Ask HN: How do you produce product demo videos?

#1

Post by Edinburger » Fri, Jan 16, 2009, 12:35 PM UTC

I would like to show a product demo video (screen capture) on my homepage. Seems like this is a common requirement. Can anyone share some advice from their experiences?

What software do you use to produce the videos? Any free solutions? What resolutions worked well for capturing text in a browser? Streaming or progressive download? Any other hints?

Re: Ask HN: How do you produce product demo videos?

#2

Post by satyajit » Fri, Jan 16, 2009, 12:43 PM UTC

Are you looking for screencasts or videos of desktop apps of sort? I am not sure what people use for screencast softwares, but the Railscasts guys seem to be creating some neat looking ones. You might want to ask them. I know the LearningRails.com guys personally, and they do a great screencast too. There is a free HYperCam for Windows, but result is not all that impressive. Adobe has something called Captivate, which will let you create some FLV/F4Vs I believe.

Re: Ask HN: How do you produce product demo videos?

#3

Post by Edinburger » Fri, Jan 16, 2009, 1:02 PM UTC

satyajit wrote: post #2

Are you looking for screencasts or videos of desktop apps of sort? I am not sure what people use for screencast softwares, but the Railscasts guys seem to be creating some neat looking ones. You might want to ask them. I know the LearningRails.com guys personally, and they do a great screencast too. There is a free HYperCam for Windows, but result is not all that impressive. Adobe has something called Captivate, whic…

Hi, I'd like to do a screencast, played back through a Flash player. The Railscasts are neat but they're not embedded in the browser. From your email, it sounds like Captivate might do the job although I'd have to pay for it. Any advice on progressive download versus streaming for playback?

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: How do you produce product demo videos?

#4

Post by ejs » Fri, Jan 16, 2009, 1:43 PM UTC

I use XVidCap, edited with KDENlive, then uploaded to youtube and embedded that. All free (using ubuntu)

Re: Ask HN: How do you produce product demo videos?

#5

Post by apinstein » Fri, Jan 16, 2009, 2:20 PM UTC

We use Screenflow. Mac-only, but quite awesome: http://www.telestream.net/screen-flow/overview.htm

Has a/b editing, records lots of things as separate tracks and has a special-purpose video editing interface just for screencasts.

Editing interface is a little quirky to get used to but the results are great.

Re: Ask HN: How do you produce product demo videos?

#6

Post by nickfox » Fri, Jan 16, 2009, 2:34 PM UTC

I use Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp). It costs $299. It is hands down the best. It has a technology called SmartFocus which zooms in to where the mouse cursor is. This is very useful with youtube's limited real estate. Definitely put your product demo on youtube. You get exposure from markets that you may be unaware of. You can see where I've used SmartFocus here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9qS6bAMPU