Screen Recording Software.

Hi Guys,

Im getting to the point of my game where im really looking at taking my game to a new level. Both me and my friend have been grinding in the micros stakes and I am nearly at a point where I can move up to 0.10/0.25.

I read all the usual books and work on my game, but im looking at getting some screen capture software, so I can watch back some sessions and what not. Just wondering if anyone on here can recommend any good software.

Cheers,
Marc

Hi,

I used Camtasia Studio for other purposes, but it is a great tool for screen recording. It has a 30 day trial period. Go ahead, and try it.

Cheers dude I'll check it out.

There are some free alternatives to Camtasia Studio, if with slightly less functionality. For example, CamStudio (probably the most popular free one), TipCam, and HyperCam2. Google is your friend...

^^^ The OP is asking about screen recording, not capturing a screenshot, but your steps are a bit more complex than necessary for grabbing a screenshot.

You can do the cropping you need to do in Paint. And you can capture just the window you want, rather than the whole desktop, to avoid having to crop down to the desired window. So to simplify:

• Use Alt-PrtScrn to grab the active window. PrtScrn alone grabs the whole desktop.
• Open MS Paint and Ctrl-V or Edit->Paste to paste it.
• If you still need to crop, just select the area and choose crop from the menu (the Crop command location varies by version of MS Paint, with Win7 it's on the main ribbon bar. On XP I don't recall, but probably on the Edit menu or the Tools menu).
• File -> Save As... and choose the format you want to save as (I recommend PNG format, but JPG is acceptable) and the location + filename you want to save it as. This can be My Pictures or wherever.
• Done.

Screen capture? < Is this what you really want? I mean it sounds like you're interested in playing back your tournaments/games/sessions, so that you can watch/review/analyze, or perhaps have a friend or someone review them (or learn from them?).
For 'screen capture'... as in 'screenshot' I think by far the easiest method is to download free version 'ScreenHunter5.0 Free'. It is super easy to use (and this is coming from a guy who didn't know how to even turn on a computer a few yrs. ago). I keep an icon down in my 'taskbar', click it to open.. when it pops up you click on btn 'standby' (or 'capture now'), then you also have 3 choices,
[ ] rectangular area
[ ] Active window
[ ] Full Screen
(I always use 'rectangular area'.. position mouse cursor on corner of table/window click 'F6', then drag the mouse cursor to create your rectangle, let go of mouse btn & presto... there's your screenshot (I keep mine saved on desktop).
This might not be what you're looking for??
What I'm assuming you're after is something more like an auto-replayer. There's a freebie one called Popopop. With this auto-handreplayer you can drag & drop your HandHistory into it & have it play out the hand for you similiarly to as if you were watching the hand when it originally played out. You can also enter an entire tournament/session into the replayer & it will play it out in it's entirety (there's also a bunch of features/options with it, ie. playback speed, marked hands you played (won/lost), etc. etc.).
This is a great tool & is commonly used by poker training sites & poker coaches (alot of the videos on poker training sites are using this tool for the videos).
For fun I just recently reviewed the very first tournament I ever played online (in '07), 'The Ferguson' in which I placed 2nd. I wanted to see how I played back then or should I say > how bad I played I played back then. I made some Hero calls & monster bluffs, lol 'ignorance was bliss', lol).

I've used this tool quite a bit & have found it to be really helpful (both for reviewing my own games & for reviewing HH's of some friends). There's something about watching a tourney (or session) play out 'after the fact' & objectively reviewing one's own play.

Just do a search for Popopop Universal Replayer.

^^^ No, the OP is asking about recording a session with screen recording software (hence the title. ). Same as the coaches do, or some of us here who submit videos for critique by other CC members.

The industry leader is probably Camtasia, but it's a bit pricey. I pointed out some free alternatives in the post above.

