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| General |
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Overall Operation |
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| Recording |
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Timed recording, auto-recording |
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| Saving
/ Flash movies |
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Video Editing |
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Other |
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AutoScreenRecorder
3 Answers |
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General |
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AutoScreenRecorder
has two versions, which one is right for me?
AutoScreenRecorder 3.0 Pro is the advanced version of
AutoScreenRecorder with all the necessary tools included for your recording needs.
It's fully functional for 15-days and requires to pay fees to get
licensed.
AutoScreenRecorder 3.0 Free is a completely free program. It doesn't need a
license key and has no expiration date. However, it has limited functionality
comparing to the Pro version.
Click
here for detailed product feature
comparison.
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How do I add AutoScreenRecorder to start with
Windows automatically, or a shortcut on Desktop?
If you don't want to find the program and
create it manually, you can re-install AutoScreenRecorder and check "Create a
Shortcut on Desktop" or "Start automatically when Windows starts up" in the "Destination
Location" dialog box. If you reinstall in the same directory,
all AutoScreenRecorder settings will not be changed.
If that cannot be done for any reason, you can always do it
manually by these easy steps,
To add a shortcut on the desktop
- Click the Windows Start button, find and highlight the AutoScreenRecorder
program in
the menu (don't click).
- Right-click and choose 'Create Shortcut' from the menu. A new
AutoScreenRecorder (2) menu item should be added to the menu.
- Highlight the newly created
menu item, drag it and drop on your desktop.
To add in the Startup group
- Using the above steps to create a shortcut on desktop.
- Copy the shortcut to the following folder according to your OS,
[Windows 95/98] {windows folder}\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
[Windows NT] {windows folder}\Profiles\All
Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
[Windows 2000/XP] {windows drive}:\Documents and Settings\{your profile}\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
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What
are the known issues concerning AutoScreenRecorder?
Click here for known issues.
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Do
you have a step-by-step guide on how to use the features?
Yes.
Click here
for step-by-step guides.
I'm
a registered user of previous AutoScreenRecorder, how do I upgrade to 3?
Click
here for the upgrade price list.
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Overall Operations |
How do I show the main window again?
When the main window is not
visible, to show it, you can do any of the following,
- Click the 'Show Main Window' icon on the toolbar in the Video Editor.
- Click the 'Main Window' in the View menu.
- Double-click the AutoScreenRecorder icon in the system tray.
- Right-click
on the system tray icon and select 'Open Main Window'.
How to start AutoScreenRecorder without showing
the main window (silent start)?
Click the 'Hide
the main window on startup..." on the 'Advanced' tab. (not available in the
Free version.)
What's the difference between 'Record Now'
and 'Stand By'?
Pressing the 'Record
Now' button to record immediately using the current settings.
Pressing the 'Stand By' button to get ready. The
AutoScreenRecorder
icon will appear in your Windows System Tray.
You can press your hotkey to actually start recording.
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What is a hotkey?
A hotkey is a combination of keyboard strokes to do a task. It
saves time. E.g. the hotkey combination "Ctrl+C" is commonly used to copy in
Windows.
In AutoScreenRecorder, by default, to start recording, the F9 key is the hotkey.
What is ScreenZoom?
AutoScreenRecorder ScreenZoom provides a convenient
way to enlarge your screen at anytime, to
see what's going on on the screen and draw lines and notes on the screen. Just press your ScreenZoom
hotkey to enlarge, and you can then draw or highlight it on screen. Press the
hotkey again,
right-click or Esc to cancel. This can be
integrated into your demo, discussion and training sessions, etc. You can change the color of your pen and line width. You can also enter the
screen draw mode without enlarging the screen.
Click here for a
step-by-step guide.
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Recording |
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There are four factors determining your video size (AVI).
(1) Recorded screen size. The bigger the screen, the bigger the size.
(2) frame rate. The higher the frame rate, the bigger the video
size. A higher frame rate (between 15 to 40) would help smooth playback, but it
has a larger video file size. Larger than 20 is not recommended for normal
recording.
(3) Image quality factor (1-100). The higher the image quality, the bigger the
file size. Greater than 90 is considered as high quality. In many cases, it's
not necessary. Only some codec (compressors) use this value.
(4) Codec (compressor/decompressor)
or
Compressor.
The codec is used to compress video files. AVI is a
common "container format" that many different codecs can use.
They all result in a compressed AVI video. Generally speaking, 'Micorosoft Video
1' has good quality, but the size is large. Some new codecs from Microsoft and
others offer smaller
size and good quality video. They are mostly free.
