Jing Pro

Back in Issue 184 we did a Workshop on Jing Project, a free program from TechSmith’s research department. It took the basics from TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio (reviewed in Issue 204), which lets you capture a video of what’s happening on your computer screen, but cut it right back and offered it for free. While it was a great freebie, the gap between Jing Project and the significantly more expensive Camtasia Studio was vast.

Fortunately, Jing Pro has come along to bridge the void. For a humble $14.95 per year (just over £10) you can upgrade your Jing account to get some handy new features, such as creating MP4 video files for smaller, faster and less jerky video, and uploading directly to YouTube – all without any Jing advertising tacked on.

The basic features are all still there. You can decide on the amount of screen you want to capture, grab either video or stills, and take audio from your PC’s microphone. The biggest downside is the five-minute maximum-length constraint, but standard video-editing software can be used to string clips together, making this a useful video capture service that’s incredible value for money.

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