Screensharing comes to Skype
(Credit: Skype)Skyper users, it seemed, either loved or hated the revamped Skype 4.0 for Windows. With Skype 4.1 beta (download), unveiled Wednesday, Skype hopes to earn a little more love by reinstating some beloved extras and adding one big new feature: screen sharing.
Skype's screensharing feature is a clever addition to the VoIP communications application. In our tests it was engaging, especially when paired with Skype's voice calling and chatting capabilities. The fair screen quality and few seconds of lag time won't bother most casual users, but at this point we wouldn't recommend Skype's new feature for replacing a dedicated screensharing application or service for frequent collaborators. Skype's screensharing is view-only; it is not a remote access tool like CrossLoop, which is geared for providing technical assistance. For demonstration purposes, however, Skype's screensharing is just one more way to connect with faraway contacts.
Screensharing begins by clicking the "share" drop-down on a contact screen and choosing "Share your screen." Skype then gives you the choice to record the full screen or a region. Pressing the button to initiate the screen share also launches an audio call. You can later resize by clicking and dragging the thick red borders. During a session, a button toggles you between full and partial screen modes. Because screensharing essentially broadcasts a video recording of your screen to your contact, you can't place a video call and share the screen at the same time--you'll choose one or the other.
You can share all or some of your screen.
(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)It's also worth noting that Skype's screensharing feature, like many others, is unidirectional, view-only, and by invitation, which gives the host control over beginning and ending each session. With one-way viewing, your guest sees only the screen that's bounded by the recorder's borders. Because it's unidirectional, Skypers won't see each others' screens simultaneously.
Skype's screensharing addition begins to offer an inexpensive alternative for international business communications, though right now it works between two users--one host and one guest--at a time. You can switch roles easily and often. We're guessing that the screensharing capability will be expanded in the future to group calls, so a host can share their screen with multiple recipients. (It will be interesting to see if Skype will then follow that enterprise breadcrumb to compete with well-known collaboration and Web meeting software in the future--but right now this is all conjecture.)
Other changes
Skype 4.1 beta also reintroduces birthday reminder alerts and contacts-sharing, which were two features left out of Skype during its upgrade from version 3.8 to 4.0. Birthday reminders are automatic notices you receive on a contact's birthday if they've added this information to their profile. The send-a-contact feature can be found in the Conversation navigation menu under the "Send" option.
Two other notable reinclusions are the ability to import contacts from Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, AOL, and LinkedIn in addition to Skype 4.0's support for Yahoo and Microsoft Outlook products; and a screen reader accessibility tool to help visually impaired people use Skype.
All these additions make Skype's latest a substantial beta update. But since it's in beta, there may be bugs and some stability issues--we experienced a couple crashes ourselves during testing. Frequent Skype users will want to experiment with 4.1 beta. So will those who have lamented the absence of birthday reminders, even if you don't intend to use the screensharing feature.
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CNET)
Folks looking for free screen-recording applications may be well aware of Jing Project and CamStudio. TipCam is equally deserving, if not more so.
The freeware screen recorder loads a scosh more than the basics into an attractive and compact display, and throws in a few tricks all its own. We're talking about drawing on the screen with your mouse while you record, and recording remote desktops via a VNC server. Brilliantly, if you press the hot key to zoom in, the framing brackets will follow your mouse until or unless you lock them in place.
Unfortunately, the TipCam control panel isn't so intelligent. If you're not careful, it might inadvertently star in your screencast. After you become familiar with the icons, it's best two switch to mini mode to keep it out of the way.
TipCam's audio recording feature is more primitive-leaning--there's no post-production studio for editing audio if you mess up. Thankfully, you can rerecord with the voice-over tool. It's not a perfect method, but it's better than having to rerecord takes. Recording a separate audio track and tweaking it with a small editor would be the most ideal.
TipCam's developers have put good thought behind its delivery modes. In a click, you can upload to UtipU.com. There's also YouTube uploading you configure as the default, and the capability to make your recording a private link that's inserted into a new e-mail message for you to send to selected recipients.
TechSmith raises the bar with version 6 of Camtasia Studio, which was released Wednesday. While the essentials remain the same in this feature-stuffed software for creating and producing screen recordings, a few well-placed adjustments and capabilities make their mark in creating overall faster screencasts.
Among the changes, support for high-definition (Blu-ray) video, independently editable audio and video tracks, and time-saving hot keys are the most critical.
The ability to produce HD-quality screencasts (for the Web and mobile phones) is cool for those with HD computers, but on the technical side, the HD-friendly format (MPEG-4 AVC format with H.264 compression) produces videos faster and in dramatically smaller files than the Shockwave format (SWF) that was Camtasia Studio's default before this release. Videos play back in Flash, so you'll be making Web demos, for instance, that use less bandwidth. You will lose a smidge in quality with the format (about 10 percent, TechSmith estimates), but it's of little notice to the untrained eye.
Larger icons make it easier to cut to the chase while recording.
