
My personal go-to app for screencasting in OS X is ScreenFlow 5 ($99) by Telestream. It doesn’t just record your desktop it also hooks into your webcam, microphone and system audio, as well as the screen of a connected iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Each have pros and cons, but all of them can produce quality screencasts. That means, if you want to edit the clip, you have to use a separate app and you will wind up with lackluster quality, regardless. That’s the primary reason people grab third-party applications.īelow, I’ve listed a few top picks that I’ve used to record video tutorials.
#Ishowu hd mac mac os x
Mac OS X (version 10.6 or later) also offers a built-in screencasting tool, but it offers only limited video-export options-none of which are lossless-and has no built-in editing. Ultimately, good screencasting apps get out of your way. There are dozens of screencasting apps out there, many of which offer the same basic features. Start small, so you don’t invest a lot of time, only to find out that the exported video has, say, a time limit or a huge watermark. Many paid programs even offer trials or demos.

I recommend spending a little time with them on test videos. Once you have this list, you’re ready to start searching for screencasting software. You’ll want to think about those types of needs and others early on in the process, so it can help you choose the right program. Do you need video-editing capabilities built-in, or will you use an external editor? What format(s) will the video be published in? Do you want the program to upload it to video sharing sites for you? Use the answers to help guide your selection process. To avoid significant loss to video quality in those scenarios, choose screencasting apps that support an uncompressed, or lossless, format. Programs like iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier and others compress the file when they export, which means you will have compressed it twice. In other words, don’t count on editing that footage further. Videos rendered with a lot of compression, so they come out as smaller files, may work well for streaming. Every program handles them a bit differently.Īs you assess different apps (see: below), don’t forget to consider their video export options. Most screencasting applications offer these features, so you’ll want to practice and get comfortable with them. If you’re recording a tutorial, for example, such effects can illustrate the steps clearly, so that viewers can follow your movements. Callout effects, like arrows and highlights, can draw attention to other specific elements on the screen. Subtle effects, such as keystroke display and mouse-click effects-which show the characters you type and the options you click on, respectively-can make a huge difference in the quality of your video. You may need to zoom in on certain parts or focus on other nuances. Screencasting can involve more than just doing a flat capture of a whole desktop.
#Ishowu hd mac windows
(If you have a Windows machine, don’t fret-I’ll cover those choices in a separate post.) What To Look For In A Screencasting App Plenty of options cater to Mac OS X and Windows users for now, I’ll go over some top tips and picks for people with Apple desktops and laptops.


#Ishowu hd mac how to
See also: Podcasting On A Budget: How To Record Great Audio For Less
#Ishowu hd mac software
The software can record every click, window switch or animation, making it simple to record video desktop demonstrations.

Fortunately, for desktop software developers, budding tech reviewers and others, screencasting programs can step in when words fail. Sometimes, explaining what happens on a computer display doesn’t capture the action like moving visuals can.
