BB FlashBack Professional
Reviewed September 2009
| What’s It Do?
BB Flashback is a screen recorder that creates movies, tutorials, and presentations and adds text, sound, and images. It records at a high frame rate with no affect on PC performance, does Webcam recordings with picture-in-picture and commentary, shares movies on the Web, edits, enhances, annotates, edit multiple tracks side-by-side with video, adds effects for cursor highlighting, zoom and pan, and cropping, and provides upload to Flash, AVI, Windows Media Video, Quicktime, standalone .exe, PowerPoint, etc. Does it do what it promises? Reviewer 1- (Name withheld by request): Yes. BB Flashback Pro allows one to capture movies of activities from the computer screen and then gives the tools to extensively edit results. Reviewer 2- Dana Bostick: Yes, when it works, it does produce "screen cast" movies that are editable and capable of being annotated for later use. BBFlashback will also capture video from an attached Webcam. Reviewer 3- Peter Royle: Yes. Even if one has not tried using a video screen capture program (i.e. a "movie" of the computer screen or a section of the screen, rather than a "snapshot" screen capture), BB FlashBack would be a good program to start with. Wizards, with context-sensitive help each step of the way, will lead through each process. Not only can a screen capture video be made, it can be edited, text, images and other effects added, and then saved to different video formats including PowerPoint or uploaded directly to some popular video-sharing Web sites, or uploaded by FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to one's own Web site or some other server. Reviewer 4- Mark Snyder: Yes. The Web site claims that the program makes it easy to create professional quality tutorials, presentations and software demo; that it is easy to use-no technical skills required; that after installing you can be recording in just a few mouse clicks and making movies in minutes; and that it has minimal impact on PC performance. The program actually lives up to each of these claims and it performs these tasks, as well as many others not mentioned, flawlessly. Was it easy to install? Reviewer 1- (Name withheld by request): The installation proceeded smoothly and without complications. The license agreement permits one individual user per license and does permit transfer to a third party if the original user gives up all copies and rights. Reviewer 2- Dana Bostick: Yes, the first time I installed it on a Vista Home Premium tablet, it installed properly. It is available as a 30-day trial that is fully functional but reduces its capabilities after 30 days if not purchased and registered. A free version is also available, called BBFlashback Express that does not have the editing, additional format export and annotation features of the Pro version. Subsequently, I had problems and it failed to work. It was never determined what caused the problems. I was never able to successfully uninstall and reinstall it, even with the help of Blueberry Tech Support and a dedicated uninstaller application. I ran into the same problems later on the XP machine. I think it must be something unique to my particular set up here. Reviewer 3- Peter Royle: Yes. It is a standard Windows installation procedure that allowed me to place the program and its shortcuts in the locations of my choice. Besides bringing up the EULA (End Users Licence Agreement) during the installation, there is also a Readme file (which can also be in the installation folder) that can be read during this process. It is worth taking a look at this file, as it includes some technical information about the program, lists known problems, gives support contact information, and so on. The license allows for use on a single computer with the option of allowing access to the program by the individual doing the installation, or to all users of the computer. Reviewer 4- Mark Snyder: Yes. A caution is in order, however. While it is only a moderately sized 7.47MB download, it occupies a rather large 33.45MB on your hard drive. So, if one is a little short of space on your hard drive, this may consume more than desired. It did, however, take under ten seconds to download with my connection, and installed easily using a standard installation wizard. The registration procedure was equally simple and went quite smoothly. I especially appreciated the warning that my screen would go to black while the driver was installed and I also appreciated that I was given a choice of not only icon placement but also whether I wanted the icons for all users or just the current user. Unfortunately, the EULA (End User License Agreement) was not available on the Web site allowing it to be read carefully before downloading, nor was it printable; however, it was straightforward with less legalese than is sometimes seen, and offers some solid guarantees (in addition to the standard disclaimers of responsibility). Regrettably, I could not find any information as to a single user license. There was information on site licenses and education licenses but nothing for a single user. This information needs to be front and center in the EULA as it could, for some, determine whether to purchase the program. Finally, the program does not uninstall as cleanly as it should, leaving 46 fragments or empty keys in the Registry as well as the installation file. While these "left-overs" are relatively minor and an inconvenience, what was worse, it left the capture driver, which could later cause conflicts. This needs to be addressed as beyond causing future conflicts, unused drivers simply slow down the boot time of a computer and can cause erratic performance if not disabled or (preferably) removed. