Two companies, Blaze Media Pro and Hyperionics seemed to stand out among the increasing number of video and screen capture software that is available. Blaze looked to be a very comprehensive video capture package with a ton of editing tools, including the ability to not only insert audio files to video, but to change existing audio, or delete audio altogether and a file converter (DVD audio to wav, etc.). It looked very powerful as well as interesting and seems to be more advanced than Camtasia. I definitely think that it is worthy of future consideration, but only after mastery of an essentials software.
The two types of capture programs that are available from Hyperionics are Hypercam and Hypersnap, though both are for screen shots rather than actual video. Hypersnap includes editing tools to enhance screen photos and customization techniques for adding script, etc. while Hypercam not only offers screen capture, but a scientific data collection, presentation (Excel), and storage capability. Both are available for free trial download.
I don't know enough about this type of software yet to form a comparison opinion between what is available and what is best for individual application, but the fact remains that screen and video capture along with audio is a great way to create tutorials and enhance learning opportunities. I may not have reached expert status on this area, but I have progressed beyond novice!
2 comments:
Oh, I like the idea of being able to change and insert/delete audio. I, too, was unable to record anything on my screen capture project due to lack of a microphone. I inserted a lot of text to make what I was doing understandable, but it was a little rough to watch a seven minute film with no sound! I tried really hard in Camtasia to add "background music," so to speak, but had a lot of trouble and wasn't successful. I am pretty sure it is possible; I just had a very hard time with it. Perhaps Blaze is more user-friendly in this regard.
I like the idea of the scientific data acquisition. In education today there is a major shift toward data driven decisions. It seems that all we do will be dependent upon data. The major downfall here is that data can be displayed and manipulated to show desired results.
Having hard data to back what you do should be a good thing. I'll have to try the mentioned capture programs...as soon as a new computer arrives here.
Post a Comment