Research Report: Video Capture

By Gabe Cabello, Emigrants Project Team

 Abstract:

    Easy Video Capture is a tool that allows users to capture their computer activities and save them as AVI files. Unlike many video capturing programs, Easy Video Capturing emphasizes efficiency rather bulk. Therefore it is easier to use and not as crammed with extra add-ons. The software not only enables users to record screen activities in real time, but also allows them to set video and sound quality, decide what part of the screen they would like to capture, and remove the curser from appearing on the recording.

Description:

    Video Capture is a program intended to help users record their screen activities into AVI video format. It essentially allows users to perform what many call, screen casts, video casts, video capture, real-time v-casts, etc. Rather than trying to record their screen activities with cameras, this convenient tool, allows people to record what they are doing in real-time through their computer. This eliminates poor video quality, and the need for additional hardware. Instead of including a bunch of extra, confusing features on to the software, Video Capture emphasizes simplicity as opposed to intricacy.

    The software program is published by VideoCap Inc, a company based out of Huadou, China. VideoCap Inc. first released Video Capture in June 2003, intending to offer consumers a user friendly video cast software program. While the company emphasizes simplicity, the program does include many useful features. It has excellent recording speed to limit glitches within the video, and it allows you to use any available audio and video codec on your computer. In addition to this, the program also supports the use of hotkeys to record, stop, resume, or pause the screen. The hotkeys can also be conveniently customized. Another feature that is included in the software is the ability to record, magnify, or eliminate the cursor from the actual recording. This feature is essential to presentations in order to highlight key points or eliminate distractions. To make presentations even more dynamic, users can also add text to their presentations. The set-up file is extremely small and can even be saved on to a floppy disc. While the program initially took a lot of computer memory to run, the program is now compatible with most computers.

    After releasing the latest version, VideoCap 3.0, VideoCap Inc. hopes to have worked out many of the major bugs they had previously experienced. They hope that their software offers users a convenient solution for Video Casts and slide-show training documents that can be paired with unique text. The program is ultimately intended to allow users to record and share their material, although it also allows users to record DVD, RM and VCD media formats into AVI files.

Commentary:

    This software program is particularly relevant to our project because it can add a more dynamic aspect to what we already have. Our project is based on the novel The Emrigrants and may be difficult to understand once we have mapped it on to Google Earth. Because Video Capture allows us to present our mapping projects in a more organized manner, we can use this as a presentation tool rather than going through every detail in our maps ourselves. The constant traveling within the novel and difference in time between each character’s experiences is difficult to keep up with and our final project will likely be complex as a result of this. Our team feels that the complex nature of our mapping will be difficult to explain thoroughly during our presentation and we will likely need supplementary video cast software to convey it more effectively.

    While our team has decided to use Camtasia as our preffered software, Video Cast’s user friendly interface would likely be a convenient alternative. Because the program will allow us to create a tutorial-like video recording, explaining the intricacies and details of our project, it will likely serve as a complementary aspect to our final in-class presentation.

    While the software may be as user friendly as possible, like most programs, there will likely be a learning curve that we must overcome. Because of the time constraints that we are faced with, we may likely have to rule out any video casting entirely. While a free trial of this program is available to the public, this version will probably only offer limited features. This will also pose an obstacle. Therefore, while the software may add a more dynamic element to our project, there are certain restrictions that we must prepare to deal with.

Resources For Further Study:

Video Cast Homepage

http://www.video-capture.info/index.htm

Download.com:

http://www.download.com/Easy-Video-Capture/3000-13633_4-10212296.html

Snapfile.com Review and Download Link:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/easyvcapture.html