Whether it’s trying to teach someone to use a new software or helping someone get through a challenging video game, the ability to capture your screen can be really helpful in a lot of situations.
There are a number of programs out there which can not only capture screenshots but also record complete sessions (although many programs limit this feature to certain time-frames). Capturing a screenshot will get you a JPEG file while recording a session will create a video file (.wmv, .mov, .mp4 etc) for you. Such programs will allow you to record your sessions in full screen with the ability to sync audio along with it. You can also preselect a specific area of the screen to keep your viewer’s focus in that direction, or you can record the complete screen and modifying the video later on.
A very popular feature of such screen recording applications includes the ability to record streaming videos. That way you can record whatever you are streaming and then play it back at your own pleasure at a later time.
You can then easily share the image or video with your friends using Email or social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube etc.
Screen recording can generally be used for a variety of purposes, including:
- Helping out your friends by sharing your knowledge and ideas
- Teaching someone the tips and tricks of a certain software
- Reviewing the latest phones and gadgets and uploading them to YouTube (Video Tutorials)
- Helping someone troubleshoot their PC and presenting solutions to a problem
- Create walkthroughs for video games
In this article, we will look at 3 free applications that will help you record your every move on your system.
HyperCam
HyperCam is a freeware screen recording application that lets you make recordings of your windows sessions. While recording, it can also record audio (voice from a mic).
The interface is relatively simple and easy to understand with users having the option to select a specific region or the whole window for recording. Once the recording session is underway, you can easily pause the session by hitting the ‘Pause’ button.
For video settings and the recording quality, you can change various types of settings under the ‘Options’ menu.
The only downside to this software is its inability to record video playback, which means you’ll have to use a different screen recording software if you want to save streaming videos to your local hard drive.
Screenr
Screenr is a very handy application that helps users to screencast (a fancy name for screen recordings) online, without the need to install a full fledged software on to their systems. With an updated JAVA package installed on your browser, you can simply launch the Screenr application from your browser, record a session (video and audio) and receive a link to the recording once everything’s done. You can share that link with your friends by email or uploading it to YouTube.
Screenr also has great social sharing features with ability to easily share the finished recording video to popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Screenr supports recording for both PC and Mac.
Ezvid
Ezvid is by far the most complete screen recording application for Windows. The creators of Ezvid term it the ‘best free video maker for YouTube’. The best thing about Ezvid is the extremely easy to understand interface. With a click of a button, you can start a recording, select the video quality settings, choose a destination folder for your video and upload the video to your YouTube once it’s all done.
Furthermore, Ezvid also has a built-in video editing tool, which allows modifying a recorded video session by adding audio layers, text, slides, and the usual cut/crop/trim actions. You can also increase/decrease playback for fast/slow motion effects!
The video recording quality is also up to the mark, with fully featured HD (720 x 1280) resolutions, thus making it a perfect solution for uploading videos to YouTube.
The simplicity of the whole package can be judged from the ability to use shortcut keys. Like for example, pressing CTRL + R will enable audio within your recording session, and pressing CTRL + U will upload the current video to YouTube.
Ezvid is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and runs flawlessly on all.
While choosing a screen recording application, always remember to keep in mind the features that make a solid overall package, including the ability to record both audio and video in full screen. We believe the above 3 options are more than enough to get the job done. If you have a different screen recording application in mind, please do share with us!
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