On the subject of free, 3rd party poker screenshot tools, my recommendation is ScreenshotCaptor by Donation Coder. It does a LOT more than the typical freebie screenshot apps. Aside from being able to mark up your screenshots with text and graphic drawings, you can add shadows, custom masks, and -- most important for me -- capture scrolling regions like long web pages. Virtually any other application that does all this (SnapIt being the most popular, from the same people as Camtasia) requires $$$. ZScreen is another good freebie, although it does much less than ScreenshotCaptor. The ScreenshotCaptor free version is fully functional, but if you donate a couple bucks (however much you decide) you get a lifetime license key to ALL of their software that disables any nags. I think I sent them $10 years ago, and I use ScreenshotCaptor on all of my Windows PCs and laptops.

Regarding the Popopop Universal Replayer, I heard it's original developer had abandoned it and the site was down. However an Italian development team has acquired it and is releasing v2. They only had the Italian website up last week when I grabbed the latest version from there, but now I see the US website is back up -- not sure if it's pointing to the new version released by the new devs or if it's the older one, or if it will update itself to the latest when run through Java WebStart.

"so I can watch back some sessions and what not."

Umm.. this ^ is what I read. And for doing this Popopop is FAR better than watching a recorded game (I don't have to explain why.... do I?.. cuz if so I'd be happy to.. but think it'd be obvioius unless peeps aren't familiar with it)

^^^ I read the same thing, and in the same sentence he said "screen recording software," so it was pretty clear to me at least what he meant.

Recorded sessions have their place, and are quite common among players. There are several here at CC in fact. You don't get the sense of timing and pace of the game in a replayer, but more importantly you don't get the running commentary from the player describing their thought process in the hand. Recorded sessions are great training aids. Not saying replayers aren't useful, they certainly are better for some types of study, but for sweating and observation of the player in-game the recorded video is much better IMO.

Hi mjnotf, I use DemoCreator to record my online tournament. It's a lite version of Camtasia offering basic yet must-have editing functions, like adding balloon text, subtitles and Flash animations.Camtasia is great but the price is too high.

I think OP is referring to watching his own games playback... no?
So are you suggesting to sift through a full hour of a SNG/STT is better than checking out the game via an auto-replayer? Cuz if you are I STRONGLY disagree. It'd be a huge waste of time that could be spent on far more useful things.
Obviously many vids. (ie. training vids.) are recorded live... and 'some' prefer them over others... BUT.. ones that go into great depth/detail & are used to express certain concepts spend much more time on particular hands (I've watched vids. where coach has upwards of 10mins. just on one hand... < not possible in a live recording).
Both have their place (as far as from the viewer's perspective and as a learning tool) BUT for reviewing one's own games 'imo' the replayer is a ZILLION times better!!!

Perhaps, although he did mention his friend. Regardless, I still see value in reviewing a live session in addition to the replayer value. Bottom line is the replayer approach is always available because you automatically have your HH. If you want to capture video, then you need a proper setup and that's what OP was asking for. It's not my place to question why he wants to do something that seems reasonable enough.

I won't suggest it's better, just a different method of review. Having both available (the replayer approach always being available) is better than only one, no? Also, for those who like to set sweat sessions, recording video is a great way to do it without coordinating a live sweat. Just capture it, then post it or direct whomever you want to sweat it to the video link.

Sure it's possible, in fact nearly all coaching vids are run through post-production to add commentary and pause hands while discussing them for as long as they like. Anyone can do this with their captured sessions. Here's another one for ya: some actually capture replayer sessions, too.

I did say both have their place, so I'm not sure why you're arguing against video. For strictly reviewing one's own hands, a replay may be more practical, but you still lose out on certain aspects of the session that a real-time capture can provide. So if people want to do it to relive the session as it happened -- and obviously many do -- then why suggest it's a waste of time? It's not an either-or scenario, and nothing precludes them from using the replayer as well.

Regardless, I wasn't attempting to debate the merits of one over the other. The OP asked a question about how to do it, and I answered. I wasn't necessarily agreeing it was the best option for what he wanted to do, just answering the question.

Screentoaster is free with no download but kinda clunky. I used it to screencast Chess Titans computer cheating me, but Im not sure if you want to use it to record an entire poker session.

on the cheap I use something by Applian software Video capture screen and captures whatever you want on the screen, but it really sucks for capturing the vidoe and synchronizing talking with it but if your just watching playback of your game then it would work great but if your recording and someone is speaking to you the video and the voice dont match up.