ACDsee video editor and screen/webcam recorder - Free!

[Tezza]

Thought I would drop this one in as I know some like to do screen recordings/webcam recordings etc and it can also be good for diagnosing problems, taking a screenshot of what you are doing. I know it can be difficult to get a good program like this for free. It is basically a Camtasia clone. Available until July 29th. 64bit windows 7 up, 129mb full program download. ACDsee are also running some sales on their products for the photographer within you until August the 4th.

https://www.acdsee.com/en/download-our-video-studio-for-free/

Edited July 24, 2020 by Tezza

[mettelus]

Thanks for the heads up. I have never heard of them before, but even at full price it is roughly 1/4 of the initial Camtasia purchase ($60 versus $249). Even after that, Camtasia charges $50/year maintenance fee to keep the software current. For FREE, this is something everyone should grab, even if they "think" they don't have a use for it now. Granted, it is the old version (I cannot find a link to this without using the OP), but it has green-screening and looks pretty capable.

With a name like Smuckers... er... AC/DC.... er... ACDSee, it has to be good!

[chris.r]

Is this something I should go for if I want to keep my freshly installed Windows uncluttered and clean from any add-ware like codec packs, 'helpers', ads, any bundled software, etc that could come with this type of software? Or should I look elsewhere? Thx

Edited July 24, 2020 by chris.r

[Brian Walton]

1 hour ago, chris.r said:

Is this something I should go for if I want to keep my freshly installed Windows uncluttered and clean from any add-ware like codec packs, 'helpers', ads, any bundled software, etc that could come with this type of software? Or should I look elsewhere? Thx

I have not installed this yet (though I grabbed a serial number)

I have the paid Ultimate ACDSEE Photography program , it isn't cheap.  (and I only use it for the right click preview in Windows function, not what it is really designed to do as it isn't as good as my other options.

The paid version does have nags and upgrade prompts even when I wasn't using the program and they certainly send a lot of emails.

If you want truly clean, I'd stay away.

[Brian Walton]

1 hour ago, mettelus said:

Thanks for the heads up. I have never heard of them before, but even at full price it is roughly 1/4 of the initial Camtasia purchase ($60 versus $249). Even after that, Camtasia charges $50/year maintenance fee to keep the software current. For FREE, this is something everyone should grab, even if they "think" they don't have a use for it now. Granted, it is the old version (I cannot find a link to this without using the OP), but it has green-screening and looks pretty capable.

With a name like Smuckers... er... AC/DC.... er... ACDSee, it has to be good!

They have been around for quite a while, though do not have a massive user base.   

I have an older version of Camtasia that still works fine.    There are other free alternatives with varying abilities and quality.   OBSProjects is an open source one to check out though I haven't used it myself.     Filmora has a cheap ($20?)  Screen capture product as well.  

If it is like other ACDSee products they have a garbage once computer seat model.

[Kurre]

Ok, we'll see about spamming...I use waves and am able to take that. So how hard can it be?

I gave them my mailadress and they sent me a mail with the download link and the license in form of a serialnumber.

It's 129 MB and an exe saying it's 64-bit.

I'm not sure i'll use this because i have Filmora. But if something come up that i can't do in Filmora i probably fire it up and give it a shot.

[TheSteven]

ACDSEE is not a new company, use to use their stuff waaay back when.
Back then they had cutting edge stuff.  Haven't been using their stuff or following them for a while.

[Brian Walton]

1 hour ago, Kurre said:

Ok, we'll see about spamming...I use waves and am able to take that. So how hard can it be?

I gave them my mailadress and they sent me a mail with the download link and the license in form of a serialnumber.

It's 129 MB and an exe saying it's 64-bit.

I'm not sure i'll use this because i have Filmora. But if something come up that i can't do in Filmora i probably fire it up and give it a shot.

WAVES is bad with emails, though I don't get pop ups on the machine itself telling me about updates (to my old WAVES plugins) even when I'm not using them.

But if you haven't unsubscribed from WAVES emails and can tolerate that, you are likely just fine here.

[chris.r]

2 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

I have not installed this yet (though I grabbed a serial number)

I have the paid Ultimate ACDSEE Photography program , it isn't cheap.  (and I only use it for the right click preview in Windows function, not what it is really designed to do as it isn't as good as my other options.

The paid version does have nags and upgrade prompts even when I wasn't using the program and they certainly send a lot of emails.

If you want truly clean, I'd stay away.

Nag screens are fine, as are emails as long I can unsubscribe. What I want to avoid is installing unwanted codec packs, background processes or adware. 129MB seems reasonable.