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: We'll take another look at the licence. We've taken steps in the upcoming release to have the deinstall be more thorough. It will deinstall the driver. Good points. Reviewer 1- (Name withheld by request): All of the functions described in this section worked well and were easily performed during my testing. When the program starts, an optional help screen pops up offering options to play or record a video or to get help on the desired activity. The help videos are well done. They are simple and clear, walking the user through the basic functions of this program. When the program is running in minimized mode, there is a very small control box (the recorder toolbox) with just the record, stop, and play buttons displayed. Recording was a very straightforward process, which is begun by pressing on the red record button. Recording options are then presented that include: 
Which monitor display to capture.
The screen resolution to record.
Whether to record sound or not, and if so, the source and
quality options.
Various video options that set a balance between quality, file
size, and better recording of active versus static images.
Whether to record a "frame within a frame" of captured video
from one's Webcam.
Whether to record the whole display or just a portion thereof.To record just a portion of the screen, an easily adjustable red frame appears to show the captured area. To record a second file, the user is given the option to use the same settings from the previous video. Where this program really shines, however, is in the video editing process. The display is clear and easily understandable. Across the top of the display is a timeline grid that contains the video and audio data represented as a series of frames with significant events clearly marked. It is easy to select the sections of the recording to delete, such as dead space in the beginning and end. There is also a filter that can select inactive sections of animated video and delete them all with a single stroke. Text balloons are easy to add and are very customizable. One can choose to zoom in on a customizable portion of the screen and have control over how quickly the transition lasts. There is an undo/redo function that can eliminate the previous edit if it was undesirable. Markers are added from a different location and can then be selected from the "jump to" list. The process of uploading a video to sites such as YouTube is straightforward. Select the service to upload to; input the user name and password for the site on the next screen; enter the title, tags, description, category, and whether the video is private; and the video uploads automatically. Video files can be exported to the major file formats including Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media Video, AVI, PowerPoint, and a standalone .exe. An added bonus is that the video may be viewed in its new format when the export process is completed and, in fact, the user is automatically prompted to view the video. Reviewer 2- Dana Bostick: BBFlashback is a program that produces Flash, QuickTime/H.264, WMV, .exe and AVI video outputs. With it, one can create a movie of whatever is happening on the computer screen, and then add additional sound and annotations for use as a training aid or product demo. When launched, BBFlashback puts a little control bar in the task bar. It can also be "floated" on the screen or run from the system tray. Clicking the red "record" button launches the "recording wizard" which allows setting up many different parameters such as source, full screen or area, quality of output, which monitor to use if there is more than one, sound source and format. The wizard made it easy to jump right in and start using the program. The Pro version includes a full editing screen with all the controls needed to modify the recording In my testing (when it did work) I was able to create a movie of a PowerPoint presentation slide show and then edit it by adding my own voice over sound track. This was saved for later distribution. Reviewer 3- Peter Royle: In keeping with its promise "Easy to use - no technical skills required", the program opens with a "Welcome to BB FlashBack Pro" window. From this screen, one can choose to open an existing movie file, record a new movie, or more importantly (especially for the novice) view the Getting Started Tutorials or open the Help file. The tutorials allowed me to overcome my initial worries that