‘What are they doing at TechSmith?’ – Chambers’ Latest Article

Read Bob Chambers’ latest ‘The Multimedia Guy Video Blog’ article titled “What are they doing at TechSmith?”.

Bob Chambers’ latest ‘The Multimedia Guy Video Blog’ article is reprinted here.

What are they doing at TechSmith?

What great timing from the people from TechSmith. I just got back from the JVAlert Live seminar and found the very next day that they had released a new version of Camtasia. The new version is 4.0 and the marketing information says it’s much better than the “older” version 3.1.2.

According to my information, that makes two complete new versions in less than one year from TechSmith. Now I know that technology is moving fast, but two in less than one year. Especially since Flash 9 has not been released yet.

Does that mean we will be faced with yet another release soon when Flash 9 is released?

I just created a new issue of Insider Video Alert and used my latest version of Camtasia 3.1.2. When I went to view the video I got a warning that I needed to enable JavaScript on my browser (try and find that) plus I needed the latest version of the Flash Player. Except my browser already accepts JavaScript and I’ve downloaded the latest Falsh Player a number of times (because of warnings like that one). I have sent a question to tech support to see what is going on. Especailly since I then rendered the same video using Camtasia 4.0 and uploaded it to the Web. No warning was displayed when I played the video. So did they fix a problem that was in their last patch?

Meanwhile, the rendered video with Camtasia 3.1.2 was 4.2 MB and the same video with Camtasia 4.0 was 4.66 MB. Not the way to go.

The only reasons I can come up with for this new update for Camtasia are:

(1) To get some simple updates out before any competitors do, or

(2) Get some income for their R&D before undertaking the costs for handling the new Flash 9.

My guess is the last reason. I believe they did the same thing for Camtasia 3.0 to 3.1. So hopefully the update to Flash 9 will be a no cost one.

My recommendations are to wait before updating to 4.0 unless you can get it free (because you just bought or just updated to 3.0). Right now 3.1 is stable. DO NOT update to 3.1.2. until I get my questions answered from tech support. I’m going to remove 3.1.2 from my computer since it’s causing my videos to not play on the Internet.

Bob Chambers, The Multimedia Guy

Bob Chambers, The Multimedia Guy, is an ex-aerospace engineer and program manager who started his special interests video production business in 1992 after studying with Leonard S. Smith, Jr., an Emmy winning member of the Directors Guild of America, and Barb Besteni, a professional videographer and trainer.

In 2002 he posted one of the first ever Flash screen capture videos on the Internet and has been using screen capture videos every since as an easy and effective way of putting video on the Web.

Bob continues to teach people how to easily create multimedia products through his own products, articles, newsletters, videos, seminars, workshops and webinars. He also creates training videos for software developers and joint venture partners. Bob is associated with Multimedia Profits Revealed, Multimedia Guy Blog and Insider Video Alert Newsletter.

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Bob Chambers for granting permission to reprint this latest blog article.