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New media is at its prime, and video presentations are a favorite among bloggers and many people dealing with different tasks. To make the best out of video presentations, screen recording and video editing tools for Mac and Windows see stiff competition in the software industry — all of them promising to give their users a wholesome experience around screen recording and video editing.
Here are some of the reasons why you might want to record and edit videos.
While there are firm reasons to get hold of a good all-in-one video recording and editing software for your Mac and Windows, the task of choosing one can get quite confusing, for there are numerous options laid out in the market.
Here at TheSweetBits, we will talk about what we think is the best screen recording and video editing software and also explore other options — all at one place — so that you don’t have to struggle with the many options.
Camtasia is one powerful screen recording and video editing tool for Windows and Mac. It is quite diverse and supports multiple video formats and offers unprecedented control over the created videos. At the same time, it’s surprisingly easy to use.
TechSmith, which makes Camtasia, even has a free Android and iOS app, which lets you transfer videos for editing from your mobile to your computer.
Once you are done with editing, you can render them and share them directly to YouTube, Vimeo, Screencast, and Google drive — all from within the app. Pretty cool, right?
Camtasia is surprisingly easy to learn, even for entirely new to the whole screen recording and editing domain. Even though it offers a few limitations in the presets media clips, it does a good enough job by providing the essential tools needed for video editing in a clean and minimal interface.
When you start the app, the first thing that you notice is that the user interface looks a bit occupied. However, the first impression goes away quickly, and then you start appreciating how finely the interface has been a crafter for new and first-time users.
Confused about where to start? Worry not! Camtasia loads a sample project with a video tutorial showing the basic layout and interface in the first run. For those who are new to editing, it’s a great way of understanding how video editor works.
The user interface of Camtasia is quite simple. There are three main areas: the media and effects library placed at the top-left, the timeline at the bottom, and the preview area at the right.
Camtasia has everything that you would need in a good screen recorder app. It comes with active mouse tracking and audio and webcam support, which means you can easily create great video tutorials.
The feature is easy to use and can be accessed through the program’s homepage, which means that you do not have to run around and browse through the layers of the program to access the application.
To start recording a video, click on the Record button, which comes at the top of the tools panel. The option, by default, is set to record your entire screen. However, you can customize it, of course.
You can choose to record in full screen or choose a custom area to record. There are also options to record webcam, microphone, and system audio through the app.
Once you have added your media or new media from the gallery (yes, the drag and drop feature works too).
You have the option to add as many tracks to the media timeline, rearrange them, and even rename them to have everything sorted. You can even cut and paste new tracks.
When on a good machine (we used a Macbook Air), there’s barely any lag when you separate sections of videos or trim them down.
It’s simple to add effects and overlays. You can select the type of effect or object from the list on the left and then drag it on the timeline.
Yes, you can customize every aspect of the video right from the preview option.
Pros
Cons
Camtasia comes with several license options — personal, professional, education, and government. The pricing is done by single and multiple user license.
The single-user license comes at $249. If you upgrade from an older version, then you have to pay $99.50. Click here to find out more about Camtesia’s pricing.
If you are looking for the best screen capture and editing software for Mac, then your hunt could end with ScreenFlow.
You can use ScreenFlow to record high-quality videos by making full use of your hardware features. Besides, you can also record the screen of your iOS devices.
The latest version of ScreenFlow — ScreenFlow 10 — comes with new features such as multi-screen recording, timeline tools palette, proxy editing, clip editor, and new click effects, which makes video editing and screen recording an exciting and engaging affair.
ScreenFlow has more than 5,00,000 pieces of different media that you can use from ScreenFlow’s Stock Media Library at an additional cost of $60 per year. So if you are looking for a more advanced editing experience, then you can certainly buy the add-on.
ScreenFlow comes with a great start page that lets you record screens on the go. On the home page, there are buttons to see what’s new in the updated version, get help, and watch tutorials.
The left side of the start page gives you the option to make a new recording, access a fresh editing page, view recent documents (media), and work around an existing template.