I might be faced with a program which would be beyond my limited experience in recording and/or editing video files. Once comfortable with the program, the user can uncheck "Run this at Startup." The tutorials can be viewed by clicking on the Demo Movies link on the main page of the Web site. Many may already be familiar with a "normal" Screen Capture program that takes a snapshot of the Full Screen, a Region or a particular Window. So it is with BB FlashBack. In my first few trials, I limited myself to a Window, and found out that this was not always the best choice. For more interesting features of the Editing module, particularly the Zoom-Pan, one must have a larger screen to work on; otherwise, all the editing will be confined to the captured Window. To keep the focus of the Screen Captures directly on the subject of the "movie", there are options for "blanking out" the complete desktop, including the background and all shortcut icons. This gives a larger screen to work on when adding such items as Text, Images, Mouse Buttons, and Zoom-Pan effects to your final product. It is important to remember that BB FlashBack Pro is a screen-capture program that will record any series of actions taken within an application such as a Word Processor, a Photo Editor, a series of steps in another program, and so forth. For example, I use a program that helps children having difficulty improving their math skills. I can use the program with a student who is taking the diagnostic test to find out his current math level, with BB FlashBack Pro recording what he is doing as he works his way through the test. In Playback mode, I can now see what that child did as he worked on the math skills on which he was being evaluated. There are several parts of that "movie" which I wish to show to some teachers that I am training in the use of the program. I can edit out sections of my video that are repetitive or unnecessary to my presentation. I can have it pause at a certain point where I can add in text and even other images to elaborate an important feature of the math program. I can zoom in on a part of the screen to which I need to direct their attention. I can add a button, which will allow the viewer to restart the movie and continue on. So, although BB FlashBack Pro is not a full-fledged video editor, these are very useful tools that can add greatly to the final output of my project. That said, BB FlashBack Pro can also capture video recorded with one's camera or other device, and import it into BB FlashBack for editing; but BB FlashBack Pro's greatest strength is in the processing of the video capture of applications as one is using them. Once the movie is recorded and edited, BB FlashBack Pro can export it in a number of different formats. There are articles available at the link "Learn more" so that the user can explore each of the formats available, including the advantages and disadvantages of each. When exported, the project can be viewed immediately and will open with its default player so you can readily see how it will look to your recipient. To distribute the movie in BB FlashBack format, one can download a free FlashBack player from the BB FlashBack Web site and include the player with any movies sent, thus enabling anyone to view the movie without first installing BB FlashBack. There is a special process involved in reporting problems with BB FlashBack. This requires enabling an auto-logging feature that transmits information concerning the computer and its set-up along with any explanation and other files one may wish to include in requesting support. The process is well explained in the help file, and is easy to follow. When it is enabled, an icon with the name "LogSys Server" appears in the System Tray. I did send in such a report, and received a clear and satisfactory reply in less than 24 hours. Reviewer 4- Mark Snyder: This is one of those deceptively simple pieces of software that, simply put, can make a movie of what is on the desktop. It does not stop there, however. BB Flashback is a feature-rich and very powerful program that helps not just make compact and high quality movies on one's desktop but also helps record sound, enhance, share, and create demos and tutorials or presentations. Recordings can be enhanced with text, sound, images, Webcam, special effects, and the sound and image endlessly edited and, when finished, uploaded to sites such as YouTube with a few mouse-clicks or saved to common file formats such as Flash (FLV), QuickTime, AVI, WMV, or a standalone EXE for use on a CDROM. It will even allow capture for use in a Power Point presentation. While it would be impractical to list all of its many features here, a few of which I found especially noteworthy are:
Ease of use. There really is no need for technical know-how to
use this program. The program features a simple GUI (Graphic
User Interface) and menu to choose either to create a recording
or open an existing video. To record, the program will walk
through a step-by-step wizard to configure all necessary
settings. Anyone can start producing videos with this program
right away.
