AVI uses techsmith or techsmith2 codec?

[Borske]

Can anyone tell me if the AVI uses techsmith or techsmith2 codec?

[ExKoder]

Please submit a Environment Information.

http://forum.exkode.com/index.php?topic=2.0

[De-M-oN]

You shouldnt record with such a bad codec anyway.

DXTory lets you choose which codec you use to record. It should definitely not TSCC / TSC2. Very very bad codec. And the software even more bad.

[SirCrest]

Techsmith codecs are specifically designed for very slow desktop recording, not games.

[De-M-oN]

And @ Desktop Recording I wouldnt use a slow codec too. Thats not an excuse for a very bad codec ^^

[Denton]

It should definitely not TSCC / TSC2. Very very bad codec. And the software even more bad.

Err.. how is it 'very very bad' and a 'slow codec'?
Which codec would you suggest for recording Desktop/Application environments? And which editing suite/software would be better than Camtasia?

[De-M-oN]

It should definitely not TSCC / TSC2. Very very bad codec. And the software even more bad.

Err.. how is it 'very very bad' and a 'slow codec'?

It compresses at lowest compression settings about twice as slow as lagarith. -> Lagarith has very excellent compression though -> Now you can imagine how slow TSCC would be at highest compression.

On TSCC highest compression the file is still about twice the size as a lagarith file.

so to put this together: Lagarith encodes twice as fast as TSCC fastest compression and while that it reaches about half the filesize of TSCC highest compression.
And TSC2 is even a lossy codec if I remember correct.

Which codec would you suggest for recording Desktop/Application environments? And which editing suite/software would be better than Camtasia?

Almost every program is better than camtasia.
Record with the Lagarith Codec with setting @ YV12, [ x ] Multithreading.
NLE (the thing you called editing suite) I dont like so much. I prefer avisynth script and x264 as encoder.

[Denton]

Hm, what you're saying isn't correct. And actually, the Techsmith codec is lossless.
I did a quick test - a recording of a 452x1172 @ 60fps (foobar window), scrolling a playlist downwards for 3 minutes.

Settings:
Lagarith - YV12+Multithreading
TSC2 - Highest Quality

Results:
capture-lagarith.avi   1.32 GB (1,427,507,954 bytes)
capture-tsc2.avi   1.11 GB (1,199,514,164 bytes)
-
capture-camtasia.camrec   1.11 GB (1,201,164,288 bytes)

They all decode at 59.97 fps with no drops or jitter.

The native Camstudio .camrec format also does something quite special (it's more like a archive package than a codec), it logs keystrokes and cursor movements. This allows for rendering text from key presses, cursor focus/zooming and visual/audio effects such as mouse clicks. This is why the Camtasia Studio is so efficient for editing desktop/screen capture recordings.

And why/how would you do NLE in AviSynth? Sounds like a headache.
I think I'll stick with AFX/Nuke/Fusion or Vegas.. heh even Windows Movie Maker would be a better editor!

Techsmith is optimised for the capturing of desktop environments - there's nothing out there that can compete with it.
Now, if you were to try and record something like a film or a game (or anything using high motion) using the TCS2 it wouldn't be anywhere near as efficient.

What it does, it does well. e.g. You wouldn't use a screwdriver to hammer nails

[De-M-oN]

I meant TSCC. TSC2 I dont know.

=> Think about, why the codec is slow at complexity. -> Because the codec is slow.

Record with Camtasia in Lagarith and you'll see it works. Its the codec which is so damn slow. At least the encoding.

For Desktop Recording I would use Lagarith all the way. Best compression efficiency and for its strong compression quite fast.
So of course there is something what can compete it. Easily there is. MSI Afterburner+Lagarith is already enough.

And why/how would you do NLE in AviSynth? Sounds like a headache.

It isnt. And I highly prefer that. With avisynth I have full control over what things are done with my video. But a NLE: if a filter needs for example a colorspace conversion it just does it at the background. I cant see it. For example you need RGB32 for alpha masks. NLE would convert it to that without letting you know that.
Also a lot of things can be with a script be automated. Especially if you do always the same edits. Some things are even much faster done via script than timeline.

[Denton]

TSCC is a legacy codec, it would be like using Lagarith 1.1 - pointless.

Anyways, if MSI Afterburner+Lagarith+Avisynth is what works for you when recording desktop environments and producing videos, then err.. good for you I guess..!

However, I think you're completely missing the point of what Camtasia actually is and what it does, and in turn, the benefits of using Camtasia Studio with the TSC2 codec.
I'd also go as far as to speculate that you have no real experience with high end NLE's :l
There's literally no reason for editing a screen/tutorial video in Avisynth.

Techsmith's codec isn't bad, you're just using it wrong.

[De-M-oN]

Techsmith's codec isn't bad, you're just using it wrong.

I lol'd xD

TSCC is bad. End of discussion

TSC2 may be better, but camtasia costs lots of money and for that it has lots of bugs and so much hard problems. And for that I dont pay so much money..

Anyways, if MSI Afterburner+Lagarith+Avisynth is what works for you when recording desktop environments and producing videos, then err.. good for you I guess..!

of course it is. It is free of bugs and it costs nothing. MeGUI costs nothing as well and encodes by far more efficient than camtasia / vegas / premiere ever could do... They even dont have x264.. and even more just bitrate fixed encoding and very few encode settings. I would never want to encode with them.

I'd also go as far as to speculate that you have no real experience with high end NLE's :l

They encode bad. => They have very few encode settings, they cant decode many formats, many of them have lots of bugs, especially camtasia and vegas, they have no x264 encoder, they can only do bitratefixed encode..
The most editing can be done in avisynth as well. I dont need a timeline and some tasks are even faster done than a timeline. how said.

There's literally no reason for editing a screen/tutorial video in Avisynth.

why?

[Denton]

It's expensive because there's no competition for them. They have a decent support service too, which I'm sure factors into their prices

I agree about NLE's being poor at encoding - but that's why anyone using them correctly or professionally will always export as image sequences and then encode in a separate application (I too prefer MeGUI as an encoder!).

However, NLE's excel at timelines and WYSIWYG feedback. Trying to add audio-synchronised text to a screen captured tutorial via Avisynth scripts would be such a hassle. Same with zooms/pans and transitions - not having a curves GUI for ease-in/out functions wouldn't be fun at all.

Camtasia's whole purpose is to capture and manipulate the recorded desktop environment. That's the major benefit of using TSC2 and that's all it's been designed to do.
So yea, if you're simply going to record something which will only require the most basic editing/cropping/watermark in Avisynth then sure, brute force record it with Lags, UT, Huffy (or even Uncompressed!) as it will make absolutely no difference to the end result.

[Helphannel]

Techsmith codecs are specifically designed for very slow desktop recording, not games.

I also have a problems about techsmith. Recently I find this article http://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/camproj-to-mp4.html because i want to edit my recorded CAMPROJ videos by Camtasia. As the article says I streams the CAMPROJ out to MP4 file, but after I had moved it to my Windows Media Player, a warning " Unrecognized title" emerged... What's wrong with it? Is the techsmith codec incompatible with Windows Media Player?

[Denton]

CAMPROJ is the project file with all the edits/zooms/texts etc. that only Camtasia can read (more info here from their site). To get the video into a format that Windows Media Player can read you'll need to export it out from Camtasia. It's usually File > Export > MP4 or Share > Local File > MP4

Edit:
If you have the .trec file, in Windows Explorer, Right-click > Extract and that will dump the .avi & .wav files