Recording your desktop as a movie

[dell3]

Can anyone explain how to record your desktop as a movie. I have Windows 7 Professional. I have been told there is free software to do this, and that you can use it to upload instructional videos to YouTube. I would like to figure out how to do this. I'm finding a lot of old information, but every little 2012 information.
I have not figured out what Microsoft Expression
http://www.microsoft.com/expression
does yet. It sounds like it might do it, and that there might have been a free version in the past. I'm still unclear. Can anyone explain the quickest easiest way to record desktop videos and put them on YouTube?
Thank you!

 

[boohbah]

i can recommend action, it isn't free but has a 30 day trial

Action! - The world's No. 1 games and desktop recorder!

 

[dell3]

Thank you! Action! looks interesting. However, the video format is confusing. It sounds like it records in .FIC. How then do I get it into format for YouTube? See below from the Action Website:
What is the format of recorded videos?
Action! records videos in its own format called FIC. This is highly optimized codec for games and desktop recordings. Action! includes internal ultra responsive player optimized for video recordings playback.
With Action! you can export your video recordings to popular devices, YouTube™ and Facebook.

How can I playback recorded videos?
Action! includes internal ultra responsive player optimized for video recordings playback. Select a video recording on the list and click play icon or use mouse double click on a thumbnail to start video recording playback. To playback raw Action! video recordings you can also use one of Splash media players. Splash PRO and Splash PRO EX provide additional features like SmartSeek, Audio boost, Screen capture and more. To download Splash products please visit downloads page. To use Splash for video recordings playback please associate FIC files with installed Splash player.

Does Action! use hardware acceleration for video exporting like Splash PRO EX?
Yes, Action! exports recorded videos to popular formats/devices using NVIDIA CUDA and Intel Quick Sync Video acceleration.
How will I convert an action FIC video into something I can use for YouTube? Thanks!

 

[FerchogtX]

Do you need to record games or whatever you do In your desktop?
HyperCam
I use it, and is just perfect, you can save as AVI and then edit in movie maker so you can upload to youtube and totally FREE

See ya!!

 

[boohbah]

action has an upload function to youtube, you set your profile ie HD and size and it does the rest,



i think its a nice bit of kit, it captures full screen or a selected section, it isnt all singing dancing like camtasia but for $23 its excellent value
at christmas i used camtasia to capture my full desktop, and the quality wasnt very good at all, with Action its almost impossible to tell the difference between the screen and a playback of your capture,
im begining to sound like a salesman now , but this is a very impressive software.
try it you have 30 days trial.

 

[dell3]

Do you need to record games or whatever you do In your desktop?
HyperCam
I use it, and is just perfect, you can save as AVI and then edit in movie maker so you can upload to youtube and totally FREE
See ya!!

HyperCam sounds great, but apparently does not have a Windows 7 version: "HyperCam v.2 is compatible with Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit releases, XP and 2000." Do you use it with Windows 7 without any trouble? Thank you.

 

[dell3]

So here are the prices so far:
Expression Studio 4 Web Professional
Expression Web + SuperPreview
Expression Encoder
Expression Design
Estimated Retail Price - $149 USD

Action! - $23

HyperCam - Free

 

[FerchogtX]

Do you need to record games or whatever you do In your desktop?
HyperCam
I use it, and is just perfect, you can save as AVI and then edit in movie maker so you can upload to youtube and totally FREE
See ya!!

HyperCam sounds great, but apparently does not have a Windows 7 version: "HyperCam v.2 is compatible with Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit releases, XP and 2000." Do you use it with Windows 7 without any trouble? Thank you.

I got Windows 7 Home Premium x64 an works flawlessly, in fact, they have a 64 bit version, that is pretty fast and reliable.

 

[FerchogtX]

Just cheked Hypercam page... there is something weir with the downloads as the files are bad in size... so I leave here the doenload links... as it is free I hope here is no problem... I do it because I suspect someone hacked their page and the executables may be a virus, this ones are teh real versions (972 KB x32 version, 1.05 MB x64 version)
Choose your flavor according to your OS architecture...

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/HyperCam-Download-6658.html

See ya!!

P.S. found a secure download from softpedia... Includes x32 and x64 builds

 

[dell3]

If anyone downloads Hypercam from Softpedia and uses it let me know if it works and is virus free. Thank you!

 

[pparks1]

i use CamStudio (which is free) to capture the original file. This results in a huge .avi file.

I then use HandBrake (which is free) to encode the .avi to an MP4 file which is quite small.

 

[kado897]

i use CamStudio (which is free) to capture the original file. This results in a huge .avi file.

I then use HandBrake (which is free) to encode the .avi to an MP4 file which is quite small.

except I use FreeMake Video converter (also free) to convert to mp4.

 

[dell3]

Now that we have all these choices, is there any of these programs which records directly as MP4?
Thank you all

 

[boohbah]

found this, maybe ok, i havent tested it.

Free screen capture and recorder software can output AVI, Windows Media Video (WMV) and MPEG4 (MP4) | BinaryNow

found a download page...

http://atomisystems.com/download/

 

[CreativeArt]

action

just wanted to say that Action 1.6.0 can record in AVI now. You said its only FIC but from now on You can record in AVI. I really recommend it

 

[Amazing Aura]

I use Fraps and it records at real time.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Here's a good free one.

FRAPS show fps, record video game movies, screen capture software