(Credit: CNET)Editing tools
The brand-new ability to edit audio and video tracks separately is another noticeable improvement to Camtasia Studio 6, and one you'd find in professional video production software like Final Cut Pro for Mac. This is a huge boon for anyone who needs a few passes to get their recording right. If you made a mistake in a previous version, you'd have to restart your narration and screen recording until you got it right. Cropping a video clip in the timeline also meant chopping off your narration along with it. This new division of labor lets you sub in sections of tape and video without wrecking the entire timeline.
Camtasia Studio 6 also scores big with hot keys, introduced for the first time in this version. By pressing a single letter on the keyboard, you'll be able to split the video (S), and add zoom (Z), transitions (T), callouts (C), captions (A), markers (M), and extended frames (E) in the video timeline. We've tried this and it's instantaneous.
A handful of loose tweaks also tightens up Camtasia Studio 6. For instance, the splash screen and recording module have gotten a visual scrubbing. The recorder, which seemed unfinished in the last version, is now much more dashing in a dark module set with large icons for recording areas of the screen. The new design lets you turn cursor effects on or off anytime during your screencast. You can also quash the perpetually blinking and often distracting corners found in version 5.1 that signified when the recorder was on.
In the realm of advanced editing, the 'tilt' feature adds perspective to a screenshot and can be used effectively (but judiciously) in combination with zoom and pan effects to make it appear that you're gliding into the center of the video. A new slider control lets you decide the effect's duration. Our one peeve: it's buried in the Advanced portion of the Zoom and Pan menu.
A new editing feature lets you tilt the video left and right.
(Credit: CNET)The last added feature we'll mention is new support for dropping any self-contained MOV file into the video timeline. The ability to splice and intersperse video with PowerPoint slides, screen recordings, and scenes from the imported video has been available for AVI, WMV, and MPEG-1 formats in past Camtasia Studio builds. Version 6 brings the valuable capability to MOV files, while support for MPEG-4 formats has been unfortunately shelved for another day.
Price
Camtasia Studio 6 costs $299 new, $149 for an upgrade, and has a free 30-day trial that we'll post here.
The steep price tag makes Camtasia Studio 6 better suited for pro bloggers, businesses, academics, and avid amateurs, but those able or willing to make the investment will find a classy screen-recording application that continues to advance its flexibility, speed, and ease of use. Those looking for quick and dirty screencasts should look to CamStudio's freeware.
YouTube isn't the only way to share video, and it's certainly not the way to store and share professional screencasts with hiked-up bitrates. After 18 months as a beta mewling, on Wednesday, TechSmith's Screencast.com graduated to a full-fledged release.
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CNET Networks)
Version 1 of Screencast.com continues to receive screen recordings produced in the freeware Jing Project (for Windows and Mac) and premium Camtasia Studio, though it's available to anyone willing to register and pay for storage. It has come some distance from the site covered by Webware.com as part of a July 2007 review of Jing Project. Webware editor Rafe Needleman had remarked that
"the well-established Screencast.com site is the weak link in the chain. It's unattractive, and the links you need (the embed codes) are nearly impossible to find. Plus, after 60 days, the free trial service expires--so don't get hooked if you can't stomach the $6.95-a-month fee for screencast hosting."
A lot has changed since then. Screencast.com's makeover addresses most of these critiques. In addition to a revamped interface, said Dirk Frazier, Screencast.com's product manager, in an interview with CNET, "we've moved from what was a very confusing workflow to a polished workflow."
Clicking "Share" pulls up URLs and embed codes you can copy to the clipboard.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Though still simple, Screencast.com's UI is intuitive and pleasant to behold. As a new addition to version 1, a details dialog springs up with each newly created folder. A portlier Help Center features a new design with improved search and deeper answers to common questions. Similarly, a new Tools page lays out links to TechSmith tools, like a media uploader for desktop videos and the MediaRoll embed widget that shares folder content for public folders.
The navigation buttons along the left remain useful for executing uploads and managerial tasks. Clicking an entry in the visual file system similarly offers up intuitive icons to open, edit, delete, or share the recording. (P.S. Clicking "share" is one way to get at those embed codes.)
Screencast.com's developers have also been sweating over back-end changes, like adopting a multiserver architected back-end that can bear more visitors and their recordings. Over the past six months, Frazier added, "lots and lots of improvements have been made on the data center side."
Fans of the service can expect more, too, in the upcoming months. Frazier's blog shares a snippet of Screencast.com's technical road map that includes H.264 encoded playback and social tools to "create a conversation around your content." "Oops," he writes, "that might be too much sharing."
If programs were people, the sleeker, trimmer-looking Camtasia Studio 5 would be the guy or gal who, after emerging from a months-long stint with a personal trainer, has now stretched out on the sand to enjoy the response.
Behind the scenes, TechSmith's Camtasia team has been pumping serious iron into a handful of new features for each of Camtasia's major recording, editing, producing, and playback functionalities. The final result is a more robust screen recording and producing app that's gained significant muscle without added fat. While there are still some flaws to work out, Camtasia Studio 5 offers streamlined performance for the same price as its predecessor--$299 new; $149 to upgrade.
Here's a look at the new and enhanced features in order of appearance.... Read more
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