SIGIA-L Mail Archives: SIGIA-L: SUMMARY: VCR-like screen captur
SIGIA-L: SUMMARY: VCR-like screen capture software
From: Karl Fast (karl.fast_at_pobox.com)
Date: Tue Nov 20 2001 - 14:13:03 EST
This is a summary of VCR-like screen capture software which lets you
record all activity on a computer screen to a movie file and then
play it back. Three major software tools were investigated: Lotus
Screencam, Camtasia, and Hypercam. A number of other, similar tools
are described but were not tested.
I posted a request for software like this a few weeks ago. I
gathered these emails together, downloaded suggested software,
tested it, and wrote this summary. It's more of a report than a
summary. I made a lot of notes during my testing and thought I would
write them up for the group. So it's long.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. And I hope this is of some
help.
* WHAT'S IN THIS SUMMARY
- list of software (list of all software suggested)
- requirements for the software (primary and optional)
- comparison table (features of the three major software tools tested)
- test environment (what and how I tested)
- the details (more detail about each tool)
* SOFTWARE LIST (in brief)
First, a brief list of the tools investigated. More detailed notes
about each are listed in later sections, including price, features,
and notes from the testing I did with Screencam, Camtasia, and
Hypercam.
Of the tools suggested, three of them matched most of my requirements
(these requirements are listed in the next section). All three of
these tools will do the job. They are:
Lotus Screencam
http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/screencam
Lotus Screencam ($86) works very well. It had the highest data
capture rate and smoothest playback, while having the least impact
on system performance. Unfortunately Screencam has some important
limitations. It only runs on Windows 95, most versions of Windows
98, and Windows NT. The player does not support rewind (the only
way to go back a frame is to restart the whole video). Finally,
Screencam seems to be a "dead" product. It is still being sold and
supported, but not actively developed. Versions of Screencam for
Windows 2000 and XP seem unlikely.
Camtasia (Techsmith)
http://www.techsmith.com/products/camtasia/camtasia.asp
Camtasia is the most expensive ($150) but has the most features,
best documentation, is being actively developed, and has moderate
impact on system performance while retaining a reasonably high
frame capture rate.
HyperCam
http://www.hyperionics.com/hc/
Hypercam is by far the cheapest ($30) and has all the basic
features, but doesn't have as rich a feature-set as Camtasia and
has performance problems. You can manually reduce the frame
capture rate and set the video codec used during capturing. In the
tests, Hypercam was significantly slower than Camtasia when using
the same codec and frame capture rate.
Other tools were also suggested. These didn't really meet what I
needed and were not thoroughly tested, if at all. But they might be
useful to others so I'm including them here (for more info, see last
section of this summary).
Tea-Leaf
http://www.tealeaf.com/
Screenwatch
http://www.screenwatch.com/screenwatch.html
Ovologger
http://www.ovostudios.com/bundles.htm
URL tracer
http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/grouplab/software/glabster/
Vividence experience management system
http://www.vividence.com/
* REQUIREMENTS
Primary Requirements
- Capture all activity during a user session. Instead of recording by
pointing a camcorder at the screen, record it in software to get
a high fidelity recording.
- realtime recording at minimum of 800x600 at 8-bit color. Higher
resolutions and colors would be nice, but this is the baseline.
Must have negligable impact of system performance.
- be able to play back the recording shortly (preferably immediately)
after the session is complete.
- playback should support play, pause, fast-forward, and rewind.
- runs on Microsoft windows
- low cost (under $200)
- record raw keystrokes, mouse clicks, URL's visited, etc. This
feature does not exist in any of the tools covered. The idea is to
automatically capture this quantitative data instead of having to
transcribe by hand from the recording. One solution is to use one
program to record the "video," and another to record raw keystrokes
and mouseclicks, and then massage them together by hand. "Spywhere"
software can do the second job to varying degrees, but I haven't
seriously investigated these tools.
Optional requirements (might be nice, but not critical)
- Capturing software remains hidden during recording. Don't want to
distract users. Might even be detrimental if they're constantly
reminded that they are being recorded.
- record sound as well as video. Could also do this using a tape
recorder and manually synch, but all in one recording could
simplify things.
