# Camtasia Lag Problem



## Tidus22340 (Nov 8, 2004)

Ok, so I have a good system, it's a Dell, 2.8ghz...Downloaded camtasia, etc. Set it up...but whenever I try to capture a region of my screen, my computer lags so much I can barely use it. Along with this, my cursor disappears every screen capture, making it nearly impossible to find except if I press CTRL for the locator ring to come up. I've tried every possible setting and can't get it to lag. The best is when I let it auto configure, and then it's still bad, so I can't play the game I'm trying to play. If anyone knows how to take a lag-free video to help me out, that'd be great.


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

I'm not familiar with that software but the same rules apply for video no matter what you are doing. It's very demanding on resources.

A) Capture to uncompressed AVI, this will create enormous files but requires little processing power freeing up the CPU. If your trying to capture a game this would be very important. Trying to capture any type of compressed format with a 2.8 in realtime isn't advisable even if it was the sole thing you are doing. You'll either get some very poor quality video if any at all depending on the software. You can convert this files to a compressed format after you capture them, makes no difference then because it doesn't have to be done realtime and your computer can take all the time it needs.

B) Lower the resolution of the capture, 720x480 (NTSC) is the max resolution of DVD for example so using a resolution of that size will create pretty good quality files. If 720x480 doesn't work lower it even further. 

C) Use a lower framerate, max should be 30fps (NTSC). If you're only going to be watching these on a computer you can lower that as well.


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## Tidus22340 (Nov 8, 2004)

Ok, I tried this, and I'm still a bit laggy. I have it set to auto configure and as so don't know what my framerate is, but the lag isn't unbearable now. I'm wondering if saving it as a .camrec and saving it as a different file after finishing will work better?

FYI, my framerate is well under 720x480...529x480 actually.

Edit: I got caught up in some personal matters and wasn't able to respond. :S


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

Tidus22340 said:


> FYI, my framerate is well under 720x480...529x480 actually.


Your confusing framerate and resolution. The resolution is the size of the video or frame, or a frame size of 529x480. The framerate would be how many frames it captures per second, NTSC video for example is 30FPS. Both can affect performance. Higher framrates will appear smoother, anything above 20fps will look good but be aware that if you want to use this video on something like a DVD you have to use the appropiate framerate.

To check the framrate open it in Windows Medai player and selet properties. I can't offer any more advice because again I'm unfamialiar with that software.\

Edit: you can also try lowering the games performance such as using a lower resolution.


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## Tidus22340 (Nov 8, 2004)

Yeah, sorry. I used framerate in place of resolution.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

I have never used Camtasia but we had alot of our Tutorials at work made from it. It is pretty darn cool. I personally use Wink because it is free.
http://www.debugmode.com/wink/


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## Tidus22340 (Nov 8, 2004)

Is it generally lag-free? Because that's all I'm really looking for. One site that did have a lag-free use tutorial shut down, and that thread is gone.


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

Tidus22340 said:


> Is it generally lag-free? .


Just about anything you use is is going to produce simialr results. You're trying to perform two resource hogging operations that have to be done real time. Of course there is no harm in ty=rying other applications. You can alos try Camstudio which is free or Fraps which se4ems to be the preferred method for game capture among gamers.


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## Tidus22340 (Nov 8, 2004)

Can you get me the link for se4ems? If so, that'd be great.


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

se4ems... is a typo... Google Camstudio and Fraps


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Here's the "Free" Camstudio.
I see some others are charging for it.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/
It's almost the same as Camtasia.


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## Tidus22340 (Nov 8, 2004)

Thanks Noyb, this looks like it'll do the trick. If not, I'll try Fraps.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Camstudio may not be lag free.
It looks and works the same as Camtasia ... but doesn't have the Automatic Power Point Capture.


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## Tidus22340 (Nov 8, 2004)

Ah. Well, I don't need that, so I'll try both. Thanks guys.


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## vincent3650 (Jul 4, 2008)

hey i got a prob to i don't know very much of computers but i know a litel kk if i start camtasia and go to record i select my screen but then everything in that screen is flickering and when i record to then i stop i watch the video and its the 1 frame afther the other 1 its so slow 1 time i'm on the left side en next frame the right wath can i do about it


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