"When they Saw the GUI of DemoRecorder, they Laughed at it,
But When they Watched the Results..."

Dear Visitor,

You don't realize it yet, but in the next 2 minutes you're going to learn how the problem of creating high quality screencasts under Linux has been solved ... and it does not even cost you a dime to do it ( for the first 30 days. )

What can I expect?

When you are in your creative mindset, DemoRecorder makes it as easy as humanly possible to get your job done.

Therefore we have put a lot of emphasis into supporting you to get your job done well by making the recording step as convenient as possible.

All the technical complexity of most video formats is shielded from you during the recording phase by generating a high quality master copy of your video in DemoRecorder's own format (which has been specifically designed to need no technical parameters and to be convertible to any other format while retaining maximum quality.)

So, the only parameter you have to set before recording is the resolution of the virtual desktop. (more about virtual desktop and its resolution later)

But I want my video in a common format like AVI, Flash or MPEG!

Of course DemoRecorder can provide that.

From your master copy you can create videos in any of the supported formats ( more about that below ), in any resolution and in any framerate or compression-rate you wish. Also, you may choose a rectangular area or a specific timespan out of your master copy.

DemoRecorder's master format is designed in a way that it can be converted to any output format, any framerate, any resolution with maxium quality. (Later, I give you more info about DemoRecorder's unique recording technology which enables that, but let's now focus on how the exporting to the target formats is done.)

Why does DemoRecorder use a proprietary master format (from which any other format can be created)?

Now, how does the exporting work?

DemoRecorder comes with a rich toolbox of export filters.

Each export filter exports to a specific output format.

Each export filter supports a variety of options which are taylored to the technical possibilties of the specific output-format, so you get the necessary tools to be able to get the best result possible in that specific output format.

Each export filter is a commandline utility which provides its functionality through commandline options. When you call a filter with the option "--help", it displays all options it is capable of.

Why are the export filters available as commandline-utility but not as a point-and-click GUI?

Actually this has two reasons:

Reason one is that we like to focus all of our energy into making the quality of the recorded videos as good as possible and in making the creative recording step as convenient as possible . So, instead of using a lot of manpower for creating an exporter-GUI, we focus on optimization of the recording engine and the export filters.

So, DemoRecorder is a tool for a results-oriented professional and for an ambitioned amateur user.

This fits well with the other reason of providing the export filters as commandline-utilities:

Commandline-utilities give you more flexibility for batch-like operations like exporting of videos because it allows you to write shell scripts which automate the task for you.

Suppose you want to export all videos in the following formats:
Streaming Flash Video for Web-publishing in resolutions 320x200, 400x300, 640x480 and 800x600,
AVI-video with high qualtity ( 8000kbits/sec ) and medium quality ( 3600 kbits/sec ),
and VOB-file for putting it on a video DVD, both for European users ( PAL reslution and framerate ) and US-users ( NTSC resolution and framerate ).

This gives you 8 different output files for each video!

With a shell script like the following, you can do all the exporting needed for one video in one step. Compare this to using a GUI where you select the parameters for one export, wait for the export to be finished, select the parameters for the next export and so on.
Now multiply that with the number of videos which you create for a specific project
(Look at the time saved with the shell-script compared to the GUI!
And since your time has a high value, look on the money saved!)

Now, here is the script (feel free to use and tweak it for your use)

Now suppose the shell script is called "demoall" and your video is called "presentation", you simply call ...

demoall presentation

If you have created a lot of videos you may also write a script which calls demoall for all of your videos. For example:

You see that you can save a lot of effort by automating the exporting using shellscripts.

(Hint: Be sure to give your shell scrips execute-permissions by using "chmod" as follows:

chmod 755 demoall
chmod 755 demoproject

I still have some questions:

You mentioned that the resolution of the virtual desktop can be configured.
Now how can I do that and what is a virtual desktop?

First let me explain the virtual desktop: When you start demorecorder, it displays a desktop inside its GUI. When you record your video, this desktop is recorderd.