- Add visual and/or audible cues to video indicating mouse clicks and
keystrokes. Might be useful for transcription purposes. Audio would
be best here as it wouldn't interfere with the "think after"
- Slow motion playback (not sure how useful this would be)
* COMPARISON TABLE
This table compares the major features of the three tools that most
closely matched my requirements.
Screencam Camtasia Hypercam
------------------------------------------------------------------
Purchase options:
Cost (USD), single copy $86.00 $149.94 $30.00
Downloadable trial version 15 days 30 days Yes (days?)
Buy online Yes Yes Yes
Site license Unsure Yes Yes
Educational discount Unsure Yes No
------------------------------------------------------------------
Platform support:
Windows 95 X X (1) X
Windows 98 (inc. 98 ME/SE) X (2) X X
Windows NT X X X
Windows 2000 - X X
Windows XP - X X
------------------------------------------------------------------
Recording features
hot-keys to start,pause,stop X X X
hide software when recording X X X
record sound X X X
record full screen X X X
record single window, region - X X
control frame capture rate - X X
control compression ratio - X X
------------------------------------------------------------------
Playback features:
play X X X
pause X X X
fast forward X X X
reverse - X X
slow motion - - -
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Windows 95 support requires Win95 OSR2.
2. Lotus Screencam will work on most versions of Windows 98, but it
depends on the video card.
* TESTING
Installed Sceencam, Camtasia, and Hypercam and ran some basic tests.
For each tool I started with a blank screen and started recording.
Then I started IE and ran a 9-10 minute session that involved roughly
equal amounts of time searching three sites: a library OPAC, Google,
and then Amazon.
As many background applications as possible were stopped (eg: palm
hotsynch) for the test session.
Only three applications were running outside of standard system
processes. They were:
1. The recording software being tested
2. Internet Explorer 6.0
3. URL Tracer (a simple, free application that logs each URL
visited during an IE session)
The recording process went as follows:
(a) close all unnecessary applications
(b) start the capture tool being tested
(d) start URL Tracer
(c) begin recording
(e) launch IE using URL tracer
(f) run a 9-10 minute session in IE
(g) stop recording
(h) save recording, evaluate results
The test machine was:
Pentium Pro 200Mhz, with 64MB RAM
Matrox Millenium video card w/8MB RAM
800x600, 8 bit color
Windows NT 4.0, SP6a
Not the fastest machine and this certainly was the cause of some
sluggish system response during the test. All three programs performed
adequately even on this modest hardware. Screencam was by far the best
and exhibited minimal response problems. Camtasia and Hypercam were
noticeably sluggish, but still acceptable. A faster machine should
dramatically sluggishness at the test resolution and color depth, and
may allow testing at higher resolutions and color depths.
The IE cache was cleared before each test. No proxy servers were used.
The internet connection was an 384kps ADSL line.
All tests were run at 800x600 and 8-bit color. Running at 16-bit color
caused significant performance problems. Cursor movements and
scrolling become sluggish and chunky. At 8-bit color this was rarely a
problem. A faster test machine should overcome these problems.
Sound was *not* recorded during the session, although all three tools
have this feature. In addition, both Camtasia and Hypercam can add
sounds to the video indicating mouseclicks and keystrokes. This
feature was not used during the tests.
* SOFTWARE (DETAILED)
More detailed information about most of the software tools, including
notes from the testing that I did.
LOTUS SCREENCAM
http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/screencam
NOTES FROM TESTING
- 8:49 minute test session
- 50 URLs visited (19 from library OPAC; 23 from Google; 8 from Amazon)
- video output: 57.8 MB Screencam file
no audio
800x600 w/256 colors
- Screencam recordings must be processed before they can be played
back. For the test session, Screencam took approximately 70
seconds for "processing data." This processing creates a temporary
file that can then be played back. But this file still needs to be
saved if you want to keep it. This took an additional 30 seconds.
- Screencam had minimal impact on system performance. Both Camtasia
and Hypercam caused noticeable sluggishness in system performance
but the system was still usable. Screencam had significantly less
impact on performance.
- Screencam captured more data than Camtasia and Hypercam. The
playback was smoother. Mouse movements and page scrolling was very
smooth.
- Screencam saves data to a special Screencam movie file. This can
only be played back using the Screecam player (free download).
While Screencam can only record in Win95/98/NT, the videos can be
played back on any Windows system.
