ZD SOFT VIDEO RECORDER
http://www.zdsoft.com
Reviewed February 2007
 

What’s it do?

ZD Soft Video Recorder works just like a VCR. It continuously captures images from a portion of the screen, captures audio stream from the speaker, compresses them in real-time, and saves the compressed AV data into an AVI file or a WMV file.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1: ZD Soft Video Recorder is claimed to be "an easy-to-use program that has outstanding recording speed and file quality.". While it is easy to use, I found that the recording speed and file quality were disappointing. While it did a good job capturing streaming video from a small area of the screen, the display became very choppy when larger areas of the screen were captured.

Reviewer 2: It captures streaming videos, but not by a simple hot-key click as it claims. It does its work through a two-step process - a hot-key click and a mouse drag to select the segment you wish to record.

Reviewer 3: Yes. ZD Soft Video Recorder promises to capture streaming video and audio to a local file and it does just that and does it perfectly.

Reviewer 4: ZD Soft Video Recorder takes a rather interesting approach to recording video images on your computer. Essentially, it acts rather like a screen capture, except that instead of taking a snapshot of your screen (or a defined portion of your screen), it records whatever is passing through the screen over time. It captures both video and audio, and saves them to your disk in .AVI or .WMF format. Later, you can play that file back as if it were a movie. I tried the program out in a number of situations, and it worked as promised. The data was captured, and was saved to a folder that I had created and pointed to in the configuration of the program. A double-click on any saved file would open it in Windows Media Player, or any other default player program. Be aware that this is primarily a video recording/capture program. No editing tools are available in the program, nor are they advertised. However, several video-editing tools are referred to in the support section of the Web site.

Reviewer 5: Yes. It promises to capture streaming video of any format to a file of your choosing. It does so very effectively with a one-click operation from the task bar or by hot key, maintaining true speed and sound and without any apparent loss of picture quality.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1: Installation was straightforward.

Reviewer 2: Yes. Its installation is easy. I had no installation issues.

Reviewer 3: This is a very small 1.95MB download which installs quickly, smoothly, and effortlessly using a standard-type installation wizard. The program also uninstalls easily and cleanly, leaving no junk files remaining on your computer or empty keys in your registry. This is the mark of a program with well-written code.

Reviewer 4: Yes. I was able to place the program and its icons where I wanted to. The EULA (End Users Licence Agreement) is relatively brief and clear. The first part describes the difference between registered and unregistered shareware, and points out the need to register the program after having had a chance to try it out. The second part covers the Warranty; essentially there is none: all responsibility for the successful functioning of the program lies with the user. The third section covers support: please see "Weak Points" below. At the end of the installation, I was asked if I wanted the program to run at start-up; I did not. My computer screen suddenly went black twice just as the installation was finishing, and I had a moment of panic. But then it recovered itself, and I have no indication that the program has caused any subsequent problems with the computer.

Reviewer 5: Yes. Installation was straightforward. It is a small file (~2 Meg), so downloading on any broadband system is a snap. Installation is a brief process, and default settings for the capture process work out of the box, with the default .avi encoding.


Good points.

Reviewer 1: You can record any video that can be displayed on your screen regardless of the original format, source or encryption. If you limit your recording to very small areas of the screen, the quality will approach the original. The audio quality in the captured data was good. Tech support was very responsive with an answer provided in about seven hours.

Reviewer 2: ZD Soft does offer a Free Try Download ($29 to purchase) .Video Recorder is only 1.95mb, so it's a snappy download, even for a dial-up connection . It is a small program, so it does not take up much storage room and has low memory needs. It can setup to start when you startup your computer. If users plan to view lots of videos and need the VR tool at their disposal quickly, this is a convenient feature. I did not notice any reduction in resource availability. It resides in the system tray quietly until needed. I contacted ZD Soft Email Support when I had a problem initially. Their support team was very quick in their response and very helpful in their advice. I was not sure why the original video captures would not play, but once I followed ZD Soft's suggestions the program worked as claimed.