Webcam recording. With the picture-in-picture feature one can
make "talking-head" presentations where a video of a trainer or
teacher, for example, can be shown taking the viewer through
actions as they are performed on the screen. One click and BB
Flashback records from the Webcam while it records the screen.
Compression. There is a custom compression engine that produces
compact movie files with little loss of quality and which makes
them easier to deliver by email or Internet download. If sound
has been added to the movie, the file size can be further
compressed by using the MP3 encoding. Bits and sampling rates
can be varied, and recording can be in mono or stereo.
Professional Editing. Frame-by-frame editing allows total
control over the final cut to edit out mistakes and remove or
add pauses. Frames can be deleted, inserted, merged, split or
manipulated at will, as well as text boxes added of varying
width and color. There is also professional level sound editing
that allows editing of multiple audio tracks side-by-side with
the video. This makes synchronizing sound with images quite
simple, something that is normally very difficult and time
consuming.
Enhancing. Besides such features as zoom and pan, one can add
fade-in/out effects, highlights-transparent panels of color to
draw attention to keys areas of the screen selected, and
interactive action buttons that can be customized to display any
desired information and perform a preprogrammed action such as
jumping to another part of the movie or even opening a Web page.
There is even a mouse smoothing feature that keeps viewers from
being distracted by jerking mouse movements, a common problem
and one hard to avoid until now.
Miscellaneous. (1) One can change the screen resolution while
recording and can capture the whole screen or a part of the
screen and the program will automatically resize the output to a
preset resolution. For example, the full screen can be captured
with the output size, say, 640x480. (2) I captured full screen
games with moving graphics and animations and the results for
both 2D and 3D were excellent with no choppiness. (3) Cursor and
mouse clicks can be highlighted and emphasized, very helpful for
demos and tutorials.
Support. My experience with support was exceptional with only
one qualifier: the Live Support never seemed to be available;
however, this may simply have been due to time differences
between the United States and England. Nonetheless, I can still
recommend support as excellent because besides regular email
support which was answered within one business day, there is
Support Forum seemingly staffed by Technical Support 24/7 which
is very active with questions often answered within a matter of
hours and rarely in more than a day. In addition, there is an
extensive FAQ, superb User Guides, excellent help manuals, demo
movies, and even a newsletter for added help. To be honest, I
had no need for support as I could find answers to all of my
questions in the aforementioned, and only "tested" support with
some invented questions for the purpose of this review. Support
was fast, helpful, friendly, and understandable.BB Flashback Pro, while at $199.00 is not inexpensive, is competitively priced for similar software with its nearest competitor, Camtasia Studio, costing $100.00 more. Having used screen recording software both personally and professionally for several years, there is none better for the money than BB Flashback Pro. There is, however, also Flashback Express, which is free but offers no editing abilities as well as a standard version at $89.00. Weak points. Reviewer 1- (Name withheld by request): When run with its default settings, BB Flashback Pro takes up enough resources that, when recording game play, the response time to events on the screen is significantly slowed. Fortunately, settings can be adjusted to balance the size and quality of the captured video and audio. I could not download the Help Manual for BB Flashback Pro from the link on the Web site; the table of contents appeared, but each of the pages displayed the message that "Navigation to the Web page was cancelled". This was also true for the "Standard Edition" Help Manual. It would be nice to be able to "undelete" more than one level of editing changes. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: You can undo as many editing operations as you want, limited only by available disk space. Just keep on clicking the "undo" button. Finally, during my update process to a more recent version of this program, the process stopped at deleting the old version without installing the new one. Fortunately, this was easily remedied by simply installing the newest version from scratch. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: We've taken steps to improve after user feedback (possibly it was this reviewer), so the downloaded update is saved to a folder in My Documents (and the user informed of the location), and the user can just run this instead of downloading again. Reviewer 2- Dana Bostick: I found it fairly easy to use without too much study. Sadly, when it failed to function and needed repair, the tech support at Blueberry Software was never able to successfully solve the problem using the email support system provided. They were a bit slow to answer the first time and the turn around time was one day each time when we started working on the problem. This may have been a "time zone" issue since Blueberry is located in the UK, with a 9- hour difference to the US west coast where I'm located. After the last solution we tried failed, I never heard from them again and feel that they just choose to drop the matter. