Windows program to record screen and audio?

dusf wrote: »

I have been having a lot of problems with the size of the videos I record. I have been testing on a 60 second video although ultimately I want to record a 35 minute presentation. The lowest size I have gotten the 1 minute test video to is between 90 MB and 350 MB.

I am using Cam Studio Lossless Codec 1.5 capturing a full screen although the footage is not complex, contains mostly text and very little graphics or colours.

I am recording audio from my speakers using stereo mix, basically what I hear is recorded.

What I have tried:

Using AVI and SWF format for capturing.

Lowering the quality to 1 instead of the default 70.

Changing my screen resolution from 1024 to 600 (default on this netbook) to 800 x 600.

Changing the display to 16 bit.

Changing the framerates to capture every 100 milliseconds with a playback rate of 100 frames/second and the key frames set to 100. Autoadjust for frame rates is set.

Using the GZIP algorithm set to 6/9 for SWF but LZO for AVI.

I calculate that for the 35 minute capture I will be looking at a file size of 3.5 GB which seems insane for such a low quality presentation.

What more can I do, and is there any thing I should undo like setting the quality to 1 or the frame captures so far apart?

When the SWF is first compressed and I am then presented with options in the producer/player, should I adjust them, and if so to what?

dusf wrote: »

Thanks, I was actually able to capture on my own computer in Xvid!



Now that you mention it, yes a *lossless* codec would make sense to be a larger size losing none of the quality!

I am using a fixed region with the dimensions 690 x 404 to capture a basic video presentation with an instructor visible in a small low quality video in the top left hand corner of a powerpoint containing text and no graphics. What settings would you suggest for Quality, Set Key Frames Every, Capture Frames Every, and Playback Rate? I have tried the default 70-200-5-200, 100-200-5-200, 70-30-50-20, and 100-30-50-20 but I am not sure which is best or if I should be using something else.

On the computer I am planning to capture on, which I will not have access to again for another 10 hours or so, I was initially disheartened at the large file size created by Lossless Codec. Xvid was not an option on the original computer and I did not think I would need to install any codecs as I think there is already a K-Lite Codec Pack there, but if I install Xvid-1.3.2 from http://www.koepi.info/xvid.html on that computer will I be able to then capture with it, or should I be using a different codec entirely? ~11MB for a minute is great compared to 350MB+ but considering I have seen feature length full action movies of 700mb is there something more I can do to reduce it?

When I use Xvid an annoying 'Xvid Status' window pops up every time I press record (please see the screenshot @ http://i.imgur.com/pDv07.jpg ) so I have to try quickly press pause and bring what I am recording to the front before resuming the capture but it is still visible at the start of every video for a split second. Although I could move the window of what I am recording to the lower left of my desktop this is not an option as I have fixed region set up for where the window is by default - I plan to record many windows which will default in the same place. I have tried re-installing Xvid 1.3.2 but it made no difference, is there something more I can do?

Finally on my own computer I am not able to configure stereo mix for my Sigmatel Audio card and Dell does not provide a driver to do so - it is a Dimension E520. Is there a workaround to record what I hear? *I can still use stereo mix on the computer in my girlfriend's to record sound where I plan to capture - my computer cannot access what I want to capture currently but it would be nice to have the option for recording sound in the future.