We especially liked the landing screen of ScreenFlow as it gives you access to all highlighting the main features of the app. The user interface is neat and easy to understand — you won’t feel lost in the program’s many features.
When you decide to record a screen, you get the option to choose what you will be recording — it could be your screen, any other screen, or your iOS device.
Then you get to choose if you want to include your camera and microphone. You even get to choose whether you want to record your computer’s audio.
Then, you get to choose between the desktop from rate — between 1 to 30 fps, or whatever is available on your Mac. There’s also a timeline frame rate to choose from — between 24fps and 60 fps. By default, it is set to 60 fps.
You can even loop a recording or add a timer if you want to stop your recording or your loop at a given time.
We liked the screen recording feature as it lets you choose most settings upfront.
ScreenFlow’s video editor lets you add subtitles, annotations, texts, and more with just a few clicks. You can also use it to lay over a new video by importing or recording it.
The editing screen is divided into four components ‚ the mainframe where the video is shown, the timeline editor, a left pane to add video clips and media snippers, a right pane to adjust the settings of individual components.
Most of the features are also accessible through your menu bar — simply hover over it and click on the options to browse through the features accordingly.
Once you have recorded the video, you can save the frame and export it. There’s also an option to batch export, which saves a lot of time. You also get to choose the resolution, encoding quality, and change the blur settings of your video.
The app is quite light on resources, so you can be assured that your CPU won’t have to toil hard if you are working on massive video files. Yes, it’s quite well optimized for your Mac.
Pros
Cons
You can buy ScreenFlow 10 for $119, but you also get a special deal if you are buying in bulk. For $179 and $209 under the special deal, you get access to priority support and future discounts when you decide to upgrade.
For Windows, here comes FlashBack Pro, an innovative screen recording and video editing tool that makes the process of recording and editing a care-free task.
FlashBack lets you record quick videos that can help you make engaging demos and tutorials, and then edit them to add the finishing touches so that your video is ready to be launched.
It lets you capture any part of your screen to turn it into a video file, edit them to add images, notes, and sounds so that your videos can look professional, and share them as multiple platforms straight to YouTube or FlashBack Connect.
When you launch FlashBack, you might realize that its interface looks just good enough; however, it’s not as flavored as its counterparts. However, do not let the first impression make a judgment call. It has features that put it head to head with its counterparts, making it a favorite screen recording and video editing tool for Windows.
For starters, the features seem to be less-intimidating, which means that you can easily browse through them, gaining familiarity on the go.
On the left panel, you get the option to access effects, titles, and more, while the right panel gives you the option to playback videos. At the bottom is the timeline editor, which you can use to edit your videos.
The recording features of FlashBack are pretty similar to those of its counterparts. It lets you capture a video from any part of the screen. Trust us, this feature has become quite competitive. If you cannot let your users do that, then there’s no point in selling the program. So there’s nothing new on this front.
There’s also an option to add webcam footage and audio commentary as you record. There is no limit on recording lengths, so you can keep on recording for as long as you want. You can also capture the sounds of your computer.
A great feature here is the scheduled recording, through which you can capture your screen at any given time and date. This feature works up to great advantage as you can automate your recording schedule to avoid the unnecessary clicks that you might otherwise have to go through.
There are also options to record using custom resolution, use a plain background, hide icons, and limit the file size of the recording. What else? You can define the frame rates for your game recordings and choose the video quality. However, this works best when you let FlashBack determine these settings itself. It will take your hardware configuration into consideration to come up with the ideal screen recording setting.
FlashBack is known for its fast and no fuss clip editing. It lets you customize videos with stickers, FX, GIFs, sounds, and more. You can also add text, images, annotations, custom watermarks and other sounds to enhance the quality of your video — all of these features can be easily accessed through the interface at the click of a few buttons.
The audio editings of FlashBack are also pretty stable — you get the option to edit tracks side by side and synchronize them with the video. However, you might be surprised that background noises are sometimes hard to prevent, even with a decent microphone in action.
While editing a media, you get access to an interactive button that helps you control movie playback. The focus here is on the action — you can zoom in to any part of your screen recording and even auto-track your mouse movements to keep the action in view, making sure that your viewers do not miss out on your movement.
