Capture desktop movements into video

Window XP Media Center Edition and XP Pro.
Need to capture screens, movement of mouse, drop down menus etc. into a video, to be viewed by Windows Media Player.

I have seen references about video capture, but I need a moving screen capture program.

Would prefer freeware if available, would consider paying under $40.00 USD.

Thank You,

Chronk

 

I have been looking into the different options available.
I was not able to find anyone who had tested any of these
so I installed Camtasia Studio 4 by Tech Smith.
I find that it works quite well capturing the screen and it is editable.
It is easy to learn and you can edit your videos and / or audios and save them into several
formats including MP3, iPod video, Adobe Flash (SWF and FLV), AVI, WMV, QuickTime (MOV), RealMedia (RM), animated GIF and executable (EXE) files.
It has more functions than I will probably ever use.
At just under $40.00 US, is fairly reasonable. Guess you guys have not had a need for such a thing - because if you did - you probably would have posted something by now. I appreciate all you do.
Chronk

 

rolleyes
I made a mistake: I got the eval 30 day of Camtasia, it costs $399.00 USD.
Tech Smith also makes SnagIT, which captures your screen movements, but only saves as its own format ( to work with ) and .avi, to use.
SnagIT does cost only $39.95 > Camtasia Studio is much better with features and save in many formats > SnagIT is not bad. Camtasia has a timeline to work with, you can cut out snippets of your screen capture videos. Goes way over what I was hoping to spend though.

 

Have you tried Cam Studio from the download section in this group? Works great! Also VLC Media Player, GOM Player also are cool. These guys have saved me more than once.

 

I'd second that nod to CamStudio! It'll let you save as .AVI, or as a flash file.

The only problem is that these won't play in Windows Media Player without a codec, but that's why VLC Media Player is a great recommendation, too. It will play just about everything!

 

Thanks for the info about CamStudio and VLC Media Player Roystacy and Mada_Milty.
I need my vids to be compatible with Win Media Player for end users.
They would not want to install codecs.

Thanks,

Chronk

 

I don't think VLC Media pulls in any codec but I am not that computer sauve. I used GOM Player as well and that worked on a group of videos that were all codec'd up to the point I could not open them on anything but Media Player 9 and you know how obsolete that is becoming. I sent some videos to a client and she called me saying she could not see them in Media Player. So, I told her to download VLC and now she has no problems viewing them. Just my two cents. Good luck!!

Does CamStudio add codecs or something? I guess they all do, huh? Well, again, good luck and keep us posted on your progress. I am trying to gather as much intel on video clip editing and the like.

 

Maybe you know something that I do not about .avi and Windows Media Player. I believe that .avi (windows video files) will play natively in Windows Media Player. That is an option in Windows Media Player under the file association options:
Tools/Options/File Types
Unless something is different in the .avi file that CamStudio uses?

Appreciate any enlightenment on this.

 

Since posting this - I have learned a little more about video and codecs.
I realize now that .avi does not necessarily play in Windows Media Player - as they are coded differently and different .avi files will need different codecs to decode them.
So Mada_Milty did (does?) know something I did not about video and codecs.
I know longer have a need to create the videos as I did when I first posted this.
I have also learned to like VLC Player since posting this.