Hey, I just wanted to share what I've discovered with you people.

So here's a little guide on how to capture your contacts' WebCam video when you are having video conversations with them.


I used Camtasia Studio 2 by TechSmith Corporation to do this. The software costs 300 bucks after the 30-day trial, though.

Anyway..... After you install the Studio, open it and read the impotant stuff they show you in the first time. Then when they ask you what you want to record (the wizard thingie), just cancel that and go to Camtasia Recorder (the small window with the red icon, should be opened already). Camtasia Recorder is one of a few applications that are a part of the whole Studio, and can be opened from the Windows Start menu.

Anyway, in Camtasia Recorder, go to Tools -> Options -> Capture and untick the option "Round frame size to a 4 pixel boundary". Click OK, and click the down arrow next to the red record button, then select "Fixed Region...".

For the "Width" enter 160, for the "Height" enter 120 and for the "Y" enter 116. The "X" value depends on your screen's resolution; You need to subtract 186 from your resolution's width to get the right X. For example, if you use a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels, you would enter 838 (1024 - 168) for the "X".

Now your Camtasia Recorder should be set to record EXACTLY that part of the screen which displays the WebCam activity when the conversation window is maximized.


Now, whenever you want to record a video conversation, all you have to do is open Camtasia Studio (or just Camtasia Recorder), maximize the conversation window which has the video conversation (very important!), make sure no window is hiding the video area, and finally hit the red record button in Camtasia Recorder.


Note that the video is initially saved using a "lossless" codec, which means it will have a very large file size if you record for a long time. As WebCam videos are in low quality anyways, you should compress the file more tightly from within Camtasia Studio after you finish recording. You can also edit the captured video file in Camtasia Studio if you want.

Last note, I haven't tested the pixel stuff on configurations other than mines, so I hope it will work fine for everyone... in theory, it should.


Have fun!

hmm, i mentioned the Camtaisa Studio in the thread: http://shoutbox.menthix.net/showthread.php?tid=18766 a few days ago   Its a shame that its only validated for 30 days trial.. its such a good program and it works like a charm. I used it for recording tutorials and things. I never really played around with it much, so when it came to recording a reigon i just clicked and dragged the box over the area i wanted. But the way you have just said sounds much more appropriate for recording webcam convo's. Thanks for the update on that

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Originally posted by Sk3tch
Thanks for the update on that

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Although I too like Camtasia, there is a free app called Camstudio that you might want to try?

I have never used it, but have heard it offers basic screen video capture for free

Hmmm......... That thing looks amazingly similar to Camtasia Recorder......


     

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Originally posted by sock
Hmmm......... That thing looks amazingly similar to Camtasia Recorder......

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Is there any tool actally specific for MSN to encode witha  codec? because i dotn want to faf with these tools a specifci tool would be so much easyer and nicer and smaller . I.E. Plus! or some other tool?

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Originally posted by reisyboy
Even if it is a blatent rip off (which came first?)

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You can do screen capture with Windows Media Encoder 9 Series by Microsoft. I think thats the best way

One you installed it go to Start > All programs > Windows Media > Windows Media Encoder
A windows called "New Session" will show up, click on Capture Screen > Region of the screen

And than type in your settings... It can be different because of your screen resolution or size of Webcam thingie... I'm really not good in math, so I will appreciate of someone will post some nubers for different scrreen resolutions and webcam sizes...

If someone will post the sizez/screen resolutiin things, I will post an article on mess.be, mentioning name of wabz (who reported this to me), sock (cuz' he pointed this idea out) and the name of person who made calculations... Maybe I will add Cam Studio as an alternative program if people dont want Windows Media Encoder, but sertanly not that Camisha Studio or how its called, because its not a free one

There's already a little bit of info on this topic in our MSN Messenger FAQ but I'm always looking to expand

On the screen capture -> screen region window there is a button that allows you to drag a window around the area then it makes the calculations.

btw, u can use hypercam to do the samething, i think it might have a trail or limtation to. also i'm sure i could solve the 30 day problem

well I'm a big fan of setting the size of the webcamscreen to 'Big' or 'Large' whatever, so for those who don't want medium sized screenrecording, but big-webcam screenrecording here are the "coördinates" :
Y = 116, Width = 320, Height = 240, X = resolution's width - 346, example: 1152 - 346 = 806, so X would be 806 in my case

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Originally posted by jren207
On the screen capture -> screen region window there is a button that allows you to drag a window around the area then it makes the calculations.

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