- Screencam files can be converted to AVI files. This does not work
well. The test session produced a 57.8 MB screencam file. Saving
this as an AVI file at 10 frames/second generated a 2.5 GB AVI
file.
OTHER COMMENTS, PRODUCT FEATURES
- Screencam records data using a different technique than Camtasia
and Hypercam. Those programs work by capturing data being sent to
the screen and saving directly to an AVI file. Screencam works at
a lower system level. The advantage to this is smoother data
capture with less impact on system performance. The drawback is
that it requires adding Screencam video drivers to your system
(painless) and is very dependant on the system architecture.
That's why Screencam works on Windows 95 and NT, most versions of
98 (depending on the video card), and not at all on Windows 2000
or XP.
- Screencam (for recording) comes in two versions: Windows 95 and
Windows NT4x. The Windows 95 version "does work on Windows 98 (and
its variants) with certain limitations due to some video cards
driver/chip set manufacturers that do not completely comply with
Microsoft recommendations and standards." Screencam cannot record
on Windows 2000 or XP.
- The Screencam player works on all versions of Windows. It's a free
download.
- Because Screencam works at a lower level, it can't handle fancy
cursors or desktop themes. You need to run Screencam on a plain
system that doesn't have fancy cursors or themes.
CAMTASIA (TECHSMITH)
http://www.techsmith.com/products/camtasia/camtasia.asp
NOTES FROM TESTING
- 10.5 minute test session
- 49 URLs visited (15 from library OPAC; 19 from Google; 15 from Amazon)
- video output: 16.7 MB AVI file
no audio
800x600 w/256 colors
8262 frames
13.0 frames/second
- the frame capture rate was automatically determined by Camtasia.
This setting can be manually controlled if necessary. On faster
machines, Camtasia should have no trouble capturing frames at a
higher rate.
- output file was available immediately after recording. No waiting
required. If sound is being recorded, Camtasia records it in a
separate file. When recording is stopped, Camtasia will merge the
two files. During a separate five minute search on the test
machine, merging the videotrack and soundtrack took about 20
seconds.
- Camtasia caused noticeably sluggish system response on the test
machine. A slight pause occured during mouse clicks and when
entering text. The sluggishness was most noticeable when scrolling
pages. It also seemed to slow loading pages. NOTE: a faster test
machine would probably eliminate these problems at 800x600 w/256
colors. Higher resolutions and colors
- the 13 frames/sec capture rate produces fairly smooth playback.
It's easy to follow what was done: mouse movements, search terms
entered, links clicked, page scrollings, etc.
OTHER COMMENTS, PRODUCT FEATURES
- records video directly to an AVI file. Uses a special video codec
called TSCC. This codec is available for free from TechSmith. It's
the technical magic in Camtasia that produces small video files
with high resolution, high frame rates, and good compression. You
need to download and install this codec if you're going to use
Camtasia.
- the Camtasia player is a free download, but doesn't have any
useful features that other video players have (in fact, it has
less features). Because Camtasia creates an AVI file you can use
any video player, as long as the system has the TSCC codec
installed.
- Camtasia Producer (included) is a video editing tool for
combining, editing, and otherwise munging your videos. None of the
other tools included something like this.
- more feature-rich than ScreenCam or Hypercam, although many of
these features were unimportant for my needs.
- Camtasia also sells an SDK (Software Developer Kit) "to allow you
to easily add screen recording functionality into your Windows
application."
HYPERCAM (HYPERIONICS)
http://www.hyperionics.com/hc/
NOTES FROM TESTING
- 9:00 minute test session
- 37 URLs visited (17 from library OPAC; 11 from Google; 9 from Amazon)
- video output: 22.4 MB AVI file
no audio
800x600 w/256 colors
5397 frames
10.0 frames/second
- the first attempt to record used 13 frames/second and the
"auto-detect video compressor" feature. These settings were chosen
to match the Camtasia test. It was a disaster. It took over 1
minute just to load IE and bring up the first page, producing a
1.2 MB video file.
- the second attempt to record involved switching the video codec to
TSCC, the special Camtasia codec. The frame rate was kept at 13
frames/second. IE launched and brought up the first page in about
25 seconds, but system performance remained sluggish.
