ManyCam Review
Detailed Reviews
ManyCam is video recording and screen recording software to capture the computer screen or the video calls. It provides many multiple image-presets, effects, facemasks, and drawing options.
Pros
- One can add several presets.
- One can add an audio playlist.
- It allows recording the gameplay.
- It has features like chromakeys and lower third layers.
- It supports RTMP streaming.
Cons
- Many features do not work with the trial version.
- One is required to download modules for some features of the software.
Introduction
Recorded some video call but want to edit it? Want to add some emoticons to the video or some hilarious facemasks? ManyCam does all that. It is a screen and video recording software with numerous customizations to add to your images and videos.
We shall review all the features and functions you get in this software. During this review, we shall try to find out the features that make it different from other screen recording software. We shall elaborate on some new additions to the software.
Presets
If you want to add more people to the video call, or if you want to have several screens at once and those too with customizations you need to add presets to your screen.
You can create a preset of your choice. The ‘create preset’ option allows you to create and name a preset of your choice. You can choose numerous presets in ‘picture in picture’ mode.
You get this feature only with a pro version. If you use a trial version, you can create only limited presets in your recording.
Once you get a pro version, you can create and adjust several image-presets on your screen. The screen of your computer where you see the output is the main window and the presets you select are the smaller windows. The small black windows that you see below the main screen are the presets.
In a trial version, you can add only one preset screen to your window, but a pro version allows you to add almost 24 preset screens to your main screen. You can also have a preview of the inactive presets. Once you edit a preset, you can preview to see how it would appear while streaming. If that suits you, you can allow it to stream.
You can distinguish active and inactive presets by color. Green shows that the preset is active and grey; inactive.
Video
By video, we mean the full window screen of the software excluding the presets. We can change the settings of the video, and we can make changes in the resolution, frame rate, color, etc.
The image above shows the setting customizations one can have with video.
Let us analyze these functions.
Resolution
You can change the resolution of the screen by this option. You can select from the available range of 120P to 720P or can customize manually according to the need. Even you can select all the customizations at once. Alternatively, you cannot have any of them, which means the settings remain default. Some of the customizations are not available with the trial version. The software demands an upgrade to use them.
Frames per second
The number of frames per second in a video is something that decides the speed of the video. It is the number of images that appear consecutively in a video.
If you choose a frame rate of 60, you can have a smooth playback of the video as compared to 20 or 30 FPS. A sound value of frame rate prevents the images from appearing blurry, and it is easy to have discrete images.
Flip and rotate
As the name suggests, it allows you to flip or rotate your main screen. You can rotate the video screen to left or to the right by different angles.
You also have the option to flip your screen either horizontally or vertically.
This feature can be used to create the same image in different views. You can have a left view, a right view, a top view, or a bottom view. This feature is helpful if you teach some scientific structure to your students through video. You can present different views of the structure.
Picture in picture mode
Picture in Picture mode allows you to add some other pictures with the one already present there in the window screen.
You can add various sources to your images. You can add images to picture in picture mode as you add presets.
You also have the option to resize, relocate, add layers to the images.
Color
As you can see in the image, you have some pointers to change the saturation of the color of your screen. You can also change the brightness and contrast of the screen.
By moving the color slider, you get to see different effects of the color.
The only problem with the slider is that you do not have a choice between a dark shade or a light shade of some color. Every time you want to change the shade, you are required to move the slider accordingly. It might become cumbersome for some users.
Audio
We have discussed the presets; you might want all the presets to be audible or want to hear only from a few of them. Enabling the ‘global sound’ makes all the presets audible and disabling it won’t allow any preset to produce sound. You also get an equalizer, a playlist, and some other new features.
Let’s have a glance at them.
Global sound
As mentioned above, global sound refers to the sound of every preset of the screen. You can enable or disable the sound of all presets collectively.
If you do not want to hear from the presets, you can change the global sound setting to disable.
Equalizer
The equalizer is a new addition to the audio section of the screen recorder. This function is applicable when some audio is playing in the video. You recorded some song but want it to sound like rap or a traditional folk song, some of you might like to create a noisy video for some purpose. In ManyCam, you get all these customizations through equalizer.
The image below shows the various equalizer effects that you can have for your audio.
The various effects which you can have include rap, jazz, folk, classical, etc.
The slider below the equalizer allows you to change the volume of the audio.
