What is Video Screen Capture? Video or screen capture is a technique that involves recording images and sound from a video display device such as a computer monitor.
A video screen capture is a software or a tool that can be used for capturing screens in a video sequence. This type of software is very useful for illustrating videos, previewing new applications, messaging back-end code, and so on. As far as the best hardware for video recording is concerned, it would depend on your requirements. If you are looking to use video games or other graphics-intensive tasks, you may need to go for extra RAM.
Video screen capture allows you to create video recordings of your desktop. These videos can be useful for training purposes, email marketing, and also for creating tutorials. With the rise of high-speed internet and smartphone cameras, many of us now carry a video camera in our pockets at all times. If you’re running a business it’s vital that your customers understand how to use your website and/or software – screen capture is a very effective way of doing that.
Free Cam
Free Cam is a very simple free screen recorder with a built-in audio/video editor. The attractive and intuitive interface allows you to create screencasts with the ease of a professional. Even though this software is free, it doesn’t place any watermark and is ad-free.
Pros
- No watermark, time limits, or ads
- Records voice-overs and computer sounds
- High-quality resolution
- Users can save videos as WMV or upload them directly to YouTube
- Easily deletes unwanted video fragments
- Removes background noise
- Wide selection of audio effects
Cons
- Saves recordings to WMV only
- No webcam recording
ShareX
ShareX is an open-source ad-free tool that boasts almost as many custom features as some paid software screen recorders. ShareX is mostly targeted toward developers and power users, so an average customer might get lost in the many advanced tools and editors.
Pros
- Records full screen, window, monitor, region, freehand, or scrolling
- Incorporates hotkeys for easier and quicker navigation
- Supports many URL sharing services
- Imports existing videos, music, or photos
- Allows custom watermarks and color effects
- A variety of export options
Cons
- Low quality of game recording
- Complicated for the average user
- No webcam recording
- Reported to fail while uploading large files
- No video editor
TinyTake
TinyTake by MangoApps is a sophisticated screen recorder that allows you to capture images and videos from your computer screen, add comments, and share them with others in minutes. TinyTake comes with an online cloud-based gallery where you can store all your screen captures and recorded videos.
Pros
- Bulk file sharing
- Public URL available for sharing
- Built-in online file viewer for images, videos, and documents
- Allows you to create custom shortcut keys
- Video player is compatible with mobile devices
Cons
- Free version has a 5-minute limit for video recording
- Video files are saved as MP4 only
- Limited editing features
OBS Studio
OBS Studio is a powerful open-source software for video recording and live streaming. You can create scenes composed of multiple sources: images, texts, window captures, browser windows, webcams, capture cards, and more, and then switch between them seamlessly via custom transitions. Unlike many other free competitors, OBS Studio packs a lot of features and settings. But all this can seem overkill for those who just need a quick and easy screen capture solution.
Pros
- Allows you to set up multiple scenes and use various sources
- Includes built-in audio mixer with per-source filters
- Provides advanced configuration options
- Does not add watermarks
- Has no recording limit
- Supports multiple streaming services
Cons
- Some users find the interface quite clunky
- Learning curve is steep for non-techs
- Reported to crash quite often
- Not suited for quick screen recording
Loom
If you want to quickly record something and share a link, give Loom a chance. Loom isn’t overly complicated when it’s time to record: you can choose whether you want to record just your screen, your screen with webcam video, or just your webcam. Once you finish, your video will be uploaded to Loom. You can do some basic editing in the browser if you want, or you can copy the link to share the video. It’s all very quick.
With the free version of Loom, you can store up to 25 videos of up to five minutes each. It’s limited, sure, but great for quickly showing something to a collaborator, coworker, and/or archenemy. And you can always download your videos and store them somewhere else if you’re getting close to that 25 video threshold.
Having said that, Loom isn’t perfect. The desktop app works well, but we found the mobile apps limited in confusing ways. The Android version, for example, requires users to enter their Google password in order to log in instead of using the built-in Android support for Google accounts, which is odd. The iPhone and iPad apps can’t combine video with screencasting.
Still, Loom will get the job done without a lot of fuss for most users.
Camtasia
The Camtasia video capture interface is straightforward and no-nonsense. You choose your capture area, whether or not to include webcam and microphone inputs, and click Record.
Its built-in video editor is a different story. There’s an exhaustive list of editing options that manage not to feel overwhelming. Click-and-drag effects and a decent selection of stock media are located along the left-hand side of the app, with detailed properties and customizations appearing on the right-hand side whenever you select an element from the timeline.
Camtasia provides outstanding tutorial videos for anyone that struggles with its editing tools. Creating surprisingly professional intro and outro segments and dropping them into our test video took a matter of seconds. Our only hiccup was with the interactivity features, which allow you to add quizzes or clickable buttons to your project. Configuring these elements was easy enough, but previewing the video and exporting the final product was noticeably more complicated after adding interactivity.
This is also the only app we tested with a closed captions tool that loops audio while you add the text. A four-second segment plays until you’re done typing, and then you can press Tab, and it plays the next loop.
Zappy
Sometimes you just want to quickly make a recording and send it to someone, without having to edit anything or mess around with a bunch of settings. Zappy is perfect for this. This app is triggered using a keyboard shortcut or using the menu bar icon. Select which portion of the screen you want to record, hit the video camera button, then hit stop when you’re done. You can record a voiceover using your microphone if you want.
If you’re a paid Zapier user, the recording will be uploaded to the cloud and a link copied to your clipboard. If not, you can grab the video file locally and share it however you like. You won’t find a lot in the way of settings, and there’s no editing capability, but you can add arrows, boxes, basic text, and obfuscation while you’re recording (or after the fact for a screenshot). It’s just a fast way to share something.
Cards on the table: this is our app. We built Zappy for internal use, basically because we couldn’t find a tool that worked quite the way we wanted. We thought people might find it useful, so we released it to the public.
ScreenFlow
If you’ve been searching for a Mac screen recorder with audio capabilities, then you’d love ScreenFlow.
Its range of features includes the options to record your Mac at retina resolution, group video components, and settings, and add background audio to the recorded footage. You’d also love the “Styles” and “Templates” tools that come as part of the software.
Styles lets you save visual/audio settings for certain elements like drop shadows or color filters for a recorded segment.
Templates, on the other hand, let users arrange, insert and configure groups of annotations in advance, such as text placeholders and outro segments.
Those who subscribe to the Super Pak version of ScreenFlow (a more expensive plan) also get access to over 500,000 pieces of unique images and audio clips to use in all of their videos.
So if you’re looking to make the most of your screen recordings, ScreenFlow is unlikely to disappoint.
Screencastify
Screencastify is another screen recording application that works via Google Chrome.
Whether you’re a seasoned or a novice video creator, you’ll find that Screencastify offers all of the important options.
You can use it to capture your webcam, entire screen or tab only, as well as narrate to your microphone.
It also presents you with annotation tools that help keep your viewers focus on what’s critical. Click highlighting, drawing pen tool, and mouse spotlight are all included.
And once you’re recorded the screen, Screencastify will do the heavy lifting for you by autosaving the video to your Google Drive.
Like many of the best screen recording software options, Screencastify gives you the option to upload to YouTube, as well as export the recording as an animated GIF, MP3, or MP4.
Conclusion
Videos are being watched more than ever on the internet. YouTube, Vimeo, and other video sharing sites have gained massive popularity in recent years. As a result of all this user-created content, it’s becoming increasingly common for people to want to download or capture videos of certain content.