This way, you start your recording with a clean new desktop without having to tidy up your main desktop (which, if you work like me has a ton of windows open, all well-arranged to support all of my tasks.)

Plus, you may choose the resolution of the desktop to be recorded. Usually, you want a lower resolution (or size) of the desktop to be recorded because the playback usually occurs within a window and your target audience may have a lower screen resolution than you.

Now you can solve that also by scaling the video during the exporter-step. However, everything looks really small in a scaled video, so you probably get a much better quality if you are able to have the same resolution on recording and playback

That's why DemoRecorder by default works with a nested desktop and that's also the reason for the default resolution of 800x600 of the nested desktop

Of course this resolution may be changed. Just give the parameters "--width" and "--height" when starting the DemoRecorder-GUI, for example ...

demorec --width 1024 --height 768

I have more questions, where do I get the answers?

How to download

Click here to download your 30 day free trial.

There are two ways for a trial

The plain downloaded version includes a trial license for DemoRecorder which works for 6 months after the release-date of the current version. "Trial license" means that exported videos contain watermarks.

But I don't want any watermarks!

That's why I give you your personal and free "Welcome License" which you can get at the download-page, too.

This free "Welcome License" gives you a all features of DemoRecorder-Pro for 30 days. That is you get our maximum feature edition free for 30 days, no strings attached, no watermarks, no restrictions whatsoever. You may use the "Welcome License" for completing real projects and publish the videos where you want etc.

The intention of the "Welcome License" is that you can testdrive DemoRecorder under real-world conditions. And what's better suited for evaluating it than to use it for a real project?

How to buy

You can buy permanent licenses at our shop and immediately after purchase, you can get your license file at our automatic license management service. Your license file will activate your purchased features in the download version.

So you continue working right away after purchase. Our store as well as our automatic license management service are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Our store is operated by eSellerate.net, a well-known and trusted eCommerce-provider for software vendors.

Feature Overview

• "watermarks" with export filters means that the exported video contains moving demorecorder logos and a text.
• The Standard Edition, Web Edition and Pro Edition can be purchased at our shop.
• an "engineering unit" is a measure for the cost and effort of implementing features. Most features require multiple "engineering units"for their implementation.
• Engineering units may also be purchased separately from licenses for a price of $797 per engineering unit.
• when you buy a license of the VIP-edition or an engineering unit without bundled license please tell me which feature you want to sponsor with the engineering unit(s) contained in your licence(s).

  If you want to have a feature completed within a certain time frame, please tell me your requirements and ask me for the expected delivery time and for the number of engineering units to be purchased for that this feature can be completely implemented.
  (To contact me please send an email to Christian Linhart at the adress chris{at}DemoRecorder.com. Please replace {at} with @ in the email adress.)

  I will then make you a quote containing the number of engieering units, and the expected delivery time.

• "trial mode" with export filters means that the exported video contains moving demorecorder logos and a text.
• The Standard Edition, Web Edition and Pro Edition can be purchased at our shop.

Benefits of a screen recorder

• educational videos,
• HOWTOs,
• screen casts,
• presentations,
• ...

It can also be used to

• report software problems which are difficult to describe but easy to show
• or for analyzing usability of software.

What do others say about DemoRecorder?

"I Decided to Give it a Whirl and it Worked Like a Charm for me."

"To demonstrate some workflows in my Web-application "yawebmail" I decided to create some screen videos and put them on the procect-site.

So I searched the web for an easy-to-handle programm (to run on Linux - certainly!) that offers the possibility to export my screen-recording as a Flash-video.

What I found was a bunch of tutorials describing the combination of a few cryptic commandline-tools to accomplish my plan - and DemoRecorder!

I decided to give it a whirl and it worked like a charm for me. It's easy to install, easy to use and delivers the screen-recording in a wide range of output-video-formats with an excelent quality.

My conclusion: Two thumbs up!"

- Stephan Sann, Author and Project Admin
of yawebmail
( http://yawebmail.sourceforge.net/ )
yawebmail is a webmail-client written in Java as a webapp.

