Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Beta Beat
Beta Beat: Screenium
Screencasting is becoming a standard method of conveying software-related information. I'm fairly certain that even my mom knows the word, which is my typical buzz-guage. And here you were, thinking "I wish there was yet another contender in the screencast recording arena", right? Lucky you.Synium's Screenium, which is currently in beta preview, is a new arrival in an already teeming category of software. It has standard features like fullscreen, fixed area and mouse-follow capture, hotkey integration and adjustable quality/frame rate with capture presets. It also boasts a single window capture mode and frame rates up to 60fps. I don't know why you'd need to capture a screen at 60fps, but it can't hurt to know it's available.
In my testing, Screenium performed exceptionally well in the area of small filesize, high quality captures and its default presets were simple and useful. It also gets high marks for ease of use. And it didn't max out my CPU and turn my fans into Harrier jets after 2 minutes, which is kind of nice when you're recording microphone audio. It's got some distance to cover before the official release in February, but Screenium is looking like a strong contender.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John said 2:23PM on 12-29-2007
I tried it out and it seems great. Its very similar to iShowU in the sense that it encodes as it is recording. I still prefer Screencast by Arealeium Group. To me, Screencast records a much smoother video and has very good quality.
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Gabe said 2:23PM on 12-29-2007
I tried it out and it seems great. Its very similar to iShowU in the sense that it encodes as it is recording. I still prefer Screencast by Arealeium Group. To me, Screencast records a much smoother video and has very good quality.
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Ryan said 2:43PM on 12-29-2007
This is a great application. Ishowu was nice but this thing performs better IMO. Snapz costs a fortune and $20 is pretty cheap for what power this app packs.
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bumblebee said 3:39PM on 12-29-2007
I think screencasting is my least favorite trend right now. When I'm looking to try some software, I want my preview to be quick - like a handful of screenshots and some short captions. I don't want to waste time watching a movie narrated by some monotone dev that ultimately gives me the same information. If it's used for tutorial videos, that's alright (but I'd still prefer text & pictures). I just hate when software companies give you screencasts instead of screenshots to show off the program. In the time it takes me to watch the stupid thing and see if I want to try it, I could have already downloaded it and be running it. The purpose of screenshots, to me, is to see whether it's worth putting the time into trying out in the first place. If it takes me just as long to watch the movie, I gain nothing.
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Josh said 5:16PM on 12-29-2007
Another interesting contender is the FREE Jing:
http://www.jingproject.com/
It's not so much about video quality as it is quick and free sharing of a quick screencast online. It makes it easy to share a quick demo of something online (in a chat or webforum or something.) For a webpage or professional presentation, these other apps are more appropriate of course, but Jing has something going for it too and should get more notice.
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Michael Rose said 8:15PM on 12-29-2007
We posted on Jing a while back:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/20/jing-makes-screen-captures-slick-and-easy/
Chris said 5:37PM on 12-30-2007
Also, Jing uses flash video, and it doesn't even use a format of flash you can easily convert if you want to edit the video you have made, meaning you have to do your whole video at once, and in one perfect take.
I don't want a video screencapture program that I replaces my video editing software, I just want one that will work with it and Jing just isn't that app. Screenium, however, might be.
Chris Burke said 10:13PM on 12-29-2007
i do tutorial videos all the time, and this is by far the easiest and best that i've used... i tired it for 10 minutes and bought it.
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Chris Burke said 6:49PM on 12-30-2007
i found something i dont like, and it could be because i'm doing something wrong.. but i cant import the created screenium video into iMovie to make edits... is this my own error or is it the same for everyone?
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Brett Terpstra said 7:09PM on 12-30-2007
I haven't had any problem with iMovie (or Final Cut or Motion) import so far. It could be a frame rate or format issue, depending on your record settings.
Chris Burke said 7:35PM on 12-30-2007
what settings do you have set in screenium.. becase i cant seem to change much...(i have the full version)
when i click on the video tab the source is 1280x800x24boo at location x:0, y:0 i cant change this, as there is nothing to click... caputre mouse cursor is checked and preset is set to well i've tried them all then i select my audio source, which is my mic.... then i click on fullscreen cause i want to do a fullscreen capture, then it says "starting in 5 seconds" then i let it record, and i hit ctrl c to stop the capture... video pops up and plays fine, so i quit screenium and quicktime, and i go to iMove, new project, file>import movie and i can see the file i just captured, but its grayed out and i cant select it... what am i doing wrong???
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Chrys said 2:40AM on 12-31-2007
Hi Chris,
it seems that imovie has issues with importing movies that contain audio tracks.
i tried it yesterday with the latest imovie version.
Brett Terpstra said 8:21PM on 12-30-2007
Using "Good video quality, average file size" with no problems. You get into the video settings by choosing "Custom..." from the presets dropdown. You'll probably want to check with the developer and see if they have any suggestions.
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