video. Set it to follow your mouse and it works great for zoomed in tutorials. Check it out here:

http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp

douglas_clark wrote on 11/15/2006, 8:28 AM

See demo video of recording Power Point in Camtasia.
Recording Powerpoint demo video
See also the 27th video on the menu.

JohnnyRoy wrote on 11/15/2006, 11:35 AM

To answer your question directly, IMHO the Best Tool is Techsmith Camtasia. It is also an expensive tool if you just need to use it once. You can also use SnagIt which is also by Techsmith but much cheaper. It has the same recorder as Camtasia but not the codec. You could use the HUFFYUV codec.

For free you might want to try using the Windows Media Encoder. It will capture your charts just fine to WMV format.

~jr

kraz wrote on 11/15/2006, 11:11 PM

first - thanks guys - this is a really helpful list.

I am looking for PPTs that have vid in them - so I think the WME does not work great ( tried it like 2 years ago) - and the slide by slide also probably not work.

I will now give camastia a shot -
thanks!!

kraz wrote on 11/15/2006, 11:59 PM

"Sony do make a 'anything' to video converter, the 1024 HD and it works very well. I'ts also rather expensive but I've yet to find a better and more flexible unit.
It'll also work the other way, video -> VGA, does PAL <-> NTSC also."

what is the name of that product?