- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Date added: June 01, 2009
- Total Downloads: 39,002
- Downloads last week: 458
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 26 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Jessica Dolcourt on June 08, 2009
What began as a freeware project to easily share basic screen captures and screen recordings has grown into a solid application and capture distribution system with a premium component. Jing's attractive application takes a sound, simple approach to capturing; begin by dragging the crosshairs to define your capture field and then take a still or start a recording. When you're done, save it to your computer or upload it to Screencast.com (operated by Jing's publisher), an FTP site, Flickr, or YouTube (for a premium). If you've got Snagit or Camtasia Studio, TechSmith's premium programs for capturing and editing stills and videos, respectively, you can click a button on the post-capture toolbar to send the capture along for deeper editing than Jing's basics can supply.
Apart from sharing ease, Jing has some other clever features that don't diminish its conscious simplicity. The yellow "sun" icon that can be moved around the edges of your screen is what you hover over to get started, though in the brief preferences menu you can hide the sun and call up the crosshairs with a hot key. Two other hot keys now help Jing's capture crosshairs snap to common aspect ratios. Press Ctrl to maintain a 4:3 aspect ratio and Shift for 16:9 wide-screen proportions. While locked into a ratio, dragging out the crosshair shows you boundaries for common screen measurements within that ratio that you can easily snap to, like 320x240 or 640x480. This is a nice addition in keeping with Jing's visual, low-text-density design.
In the latest release, subscribers to the $15-a-year Jing Pro gain the ability to record from their Webcam. You can toggle between Webcam and screen recording during a screen capture.
Less convenient is the requirement of the Microsoft .NET Framework, which can take several minutes to install if it's absent. Once that's out of the way, though, you've got on your hands a well-featured screen capture app that's visual enough for nontechies to use and has enough features for sharehounds to easily distribute recordings and images that require limited post-capture modifications.
Watch the CNET video review of Jing:
Publisher's description
From TechSmith :Jing - Visual Conversation
The always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video... from your computer to anywhere.
The Jing sun sits nicely on your desktop, ready to capture at a moments notice. Select an area on your screen, capture it as an image or record as video. Make it your own by adding text, arrows, and other effects. Share instantly over the web, IM, and email.
Make all your online conversations crystal clear by adding quick and simple visual elements using Jing.
What's new in this version:
Version 2.1 gives premium users the ability to record from their Web cam. All users get use of hotkeys to snap the crosshairs to common aspect ratios, and export abilities to Snagit and Camtasia.More popular Video Capture Software downloads
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.7 stars out of 26 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 11 user reviewsSee all 11 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: Jing 2.1
Pros: Didn't find any since it required registration
Cons: Requested registration, not good..
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Version: Jing 2.1
"Was not what I was looking for."
Pros: I do not know as I did not use it.
Cons: None that I know of.
Summary: Ok I guess.
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Jing 2.1
Pros: Easy to load and use. It is free.
Cons: Only 5 minutes per recording.
Summary: When it is free and it works it is hard to complain.
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Version: Jing 2.1
"Great resolution, but NO sound in the free version"
Pros: I'e tested quite a few free video screen capture tools, and this one so far is hands down the best quality video resolution I've seen.
Cons: Jing said "Microphone is on" when I started recording. My mic is properly hooked up. I have a professional recording project studio, so I know what I'm doing. There is nothing wrong whatsoever with my set up. The SWF files saved contain no sound.
Summary: I do have a trouble ticket filed with their help site, and am awaiting word. I use Pro Tools, Cakewalk, Audacity, and several other recording softwares and DAWs. I have no idea why Jing isn't capturing sound even though it says it is.
Hop... read more >> -
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: Jing 2.1
Pros: East install, loved the "sun" gui, intuitive and relative easy to use
Cons: I couldn't get the sound to record.
Summary: I uninstalled the program.
- See all 11 user reviews Write review
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