Common Tips & Tricks

Settings for high quality and small filesize

vopo — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 08:07:43 -0500

You need 2 files:
CamStudio 2.7_r316 http://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/files/latest/download
x264vfw Codec http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/files/x264vfw/37_2200bm_33968/x264vfw_37_2200bm_33968.exe/download

Download and install.

The followings settings worked well for me (Windows 7, DualCore processor):

Video: x264vfw, Q100, key200, frame25, 40
x264vfw config: ultrafast, CRF23, Loglevel=none

Audio: 22kHz, mono, 16bit, PCM(change has no effects!), Interleave1000ms, no MCI!

Audio and Video Sync.: 500ms delay (otherwise time costly videocompression leads to timedelayed video!)

Because I get always PCM audio regardless which audio codec I choose, the only way to get smallest filesizes is to compress audio afterwards.
For later audio compression e.g. mp3 with Virtualdub make sure to use CBR (not ABR), otherwise audio is not in sync!
CBR is only available for samplingrates 32kHz or 44 kHz, so you have to convert from 22kHz to 44kHz afterwards (to 32kHz gives bad quality!) or choose 44kHz in Camstudio settings for recording beforehand (bigger filesize-> 2GB limit!)

A test recording of a 91 min webinar (with video) format 862x644 resulted in a size of 544 MB without audio compression, i.e. 5 hours recording without reaching the 2 GB limit should be possible. audio and video parts in the file had roundabout the same sizes.

I plan to make a test with 720p standard resolution 1280x720. I will post here the attained filesize.

I failed in trying to compare codecs x264 and Xvid regarding quality vs. filesize by now, because after choosing Xvid video codec (Jawor´s Xvid) camstudio doesn´t start recording but stops with error message "Wave in error: Das angegebene Gerätehandle ist ungültig. in Stop()".

Edit: Please make sure that both, region width and height, have even numbers! If not you´ll get errors while starting to record. To make sure this doesn´t happen use Region->Fixed Region instead of Window. It´s annoying to be forced to change windows size by one pixel if you need to record NOW.

What are some things people new to this program should do?

SabresMania — Wed, 11 May 2011 22:05:41 -0400

I am new to this program and I wonder if there is some things that should be set from the start. For example, what is the best video setting in terms of frames per millisecond if I want to record a video game? What mic settings (Hz, Kbs) should I set it to? Thank you for your help!

Easy way to record window client area only?

adambiser — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 23:30:48 -0500

Is there an easy way to record only the client area of a window? Recording a window is great, but I don't want to record the title bar and borders in the video.

I know that a fixed region could be used, but that requires a fair degree of manual calculation to determine the location and dimensions of the region each time.

I guess what I'm looking for is a "Grab non-client area of window" checkbox option that affects how Region->Window works. With this, I could just uncheck that option, use Region->Window, and click the window to grab only the client area of the window.

My apologies if this is discussed elsewhere, but I found none when I searched.

Thanks!

German: Einstellungen für hohe Qualität und kleine Dateigrößen

vopo — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 06:30:05 -0500

Man benötigt 2 Dateien:
CamStudio 2.6c_r303 http://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/files/next/Camstudio-2.6c.7z/download
x264vfw Codec http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/files/x264vfw/37_2200bm_33968/x264vfw_37_2200bm_33968.exe/download

Folgende Einstellungen funktionieren bei mir (Windows 7, DualCore Prozessor) sehr gut:

Video: x264vfw, Q100, key200, frame25, 40
x264vfw config: ultrafast, CRF23, Loglevel=none

Audio: 22kHz, mono, 16bit, PCM(nicht änderbar!), Interleave1000ms, kein MCI!

Audio and Video Sync.: 500ms delay (die aufwendige Videokompression führte sonst zu zeitverschobenem Ton!)

Da bei mir Audio immer im PCM Format aufgenommen wird, egal welches Format ich einstelle, bleibt mir nur die Möglichkeit, den Ton nachträglich zu komprimieren, wenn ich kleinste Dateigrößen erreichen will.
Für spätere Audio Kompression z.B. mit Virtualdub/mp3 auf jeden Fall CBR (nicht ABR) benutzen, sonst unsynchroner Ton! CBR ist nur für 32kHz oder 44kHz verfügbar, also entweder später Samplingrate konvertieren oder gleich richtig mit 44kHz aufnehmen (größere Datei-> 2GB Grenze!)