Edited July 24, 2020 by chris.r

[Tezza]

7 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

They have been around for quite a while, though do not have a massive user base.   

I have an older version of Camtasia that still works fine.    There are other free alternatives with varying abilities and quality.   OBSProjects is an open source one to check out though I haven't used it myself.     Filmora has a cheap ($20?)  Screen capture product as well.  

If it is like other ACDSee products they have a garbage once computer seat model.

What other free alternatives have you found? I searched for quite a while and came up with nothing really. OBS is really unintuitive and is directed mainly at broadcasting live streaming from numerous sources rather than a simple video editor with screen/webcam recording. Other options I've seen are mainly just screen recorders but don't have inbuilt video editing capabilities or even webcam recording and even they are rare with decent functionality, Flashback was a screen recorder I was using. The ACDSEE one appears to have more functions than the paid Filmora one ($29.00).

The 1 licence per PC thing doesn't worry me for this software as I will only use it on my laptop, but it has put me off their other software. It's not clear how that works and I can't stand companies that are not upfront about their licensing policies.

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, Tezza said:

What other free alternatives have you found? I searched for quite a while and came up with nothing really. OBS is really unintuitive and is directed mainly at broadcasting live streaming from numerous sources rather than a simple video editor with screen/webcam recording. Other options I've seen are mainly just screen recorders but don't have inbuilt video editing capabilities or even webcam recording and even they are rare with decent functionality, Flashback was a screen recorder I was using. The ACDSEE one appears to have more functions than the paid Filmora one ($29.00).

The 1 licence per PC thing doesn't worry me for this software as I will only use it on my laptop, but it has put me off their other software. It's not clear how that works and I can't stand companies that are not upfront about their licensing policies.

Davinci Resolve is free for the actual editing part.

I haven't used the free options for the screen capture (outside of using Zoom and Skype)

OBS might feel like it is aimed at the broadcasting side, but it is one of the most popular screen recording products out there.

https://www.bandicam.com/free-screen-recorder/

https://screenrec.com/

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/geforce-experience/shadowplay/

https://camstudio.org/

https://www.flashbackrecorder.com/express/

 

 

 

 

[Brian Cadoret]

I find the Ashampoo Snap is useful and easy for quick capture, and it's free.

 

https://www.ashampoo.com/en/gbp/lpa/gift

[Tezza]

7 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

Davinci Resolve is free for the actual editing part.

I haven't used the free options for the screen capture (outside of using Zoom and Skype)

OBS might feel like it is aimed at the broadcasting side, but it is one of the most popular screen recording products out there.

https://www.bandicam.com/free-screen-recorder/

https://screenrec.com/

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/geforce-experience/shadowplay/

https://camstudio.org/

https://www.flashbackrecorder.com/express/

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that, I've tried all of those, except the Nvidia one. The problem is, all these provide part functionality but they don't provide a video editor with text and images, webcam and screen recording all in one and the ability to capture it all at the same time. There are free version NLE's like Davinci, Hitfilm, Lightworks etc but they don't do screen capture or webcam capture. The free version of Bandicam has no linear editing function and neither does OBS. Camstudio I wouldn't bother with, it's immensely buggy and development on the project is stalled. Flashback is what I was using, they advertise all the things it can do but those things are not available in the free version, you have to upgrade to the pro version. Shadowplay is mainly a screen recorder.

You can certainly combine the different functions of the different free programs on offer but you don't get Camtasia style functions all in one for free as far as I can tell, there's always something missing. Having everything in one program makes it easier. Being able to capture the screen, audio and webcam into the same application at the same time and then edit it on the timeline can make everything a lot quicker if you are doing training videos.

It might be better to record the webcam, screen and audio narration into separate files and then drag them all into a professional NLE for highest quality. For that purpose you could use the free version of Davinci, Lightworks or Hitfilm etc but you would still need something to do all the initial capturing. I've got Vegas which I like.

I want to try and set up to capture from a GH3 (as webcam), a lavalier mic and the screen at the same time. I could get away with the webcam since that will only be small anyway but being able to get audio in from the lavalier or shotgun or both via the laptop computer or through the UR44 into the Desktop would up the quality. What I can't stand is when the training videos record audio from the webcam and you get that echoy, distant thin sound.

The reviews I've seen of video studio seem to be comparing it to other NLE's like Premiere or Davinci but that is not what it is made for.  I've yet to run it, I hope I can burn the audio off the timeline in some way to take to a dedicated audio editor or it might have eq and compression but I doubt it. 

