It hasn't exactly been a secret that I (and several others at TUAW) have been big fans of ScreenFlow since its release. Up until yesterday, I didn't really think it had much serious competition in the professional screencasting field. That seems to have changed with the release of Camtasia for Mac. At the same $99US price tag as ScreenFlow, Camtasia is offering a very similar interface with some impressive capabilities.

Camtasia has long been considered a heavyweight in the PC world, and its Mac debut has been anxiously awaited. While it hasn't exactly reached feature-parity with the PC version, it's been quite a pleasure to try out. Some of the features it's lacking in comparison to its PC counterpart include region recording, narration-only recording and ScreenDraw. However, its capabilities in the area of direct media manipulation are quite well-developed. For a complete feature comparison, check the TechSmith website or grab the comparison PDF.

A quick run-through with a review copy convinced me that this is some serious competition for ScreenFlow. One of the coolest features I played with was the SmartFocus action, which can be applied to an entire clip or just a region in the editor. It automatically determines what the point of focus at any given time should be, and zooms that area. Additionally, you can highlight the foreground window, add text and shape callouts, and work with imported media. The only problem I noticed immediately was with changing colors of library elements (arrows, etc.). I haven't figured that out in my brief trial, and haven't had a chance to ask yet. I'm hoping that's not a missing feature, as it seems relatively important to me.

A complete array of QuickTime formats can be exported, and presets for YouTube, Screencast.com and iTunes are included. There's a default export which gave me a 10.5MB QuickTime file for a 47-second clip, at a 960x600 resolution. The "Advanced Export" option provides the opportunity to tweak settings and export to all the standard formats. There's some mismatch between the PC and Mac export capabilities, though, making cross-platform projects difficult (file format comparison).

Camtasia for Mac requires that all of your video cards be Quartz Extreme-enabled. If you run any USB->DVI hardware, be sure to disconnect it before you launch the application. Also, TechSmith warns against running Perian with Camtasia. I tried it and didn't have any problems -- but it was for a short record/export experiment and I'm guessing they have good reason for pointing out the potential conflict. I would probably heed that advice when working on a more important project. Camtasia for Mac is currently available at the Camtasia website as a free trial, and can be purchased for $99US, or a 5-pack for $495US.

For semi-pro and professional screencasters working on Macs, Screenflow has reigned for a year as the closest thing available to the Windows-only category leader Camtasia Studio. It not only records your screen, your video camera or iSight, your audio input and system audio simultaneously, it provides a full editing suite and allows callouts, edits and cuts to be made in post, within the application.

It's been one year since the initial release, and the development of Screenflow has continued steadily ... despite company acquisitions. On the mutli-talented application's first birthday, parent company Telestream has announced version 1.5 with custom mouse cursors, WMV export, new audio effects, automatic stereo mixing of single-channel microphones and ... titling.

• French and German localization
  
• Redesigned keyboard modifier display
• You can now copy and paste clips and actions in the same document
• Lasso tool added to the timeline to select groups of clips
• Separate mouse click radar animation for mouse up and down
• General improvements to smoothness and memory usage

Screencasting -- the not-so-ancient art of recording the computer screen for the entertainment and enrichment of others -- has evolved into quite a Hydra of options. How do the myriad gladiators in this arena stack up? I've tried everything I could find that could record a little movement on the screen, and selected 8 contenders for the matchup. We'll start this boxing match off with the free apps, and then see if the "money" apps stack enough features on to make them worth the cash.

ScreenFlow 1.1 hit today, and there are over 80 fixes and improvements in the release notes for the current top-dog Mac screencasting application. If you weren't excited the first time we covered this, it might be time to look again. As for me, I had already forged a committed relationship with ScreenFlow. It's always a pleasure to see your partner get smarter and better looking after you tie the knot.

The new version exports faster, thankfully. The press release says export speeds are up 20 to 40% (across most presets), but a little TUAW testing showed that the web-preset exports were 40% faster and then some. And that's with video and audio actions, embedded QuickTime video and an additional MP3 audio track. Export time was a drawback of version 1.0 that I was willing to live with, but I'm quite grateful that I don't have to anymore.

I haven't experienced the oft-mentioned crashing that was plaguing some users, but improvements to overall stability may be of interest to those who have. There are interface improvements such as audio waveforms visible in the tracks, as well as the addition of markers which can be converted to QuickTime chapters. I won't drone on about the dozens of other fixes/changes right now but -- if release notes are your thing -- you can read them here. Or just grab the demo and see it in action. ScreenFlow has a price tag of $99 for a registered version, and 1.1 is a free upgrade for current owners.

Whether you love them or hate them, screencasts made on Macs just got exponentially better. We at TUAW are in awe of the latest contender for your screencasting love: ScreenFlow, from Vara Software (the maker of Wirecast and Videocue). The feature set is, well, unbelievable in comparison to what is currently available on our platform of choice. And it's an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink solution, with a fantastic editor, amazing effects and simultaneous recording of a video camera (or iSight), your full screen, microphone audio and computer audio without even kicking up my fans. Am I gushing? Definitely.

The fans on my MacBook Pro tend to go nuts after a little while of full-screen recording. Screenium was pretty good with that, but it was only a fraction of the solution that ScreenFlow seems to be. The real magic of ScreenFlow starts after the recording is finished. Once you're in the editor, you find that it's tracked all of your movements, foreground windows, keypresses, etc. with precision.

You can cut and fade, zoom and rotate, add callouts for foreground windows or mouse clicks ... I'm still in amazement. No longer will I need Mouseposé; not only does it automate the process of highlighting the mouse position and calling out clicks wherever you want them, it relieves any need to be hitting hotkeys to turn it on and off while you record. Is this finally the Mac Camtasia? Quite probably.

ScreenFlow costs $99.99 and is available for purchase. A fully-functional (watermarked) demo is right here along with a screencast that's seriously worth watching.