Pros
Cons
FlashBack Pro comes with a 30-day trial. Post that, you can buy a lifetime license for single usage at $49. A lifetime license for commercial use comes at $59.
There’s also a student discount available which gives you a 50 percent discount on your order.
Another great tool from Wondershare, DemoCreator, formerly as filmoraScrn, is a great video editing and screen recording tool that you can use to capture and edit videos.
As the name suggests, it is perfect for making demos and other short content that you can use for marketing promotions.
It comes with 1000+ different video editing packs that you can use to give your videos that extra bit of flare.
Depending on your need, you can set your video recording resolution to be as high as 1080p Full HD or 720p. You also get the option to select the audio recording device and adjust the volume.
You can also select the framerate of the recording and start recording at 24, 30, or 60 FPS for extra smoothness or a movie-like aesthetic.
DemoCreator comes with many unique editing features that make this app one of a kind. You can use all the essential tools for video editing and the advanced features they come with.
It also comes with a voice-to-text tool that can convert voice to text in over 120 languages. It can also edit audio and video in the same timeline.
It also has 100+ different presets, and you can also use the cloud to search or look for new presets effects and stock images to edit your videos with ease and add a touch of flare.
You can use DemoCreator with a trial or subscribe to it for $9.99 a month or $39.99 for a year. With this subscription, you get all the media assets and new effects every month.
Movavi Video Suite is much more like a video editing toolkit. All the tools and presets are present at the front, so you have easy access to everything.
However, this makes the UI cluttered for beginners. But, if you are adept with video editing, it will be perfect for you. Hence, it makes a huge impact on the experience depending on your editing skills proficiency.
You can quickly launch the recording right from the app’s main screen. This helps you to get started asap and record your screen with ease.
It allows you to record your screen with Full HD resolution and at 60 FPS for better and smoother video quality.
Movavi can help you convert, edit and render your video with ease. It comes with all the essential features and tools to help you edit your videos faster and easier.
It also comes with the effects store, which you can use to get premade effects, presets, and filters to help you churn your videos faster.
My overall experience with Movavi Video Suite was awesome, and it is one of the best beginner apps on the list for video editing.
You can use the trial version to get a feel of how the app works and then subscribe for a 1-year plan for $35. You can also upgrade it for a lifetime license for just $50.
RecExperts is a classic screen recorder tool that excels at screen recording and capturing videos from your webcam.
The UI is simple and easy to use with a variety of features that make video recording and editing smooth and quick.
It can also be set up to schedule video recording, have variable frame rate support, and export to many different formats.
You can start recording your screen instantly with a full-screen capture or a drag tool to record a part of your screen specifically.
You can also record audio with a mic or use your webcam to record your face.
Finally, it can auto-stop or cut with the help of presets to make clips shorter and much more space-efficient than other apps.
It also comes with decent video editing tools, but it doesn’t have advanced features as it is a screen recording tool first and foremost.
However, you can still do the basics such as trimming, cropping, and other similar stuff and convert the videos to different formats, including gifs.
You can try RecExperts for free and then subscribe to it for $19.95 per month or get a lifetime license for $69.95.
ActivePresenter is one of those tools that you can use for education, corporate staff training, and general video making, of course.
It stands aside from its competitors as it comes as a solution for creating engaging handouts, user manuals, documentation, and interactive presentations for training. It comes for both Windows and Mac.
The Screen Recording feature on ActivePresenter particularly stands out from its counterparts as it also takes detailed screenshots of each step made with a mouse or keyboard instead of just recording a complete video.
When you start a recording, you get to choose between capturing an area, capturing a full screen, or just setting a custom dimension.
ActivePresenter comes with a powerful video editing feature that puts together various elements that work in perfect sync with the corresponding timeline, multiple video and audio layers, and a wide assortment of tools that you can access directly from the panel above the timeline editor.
It also comes with various other essential features for video editing, such as cut, delete, split, join, crop, blur, change volume and playback speed, insert freeze frame, and more.