Example Videos:

• Short tutorial videos showing how to use yawebmail

"The Recorded Demo (Using DemoRecorder) Saved The Day!"

"I needed to record our website demo, to use as a backup at a conference, in case the Internet connection caused problems. And guess what, the wireless Internet conked out after some time and the recorded demo(using DemoRecorder) saved the day! As far as I know DemoRecorder is the best (and perhaps the only) solution for recording on Linux. To add to it, the quality of recording is far better than the one which comes packaged along with the Windows XP.

Keep up the great piece of work Chris! And thank you for personally responding to emails!!"

- Khushnood Naqvi, Co-founder/ Programmer/ Director
of Ninety Degree Internet Software
( www.90di.com )
the Travel Planner (Search and Booking) for India, and more

Comments from the author of DemoRecorder to these testimonials:

These testimonials show individual experiences with DemoRecorder.

The typical experience, and your individual experience may be different.

Therefore we offer a free trial period, so you can find out yourself before you are paying money for it.

I urge you to make use of this free trial period before paying your hard-earned money to me by purchasing a license.

Some additional comments to specific statements made in the testimonials:

• "Easy to use" as used in some testimonials is a very subjective term and depends a lot on your computer and Linux skills, among other things...

  For example, you need to be able to use the Linux commandline for using DemoRecorder. For some people, the commandline is easy to use. Your opinion on that may vary.

• DemoRecorder is not the only screen recording program for Linux. There are other screen recorders for Linux as well.
• All in all, DemoRecorder is designed for professionals, with the emphasis of getting high quality results.

  Linux newbies may not be able to use it immediately, but need to do some learning.

Do you have a life presentation
or example videos?

I have prepared an all-video tutorial for you.This tutorial shows how to record a video, export to Flash-Video streaming for web-publishing and finally how to publish it.

Plus, the tutorial itself is a good example of videos generated with DemoRecorder.

You can view this tutorial by clicking here.

Are there any limitations?

Good question.

I like to answer this question honestly by listing the limitations known to me:

OpenGL

DemoRecorder is not yet well suited for recording OpenGL applications. OpenGL is currently handeled through software emulation which uses a lot of CPU-power and that may slow down your application too much.

If your application uses OpenGL, I suggest you try it. Maybe it works sufficiently well.

Long term we will provide hardware accelerated OpenGL support. This will be announced in the newsletter, so I suggest you get your welcome license and subcribe to the newsletter in this process.

Tablet

DemoRecorder does not yet support the use of additional input devices such as a tablet.

Export filters have no GUI

Although the commandline interface to the export filters provides a lot of flexibility and possibilities for automation, the commandline is not for everybody and for every situation.

A GUI interface to the export filters is planned long term, but currently we have other priorities (based on customer feedback: implement hardware-accelerated OpenGL-recording for example).

Other than these limitations listed above I am not aware of any others.

Which kind of Services are included with DemoRecorder?

I believe that when you buy software, you not only buy a license to the bits of the program, but in first place, you buy a solution which works and does the job for you.

So, you deserve more than just the bits of the program.

That's why I created a set of services which ensures that you get a solution which works and does the job for you.

These services are of course included in every variant of DemoRecorder, even in the lowest priced one.

... each and every license of DemoRecorder comes with the following services:

• Free support

  You write an email with your questions and I will answer by email. (the maximum reaction time depends on the type of license you purchase.)

• Free bugfixing service:

  We will fix any bug which we can reproduce.
  And we will work together with you until we get all necessary info for reproducing the bug.

• Free updates

For how long do you think these services are included?

The few companies which offer such complete a set of services at all usually do it for 6 months or for a year.

I think you deserve more than that.

No, it's not just a year and a day, or a year and a month, It's a whopping two full years of these services included for free with each and every license!

What do I do if I need help or need more info?

If you have any questions or need help, please tell me personally by sending me an email and I'll be glad to help you and answer all of your questions.

For immediate answers you may also want to consult the FAQ.

I hope you find DemoRecorder a useful tool for your projects.

Best regards,

Chris

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