Ill fire it up tomorrow, see how it goes.

 

 

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, Tezza said:

 

Thanks for that, I've tried all of those, except the Nvidia one. The problem is, all these provide part functionality but they don't provide a video editor with text and images, webcam and screen recording all in one and the ability to capture it all at the same time. There are free version NLE's like Davinci, Hitfilm, Lightworks etc but they don't do screen capture or webcam capture. The free version of Bandicam has no linear editing function and neither does OBS. Camstudio I wouldn't bother with, it's immensely buggy and development on the project is stalled. Flashback is what I was using, they advertise all the things it can do but those things are not available in the free version, you have to upgrade to the pro version. Shadowplay is mainly a screen recorder.

You can certainly combine the different functions of the different free programs on offer but you don't get Camtasia style functions all in one for free as far as I can tell, there's always something missing. Having everything in one program makes it easier. Being able to capture the screen, audio and webcam into the same application at the same time and then edit it on the timeline can make everything a lot quicker if you are doing training videos.

It might be better to record the webcam, screen and audio narration into separate files and then drag them all into a professional NLE for highest quality. For that purpose you could use the free version of Davinci, Lightworks or Hitfilm etc but you would still need something to do all the initial capturing. I've got Vegas which I like.

I want to try and set up to capture from a GH3 (as webcam), a lavalier mic and the screen at the same time. I could get away with the webcam since that will only be small anyway but being able to get audio in from the lavalier or shotgun or both via the laptop computer or through the UR44 into the Desktop would up the quality. What I can't stand is when the training videos record audio from the webcam and you get that echoy, distant thin sound.

The reviews I've seen of video studio seem to be comparing it to other NLE's like Premiere or Davinci but that is not what it is made for.  I've yet to run it, I hope I can burn the audio off the timeline in some way to take to a dedicated audio editor or it might have eq and compression but I doubt it. 

Ill fire it up tomorrow, see how it goes.

 

 

All depends on the workflow you want and how you want  to achieve it.

As mentioned, I have Camtasia, and personally I think it is a chore to use it for the NLE and vastly prefer Resolve or Premiere Pro.  On that front.    (unless I need to obfuscate information which Camtasia does have far better tools for)

I personally record video with an actual video camera and use an external mic.   Using a headset or computer audio is reserved for a "I don't care" teaching video.  

I personally don't find that opening up a different app and lining them up takes more than a couple minutes, not exactly a big deal to me personally.  And the time saved during the editing process of using something that doesn't' feel clunky makes up for it very quickly.    The actual editing is the time consuming part, not the application opening and bringing files in  based on my experience.   

The other major consideration is the rendering time.  Camtasia is quick for the screen sharing stuff.   Other programs treat it as normal video and can take quite a while to render.  

Edited July 25, 2020 by Brian Walton

[Tezza]

So I guess you can look at it as an actual video shoot then. The screen recording is just another "take" that you can use. I am looking at it as screen recording type teaching. Typically you might end up with 5 files for this then:

1. Introductory full frame video
2. Webcam or video of the face to overlay (if you want this)
3. Full screen video of the screen
4. Introductory audio
5. Narration audio

It probably would be better to edit all of this in a dedicated NLE. The webcam, screen and narration can be captured at once and the introductory video and audio can be done separately. So one workflow could be to use the video camera to record webcam footage and narration audio (audio, direct to camera) In which case you would need only to record the screen via computer.

Or for simplicity and depending on the strength of your computer, record a dedicated webcam, narration audio and screen all direct to the computer. Use the video camera for introductory video and audio only. Even with this you would want a decent mic solution rather than using the webcam mic. So you want something that can record audio from a separate source, the webcam and the screen.

I was thinking of using the laptop but there is no reason I couldn't use the Desktop PC to do this, that has the UR44 attached and I would get better audio. Given ACDsee's single user licence, it might make sense to install it on the Desktop PC rather than the laptop.

 

 

[Hillmy]

IDK what the fuss is about. It's FREE! I installed it and it works fine. No nagging or spam emails either (didn't sign up for newsletter). If people are worried about background processes, you can disable AcdIDInTouch2 from Task Manager and disable it's startup, and also rename the file. Problem solved! I did that and it still works fine and can even check for updates. 

I will be getting Davinci Resolve Studio soon. But I will use the ACDSee video editor and screen cap program as the simple quick and easy program. And Davinci Resolve Studio as the advanced editor. Kind of like how I have Cakewalk and Audacity ?