Webcam Video Capture 7.0

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on October 28, 2012

As the old adage goes, seeing is believing, which is why we've seen such an abundance of screen-capture tools. But what if you want to capture video instead of a static picture? That's where Webcam Video Capture comes in. As its name suggests, it offers users a means to capture video and save it to their computer. Sadly, however, in practice, we found it clunky to use and glitchy to the point that it crashed on us, requiring reinstallation.

Webcam Video Capture's user interface is small and seemingly straightforward at first glance. Buttons labeled New Session, Record, Stop, Play, Settings, Help, and Support line the top of the window. Quick links at the bottom of the window, which can also be accessed via menus at the top of the window, let you apply more advanced settings to your video captures. For our first round, we went straight to YouTube. We selected a video from the site and while it was playing, we clicked Record, but the program didn't start recording right away; instead, a window popped up that gave us directions for recording the video. We had to click on the pointer and then drag and drop it onto the video, then click a different Record button -- and in the process missed the exact footage we wanted to capture. Our computer froze for a few seconds, but eventually the program successfully saved the video as an AVI file, which we were able to play in Windows Media Player. We noticed that the video didn't contain sound, so we paid a visit to the online Help file to figure out why. Right away we found the answer, or so we thought. The directions told us to go to a menu option that was named differently in the actual program. Still, we were able to figure out where to go and enable the audio capture capability. For our second round, we tried to capture the same video, but doing so caused our browser to crash, and then we couldn't get the program to run again and had to uninstall and reinstall it. After all was said and done, we found Webcam Video Capture's performance too inconsistent to make it a keeper. We also prefer more precise capture capabilities with our video capture tools. For that reason, we recommend you skip this one.

Webcam Video Capture comes as a ZIP file and requires you to enter an e-mail address for registration. It installs cleanly, but leaves a folder behind upon removal.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Webcam Video Capture 7.0.

Publisher's Description

From Webcam Simulator:

Capture webcams, streaming video, full screen, part of the screen and even video with sound. Seeing is believing! Use Webcam Video Capture to make people witness what you want to convey through an audio-visual medium. There are times when sharing exactly what you see on your screen is the quickest and clearest way to communicate. Capture and Share Anything : Webcam(s), any window, part of the screen or full screen to AVI or WMV video formats. Instruct Others With Quick "How-To" Illustrations : Demonstrate a product, create a presentation with your own audio narration, make a voiceover tutorial, or walk through a website review.

What's new in this version: Version 7.0 adds fix for wmv files