If you also convert to a Flash movie file, you can use "Auto-scale" to
scale down the Flash movie size.
We recommend that you pick a codec, frame rate and image quality to record a short video,
say 1 minute (use the Auto-stop feature) and check
the file size of the recorded file. Then you may calculate how much disk space is
required for a longer recording.
Note 1: An AVI file cannot exceed 2GB in size. For a long recording, it
can be saved to multiple 2G AVI files.
More...
Note 2:
When playing the recorded video, make sure the
video is not zoomed or resized. Please set the player to 100% or original size,
not the player window size to make sure it keeps the video quality.
How to record
sound?
Click here for a
step-by-step guide.
How to record
a movie / video screen?
Click here for a
step-by-step guide.
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How come double-click doesn't work when recording?
You can enable double-click by checking "Enable double-click
(slow recording)" in the "Recording options" group on the "Advanced" tab.
Because enabling double-click will slow down the recording, it is not
recommended to check this on until you have to.
What is the
image quality factor and how do I use it?
The video image quality factor from 1 to 100, with 1
as the lowest (smallest file size) and 100 as the highest (largest file size).
Generally speaking, 80 is an OK quality factor.
If you have a special codec, please make sure to download the player pack as
well. If you're not sure, you can use "Microsoft Video 1" as the codec to
record.
Click here for more on video quality and size.
Note 1: High image quality (>90) also means slow recording and large video
file size.
Only some codec (compressors) use this value.
Note 2:
When playing the recorded video, make sure the
video is not zoomed or resized. Please set the player to 100% or original size,
not the player window size to make sure it keeps the video quality.
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What is frame rate and how does it work?
Frame rate is the number of still frames
displayed per second or FPS.
This defines how many pictures (frames) per second a video file
contains.
The lower the frame rate, the longer you can record and smaller video file it
will make. For video/motion recording,
we recommend
8-12 fps, and for demo instructions, 3-10 fps.
AutoScreenRecorder allows to use "frames per minute" as the frame rate. This is
for long recording but you need to keep the video size down. E.g. if you set 6
frames per minute, it will save only 6 frames
in a minute (1 frame per 10 second) to the video file. This is will keep your
long recording file size small.
Note: The higher the
frame rate, the smoother the playback will appear but the more processing power
and larger file size is required.
15+ fps is considered a high frame rate.
A typical value from 8 to 24 fps is
used for most purposes.
Higher than 20fps is not recommended for normal recording. The
North America TV system (NTSC) frame rate is approximately 30 fps and PAL is
25 fps.
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My recorded sound gets choppy or lagging, why?
The sound is captured while
recording. When the PC needs power to process video recording, it could be that sound doesn't get recorded
real-time.
Reasons:
- When your PC is busy saving video, it doesn't have much
time to save audio. E.g. if you set frame rate at 15, your PC will try to save
15 images per second. The time left for saving the audio is reduced.
- Recorded video is saved to a file on your hard drive
real-time. The hard drive speed also plays a role here. The reason the video
is not saved in the memory is because it's a constant action and real-time
process. The file size could go up to 2G.
- Computer lag can cause sound lag.
To solve this, you may check
the following,
- Reduce the recording screen size.
It takes long time to record full-screen. Choose, "Rectangular area" on the
"From" tab and only take the needed part of the screen.
- Check "MCI Recording" on the "Sound Recording Options..." dialog box.
It has better sound quality on some sound cards.
- Use a powerful machine to
record.
A high speed CPU, core 2 duo, large memory >=2G would have a better result.
- Make sure there's no
unnecessary programs running on your PC except AutoScreenRecorder and the target app.
Close other applications.
- Adjust the
image quality and
frame rate factor to be not too high.
We recommend that you pick a screen size, frame rate and image quality to record a short video,
say 00-30 second (use the Auto-stop feature) and check
the recorded file to find an optimal combination for your PC.
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How do I cancel while recording?
Before recording: Right-click the mouse button
or press the Esc key to cancel .
During recording: Press the Cancel hotkey you setup to cancel.
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Is it
possible to change the recording area after the recording has started?
Yes. During recording, you can move the recording area by
moving the recording corner handles (flashing).
My
video quality seems low, how come?
By adjusting the image video quality on the "To" tab, AutoScreenRecorder can take
your screen activities in a quality close to your screen display. But be sure
NOT to
set the image quality too high if the machine speed is not good.
Also, you may pick another codec to record your video.
If you do not
see the quality video when you play an AVI file taken by AutoScreenRecorder,
such as blurring, please try the following.