Make your playlist
If you want to record some video with some desirable audio or say many audios, you can create a playlist. You can add as many songs as you want of to the playlist.
Alternatively, if you already have a playlist saved on your computer. You directly add it through ‘load.’ When you choose to add songs, the software provides you three ways to add them; you can add them through some file saved on your computer, through a folder inside some file or you can directly enter or paste the URL of the song that you want to play. You can have all these features in every version of the software.
You can also save the current playlist to use it again.
The delete icon allows you to delete the added playlist. Once you delete a song from the playlist, you no longer can restore the song, but you always have the option to add the same song to the playlist.
Once you add some song or playlist, you can see the list of those songs on the right side of the software screen to know the upcoming songs.
You can play and pause the songs. Some of you might like to listen to all the same songs again and not a new one. ‘loop’ does that for you. The option loop allows playing the entire playlist all over again until you permit it to stop.
The option next to loop is ‘shuffle.’ The playlist you add contains the songs in some sequence, and the songs play in that sequence. Shuffle allows you to ‘shuffle’ the songs which make the songs to play in any random order, which means that the songs will not necessarily follow the order you see in the playlist.
Various input methods
Recording a video also includes some audio in it. In this section, we shall see the different ways through which the software accepts the audio input.
The software allows the user to record audio through the microphone, or some inline connection and even the system sound. The image you see below shows the options you get while selecting an input method.
When asked to record audio, we generally use a microphone. The software also accepts the audio input through a microphone.
The image you see above shows the various options while selecting the audio input. You can set up an equalizer effect for the audio being recorded.
However, in a trial version, you get only a few effects. All others are locked, and you need a pro version to access them.
Sync offset is the option that allows you to set a custom delay for your audio. A custom delay is required if your input, which is audio in this case, goes out of sync. To access this setting, you ought to have a microphone connected to it. The delay is calculated by step size; you can change the delay according to the need.
The software also allows you to select an audio playback device.
The noise suppression feature is another significant feature of the software. It allows you to have a clear audio feed to your video stream. The noise in recorded audio makes it irksome. This feature allows you to have a better audio feed for your streams.
An inline connection is another method to feed the audio input to the video stream. You can set up some other device other than a microphone to record the audio.
It provides all those features and functions that the microphone does. Alike the microphone, it also provides sync offset, audio playback, and noise suppression features.
System sound, as the name suggests, is the sound of the computer system. You can record the audio feed through the system directly, provided the system supports this feature.
The features of sync effect, audio playback and noise suppression work with system audio similarly as they do in a microphone or inline audio feed.
Writing and Drawing tools
The scribble icon below the audio provides various tools to draw or write on the video screen. You get plenty of features to draw and write during the recording.
You get a pen to draw, an eraser to erase the incorrect insertions, a fill icon to fill color in anything you draw. If you do not select an area to fill the selected color. It automatically changes the color of the entire video screen to the selected one.
With the pen, you can draw the required shape at your screen, whether it is a square, a rectangle, a circle, or a star.
You can also choose the thickness of the boundaries of the shapes you draw by the slider provided there.
To err is human; the software is aware of this fact, so it also provides an eraser to delete the incorrect insertions.
The ‘fill color’ option allows you to fill color in the drawn shape.
If the last drawn shape or the last insertion you made is incorrect, you can undo the action by using the undo option.
The redo option allows you to redo the last action you made undo.
Color and text
Drawing and colors are complementary to each other. A drawing seems tedious without the colors. Different colors with different shades or contrasts result in various effects. ManyCam provides you various colors and contrasts for your drawing.
You get a color scale to choose different color contrast for your drawing. You also get a color palette to choose various colors. There are only a limited number of colors available. You do not have many options in color.
Inserting some text is another thing you might need while recording a video.
If you do not want to enter text into the video, you can disable this function. Enabling it allows you to add any text into your video.
You have a few customizations in the text. You can choose the size of the font that would appear on the screen within a range of 6 to 72.
There are a few font styles for your text. These include Arial black, Roboto, Calibri, etc. Just like for the drawing, you also have a color slider for your text.
The positioning of the text on your screen is another customization you get; it is the position on the black band on which the text appears. You can choose left alignment, right alignment, or center alignment for your text.
You can underline your text or can have a ‘strike through’ text for your video.
You remember the marquee; we use in HTML? The effect that allows the text to move in a specific direction at a specified speed.
