Screenr is Saying Goodbye: A Few Alternatives for Screencasting

I’ve been a fan of Screenr for sometime now and usually include it in my multimedia tools for educators presentations. Sadly Screenr will be closing shop on November 11, 2015.

This is the message they posted in a recent email to users:

“Sadly, we’re retiring Screenr on November 11, 2015.

As you might already know, Screenr’s recording capability is based on Java RE (Runtime Environment), which is rapidly becoming antiquated. For example, Google Chrome doesn’t support Java RE anymore. So Screenr can’t run there. And on other browsers, Java support is also limited, causing constant problems for users.

Because we at Screenr pride ourselves on providing a superior customer experience, these issues are simply unacceptable. And there’s no way around them.

If you’d like to download your videos, please do so before November 11th. After then, you will no longer be able to log into Screenr. However, all of your embedded videos and links to your videos will continue to work.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our services as much as we’ve enjoyed providing them to you.

The Screenr Team”

Now don’t worry, I have a few alternative tools for you to utilize for your screencasting needs.

Screencast-O-Matic (http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/)

It’s a web based screencasting tool that allows you to record up to 15 minutes for free. It has simple integration for publishing to YouTube in HD or save as a MP4, AVI or FLV movie file.

It has the option to go pro for only $15 a year to be able to publish to Google Drive, Vimeo, and other services. Record longer videos. It removes the watermark when publish. It can allow uploads to be password protected. Editing tools, scripts tool, screen shot tool, record audio in Windows, record webcam only, and draw & zoom while recording.

A great set of features for only $15 a year.

Tech Smith Jing (https://www.techsmith.com/jing.html)

Jing is the more compact cousin of Tech Smith’s Camtasia Studio and great for less complicated and more economical for basic screencasting. Free is limited to five minutes of screen recording and come with a free account at Screencast.com for sharing your captures. The free version can save video as SWF video and is branded with the Jing logo. This is software that you will download to your computer unlike Screencast-o-matic and Screenr. Both a Mac and Windows download available.

Tech Smith Camtasia Studio (https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html)

Camtasia Studio is the ultimate in the screencasting world. Packed with features, Camtasia Studio makes it easy to create screencasts with presets for a variety of sharing situations like YouTube, HD displays, Screencast.com, Google Drive, and more. You can edit the audio and video independently so you don’t have to redo a whole segment just because of an oops in the audio or video portion. Special effects and edits are easy to manipulate thanks to fine control over the time line, you can select a portion of your editing timeline right down to the tenth of a second. I really enjoy the zoom, call-outs, closed captioning, and transitions. Easily remove a color to make a green screen effect. It’s far from free, but Camtasia Studio is great for those who will be making lots of professional looking videos.

Screenflow (http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/)

Sorry PC users this screencasting and video software is only for Mac users. Screenflow ranges from $99 to $149, depend on the extra graphics and transition packs you decide to add on. It’s high quality recording let’s you edit later. Now it has an added iOS recording feature with Touch Callouts and App Preview exports. Easy to publish to Vimeo, YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox, or Facebook. Lots of export settings available and options for closed captioning. Advanced features like the ability to decouple audio and video streams for independent editing and audio ducking (if you’re using background music it’s automatically adjusted during speaking portions of the video); the ability to freeze, speed up, or slow down the video to allow you to time lapse or zoom through a more tedious portion of the task you’re demonstrating. ScreenFlow also supports custom cursors and callouts for emphasizing the cursor or foremost window.