gw

See it on line, show it in class!
Recording video from the Internet
Brad MARSHALL
http://www.gwu.edu/~francais/video/
There are several programs available for making a video of what is on your PC computer screen, from expensive software such as Camtasia, to the less expensive Hypercam, to free, open-source programs such as CamStudio. This presentation focuses on CamStudio using Windows XP, though many of the suggestions are valid for other software and Windows Vista.

INSTALLING CAMSTUDIO
(Instructions for Windows Vista users.)
  1. Download CamStudio to your computer and save it to your Desktop.
    ATTENTION: The link is in the middle of the web page and is called "CamStudio20.exe".
    (Here is a backup copy.)
  2. After the "exe" file has downloaded to your Desktop, double-click on it to install CamStudio:
    Click Run, check that you "agree with the above terms", click Next, Start and, when finished, OK twice.

PREPARING YOUR PC TO RECORD VIDEO
(Flash video demo (made with Camtasia) ; Flash video demo (made with CamStudio))

  1. Right click on your Desktop and choose Properties.
  2. Click on Settings, then Advanced.
  3. Click on Troubleshoot.
  4. Move the Hardware acceleration cursor to the third setting. Below it will read "Disable all DirectDraw and Direct3D accelerations...". This often solves the problem where the recording captures the audio well, but only shows a black screen.

PREPARING CAMSTUDIO
(Flash video demo (made with Camtasia); AVI video demo (made with CamStudio))

  1. Click on the Region menu and select Region.
  2. Click on the Options menu, then Video Options.
  3. You should see "Microsoft Video 1"as the chosen Compressor.
    (This makes good quality but very large files. If you are interested in using a different compressor that produces smaller files (but is more complicated to use), click here.)
  4. Set the "Quality" to 100.
  5. Click on Configure and set the "Temporal Quality Ratio" to 1.00.
  6. Click OK to exit the configure window, and click OK to exit Video Options.
  7. Go to the Options menu again, and select "Record audio from speakers".
    (If you use a desktop PC, you may receive an error message when you attempt to select this setting. If so, click here. Vista users see here.)
  8. Go to the Options menu again, click on Audio Options and select Audio Options for Speakers.
  9. Click on Adjust Playback Volume to ensure that your volume is not muted and is set in the middle.
  10. Slide the Recording volume to the right, and least halfway. You may need to adjust this again later.
    (NOTE: On some computers, adjusting playback volume (what you hear) may also change recording volume. It is therefore best not to change the volume level during a recording.)

RECORDING

  1. Browse to the Internet video you wish to record.
  2. Start the Internet video clip and immediately hit Pause.
  3. Click the round red Record button on CamStudio.
  4. Place your cursor at the top right corner of the video image you want to record, press and drag your cursor to the bottom left corner.
    NOTE: It can be useful to note down the image size you have just chosen (width and height) if you plan to later convert the file to a smaller format.
  5. Let go of the mouse (to automatically start the CamStudio recording) and immediately press Play on your Internet video player.
    Remember: Do not change the audio volume while you are recording.
  6. Click the square blue "Stop" button on CamStudio when you are finished.
  7. The Save AVI File window will appear. Choose a location on your PC to save the recording (Desktop or in My Documents) and type a File name.
  8. Click Save. (It should take at least 30 seconds for CamStudio to prepare a 1 minute avi file).
  9. The CamStudio player will appear where you can test the recording.
    NOTE: A 1 minute recording using the "Microsoft Video 1" compressor makes an approximately 150MB avi file. The avi file can later be reduced in size (see below) but it is best to keep recordings limited to a maximum of 2 or 3 minutes - because of both file size and the time necessary for CamStudio to process 3 minutes or more of video once you have finished.

REDUCING AVI FILE SIZE
(Flash video demo (made with Camtasia))
A 150MB 1 minute recording is fine for burning to a CD-ROM or saving on a Flash drive to show in the classroom, but is normally too large to upload to a course web site (on BlackBoard for example). One solution is to make a smaller version using a program such as the free WinFF.

  1. Download and install WinFF.
  2. Open WinFF and click on the "Add +" button.
  3. Browse to and select the AVI file you created with CamStudio. Click Open (the location of the file will appear in WinFF - C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\etc.).
  4. Next to "Convert To..." choose "AVI".
  5. Next to "Device Preset" choose "XviD in AVI (16:9)" for rectangular image sizes. (See Note in step 8 for other options if this setting does not work properly.)
    If your original recording is an unusual image size (Width x Height), you can add it under Additional Options. You should be able to find the image size by placing your mouse over the orginal avi file: a small window should appear with the file name, type, duration, size and Dimensions.
    NOTE 1: If you set a specific image size, both width and height must be divisible by 2. For example, if your original recording is 391x200, type 390x200.
  6. Select and "Output Folder" (such as your Desktop, but NOT in the folder where you saved your original avi file as it will keep the same name and thus ask to replace the original file).
  7. Press the Convert button.
  8. A small black command window will appear with code showing the conversion. When finished, you will see "Press any key to continue". Press a key to exit.
    NOTE:
    -) It should take about twice as long as the recording to convert: a 1 minute recording will be converted in 90-120 seconds.
    -) The new AVI file will be over 90% smaller than the original (!). A 150MB file should become a 10MB file.
    -) If you click on the new smaller AVI file and see that it is upside down, you need to reset your Hardware Acceleration settings (see above) to Full.
    -) If your computer does not show the image of your new AVI file, convert the original file again but for "Convert To..." choose one of the following:
    AVI and MS Compatible AVI; or WMV and WMV2 ; or MP4 and 16:9.

If you have finished all your recordings, be sure to reset your Hardware Acceleration settings (see above) to Full.

OTHER

  1. CamStudio can also be used to make video demonstrations of what you are doing on your computer. For instance, you can record the various steps involved for students to register and log into an Internet resource you may have them use (online exercises with a textbook? online discussion forum?)
    For details about useful demonstration video features (Autopan, Screen Annotations, etc.) ask Brad.
  2. CamStudio allows you to save a recording in a smaller Flash (SWF) format (see video demo above for "Preparing your PC"), but currently does not created a Flash player with a cursor or Forward and Rewind options. It is therefore generally not useful for recordings that are longer than 10 or 15 seconds where students might want to listen to a particular part more than once. Note, also that the Flash pages made with CamStudio do not always work in Firefox browsers.

Go to top of page