You can have the same effect for your text in this software through ‘scrolling.’ You can choose the direction of the text. You have four options for the direction in which the text would move; left to right, right to left, top to bottom, and bottom to top. The slider beside it allows you to change the speed at which the text moves in the video.
You have enough customizations for the text in comparison to other screen recording software.
The clock
The recorder shows the time by which we can calculate the duration of the recording, but that does not show up on the screen when the video plays. In this software, you can record date and time using the ‘clock.’
The clock allows you to see the current date and time on your screen, and you can record it.
The image above shows how do the date and time appear. You can change the color to the one that suits you. You can also enable or disable the ‘second’ count. If you do not want the seconds to appear, you can disable it. Also, you can have a 12hour clock or a 24hour clock.
The software automatically shows up the current date and time at which you are recording the video, and you cannot make any changes in it. You do not have a choice to enter a date or time of your choice.
You have a stopwatch to have a record of time. You can enable this feature if you want to record time that shows up during the video plays. Like the regular time, you can choose the size and color of the stopwatch. You can stop or restart the stopwatch during the recording.
A timer is another noteworthy feature. You can set a timer of five minutes. The time automatically decreases from then, once you start the timer. You can neither increase nor decrease the time limit for this timer. The color and size features are like those you get in the stopwatch.
Chroma key
You often encounter videos on the internet in which some fellow speaks in a small window at the corner, and some other images or videos display at the background. That is what they achieve through chroma keys.
You made some video, but the background does not suit you? Alternatively, you want to add some more pictures to the pictures already in the video. Don’t worry. You can use the chroma keys. This feature can help you to achieve this.
Chroma keys are used to merge two or more images by adding or removing some color. ManyCam allows you to merge two pictures or to set some picture as a background.
When you enable the chroma key, it allows you to select some color from the color palette, and this is the color you want to remove from the image. Once you remove this color, you can add a background image to your screen.
The portion which lot the color might appear unusual and might spoil the presentability of the video, you can hide that portion. You can shrink or blur the contour to hide the errors generated due to color removal. It is an important addition to the editing features; however, you get it only with a pro version of the software.
Lower third
You made your first tutorial video through ManyCam and want to make them famous and increase your business. Marketing is a robust tool which can make you popular instantly. Through ManyCam, you can do this during your video plays.
You might have seen a broad layer at the bottom of the video screen in some videos. That is what we call the lower third layer.
This effect allows you to add a text at the bottom of the video screen. When you enable the lower third, it introduces some pre-defined layers. You can choose one of them which automatically appears at the bottom of the video screen.
You can add text to it. You can add your name, name of your organization, or anything. The lower third layer is useful if you want to promote something or say want to do marketing about anything. The text flashes on the screen while the video plays.
You cannot add new lower third layers to your screen, at least not in a trial version. The pro version comes with few more customizations in this effect.
Effects
Whether you chat, create some image or a video, emoticons are everywhere. Emoticons are an easy way of expressing feelings and emotions without speaking. Adding emoticons enhance the beauty of the creations.
Moreover, through emoticons, you can communicate effortlessly. They can speak a lot without speaking. ManyCam provides you several emoticons to add to your video or images. You record some video on some social issue, you might need some severe emoticon with it. You record some funny video; you might need to add some relevant emoticons to it to make it more presentable.
No, that’s not all, don’t confine yourselves to merely emoticons. A facemask is something which could interest you. Face masks can serve various purposes. It can be used to hide the face or to bring some effect on the face of some person. You can select several face masks; you can choose something funny, a face mask of hell boy, a one of a joker or you might like a barbie doll or some other pretty face.
If the software fails to contend you with the available face masks, you can download more from the software’s official website.
In this software, you get various emoticons to add to your video. You can have a smiling emoticon, an angry one, or the one with hearts.
The image above shows the variations in emoticons. You can download some more emoticons from ManyCam’s official website by selecting ‘get more.’
Favorites are the effects or objects you add to make them readily available for use; once you add some objects, you can access them in this section.
Face masks are another effect you can have. Face masks produce the effect by covering the face on the screen. There are several options to make a choice. To use this feature, you ought to have a pro version because it requires a face detection module which does not come with a trial version.
you can add other face accessories in your video with a pro version.
Other than these available effects, you can add more effects to the list from the one which is already available on the computer, or you can download some of them from ManyCam’s official website.
