Hey guys,

Sorry if this isn't in an appropriate section it's kinda difficult to navigate all the sections to find one that suits each issue, and from what I can tell there isn't a general " ask questions here about random stuff" section.


I'm sure almost everyone here has been on YouTube, Google video, or a site like those that contain tutorials for photo shop, programing, or anything else that you can find on your computer. I was wondering if you guys knew what kind of software they use?

I'm looking to take video of me working on my computer desktop edit the video ( remove scenes, over lay images, add text on screen ) and music to the back ground and of course make it so that It can easily be uploaded to YouTube or downloaded by people to view on their computer ( compress and make in a decent format such as AVI. )

Anyone have a good suggestion. Software price really isn't a problem as I get a pretty awesome deal from school.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Well there is a lot.

Sony Vegas (Very Proffessional)
Adobe Premier
Pinnacle Video Studio
Ulead Video

A lot of them are good.
But if you want easy stuff that is not too concept I recomment Powerdirector 6.

Good luck

Any recommendation on screen capturing? I tried to use Fraps and Cam studio and they both where pretty terrible.

Well screen capturing, you need a good graphic card. I recommed EVGA 8800GT.
Camtasia and Fraps is the best, Camtasia for desktop and stuff and Fraps for games.

If those don't work well nothing will.

Sony Vegas is real nice and so does Ulead. But I prefer Vegas that Ulead. Just download 2 trials and compare them LOL. That's little advice I have. Or if you don't need paywares, you can try Windows Movie Maker (I used it alot to make simple text and effects). And convert the video to AVI format later with free video converters

I went ahead and took y'alls advise. I really hated Ulead and wasn't too found of Vegas either, but that's mostly because my lack of experience. Was pretty frustrated for the large part of the day trying to figure out basic things ( cutting and splicing ). I'm starting to get the hang of it. Maybe I'll take a class at the local community college on it.


Also, just wanted to say for anyone else who is looking for something similar, Camtasia is the most awesome program I have ever used. Very light weight, takes the video in a great format and is really quick for rendering the videos.

Yeah, my graphics card isn't exactly good but Camtasia has been extremely lenient on system resource use and graphics card strain is minimal when I'm recording my desktop (try not to use Camtasia to record video games, it lags like crazy unless you have one monster rig). So yeah, the only program I'd recommend for recording your desktop activities is Camtasia Recorder (which is packaged in with Camtasia Studio). (As it comes under the name of a "Studio), it also allows you to do some quick video editing and playback etc. after you have recorded it (I use adobe priemere elements for this though). If for some reason you want to record video games, get Fraps, which is optimised for capturing video game video data (you will need a huge amount of space though for lengthy recordings).

Well, I suggest you to try avidemux2 (on linux) or virtualdub (on windows) to make some video edit.

To capture videos recordmydesktop (on linux) or camtasia (on windows) or snagit (on windows - not a freeware )

Well, take Windows Movie Maker instead. No advanced experience needed. I sucessfully make my VERY FIRST video with that.