- the third attempted used the TSCC codec AND reduced the frame
capture rate to 10 frames/second. IE was able to launch and load
the first page in less than 10 seconds and system performance was
roughly comparable to the Camtasia test at 13 frames/second.
- output file was available immediately after recording. No waiting
required. Hypercam can record sounds as well, but this was not
tested.
- Hypercam caused noticeably sluggish system response on the test
machine. The sluggishness was similar to that encountered during
the Camtasia test. But as noted above, this was only achieved by
manually selecting the video codec and reducing the frame capture
rate from 13 to 10 frames per second.
- the 10 frames/sec capture rate produces reasonable playback. While
not as high as the 13 frames/sec that Camtasia captured it is
still easy to follow what was done: mouse movements, search terms
entered, links clicked, page scrollings, etc.
OTHER COMMENTS, PRODUCT FEATURES
- records video directly to an AVI file. Can use any codec installed
on the system. As noted above, Hypercam will attempt to
auto-detect the best codec to use. For the tests, reasonable
performance was achieved by using the TSCC codec supplied with
Camtasia (free download from www.techsmith.com).
- despite the low-cost, Hypercam has a lot of useful features that
are comparable to Camtasia. Hypercam has a lot of manual
configuration options and offers a surprising amount of control
considering the low price.
- if you're on a budget and have a sufficiently powerful machine,
Hypercam is an acceptable choice. In my tests it didn't perform as
well as Camtasia, but adjusting certain parameters made it perform
well enough for it to be usable.
URL TRACER
http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/grouplab/software/glabster/
- logs all URL's visited during an Internet Explorer session. Records
the URL and a date-time stamp. All stored in a comma-delimited text
file that can be easily imported into other applications (like
Excel).
- source code available (visual basic)
- caused no problems when run in conjunction with Camtasia,
Screencam, and Hypercam.
- available from an HCI research group at the University of Calgary
TEALEAF CLIENT-SIDE CAPTURE (TEALEAF)
http://www.tealeaf.com/downloads/clientside_capture.asp
- NOT TESTED. Requires IE 5.5 or later and Windows 2000. I don't have
a W2K machine and couldn't test.
- From the web site: "TeaLeaf Client-Side Capture enables you to
capture your own Web sessions while browsing your own site or other
sites on the Web. Once your session has been captured, you can
immediately replay it using the TeaLeaf visual replay application.
Installed as a tool-bar within Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 (or
above), TeaLeaf Client-Side Capture provides a quick and fully
functional sample of the ability to capture and analyze the
complete user experience--directly from your own computer."
- free 30-day trial. Must register to download.
- Also offer server side capturing solutions for IIS, BEA Weblogic,
and SAP ITS. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but it does look
like an interesting solution. Nobody else seems to solve the
problem quite this way.
- Clearly aimed at e-commerce and corporate clients.
OVOLOGGER
http://www.ovostudios.com/bundles.htm
- NOT TESTED.
- Designed for the usability tester who wants a software tool that
can collect and manage data from usability testing sessions.
- The site has a free version available for download, but this
doesn't include the video recording component. That costs extra,
but the web site doesn't indicate how much money. Since I already
had good options I didn't explore this further.
SCREENWATCH
http://www.screenwatch.com/
- NOT TESTED.
- This can (I think) do the recording as in the requirements, but
the emphasis is recording for live streaming, or recording to disk
and then streaming. Streaming video seems to be the main goal.
- The most basic version is $245 USD, and goes up from there
depending on streaming requirements.
- To get a demo you need to fill out a form with contact
information. I never bothered to do this.
VIVIDENCE EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
http://www.vividence.com/
- NOT TESTED.
- Vividence has a unique approach to evaluating the effectiveness of
a site. Basically they "hire" a bunch of people as testers. Anyone
can sign up to be on the vividence test list. Then you, the person
who's bought their system, uses the web site to create a series of
tasks for these users (you select users based on demographic data
they provide when they register). They do the tasks and their
actions are tracked through software. Reports are created
automatically and made accessible over the web. In essence,
remotely controlled usability testing. More involved but that's
the basic idea.
- This wasn't useful for me because I'm doing an academic research
study and need to conduct my study so I can observe and talk with
the participants. But for a company wanting to do some testing,
this may be a compelling solution.
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