The ManyCam gallery and your favorites
Like the one in your phone or your computer, ManyCam also has its gallery to save your snapshots and recordings.
The gallery has two albums; one to store your snapshots and the other to store recordings.
You cannot delete these two albums but can create a new one if you want. If you do not create an album, the software, by default saves your images and recordings in these albums.
In the section below the gallery, you have favorites. Creating separate albums remains useful until there are limited files in them. If you want some older snapshots or video, say six months old, you search for it in those large albums. It would be cumbersome and time-consuming. ‘Favorites’ is the solution to your problem.
Once you mark a file as a favorite, it appears in the favorites section and accessing them becomes easy. Marking some file favorite does not remove it from the original storage. This feature reduces the searching efforts of a user.
This feature prevents you from searching for all those widgets which you use frequently. You can remove a widget from this section if it is no more ‘favorite’ to you.
Record the gameplay
You watch several gameplays on YouTube every day and learn some cheat code there. You might want to capture your gameplay sometime. ManyCam can help you.
You can record your gameplay while you play it. You can record both the video and audio of the game. You can use any of the three audio recording methods we discussed above. You can record the audio by a microphone, an inline connection, or through the system. Naturally, you can only record the game which is available on your computer, whether it is pre-installed or you run it through some other medium.
You can also record your voice while recording the gameplay through any of the methods mentioned above.
You can enable the setting which allows you to automatically launch the game if you choose it as a video source. If you want to start the game at your desired time, you can disable it.
Hotkeys
Hotkeys reduce the efforts of dragging or clicking through the mouse. There are several hotkeys in this software. Apart from the previously available hotkeys, you can add a few more, following the ruleset, the software displays. Except for those that the software displays, you cannot use any other key combination to create a hotkey.
You cannot remove any of the keys that are available in the software by default.
After adding new keys, you also have the option to make them global or local. It means that you can choose the hotkey for a single preset or all the presets. If you want to remove the hotkeys added, you can reset them to default.
Account and subscription
To upgrade and to get other advantages, like discount offers and sometimes to make a video call you ought to have an account on ManyCam.
You can create an account, or you also have the option to login using your Gmail, Facebook, or Twitter account. After the creation of the account, you need to enter the id and the password to log in. Creation and authentication of the account are essential to ensure security. Security tops the list while searching for software that records you and your computer screen.
Moreover, after creating an account on some software, you can access it through any of the devices merely by entering the required credentials. Thus, the creation of the account not only ensures your security but also improves accessibility.
Know the software better
Before making any verdict regarding the software, there are few more things about the software, you should know.
There are some features which can certainly make a difference in your decision. These include features like RTMP streaming, IP camera, motion detection.
We shall discuss these features in brief.
RTMP streaming
With this software, you can have RTMP streaming. Through RTMP, you can have a better transmission of audios and videos. The software allows you to choose the encoder type, the bitrate, and the speed of presets during the transmission.
You can also add an RTMP server if required. If you are not sure about the settings made, you can always rely on the default settings of the software.
IP camera
IP camera, better known as a network camera, can also be used for recording through this software. You can add an IP camera to your system for recording. To have a watch at protocols, you can enter the name of the IP camera and the URL. You can also choose the buffering time that suits you the best.
Another feature associated with it is the access permission. You can select whether some credentials would permit someone to access the camera or anybody using the software can access them.
Motion detection
Motion detection is another newer addition to the software. As the name suggests, it allows the software to detect the motion of different objects in the video.
If you use a pro version, you can access this feature and can set different rules for motion detection for different presets of the recording.
Conclusion
The software seems to have all the essential features of a video recorder and screen recorder. The addition of presets certainly spellbinds the people who are fond of video calls and video chatting.
It also contends the gamers by providing a feature like gameplay recording.
The addition of facemask enhances its utility in the world of camera filters. Noise suppression is another smart addition.
Features like RTMP streaming, IP camera, and motion detection makes it a competition for other software of this category.
Though some features are unique in it but the modules which a user is required to download makes it uninteresting. Once some user installs software, he might not like to download any other ‘module’ to use its features and that too only with the pro version. There is a scope of improvement in this thing of module downloading.
Since it requires authentication to log in, the software is safe.
Though it possesses some cons, the software seems appealing, and the required improvements can increase the graph of the users.