Screentoaster does web-based, app-free screen recording

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Video, Beta, Web

Screentoaster does web-based, app-free screen recording

by Lee Mathews Oct 24th 2008

You won't find many particulars about ScreenToaster on the web site, but here's what matters: it's built on Java, so as long as you have the right plugin for your browser you're ready to use it on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

They're currently in beta, so you'll have to request a code if you want to play around with it (expect to wait about two days). Once you've got it, head back to the site, register, and you can begin capturing.

ScreenToaster supports both full screen and selection-box capturing. On your home page, click the start recording button and wait for the ready message to appear. To select a region, simply press alt+shift+S and drag a box around your target. For full screen, it's just alt+s, which stops recording in both modes.

It's dead simple to use, and even my netbook's tiny Atom processor had no trouble firing up ScreenToaster in a few seconds.

While Screentoaster's simplicity is a bit of a good thing, it also means that there aren't any options you can configure yourself. There's no way to adjust frame rates, for example. There's also nothing posted on their site about how much storage space you get for your clips or how many clips you can upload. Since they're still in beta, I'd expect this kind of information to be added as they get closer to a public release.

If you want a quick-and-easy way to create and share screencasts, give Screentoaster a shot.

A three-minute recording session on my MSI Wind's 1024x600 screen yielded a 10mb clip. Quality is great, even at full screen, though I did have some buffering issues. Finished clips are displayed on your home page along with a permalink and HTML embed code.

Here's the downside: you're not going to have an easy time saving your screencasts to your own computer. I tried several FLV downloader extensions for Firefox (and a few other methods), and wasn't able to capture the actual Flash video.

For direct-to-web recording and sharing without requiring an application install, ScreenToaster is a great way to go. Give it a shot, and let us know what you think!

Tags: java, screencast, screencasting, video

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

spundot said 3:36PM on 10-25-2008

i highly recommend Jing Project (http://jingproject.com/), free, win/mac, requires install. captures still or video to local disk or their sharing site. includes annotation tools for stills. only downside is the videos are saved in swf format, which is not easily converted into more usable formats.

spundot said 3:37PM on 10-25-2008

Marco said 6:48PM on 10-25-2008

Not anything without JAVA out there?

I wonder why it’s not possible to use some tiny flash plugin... too many restrictions?

Sarah said 11:59AM on 10-27-2008

Thanks for your article.

I just wanted to give you some additional information. There is no storage limitation on Screentoaster. You can create and upload as much videos as you want (as long as your video does not exceed 5 minutes or 20 Mo for the moment).

We are about to implement audio features and the possibility to add subtitles. Keep an eye on it.

More features to come : improved fluidity & quality, video portal, local & Youtube export.

The ScreenToaster team.

Stefan Schulze Steinmann said 8:10AM on 12-14-2008

http://www.skoffer.com provides such a service free for everyone without the need to register anywhere. The screencasts can have an unlimited resolution and length a don´t get downscaled. Skoffer provides a simple API to build own application with it. Get the plugin for your desired website software and 30 seconds later you are able to record and insert screencasts (including sound and directly out of your website´s backend) into your website content easier and faster than images. Warm regards, Stefan

PS: A WordPress plugin is available from http://www.stefanschulzesteinmann.com/skoffer-wordpress-plugin/

Wonder009 said 7:56AM on 1-06-2009

ScreenToaster is a easy web 2.0 tool for screen capture. Some desktop program like DemoCreator http://www.sameshow.com/demo-creator.html , or Camtasia http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp can publish some file formats for Learning Management System. I think ScreenToaster can also go the the elearning direction.

ary said 5:43AM on 1-20-2009

I would be great if you could download your own videos at least.

There is a "export as avi" but it doesn't work un my pc. It is a experimental feature, so i hope they are working on it. Anyway this option it is only able when video creating, after that nothing.

I think, it shoul work to upload to youtube, and download from there.

Anycase is a awesome aplication. Great work!

I can think a lot o aplications for this.

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