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: We tried, but were unable to solve this reviewer's installation problems. By his own admission, the PCs he reviewed on had experienced application install problems previously. Our guess is that it's a problem in the Windows Installer Database. The usual solution to this is to run the MSI cleanup tool. We suggested that the reviewer try this, but it apparently didn't solve the problem. We're not sure what else to suggest here. Reviewer 3- Peter Royle: Updates can be checked from the BB FlashBack menu and the most recent version of the program can be downloaded; however, installation of the update requires that the previous version be uninstalled. When the new installation begins, the installation folder must be recreated and one must point the installation to that location; the update installer on its own should handle this housekeeping. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: We'll look into this. The Video Tutorials are certainly very helpful, particularly in getting a beginner started; but there should be a link to them directly from the Help Menu and from the BB FlashBack Toolbar. There also could be more tutorials to show how to use some of the more advanced features of the program. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: A good suggestion. We should be able to do that. Although access to the Help File is very easy, it is a rather uninspired, standard, manual-type, Chapter-and-Verse kind of description: more of a technical reference file than a good Help file. The section about how to purchase the software should, for example, be at the end, instead of at the beginning of the file. The F1 key acts as a short-cut to the Main Help file itself, rather than, as in many programs, being "context-sensitive:" The program is already able to do this, because, when working with any of the wizards, the help button there is context-sensitive. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: Again, we'll look at this. It is certainly useful to have a Users forum on the site to share questions, experience, expertise and tips. It is unfortunate, though, that the BB FlashBack Forum is fairly quiet, with only a few posts per month. The response from the Technical Support Staff is quick, but there are not many tips and suggestions from users. Perhaps it would be better to separate the Questions Forum from the Tips and Suggestions Forum. Also, users should be encouraged to provide links to projects that they had uploaded to their Web sites, to the video-sharing sites, or other locations. This would give users and potential clients some good ideas on the power of BB FlashBack. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: OK. I had a few problems with the results of selecting "Window" and "Region", as opposed to "Full-Screen" in trying to work with video files that were imported from a small camera; however, the screen captures of these three options using applications on my computer worked well. Reviewer 4- Mark Snyder: I found this software program to be nearly flawless. I have no real weaknesses to report but only a few minor and personal pet peeves.
I think with such a quality program, the developer should allow
for a trial of the software that allows for a full use of all
features rather than the crippled ware that is offered for trial
currently. I think most customers would prefer only a 15-day
trial of the uncrippled software than a 30-day trial in which
all features of the program are not testable.Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: This is strange. The 30-day trial is absolutely full-featured. The only catch is a watermark on movies. Which features did the reviewer think was missing?
The small tool bar that sets in the system tray when in use is
totally unintuitive. You can't imagine how long it took me to
discover that I had to left-click to open the menu and then only
after trying to figure at what the cryptic symbols meant.Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: The down arrow seems to be the standard symbol for menus. The reviewer expected to right click the flashback logo on the left and get a menu. OK, we can do that.
Please put your EULA or a link to the EULA on your Website. I
think this is a real customer courtesy to be able to read and
print out the EULA before downloading.Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: The licence is installed with the product as an RTF file. We'll try to mention this in the installer.
A bit more information as to compression level or rates would be
helpful.Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: On the exports, I assume. Do you mean you'd like to see filesize estimates?
