[gandalf33]

Greetings,

I've recently tried to record my 2.5 hour trading session using Camtasia Studio 7, the resul was horrible - I had to scale down the framerate to 5 per second and then produce it, the video was being produced for 2 hours, and a 1.5 GB file of 1 trading day was spit out.

I'm looking for the same thing - making a video of my trading screen for 2.5 hours - but with reasonable processing time and size (few 100 MBs max). Any other software recommended for this?

[suriNotes]

Originally Posted by gandalf33 »

Greetings,

I've recently tried to record my 2.5 hour trading session using Camtasia Studio 7, the resul was horrible - I had to scale down the framerate to 5 per second and then produce it, the video was being produced for 2 hours, and a 1.5 GB file of 1 trading day was spit out.

I'm looking for the same thing - making a video of my trading screen for 2.5 hours - but with reasonable processing time and size (few 100 MBs max). Any other software recommended for this?

With Camtasia Studio, you can adjust the Clip Speed while building the video (from Project). You can almost reduce the 2.5 hour recording session to 15 minutes (90%).
I used to record entire day of trading and playback in 40+ minutes...
Search for 'Clip speed' in Camtasia Help.

Regards,
Suri

[HowardCohodas]

I use CamStudio to record trading sessions, webinars and videos that block downloading. I've been quite satisfied with the quality of the results, however I can't say I really paid attention to the file size. It is free and open source.

[FranckT]

You can try this software: PowerPoint to Flash Converter & Flash Demo Software

Good compression for full screen with a reasonable price. There's a free trial.

Sincerely,

Franck

[WorldTrader]

Originally Posted by HowardCohodas »

I use CamStudio to record trading sessions, webinars and videos that block downloading. I've been quite satisfied with the quality of the results, however I can't say I really paid attention to the file size. It is free and open source.

I also use Camtasia 7 and It works well. It does take a long time to produce, that is due to the new MP4 format. This is great quality and smaller download. I don't trade all day, but very easy to record a 3 hour session.

You might also be able to use the older Camtasia 5 or 6, you can still download them. Howard how did you get it for free, they have a trial, but I did not know it was open source.

[HowardCohodas]

Originally Posted by WorldTrader »

Howard how did you get it for free, they have a trial, but I did not know it was open source.

CamStudio is less capable than CamTasia. That's why CamStudio is free.

[gandalf33]

Thanks to all of you guys, for the inspirational insights.

I've spent the last 3 days rendering videos around the clock (except for trading), and I've come to a conclusion.

I've tried CamStudio, recorded a 4m 45s session, realized it takes 229 MB, which resulted into an estimated 2.5 hours session size of 7 GB - unacceptable. I then realized CamStudio uses the default codec Microsoft Video 1 to encode the result, a codec built in year 1992.

Then I've made extensive testing with all the available codecs using CamStudio, I've noted all the results down but none of them was what I was expecting - file size too large, the lowest one taking 1.8 GB.

I went on testing the FlashDemo software - the result was slightly more satisfactory on low quality setting (FlashDemo has two options: high quality and low quality...) but the final file is a .swf file, where the current position is marked with the current segment played, e.g. 357 / 892, not minutes. Plus Camtasia says the limit for swf files is 16 000 frames, which for a 2.5 hour would result into less than 1 frame per second...

I returned to Camtasia and played with it for two days. I'm gonna spare you all the million tests I did and just let you know the result:

- when producing the file in Camtasia Studio 7, use the custom format
- choose AVI
- choose TechSmith Sceen Capture Codec
- leave the key frame to be created every 80 frames
- use frame rate 10
- click on codec configuration and slide the slider to the leftmost side - all the way to 'Fast Compression'
- use High Color (16-bit)

My result of today's trading session:
length: 2h 31m
resolution: 1920 x 1200 (!)
quality: crystal clear
file size: 115 MB (!!)
rendering time: 1h 30m