Eine Testaufzeichnung eines 91 minütigen Webinars (mit Video) im Format 862x644 erbrachte vor der Audiokompression eine Größe von 544 MB, d.h. 5h Aufzeichnung ohne Überschreitung der 2GB Grenze sollten drin sein. Audio- und Videoanteile im File waren etwa gleich groß.

Ich habe vor, noch einen Test mit 720p also Standardauflösung 1280x720 zu machen. Erzielte Filegröße reiche ich dann nach.

Der Vergleich der Codecs x264 mit Xvid in puncto Quali vs. Dateigröße ist mir bislang nicht gelungen, da Camstudio bei Wahl des Xvid Codecs die Aufzeichnung mit der Fehlermeldung "Wave in error: Das angegebene Gerätehandle ist ungültig. in Stop()" gar nicht erst beginnt.

capturing full screen game

Kobra — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 10:48:57 -0500

hi, I`m trying to capture some full screen game play. but when I try to do so, the desktop and program are capturing but when entering the game the captur goes black. the game layer is not captured by the program. I`ve altered the settings to just capture a screen area, but with the same result. Appreciate any response on this..

How can I convert dvd to iphone and extract audio from it?

retractors37 — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 05:34:38 -0500

Hey guys, I think I need some advice.I've bought a Riverdance DVD and now I want to convert some parts of the show to my iphone so that I can watch while boring. And also I would like to extract some classic audio clips from it and convert them to mp3 format(or other format that I can play on iphone).Can you tell me the best software you've used to do that?Thanks so much.

How to get sound from the actual running programs (not from the microphone ect.)?

1234ru — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 10:51:48 -0400

I can't figure out one simple thing: how can I record not only video of what is happening on the screen but the audio as well?
I mean I want the sounds I hear from the computer to be present in the record.

How can I do this?

How to fix CamStudio Producer from Crashing!

gabriel567ist — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 00:25:17 -0400

If you get a message that says CamStudio Producer has stopped message on Windows Vista or 7 if also getting a message CamStudio Producer
Has encounted a problem and needs to close? Here is how to fix it so here are some tips

Tip 1:turn off your AntiVirus Software.
Tip: Try to run CamStudio as Administrator.
Tip. 3: Make sure your User Account Control is disabled if u Keep UAC on note it may prevent u from save and converting .avi to .swf

If this help please leave comments below

How can I make longer vids

Blueduce — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:34:42 -0400

Hey Im wondering if anybody knows why CamStudio keeps saying that file saved corrupted. And then when I go to the file it won't let me view it. If anybody has any suggestions that would help out a lot. :)

2gb file limit workarounds

mike5 — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:22:31 -0400

First of all, I think that CamStudio 2.6 reports the wrong file size in its main window while recording. The other night I recorded a 3.5+ hour webinar with jawror xvid. CamStudio's window reported 1gb file size. When I look in windows/temp, the filesize is 3.3gb.

- The file won't play in VLC: "The format of the file cannot be detected"

- The file cannot be opened with VirtualDub: "Invalid AVI file: LIST chunk < 4 bytes"

- If I try VirtualDub compatibility mode: "AVI Import Filter error: (?) (800440c7)'

So obviously this file is corrupt. I searched google and came across this great thread with many advices to try to fix the problem:
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/267852-Trying-to-Fix-a-Huge-Corrupt-avi-File!

The solution that worked for me was to download MediaCoder. The built in player could read the file. And then I converted it to mp4 which took about a half hour and halved the file size from 3.3gb to 1.5gb

Hopefully this will help someone. Maybe Terry can add it to the some FAQ somewhere or on his site so others can find it.

Editing/compositing Xvid recording?

oliveuk — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 06:00:43 -0400

I love the Xvid codec but one big issue is, how do you Edit or composite Xvid screen recording?

I just made a 30 mins HD recording at around 400 Mo (pretty sweet!) but Adobe Premiere is not too happy with Xvid footage so what would you recommend me to do to edit the footage : speed up some sections, add some on screen notes .... Is uncompressing the video with Virtual Dub the only option or do you know some editing software happy with Xvid?

