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My Screen Recorder Pro
v2.67
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Reducing the File Size
of Screen Recordings |
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Many people find
My
Screen Recorder Pro
an indispensable tool,
and use it to make a lot
of screen recordings.
If you have lengthy
recordings, or make and
store a large number of
them, you will want to
optimize the files so
that they are easy to
distribute and manage,
and to reduce storage
requirements. If
you are distributing
your recordings over the
web, smaller files also
reduce the bandwidth
needed. It is
important to understand
how to create smaller
files without losing the
quality that makes them
useful. |
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There are several
techniques you can use.
Using these methods, you
can create files that
are very small, while
still maintaining
high-quality. |
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1. |
Use Windows Media
Video Format (WMV) |
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2. |
Reduce Frame Rate |
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3. |
Reduce Frame Size |
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4. |
Compress or Skip
Audio Recording |
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Use Windows Media
Format (WMV) |
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The Windows Media Format
compresses video and
audio very efficiently.
A WMV file can be much
smaller than the
original AVI file that
My Screen Recorder Pro
creates. Using
Auto Tasks, you can
set My Screen Recorder
Pro to convert all
recordings from AVI to
WMV as soon as the
recording is complete.
The conversion happens
“in the background” and
doesn’t interfere with
your use of the PC.
In one test, an 8 MB AVI
file converted to a 1.7
MB WMV file, so by
itself this can be a
very effective way to
save space. |
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To manually convert an
AVI recording to WMV
format, just right-click
on it and choose
Convert from the menu.
Select WMV from the
list of output formats,
and click Next.
You can choose to change
the video dimensions
(the size of the image).
I’ll talk about changing
the frame size in a
later section, but this
is one place you could
do it. However,
keep in mind that
changing the frame size
of a Windows Media file
does not change the file
size—however, if you’re
going to use a low bit
rate, a smaller frame
size can make the
picture sharper and
motion smoother. |
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Click Next.
Here you could have My
Screen Recorder Pro
create an HTML page to
display the WMV file in.
Click Next again. |
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Figure 1 |
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The Windows Media
Conversion Settings
page lets you choose a
“Profile” for the
conversion. All
the profiles shown here
are specifically
designed for screen
capture applications.
Experiment with the
settings, and pick one
that gives the balance
of quality and file size
that’s right for you.
After picking a Profile,
click Next. |
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Next, you’re given a
chance to add additional
information to the
video. The title
you select here will be
used by most media
players as the window
title when showing this
file, and the other
information will be
available for users that
right-click and view the
properties of your file.
All of this information
is optional. After
completing as many of
these as you
like, click Next. |
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Conversion begins.
You can work on other
things while My Screen
Recorder Pro makes the
Windows Media file.
Converting from AVI to
WMV can take some time,
depending on the speed
of your PC and the size of
the recording.
When conversion is
complete, click
Finish. My
Screen Recorder Pro will
show you the new WMV
file in the Folder
Shortcut. You can
see how it looks by
double-clicking it and
choosing to Play in
full screen. |
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The original AVI file is
not deleted by the
conversion process.
Once you’re sure that
the WMV file meets your
requirements, you will
need to manually delete
the original file to
save space. You
can just click on it in
the File Shortcut and
press the Del key, or
right-click on it and
choose Delete. |
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Reduce Frame Rate |
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A computer video is
actually a series of
images—still
pictures—which are shown
on the screen one after
the other. The frame
rate is how many of
these pictures are shown
every second.
Reducing the number of
frames per second means
the recording can
contain less information
and thus, be smaller.
On the other hand,
reducing the frame rate
will make fast on-screen
motion less smooth.
You can adjust the frame
rate either during
recording or during
conversion. You’ll
have to experiment to
see what is the minimum
frame rate that works
for your particular use
of My Screen Recorder
Pro. |
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To reduce frame rate
during recording, open
the Tools menu and
choose Settings.
Switch to the AVI
Video tab. You
can drag the slider to
modify the frame rate.
(Note: for best screen
quality, don’t decrease
the frame rate below 25
if you are using the Cinepak codec.)
You can also select a
new frame rate when
using the Convert
command. |
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Unless you change
something else, reducing
the frame rate by will
reduce your video
storage by .
Changes to the frame
rate won’t reduce the
size or quality of the
recorded sound. |
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Figure 2 |
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Reduce Frame Size |
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Monitor and computer
graphics technology has
been advancing rapidly
since the personal
computer was first
introduced. These
days, even inexpensive
PCs come with very
high-resolution
displays.
Recording a
high-resolution desktop
can produce large files.
You can reduce the file
size of your recordings
by recording smaller
video frames, either by
recording only a part of
the screen, or by
reducing screen
resolution. |
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If your normal screen
resolution is 1280x1024,
and you choose to record
at (or convert to)
800x600 screen
resolution, the video
portion of the file will
be less than half the
size. |
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Be aware that frame rate
and frame size have no
effect on file sizes if
you are making a WMV
file. Only the
selected Profile bit
rate determines file
size. However,
with lower frame rates
and sizes you can use a
lower bit rate Profile
in WMV while maintaining
quality. |
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Compress or Skip
Audio Recording |
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It’s possible for the
audio portion of a
recording to be
responsible for half its
size. Depending on
your requirements, you
can reduce the file size
of a recording by
recording sound at lower
quality, by compressing
the sound, or by not
recording sound at all. |
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If you need the video
but not the sound, you
can turn off sound
recording entirely.
Just click the Tools
menu, choose Settings,
and on the general tab
uncheck Record audio.
Now your recordings will
be silent—and
significantly smaller.
If all other settings
are left at their
default value, silent AVI recordings will be
30-40% smaller than
recordings that include
sound. |
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Figure 3 |
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If you are creating a
WMV file, the quality of
the sound will be
determined by the
Profile you select.
If you’re using AVI
files, you can change
the quality and
compression settings in
the Settings dialog .
Click Tools, then
Settings, and switch to
the AVI Audio tab.
You can use the Record
format drop-down list
to record sound at
different quality
levels, and the
Compression Format
button to compress the
sound. (The
default setting, “PCM”,
does not compress at
all.) |
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A file using default
settings, except that
sound is compressed with
MPEG 2 Layer 3 (MP3)
compression, is over 30%
smaller than the same
recording with PCM
(uncompressed) sound. |
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Putting It All
Together |
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You can combine some of
these techniques. You
could, for instance,
make a Windows Media (WMV)
file with no sound. On
the other hand, you
could easily create an AVI file with reduced
frame size, sound
compression, and a
reduced frame rate. Either of these would
produce a file
dramatically smaller
than the one made using the
default settings. |
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The best part is,
there’s very little work
involved. Once you
select a method, you can
set My Screen Recorder
Pro to do it
automatically. If
you choose to use
Windows Media Video, you
can set up an Auto Task
to convert all your
recordings automatically
when recording is
complete. If you
change the AVI settings,
that’s all you have to
do—from then on, all
recordings will use the
new settings. |
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The techniques described
in this article will let
you produce much smaller
recordings using My
Screen Recorder Pro,
effortlessly. |
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