- Make sure the zoom is 100% in your player, such as Windows Media Player.
Click here for more on image quality.
How come there is a "zap!" sound at the end of my
recorded AVI file?
This is an issue on some sound cards. It may be
some difference in the sound card.
You may try one of the following ways,
- If you don't need to record sound, you can uncheck "Sound". That makes
your AVI file small too.
- Check "Use Media Control Interface (MCI) recording" on the 'Sound Options' dialog box.
- Load the AVI in Video Editor and cut the last 1/2 second or a few frames to remove it.
How do I get rid of the red text on my capture?
It might be the "AutoText" that you can check on/off in the "Add" group
on the "From" tab. You can click AutoText "Options..." to change the format of
the text appearing on your video.
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Timed
recording, auto-recording, sound recording |
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What are
ways to cancel auto-stop when it has started?
The
same way as regular canceling. Also you can press the Stop button to save the recording so far
to a video file.
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I want to record my PC screen at
midnight, is it possible?
Yes. You can use the AutoScreenRecorder
scheduled recording feature.
What is recurring recording?
You can check "Recurring" in the "Timer" group
on the "From" tab to start recording periodically.
It is available only when 'Active window', 'Fixed
area', 'Specific window' or 'Full screen' is selected. When checked, 'Start at'
is not available.
You can set to record weekly, days in a week, or choose a day in the month, at
certain intervals.
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Saving / Flash
movies |
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What
is the automatic file naming feature. How do I use it?
Click
here
for a step-by-step guide.
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When I choose to
save into a Flash movie file, how many files are generated?
AutoScreenRecorder will generate the Flash movie file (.SWF)
after the AVI file is recorded. Along with the Flash movie file, an HTML file is
also created that you can use to publish the SWF file to the internet.
So, if your file name is "MyScreen_01", the files created are:
- MyScreen_01.avi
- MyScreen_01.swf
- MyScreen_01.htm (may be .html, depending on the "HTML
File extension" option you choose on the "Flash File Options"
dialog on the "To" tab.)
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How do I publish
the recorded Flash movie (SWF) to my website?
Here are the steps to publish the Flash movie (SWF) to your HTML page,
Eg. MyWeb.htm,
- Modify your HTML page
The generated .htm (or .html, Eg. AutoScreenRecorder_01.htm) file has the HTML code you need to publish
to the web. You can use the file directly, or copy & paste the HTML code to
your HTML page, MyWeb.htm.
- Upload the HTML page and SWF file
Upload the SWF file to the same location as that of MyWeb.htm. If you
changed the Flash file location, make sure the HTML code in MyWeb.htm points
to that location.
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Do I need to buy
the Flash program in order to view the recorded Flash movie file?
No. An AutoScreenRecorder generated .SWF file is a fully
functional Flash movie file. It only requires a Flash viewer to view on the
internet. The viewer is free and automatically downloaded by your browser.
How to re-generate the Flash movie?
Open the AVI in AutoScreenRecorder Video
Editor. Double click the video or click the Edit button on the toolbar to show
the Video Editor Dialog to trim if you need.
In the Video Editor, choose "Export to SWF..." from the "File" menu.
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Video Editing |
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How to trim my recorded video?
Click
here
for a step-by-step guide.
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How to re-record sound?
Open the AVI in AutoScreenRecorder Video Editor.
Choose "Remove Audio" from the "Edit Audio" menu, that will clear the current
audio on the video.
Choose "Add Audio Wave File..." from the "Edit Audio" menu and add your .WAV
file to the video. If you need a new sound file, choose "Record Sound..." and
record your sound. You may want to choose "Select Audio Input Device..." to make
sure the sound source, such as from your speakers or microphone.
Can I extract a part of
video, sound or images from the video?
Click
here
for a step-by-step guide.
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Others |
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I'm a
developer, how to use AutoScreenRecorder 3 Pro from my program?
To run AutoScreenRecorder from your program, you can
find AutoScreenRecorder 3 Pro program location in Registry. You also can use commend
line switches to run AutoScreenRecorder 3 Pro from your program.
[To find AutoScreenRecorder 3 Pro program]
Key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wisdom-soft\AutoScreenRecorder\Options
Item Program
[Command line switches]
Command
(case insensitive) |
Details |
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/C |
Execute "Record Now" right away using the current settings.
It's like pressing the "Record Now" button. |
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/CX |
Execute "Record Now" and Exit
AutoScreenRecorder
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/H |
Execute pressing your hotkey using the current settings.
It's
like to press the recording hotkey. |
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/R |
To reset
all options to the initial default values. |
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