PC Screen Recording

PC Screen Recording tools allow anyone to record any and all visual activity taking place on a computer screen. If you're making a PowerPoint presentation, providing a product demo, stepping through a training course or any number of other things, you can record it and play it back at a later time. Additionally, once a recording is made, you can use a video editing program to make edits to cut out those bad jokes you tried to tell, add additional graphics, transitions, zooms or make many other video edits to add a touch of professionalism to the video.

Typically, screen recording applications are easy to use. To record the screen activity you'll select a specific area on the screen to be recorded or the full screen, then press the record button or key combination to start the recording session. If you wish to record your voice there may be a few additional steps to enable the microphone but this is easy too. Now you simply execute your demo, PowerPoint or other activity you have planned. Once you're done hit the Stop button on the recording application's control panel to stop and save the recording to your hard disk. You'll be prompted to provide a file name and select one of several video file types. In some cases the file is automatically saved as an .AVI file. Screen recordings can generally be saved in one of the standard video file formats for easy upload and republishing on any website.

While you're recording you can use all computer functions and even record your own audio as you comment or add narration to the tasks being carried out. I always recommend using a quality mic for this - see Sound Makes Your Video Look Better. You can jump to the Internet, search for and open additional files or apps, open a text editor to take notes, even open and read an email if you wanted to.

After making a recording of your screen activity there are several things you can do. If you're happy with the recording you can simply distribute it on CD or DVD, put it on your website or send a link to others so they can watch the video. If you want or need to edit the recording then you will need to import the recording into a video editor to carry out the editing as needed. After you make the edits you can distribute the video as mentioned above.

There are products on the market that can do both Screen Recording and video editing. One of the best is made by TechSmith (Camtasia Studio) although it is a bit pricey you can produce high quality videos with about any output type you will ever need. If you're planning many videos, Camtasia Studio would be a good option. If you're just doing a few videos I would look for a free screen recording tool.

If you're looking for a Screen Recording tool here is a list of the basic screen recording features that are most important. Use this list as a guide to help identify a Screen Recording tool that best suits your needs.

* Platform - Specifies which operating systems will run the application

* Software - Specifies whether the tool is an installable software app. or a web-based application

* Capture Region - Allows recording the entire screen or specific regions of the screen

* Record Audio - Allows audio recording from a microphone

* Record Webcam - Allows recording webcam video

* Shortcut Key for Stop - Enables you to stop the recording by pressing a key combination

* Output Formats - Indicates the available output file formats in which you can save a recording