Reviewer 3: What separates ZD Soft Video Recorder from many other similar programs is that you do not need to be concerned with the particular video codec (although you can specify what codec you wish to use to capture the video) or whether it is encrypted. This is because it captures what you are seeing on your monitor screen and hearing through your speakers rather than the data stream. Once you select the video screen on your monitor to record, it is a WYSIWYG and WYHIWYG (what you hear is what you get) operation. It is extremely simple to use and you need to have no prior knowledge of video recording or video streaming. Think of it as a screen capture tool for video but with the added benefit of audio being captured as well. It compresses the video and audio for less space and allows you to choose to save as either an AVI or WMV file. You can also capture the video in EXE format allowing it to be viewed on any Windows operating system. The GUI (Graphic User Interface), if a bit Spartan in appearance honestly reflects the simplicity of the program. You can adjust audio settings and further fine tune the program but there is a default setting that I found to be adequate in every situation. Another nice feature is that if you start the program before watching any video, it will simply run in the back ground (consuming no observable resources) and automatically detect which video you are watching in the foreground even if other videos might be present. You simply press the hot key to start recording, it grabs the video, compresses the frame data in MPEG4 format by default and stored the data to another video file. Another, and as far as I know, unique feature is that ZD Soft Video Recorder will capture and record video from the popular and ubiquitous YouTube in .avi files. Many screen recorders cannot capture YouTube video due to its proprietary format and those that due can only capture them as .flv files which you will find almost impossible to convert. (If you visit the YouTube site you will see that ZD Soft Recorder has been used to capture many of the videos posted there.) There is an almost non-existent help file but there really is little with which you will need help. Support is available through email and while it specifies no turn-around time-something I am generally very critical of-my experience in contacting support as a part of the testing of this program revealed a highly professional, competent, and fast support response. In fact, I received a response within four hours on a weekend. This program has a tiny footprint. As I noted above, when running in background the CPU use was imperceptible. Even when recording-which by the way is very fast-it consumed negligible resources on my computer and thus did not interfere with running other applications simultaneously. Finally, I can attest that upon thorough testing I found this software program to be absolutely clean of any spyware, viruses, trojans, adware-malware in general. You can feel completely safe downloading and installing this program. ZD Soft Video Recorder has my full recommendation without reservation.

Reviewer 4: This is certainly a very simple program to use. It has, essentially, one main screen, which is largely devoted to the configuration controls. Once you have set them up, your main use for that screen will be the Start button. Or if you wish, you can use a hot-key combination (which you can determine), or click on the program icon in the system tray. In the same way that a screen-capture program works, you select the part of your monitor that you wish to record (capture), double-click, and the recording begins. The program icon in the system tray (which looks like an old movie-reel) starts turning, so you know that it is running. If you wish to stop, you can either use the hot key, or click on the turning reel. The capture is automatically saved to your hard drive, in the folder that you have defined during configuration. It did take me some time to adjust my settings so that they would work with my computer. (A popular video-on-line site was helpful here.) Once they were adjusted, the program worked well. All files I created (AVI) could easily be played on VLC Media Player -- a free, multi-platform program that is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence. I had no problems with the playback on my "main" computer, using both Windows Media Player and VLC Media Player.

Reviewer 5: Unlike other programs with which I am familiar, the ZD recorder captures the actual video, real-time exactly as the viewer sees it, rather than capturing a data stream. In this respect, it is very much like a "screen shot", but with the ability to capture an image in motion. You have the ability to capture your entire screen or only that portion which you describe by a single drag/drop procedure describing the rectangle you wish to capture. This is particularly helpful if you wish to forward a video clip from a Web site through email. By capturing only the video and not the entire what could be "noisy" page, your attachment is considerably smaller and less cluttered, allowing for faster upload/download. Your recipient may also be more receptive to a simple video clip rather than being directed to a Web site that might pose some danger to them (at least in their minds). The recipient should immediately be able to play your recording immediately on receipt with a simple double-click, assuming the player has the proper codec. In addition to the default .avi you may select any common recording codec installed on your machine. Support, available by request on the Web sit seems quite responsive, answered within 1.5 hours on a weekend night. A second request on a weekday received a response in two days. Both were answered by the developer, with a thoughtful and well-presented response. This program is simple to understand, implement and use. Being able to isolate and capture any image in motion, with fidelity, can be a very valuable tool applicable in many ways: training videos, step-by-step keyboard operations, sales presentations, etc.


Weak points.

Reviewer 1: The video playback from my initial recordings was very "choppy", even at the highest quality recording settings. Playback in Windows Media Player looked more like a series of photographs appearing about every 2 seconds rather than a continuous video stream. Using different codecs and formats to record, and using different capture settings could not improve the display to an acceptable level. Technical support was contacted about this issue. They made suggestions about recording speed, codecs to use, and the advice to avoid recording full screen videos. While I was not recording full screen, I found that the quality of the playback improved as the recording area was decreased. The recording process requires that you select a "rectangle" area of your screen to record. This results in a delay when you are trying to capture the beginning of a live or ongoing event. ZD Soft Video Recorder records the actual video that appears in the area of the screen selected. Therefore, you cannot switch to another task that overlays the recording area while the video is being recorded. Web site help is sparse. There is little available in the way of instruction or guidance. I could find no users' forum. Automatic updates did not work in my original version. The company reported that they had disabled this feature due to some technical problems. They should have advised their users of this, either in the program itself, or on the support portion of their Web site.