Best Settings For A Smaller Video File

Nelsonngyn0 — Mon, 28 May 2012 19:52:27 -0400

I've got to say Camstudio is a great recording software

but currently I've got settings that makes Camstudio can't compress long videos (I tried one about 40 min) and it comes up with the infamous "Note: File Creation Error. Unable to rename/copy audio file." error which makes the output or at least what was the temporary video and audio, that was to be the final video, useless. I know it's because of the file size and because I'm using the "Camstudio Lossless Codec 1.5".

I was wondering if anyone knows the best settings on Camstudio for recording long videos (40min or more).

I've been trying to find the h.264 codec, because I know it has high compression, but haven't been able to find a tutorial to install it for Camtudio. If there is a better codec out there or a way to install the h.264 codec please let me know (TerryBritton I know I already asked this on your YouTube video (with the same username by the way), but I want the info somewhere for anyone to see that wants to know, if thats alright).

Also I know that the LAME MP3 encoder is also a great compressed audio format for recording too, but how do I install it without adding anything extra that I won't need (ex. using the K-lite Codec Pack), I just want the LAME MP3.

Thank You in Advanced
~Nelsonngyn0

Recording in MINECRAFT

Lanaru1 — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:15:11 -0400

If you want to record in MineCraft, Post tips, tricks, and suggestions here.
-Lanaru1

Good codec/settings for Let's Play-ing?

cory3c — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:03:37 -0500

Hi. I would like to start a Let's Play, with "would like" being the operative word. After three instances where the video bugged out on me and two re-installs, I think I have everything working the way it should now. All of this, though, has completely destroyed my appetite for messing around with codecs and settings and such. Does anyone know of a good codec for recording 20-40 minute videos in a small enough size for Youtube, yet with good quality?

Portable and Efficient codec for Screentcasting

AKazak — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:18:21 -0400

Greetings, dear community!

I need to make a screencast to share with a friend running a standard Windows XP SP3 without any custom codecs installed. What configuration of CamStudio you would suggest me to use for this task?

Recording Fireworks 8 art demo - how to NOT record the cursor?

dorkfactor — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 02:22:42 -0400

I'm trying to make a demo recording of the progression of a drawing and don't want the Fireworks tool cursor (in this case, a brush circle cursor) on the palette to appear in the screen recording. I just want it to look as though the art appears by itself with no sign of the Fireworks cursor. I'm not talking about the Windows mouse pointer arrow, but the tool cursors (circle for brush, pen icon for pencil, fill icon, etc) show as you interact with the palette. Any ideas here? I'd fiddled with it a bit and have had no luck. Thanks in advance for any help.

Best settings for capturing flash video on the web?

dax702 — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 22:53:53 -0500

There's about a 30 second video that I want to capture from the web (I've tried all the youtube type downloaders for firefox and absolutely none of them work) So my only option is to capture it as it plays with something like Camstudio. So far everything I've tried with Camstudio results in choppy, not in sync video. I don't care anything about the file size, I just want to capture it as it appears in my browser window. Any suggestions as to codec and settings?

Recording Videos via MMORPGs (Tutorial Thread)

coldReactive — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:19:16 -0400

I made a thread over on the Aeria Website: http://www.aeriagames.com/forums/en/viewtopic.php?t=1269325

It has a comprehensive tutorial and reference chart for different video cards, etc. It also has a link at the bottom to an old version of ffdshow (which has MSMPEG4, which is needed for the tutorial.) You can get about 25 fps to 30 fps (still looks horrible) on MSMPEG4. Do not re-edit a 1080p video in Windows Movie Maker. WMM cannot handle 1080p, and will quarter size it when you try to re-export it as 1080p (causing huge black borders)

CamStudio Lossless Codec 1.4

coldReactive — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:39:16 -0400

Just wondering why this will no longer show up in CamStudio 2.0 after I right-click the inf and press install. When it was still an exe, it would work, but not anymore.

2GB recording linit with Camstudio

Janhgm — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:37:29 -0400

The CS version 2.0 and 2.6b (r273) use as container for video AVA-1.
AVI-1 is according the standard limited to recordings of 2.0 GB.
If one exceed the 2 Gb boundery one is not warned but a error dialog appears.

