If you’ve ever had trouble encoding media files with MP3 audio, particularly using Camtasia, I hope this helps you out 
For a while now we’ve been intending to expand on our range of short help videos, aimed at new users to Affinity. We’ve produced a handful of videos, but they haven’t been fully published either because their content quickly became out-dated or (and this is the reason for this post) there were technical issues in production.
Our software of choice for producing help videos and other screen/audio capture is Camtasia Studio (we’re still with version 3.1.1). It’s pretty neat, but has a few quirks to get used to. A major roadblock for us was wanting to create flash content and working out which audio codec to use. There weren’t a lof of options:
- uncompressed (need to reduce file size, so this is no good…)
- ADPCM (the sound quality is poor)
- MP3 (I trust mp3, lets do this one!)
The trouble is, and I tried this with Windows Vista and 7, when you’ve installed Camtasia, it didn’t actually manage to update your registry to point to the PROFESSIONAL Fraunhofer mp3 codec which lets you encode mp3. So you spend hours trying to work out why your lovely flash screencasts (they do look good) have no sound!
This article “Installing Fraunhofer MP3 Codec” finally gave me the answer I needed. The fact is you’ve probably already got the professional mp3 codec in your drivers, its just not in use, so Step 1 is likely unnecessary.
Happy screencasting everyone.
Hugh: Camtasia isn’t your only option out there. You might also want to try Pixetell. You can add voice and video to your screencast to personalize your message. It’s perfect for training and help desk videos, very user-friendly. There’s a 21-day free trial with Pixetell, and we don’t ask for a credit card up front. Pixetell is also easy to use straight from the download. There are tons of powerful features that people can use as well, but for a quick and effective screencast tool, Pixetell does well at helping you communicate a complex message.