Once you are done with the screen recording session, you can export the video to a desired video output format and adjust your audio preferences. It provides you with the option to export files into images, videos, PDFs, and HTML5, among others.
ActivePresenter comes with a standard and a pro license. The standard license can be purchased at $199, whereas you can get your hands on the Pro one at $399.
The Pro version gives access to additional features such as HTML5 export, fully responsive design interactivity, and branching, interactions and quizzes, and more.
Screen recording programs with video editor are endless, and we’ve left out several we tested but didn’t like too much. We like the ones below, but not as much as our previous picks.
Open Broadcaster Software — OBS — is a tool for Windows, Mac, and Linux, which is a free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming.
It comes with features that let you create scenes made up of multiple sources that include images, text, window captures, capture cards, webcams, and more. You can set unlimited scenes and switch between them quite seamlessly. The audio editor is quite intuitive and comes with filters such as noise suppression, noise gate, and more.
The settings panel of the app gives you access to a wide array of configuration options through which you can tweak the app as per your needs while a modular dock UI lets you rearrange the layout as you like. It also comes with direct support for your favorite streaming platforms.
Screencast-O-Matic is available for Windows and Mac; those who don’t want to install it on their disk can also use it as a web app, which is pretty cool. It lets you record your screen, edit the videos, and later share it.
The recorder is fast and easy to use. It can also employ your webcam and include narration for a more customized viewing experience. With tools such as zoom and automatic captioning, editing videos is comfortable and distraction-free.
Screencast-O-Matic claims that so far, over 55,000,000 videos have been created through the platform.
You can use Screencast-O-Matic for free or get the premier version for a $4.31 per month subscription.
Create by Vidello is an awesome lightweight and feature-rich video editor that brings all the essential video editing tools to the forefront.
It also brings many presets that you can use to amp up your editing game, and it can also help you record and capture videos from your screen and your camera.
With Create, you can record your screen at Full HD resolution and at 60 FPS. This is an awesome tool for recording your games or anything you do.
Create also comes with some advanced editing features, it allows you to insert emojis, texts, and other standard images or videos into the video you’re editing. The timeline shows all the things you’re working with and helps make video editing smoother, faster, and much more creative than ever before.
Create comes at a pricey cost of $127 for the full version, and you can also try it out through the demo.
Ezvid has been around for a decade. It has a Windows program that lets you record videos with features such as facecam, voice synthesis, speed control, and screen drawing.
It’s a great tool to make entertaining and engaging videos that can ‘enchant’ the viewers. It lets you edit videos nonlinearly, make speed changes, rearrange them, add slides, and much more. The interface is easy to use and can reduce your editing time drastically.
Ezvid is known to take advantage of multi-core CPU and video cards, and it is designed to make full use of resources. Since 2011, this software has been downloaded more than 3 million times — yes, that’s quite a number.
Ezvid for Windows is entirely free to use. It doesn’t have many features but is a great starting point for beginners looking to record their screen and edit videos.
The essential things that you should look for in a screen recorder and video editor app are Full HD video capturing, 60 FPS support, essential editing tools, presets, and audio tools. These are the basics that you need to have, and all the apps on the list above are great choices to look at.
The best recorder and editor that I have come across is Camtasia. It has great screen recording capabilities, amazing editing features, and tools that make Camtasia the best of the best. However, Camtasia can be a little pro sided, and I recommend trying it before getting acquainted with all the tools.
I don’t recommend most Free recorder and editor apps due to the lack of features, ads, and complex UI. However, Ezvid is a great pick as it has great editing tools and amazing recording capabilities for beginners and pros alike.
Now, that was a list!
If you made it to the end of it — right here— then congratulations! By now, you must be very much aware of what these screen recorders and video editors can do.
We suggest that you make a pick based on your requirements. If you can do a one-time use, consider a free trial. Else, you can try to invest in a paid version.
Gone are the times of movie makers and quick times. With the best screen recording and video editing software, you can ensure that your video projects look smooth and crisp. However, it can be quite tedious to choose one. So go through bits of this review again and make a pick. You can even share it with your friends, family members, and colleagues — whoever is considering investing in a screen recorder and video editor.
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