...which is an absolutely stunning result. One of the lowest rendering times I had with the highest quality I had, combined with one of the lowest file sizes I had (and I've rendered A LOT of vids in the past two days). And here's why. Take these as hints when rendering your own tradin session vids:

- don't use 256 colors. Dithering, trying to 'get close' to another color pixelates the whole picture, which then actually takes more space than when you use 16-bit color
- don't use 24-bit color (True Color). 16-bit color (High Color) takes reasonably less space and there's absolutely no telling which one you are using by looking with your eyes
- I've tried lower resolutions, even 1600x1000 made the video a bit "fuzzy" (still usable though), while the file size dropped just a bit (I went down to as low as half of the original res). Keeping 1920x1200, the recorded resolution, makes the vid beautiful to the eye (looking exactly as it happened) while there's no big raise in the file size
- I wanted every single tick to be seen on the vid - I've observed the original action vs a 5 frames per second video very precisely for a long time next to each other, and I couldn't find the difference. Using 10 fps then is a safe bet to me, containing every tick change.
- beware of switching windows. When you are recording the price changes in your trading software, try switching to other software/desktop/internet explorer/instang messaging to minimum, or don't use those while you are trading, at all. They have a horrible effect on the file size. The 2.5 hours taking 115 MB in 1920x1200 quality (which is more than FULL HD today) does not contain a single screen switch. If I would switch to Internet Explorer 15-20 times during my trading session, the size would go up to 300 MB

That's all folks, thanks again and hope my findings will help somebody. Enjoy

[Ingot54]

Originally Posted by HowardCohodas »

CamStudio is less capable than CamTasia. That's why CamStudio is free.

There are some professionals who choose Camstudio above Camtasia, and it may surprise that the reason has little to do with being paid or free.

I was certainly surprised by that:

Camtasia or Camstudio?

Look for posts by Josh Anderson - #24 onwards. That fellow is knowledgable and professional - this is his bread and butter, and he has a very strong business.

Personally I searched the Internet for screen recording software to record the Boot Camp Marathon trading Webinar a few months back (the Wayne McDonell NFP people).

I had used Camstudio previously, and was about to use it again, when I remembered how useless the support forum was when I really needed some serious answers to get Camstudio going. Remember, the CS software is free to use, and they say the Forum is conducted only as a service ... it is not meant to operate like "Customer Support".

So I kept looking and came across this from Blueberry software:

Free screen recorder - BB FlashBack Express

There are enough tips and support to get you started, and the screen-sizing is drag-n-drop to the section or area you want to film. Also there are options to record different file sizes. I think the free version only records in SWF(?) from memory, but files can be converted to AVI and Flash ... don't quote me - I may have this stuff mixed up. I do know that you can set the number of frames per second, and they make recommendations.

After doing a couple of test recordings, and checking the quality against the files sizes, I found that the most economical settings size-of-file-wise, gave perfect imaging on playback, and the sound was perfectly synchronised.

I created one file of 360MB, but most of the 56 recorded sessions were from 40MB upwards. I saved them onto a Seagate 1TB external HDD, and I have no problems playing them back for my own use. (I paid to attend the Webinar - so I felt I didn't want to lose the intellectual teaching I had received). All up I think I was able to record over 160 hours flawlessly.

I had to set the alarm clock to get the change of sessions, because the Webinar stopped when presenters changed chairs, and was a bit frazzled by the end of the week. I do have a valuable resource now, and no longer have to pay to attend a Boot Camp screening. The playback is like I am looking at the original presentation, for quality.

I would recommend BB over Camstudio.

Downside: BB free version expires after a month, but the paid version is much less expensive than Camtasia, and beautiful quality.

Pricing:
1) Free version
2) Standard Edition $89
3) Professional Edition $199
4) Other offers

I have no interest in this company - I make the recommendation as a previous happy user. But I think every trader should be using some kind of screen capture software to record what they did during a trade, for later feedback.

The mind lets us believe what we would like to believe, but you can't fool the camera!!