Reviewer 2: ZD Soft VR defaults to AVI format and the Xvid MPEG-4 Codec for the video and whatever audio setup is on your system. I have other video and audio setups on my computer, but VR seemed to prefer my system defaults. Whenever I tried to reconfigure the settings, it tended to revert back to the defaults after recording. I found the two step recording process annoying, and not very convenient. On first try, after installation and setup, none of the first video captures I made with VR would play. I tried reconfiguring to use different codices and video formats and nothing seemed to work. The videos simply would not play. The speed of your internet connection will largely determine the quality of the video capture. None of the video captures I created with VR were good quality, and the video and audio were out of sync. I consider this a weakness.

Reviewer 3: There really are no glaring weak points that I discovered in my three-month use and testing of this program. I recorded streaming videos, captured videos from the likes of YouTube, recorded an online lecture, TV programs, online movies, and even used some captured videos as a part of a PowerPoint presentation (which you can easily do with this program). I did have one, out of the literally hundreds of capturers, seem to play back at a faster speed than the original video but one out of hundreds I will accept as a simple anomaly. I would like to make one small suggestion to the developer. Support, in response to my inquiry as to what codec to use to share the video with another computer or send to another, recommended the codex listed as "Microsoft MPEG-4 VKI Codec V2" because any computer running Windows OS has that codec natively. Many users would not know this and thus somehow denoting this on the GUI would add to the overall simplicity and ease of use of this program for even the newest novice since video sharing has become so popular.

Reviewer 4: I tried playing the files on a different computer than the one I had used for recording. Here I ran into troubles with the playback. Neither IrfanVew nor Windows Media Player (version 9) was successful. There is no help file, either in the program, or on the Web site. If you click on the Help item, on the opening screen, you are brought to the Web site, where you can scan through the FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) to see if your question is answered there. If not, you can submit an online support request. However, it is stated in the EULA, "While every effort is made to provided timely technical support, no guarantees whatsoever are implied that technical support will be provided or that technical support, when provided, will be accurate." If this were a freeware program, I would not find fault with this standpoint; however, since this is a paid program, I am surprised by this rather cavalier attitude. For help that is not covered by the FAQ's, you can fill in a request form on the Web site. Generally speaking, I do not like online requests for support. I much prefer to be able to send in an email request. Then, at least, I have a record of any requests that I have made. Online support sometimes will acknowledge a submission with an automatic email notification that the request was made; there was no such response from ZD Soft Video Recorder. All that said, however, I did receive a quick (within two hours) and courteous email reply, late at night on a weekend.

Reviewer 5: There is no organized Help section or even quick-start instructions. There is a brief FAQ section online that did not address some of my questions. The developer agrees with the need for additional information and has indicated he will expand the FAQ section to clarify or cover missing areas. I had difficulty synchronizing the beginning of captures with the beginning of streaming video clips. If I described my recording area first, then attempted to quick-click the recorder to match the start of the video, no image was recorded because I needed to describe the area as the last process performed prior to starting the recording. It was, therefore, not possible to start the video on the Web page, then immediately starting the recording. I had to redescribe the area after the clip had started, losing the first few seconds of the clip. This of course is not an issue for regular streaming or anything with a lead-in. It may be possible that I am missing a process by which I could overcome this, but I have yet to find it and this portion of my support request to the developer has not yet been answered. After installation and implementation of the program, I would experience temporary but disconcerting black screens of less than one-second duration. This may well be a necessary part of the preparation for the recording process, but the user should be warned. No editing functions are available in the program, although the developer does provide links to appropriate software, at least one of which is free.


Other comments.

Reviewer 1: This program might be useful for someone who wishes to capture an informational record of a video event, such as a video chat. However, if you are planning to use it to view high quality video similar to watching a movie, you are likely to be disappointed. I recommend a better description of the screen size recording limitations on the provider's Web site so that prospective users can have a reasonable expectation of the capabilities of this program. A free download is available so you can try it before you buy it. I was able to upgrade from version 1.0.3.0 to version 2.0.0.0 under the original license code at no charge.

Reviewer 2: None.

Reviewer 3: I have of late complained of the latest trend in software programs to charge for upgrades. It is nice to report that ZD Soft Recorder includes in its relatively low $29.00 price, free lifetime upgrades. This is the right way to do business in my opinion.

Reviewer 4: This is a program that has focused on a very specific task. It carries out this function very well, in a simple and straightforward manner, and for a reasonable price. It does not provide either editing tools or a scheduling function, nor does it claim to. However, the provision of more help, even of a quite basic sort, would greatly enhance this effective and useful program. I am sure that users will find many interesting and unique applications for this software.

Reviewer 5: A trial version is also available, limited to 3 minutes for a recording and with a watermark. Start up is very easy but the refinements are difficult to learn with the lack of instructive information.


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1: No.

Reviewer 2: No, mainly because I have no real use for it.

Reviewer 3: Yes.

Reviewer 4: Yes.

Reviewer 5: Yes. The developer seems interested in improving his product and open to suggestions. In its current state, this application is fun and easy to work with, meeting needs I had been looking for. With improvements it should be even more of a delight.
 

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home, Media Center, 2000

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