Hack27.Record a Videoconference

Hack 27. Record a Videoconference

Snapz Pro X lets you record video and audio togetherthe perfect way to record a video conference.

The term VoIP usually refers to Voice over IP, but it could easily mean Video over IP, too, since video conferencing is such a popular use for the Internet today. Tools such as Yahoo! Messenger and Apple iChat allow you to do face-to-face video conferences across the Internet, but one thing neither of these tools allows is recording your conferences. Fortunately, Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro X lets you create a QuickTime file of any onscreen activities, including a video conference. Unfortunately, it runs only on Mac OS X, so Windows and Linux users are out of luck.

You can download a copy of Snapz Pro X from http://www.ambrosiasw.com/. It will install as a background application that you can summon with a special key combination that you'll assign right after it installs, the first time it runs. When Snapz's main window appears, click the Movie button. Here, you can configure the size and aspect of the capture, as well as the frame rate that will be used in the saved video file and whether to include sound from the audio output (the conference participants' voices) or microphone input (your voice).

You can crop, resize, and drag Snapz's viewfinder so that it wraps tightly around the area of the screen you want to record. Just don't drag the window you're recording from out of the area of this viewfinder, as it remains in a fixed size, shape, and location throughout the recording (unless you've configured it to follow your mouse movements, which is probably not a good idea when recording from a video chat window). Once you've got everything positioned just right, press the Return (Enter) key, and Snapz will prompt you for a filename. Enter this and click OK, and recording will begin and will continue until you summon Snapz again using the key combination you established during installation.

Unless you change Snapz's default settings, the saved QuickTime file will appear in the Preview immediately after the recording is complete. If you want to view it later, just call it up from the Finder.

To burn a video DVD of a Video-over-IP conference, record it with Snapz and then import the QuickTime file into iDVD.