If this occurs with you try to use to read the file with a codec that supports Avi-1 and Avi-2

Using DivX Codecs with CamStudio

Mangobyte — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 23:41:26 -0400

Okay guys. I researched this a bunch, and saw no good solutions in my top-10 Google results, so I'm hoping this can help some people.

First off, how to get the DivX Codecs. This is pretty straightforward, actually. AFTER you've installed CamStudio, go to www.divx.com and navigate your way to their Codec Pack (or cheat and use this url: http://www.divx.com/en/software/divx-plus/codec-pack). Once there, click the "Free Download" button to obtain your codec pack. Download and install as instructed by their documentation. When finished, pick DivX as your compressor under CamStudio's Options > Video Options menu.

Now, for some people this seems to do the trick. Test it out, and if it works, congratulations. If, however, you are one of the hundreds of people who encounter the "Error encoding AVI with current compressor..." message (myself included), you need to do the following:

1) Go to Options > Record to Flash Options and UNCHECK "Delete the Intermediate AVI file upon completion"
2) Click the "SWF" button to switch to "Record to SWF" mode
3) After recording your video as desired, SWF Producer will launch and begin converting your AVI into flash. At this point, either let it finish, or pull up Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Delete) and "End Task" it.
4) Navigate to your default save location and take a look. In addition to the .swf file, there should be a nice, shiny .avi file waiting for you.

Enjoy!

Options

SabresMania — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:59:43 -0400

Can someone explain all of the options and what is best for, say, video game recording? Explain the compression especially, please.

Terry's CamStudio Review at our Sourceforge page

TerryBritton — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 03:09:14 -0400

(Found at https://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/reviews/ - this also appears at http://screencasttutorial.org/45/terrys-camstudio-review-372)

I love this program so much, I've volunteered to help in the forums and added several of the answers to my own blog at http://screencasttutorial.org where I try to compile the best stuff.

There are work-arounds for the "Record From Speakers" failure on several machines - most notably using the "Record from Microphone" settings, and then changing the default input device in one's audio control panel. YouTube has vids on this for XP, Vista and Win 7, so look around.

There are beta versions for this program that add nice features, though not all codecs appear for every version, for some strange reason. (as of r294).

The latest "hot find" is that the Lagarith Lossless Codec (http://lags.leetcode.net/codec.html) seems to record game-play and animated Google Earth tours well - it is the only codec that accomplishes these feats this well in CamStudio. Be forewarned, however, that this is not a video file-size saver -- with 32-bit display video, you'll reach the AVI 2 gigabyte limit in only 575 seconds (9.5 minutes). In 16-bit display video, you'll get 667 seconds (11 minutes). I'd suggest setting the "Options/Automatically Stop Recording" setting accordingly to avoid creating a useless recording effort!

People can use tools such as Microsoft's free "ZoomIt" for zoom - one feature missing in the program itself (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434). I like to use "Sizer" (http://www.brianapps.net/sizer/) for window-size presets, as the beta versions permit recording a window. The early betas had a one-pixel-over measurement error you'll have to work around (2.5 had this first). CamStudio has no problem recording 1280X720HD video on a fast enough machine, but slower machines should settle for 854X480 with auto-pan turned on to get decent fps rates while recording.

Amazing program for recording Microsoft Powerpoint, Open Office Impress or Google Presentation slides, Web-browser activity and program operations for either demos or instruction, as well as being useful for creating sales videos for Internet Marketing purposes.

Audio is the big size-bloater that can quickly cause over-running the AVI spec's built-in 2-gigabyte size limit - choose a mono mode sampling at less than 44.1KHz (22KHz sounds fine). Keep "Capture Frame Every" multiplied times "Playback Rate" summed to 1000ms (1 sec) to keep audio sync intact. If possible, record at 16-bit or 24-bit video display depth to save some file size, and prepare via tests to discover your maximum available time at the settings you choose - 2 Gigabytes is a pretty hard limit due to the AVI Spec, but we've seen some over-runs fixed by VirtualDub in "Direct Streaming Copy" video mode (http://www.virtualdub.org/index.html).

I've been limiting my recordings to 15-minute segments for YouTube anyway. Anyone trying to record whole 3-hour webinars without occasionally stopping/saving/restarting WILL get burned, just so you know... try running two instances of 2.0 (or 2.0 and a beta version) concurrently so you can record overlapping takes.

