Telestream ScreenFlow Review

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Because of the rise of YouTube and video tutorials, screen-casting programs have become very popular. I have used screen capture programs in the past, however now they just don’t cut it. Screen-casting software not only captures, but it also allows editing. As a blogger, I sometimes create screen-casts tutorials, which require quick and painless publishing. I recently switched from PC to Mac because Macs make a lot of things easier to do. The main reason I believe this is because of Apple’s simplistic approach. I have started using Telestream’s ScreenFlow, which follows this simplistic approach (simple yet powerful). It had a very small learning curve of about five to ten minutes.

ScreenFlow Pre Recording Countdown (Click For Full Size Image)
ScreenFlow Pre Recording Countdown (Click For Full Size Image)

Features

ScreenFlow supports high-resolution screens with ease. If you have multiple screens ScreenFlow gives the option of selecting the required source. The feature that I believe differentiates ScreenFlow from all other Mac screen-casting software is the ability to “Callout” a window after recording is over. This is no simple zooming technique, it actually makes the window larger compared to everything else on the screen. This could be handy in case you did not know you want to Callout a window before finishing recording. One of my favorite things about ScreenFlow is the way it saves project files. Every project file contains all files needed to open the project in one package. That way files are not all over your hard drive. When you are constantly moving, copying, deleting, and creating new files having one file per project is helpful for organizational reasons.

ScreenFlow Workspace (Click for
ScreenFlow Workspace (Click For Full Size Image)

Support

When contacting Telestream’s support I always received a fast effective response, which shows the Telestream team is there to stand behind their product. I have found some small inconveniences that I have reported to Telestream hopefully they can accommodate for fixes soon (At the time of writing this post the version I am using is 1.5.2). Firstly you must add a video or audio effect for each clip separately, you cannot just drag it from one clip to another. When adding an additional recording with the “Close ScreenFlow before recording option” selected without saving the entire project prior. It will ask you to save the project, but then it won’t record you must to go back and select add additional recording again. Another feature I feel would make ScreenFlow even more amazing would be the ability to blur out personal information such as usernames and passwords. I have received a reply from the support team looking into all these issues for the next version.

As a screen-casting program ScreenFlow ticks off all the boxes I need. It is a very powerful yet easy to use program. I can create screen-casts fast. I am glad the Telestream team made it very simple and not a full-blown video editing solution. This way the application file size stays small (13 Megabytes), the program does not get too complicated, and performs what it does very well.  On a final note I noticed that Telestream have made this program amazing by building it systematically. First they got the basics down and slowly they add features as opposed to building it with all the features they can think of. That way the program not only works better, but also is formulated better. I would recommend it for any Mac user that needs to produce screen casts. You can Try and Buy ScreenFlow on Telestream’s Website ($99).

Ps. If you have any questions or are confused by anything in this review and would like an answer, please comment and I’ll do my best to respond.

Os X 10.5.7 Released!

Finally I’ve been waiting for this for a couple of days! This update fixes many things (look below). Here are the download links

10.5.7 Delta Update (Must have 10.5.6 To install this upgrade) 443mb

105.7 Combo Update (Any version of 10.5) 729mb

To figure out which version of Leopard you are running. Click on the apple logo in the top left of the screen and click about this mac. (Below is an Example)

The Version of the operating sytem will be displayed like this (mine is currently 10.5.6)
The Version of the operating sytem will be displayed like this (mine is currently 10.5.6)

Address Book

  • Improves reliability of Address Book syncing with iPhone and other devices and applications.

AirPort

  • Improves the reliability of AirPort connections, including improvements when roaming in large wireless networks with an Intel-based Mac.

Client management

  • Improves reliability of synchronizing files on a portable home directory.
  • Fixes an issue in Mac OS X 10.5.4 and 10.5.5 in which managed users may not see printers that use the Generic PPD.
  • Client computers that use UUID-based ByHost preferences now respect managed Screen Saver settings.

iChat

  • Addresses an issue that could cause an encryption alert to appear in the chat window.
  • Setting your iChat status to “invisible” via AppleScript no longer logs you out of iChat.
  • Resolves an issue in which pasting text from a Microsoft Office document could insert an image rather than text.

Graphics

  • Includes general improvements to gaming performance.
  • Includes graphics improvements for iChat, Cover Flow, Aperture, and iTunes.
  • Includes fixes for possible graphics distortion issues with certain ATI graphics cards.

Mail

  • Includes overall performance and reliability fixes.
  • Improves Connection Doctor accuracy.
  • Fixes an issue that could cause messages identified as junk to remain in the inbox.
  • Fixes an issue that could cause Mail to append a character to the file extension of an attachment.
  • Addresses an issue that could prevent Mail from quitting.
  • Improves reliability when printing PDF attachments.

MobileMe

  • Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on a Mac automatically sync within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the web at me.com.

Networking

  • Improves Apple File Service performance, especially when using a home directory hosted on an AFP server. Important: If you are using Mac OS X 10.5.6 (client) to connect to a Mac OS X Server 10.4-based server, it is strongly recommended that you update the server to Mac OS X Server version 10.4.11.
  • Improves the performance and reliability of TCP connections.
  • Improves reliability and performance for AT&T 3G cards.
  • Updates the ssh Terminal command for compatibility with more ssh servers.

Printing

  • Improves printing for the Adobe CS3 application suite.
  • Improves printing for USB-based Brother and Canon printers.

Parental Controls

  • Addresses an issue in which a parentally-controlled account could be unable to access the iTunes Store.
  • Includes general fixes for time limits.
  • Resolves an issue that prevented adding allowed websites from Safari via drag and drop.

Time Machine

  • Fixes issues that could cause Time Machine to state the backup volume could not be found.
  • Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.

Safari

  • Improves compatibility with web proxy servers.


General

  • Includes Mac OS X security improvements. See this website for more information.
  • Addresses inaccuracies with Calculator when the Mac OS X language is set to German or Swiss German.
  • Improves the performance and reliability of Chess.
  • Improves DVD Player performance and reliability.
  • Performance improvements for iCal are included.
  • Fixes an issue when running the New iCal Events Automator action as an applet.
  • Adds a Trackpad System Preference pane for portable Macs.
  • Improves compatibility with smart cards such as the U.S. Department of Defense Common Access Card.
  • Updates time zone data and Daylight Saving Time rules for several countries.

Until I get a mac

I’m going to install this transformation pack until i get my mac. lats time i tried to use it it didn’t work and messed up my boot on vista, but now its a newer version that hopefully resolved the previous issues, because now the the file is a full install and does not connect to the internet to download the install files

Vista OSX