The uninstall program should remove all drivers.Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: We've addressed this in an upcoming release. Developer's Web Site Reviewer 1- (Name withheld by request): The Web site is full of information about this program without being too pushy or commercial. The forum is not very active. Tech support members generally answer questions posted there but there is often a delay of weeks between questions and responses. Reviewer 2- Dana Bostick: I found the site to be very simple and easy to navigate. Support is offered via an on-line Forum and by email. There are a couple of flash movies on the Web site that are very helpful in getting started. Reviewer 3- Peter Royle: The Web site is very business-like and easy to navigate. There are no flashing banners or gaudy buttons trying to grab attention and push one into purchasing their products. I like the short history of Blueberry Software as reported in the "About Us" section of the site. "Contact Us" gives an actual physical address, phone numbers and other information, which increases the user's sense that this is a real place with real people, and not a fly-by-night operation. In order to access some of the sections of the Blueberry Web site, registration is required, in which a lot of information is requested, not simply name and e-mail address. It seems that all this is to give access to one's account, and to any licence keys that have been purchased. I am not sure that so much information should be required simply to log in. Blueberry Consultants, Ltd, Developers of BB FlashBack, responded: We're looking at simplifying this process. Reviewer 4- Mark Snyder: The Web site is clean, attractive, and easily navigable. I was happy to see no exaggerations or hyperbole. There is no promotion via testimonials and snippets of favorable reviews that would take the place of information one needs to make a reasoned decision about the software program. Overall, the site was laid out well, easy to read, and comprehensive, one of the better sites I have seen. Other comments. Reviewer 1- (Name withheld by request): I really like the way this program is organized. It has complex features, yet it gives enough guidance to use its simple functions that one can effectively run it "out of the box" with good functionality and can learn the advanced features on an "as needed" basis. Reviewer 2- Dana Bostick: This is a specialized program that not everyone has a need for but it does the job well if one does. I found it fairly intuitive and easy to use by following the "recording wizard." Reviewer 3- Peter Royle: Although the Web site and documentation say that one can upload your work to a number of different video hosts, such as You Tube, Blip.tv, viddler.com and revver.com, I did not test out this feature; but if one prefers to use a site which is not one of those listed, he can use the "Upload File" function of the site itself or the FTP client that accompanies BB FlashBack to upload files to one's own server or Web site. There are three versions of BB FlashBack; and features can be compared on the home page. The Standard and Pro versions are shareware, but FlashBack Express is freeware. Although there is very little in the way of editing features in Express, it will allow video recordings that can be saved as FBR (FlashBack), Flash or AVI files or uploaded on the Web as can be done with the other versions. At first, I considered the price of BB FlashBack Pro to be quite expensive; however, comparable products with the ability to Edit, Export to other formats and Upload to the Web are not less expensive, and some are in a higher price range. Reviewer 4- Mark Snyder: I can easily give this program my full recommendation. As a university professor, I often use a tablet pc in my classroom and have been searching for a quality program and one that was easy to use for creating screen casts of lessons and tutorials to be posted online. BB Flashback Pro worked perfectly. I posted two short intros with animations for one of my courses next term. Rather than a number of days I expected I would need to accomplish this feat, it took me about 45 minutes to download the program, familiarize myself, and finish and post the two intros. While I am not a novice, I really doubt that it would take anyone much longer. The program, while sounding complicated, really is this simple to use. One other note: BB Flashback has been around and under constant development, ergo improvement, for several years with at least one or two major upgrades a year and "bug fixes" often monthly. This is the mark of a developer who takes pride in his or her program and desires to continue providing the customer with the best product possible and continued customer service. It would appear that BB Flashback and its developer, Blueberry Software, fully meet those expectations. Will you continue to use it? Reviewer 1- (Name withheld by request): Yes. Reviewer 2- Dana Bostick: I'm sure I could find a use for this application if I could get it to work on my systems but, alas, it was not to be! Reviewer 3- Peter Royle: Yes, I like BB FlashBack Pro. It is fun to work with and provides me with a new tool in my computer arsenal. Reviewer 4- Mark Snyder: Yes. |
OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows Vista Home Premium, XP Pro, XP Home, XP Media Center
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