Help - Forum Videos - How to film (record) and publish (link) them

This question has come up a few times so it's time to start a thread about the topic and pool our collective knowledge. First, a few definitions:

Screenshot - simply a picture of your screen. It's called that way because a "shot" is another term for a picture from a camera. In this case, though, the device's operating system is taking the picture. Also called a screen capture.

Screencast - "a digital recording of a computer screen" where computer can mean a smartphone or tablet as well. The reason they used the word "cast" is because "screencam" was already trademarked. Also called a video screen capture.

So there is one immediate difference in that one is simply a screen capture and the other is a video screen capture - or for the purposes of this thread: just "video." The other difference is that while a screenshot can usually be easily done with a combination of key presses, capturing a video is a much more elaborate process that often involves special software.

To film / record / capture / or make a video also often depends on what device you are using. Not only does the operating system of your device matter, some manufacturers of mobile devices also pre-load their own software that you can use. Then, for the more sophisticated users, there are also ways to screencast your device using software on a desktop computer.

Of course you can do an online search for all kinds of combinations, but I'm hoping that other members will share what they have found useful as replies below.

I have thus far only used an Android smartphone and the included Google Play Games software to take a video of some level walkthroughs. I first launch the Play Games app, use the menu to select "My Games," select Mekorama from the list, and then tap on the small red dot inside a white circle (see spoiler below). I found that using the 480p resolution was sufficient for posting to this forum. I then tap "launch." Mekorama launches with the video recorder in the bottom left. I tap on the microphone and the video camera icons to turn off those devices. Then I go to what I'd like to record, and just when I am ready I start recording, I tap the red dot in a white circle again. To stop, I tap on the green controller icon and then the red square in a white circle. I will leave the next two steps: uploading the video to the Internet and linking to it here in another message below.

Spoiler: Red dot in white circle

 

Note that for the Google Play Games record feature, Lollipop 5.0+ is required as the operating system.

There's a third-party app, AZ Screen Recorder, available for Android that has received good reviews, but I'm a bit reluctant to try it, given that it wants my identity and WiFi information as part of the permissions for install.

@Gepeto - could you please provide a comment on your experience with the AZ Screen Recorder app?
@Block builder - could you please mention how you use Sony Xperia's built-in video capture app?
@Khudrat - could you please do the same regarding the Samsung Galaxy built-in video capture app?

I'm hoping that someone with more experience than me can talk about uploading videos to the Internet. I will try to cover the easier subject of linking to those videos next.

 

This XenForo-based forum uses BBCode for enhancing communication (in all messages, but not profile posts). I've done some testing and it seems that if you simply paste a URL to a video from a recognized site, the editor will automatically convert the URL to the relevant BBCode. Example, when I posted the video here, I typed in:

Code:

https://youtu.be/KQRXGyhYCd0

and the editor changed it to:

Code:

[MEDIA=youtube]KQRXGyhYCd0[/MEDIA]

I would suggest that almost all videos be pasted inside spoilers so as to make the rest of the thread easier to read. I did not do so in the above linked example because I was pretty sure that hardly anyone would read that thread except for anyone truly needing help with that level. In that case they would surely like to get to a video walkthrough as quick as possible.

Here, in this spoiler, is a list of some popular video sites that will likely work with the automatic URL conversion:

Spoiler: List of supported? video sites

Potentially supported video services:

• youtube.com (youtu.be) - playlists may also be supported
• vimeo.com
• vk.com (vkontakte.ru) — the URL from the embed code is required
• facebook.com
• dailymotion.com
• ustream.tv — streams and recorded videos
• ted.com
• vine.co
• coub.com
• twitch.tv — streams and recorded videos
• metacafe.com
• video.yandex.ru — the URL from the embed code is required
• myvideo.de
• own3d.tv
• ign.com
• clipfish.de
• veevr.com
• pinkbike.com
• mpora.com
• rutube.ru — it is recommended to use the URL from the embed code
• video.mail.ru
• smotri.com
• video.qip.ru
• video.bigmir.net
• tvigle.ru — the URL from the embed code is required
• video.online.ua
• video.sibnet.ru
• yapfiles.ru
• megogo.net
• intv.ru
• lovi.tv
• WebM, OGV and MP4 files via HTML5 <video> tag

Finally, if for some reason the URL is not converted, you can always manually insert the following code to make it work:

Code:

[MEDIA]{URL}[/MEDIA]