Terry

Comparing Codec Packs

TerryBritton — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 22:14:23 -0400

Everyone,

I hope people will add to this discussion.

I've been exploring the various "codec packs" available for the best and safest ones to use, and seek input and advice not only concerning the packs themselves but also the best installation practices.

This discussion is primarily about the encoders available in these "packs", for our screen recording purposes, though they all seem to be primarily targeting the people who "want to play every kind of file" they encounter on the web.

For instance, the K-Lite Full-pack includes the LAME MP3 encoder, ffdshow and Xvid, but it has soooooo many codecs that you have to stay "in control" and select only the ones you really need! Particularly these:

ffdshow:
- ffdshow [revision 3487]
- ffdshow VFW interface

VFW video codecs: (VFW stands for "Video For Windows", which pre-dates DirectShow and the new Win7 "Media Foundation" system, but is still supported in Vista and Win7 for backwards compatibility.)

- XviD [version 1.3.0 build 2010-12-07]
- x264 [revision 1834]
- Lagarith [version 1.3.20]
- huffyuv [version 2.1.1 CCE Patch 0.2.5]
- DivX [version 3.11]

(Do we need these???)
- On2 VP7 [version 7.0.10.0]
- huffyuv [version 2.1.1 CCE Patch 0.2.5]
- YV12 (Helix) [version 1.3]
- Intel I.263 [version 2.55.1.16]

ACM audio codecs:
- MP3 (Fraunhofer) [version 3.4.0.0]
- MP3 (LAME) [version 3.98.2]

Do we need this one?
- AC3ACM [version 1.5]

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/k_lite_codec_pack.htm
The best thing about the codec pack approach is that they install and register everything correctly right from the get-go.
But everyone I've ever heard of who installed the "complete package" ran into problems eventually, including myself. Must be something conflicting in there (or just too darn many codecs!!!) :-)

Others at free-codecs.com I've heard of include:

MediaCoder 0.7.5 build 4720: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/MediaCoder.htm
"MediaCoder is an open source audio/video batch transcoder, putting together many excellent audio/video softwares from the open source community into one friendly GUI."

x264VfW - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec 24.1666bm: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DTS_x264_VfW.htm
"x264vfw is the VfW (Video for Windows) version of well known x264 encoder + ffh264 decoder (from FFmpeg project). Install it and you'll be able to play and edit all VfW AVC files with no extra software!"

I've not tried these, but would like to know what your experiences have been like.

DivX:

I've had bad experiences with the DivX installer placing a persistent file, divx-updater, that takes over your machine upon boot-up (that is, it runs a process that eats up 100% of your CPU for several minutes, and remains as a CPU hog for the rest of time). Search the web for that term and it will describe various ways to eliminate it, but the easiest way is to merely re-name the file's folder name so the registry cannot find it.
(...that is, from "DivX Update" to "DivX Update_" adding the underscore - found in the Divx folder in Program Files)
http://www.google.com/search?q=divx-updater

Terry

Best settings for recording games

supanut — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 20:32:05 -0400

Here's how to record a game with good quality.
1. Use MS video 1 as the codec for recording.
2. Run your game in windowed mode not fullscreen mode(portable games like NDS games run in an emulator is recommended).
3. Start recording.
That's it.

side-by-side issue (no other issues please here)

Janhgm — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:08:17 -0400

About Side-by-side issue:

Some people reported that they could not execute Camstudio recorder due to side-by-side configuration conflicts.
This is caused because MS changed dll loading behavior with the introduction of new VS versions but it appears that the different OSes (XP,VISTA, SEVEN) are looking in different locations for dll's to use either.

A fighting dll approach as proposed by Terry can work but it is not a persistent solution. Other users may suffer same problems and will ask for help.

I'm busy to introduce private assemblies for Camstudio release mode (solution advised by MS).
In that case application.manifest file define which dll's will be used.
In our case, the dll's that comes with our distribution and we used for testing before.
I expect that this will solve the side-by-side issues.

Need people who tried to install/use Camstudio but failed due to side-by-side to verify that it works before we release this as a new revision.
@Volunteers , send a message to me.

Jan