OBS Studio is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming, featuring real time video/audio capturing and mixing. Users can create scenes made up of multiple sources including window captures, images, text, browser windows, webcams, and capture cards.
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Wistia Record
Score 5.3 out of 10
N/A
Wistia Record (formerly Soapbox) is a free Chrome extension that provides screen and video capture and sharing designed to produce quick walkthrough and explanatory videos, content marketing vids or vlogs, or customer stories, with additional features on paid plans, and integration with Wistia for Marketing.
From simple streaming to bigger events, OBS has been able to handle all of it with full confidence from us. Have never questioned if it was going to be unreliable in a specific situation, even with minimal training. Software identified the external input source easily and had no issues setting that up (Blackmagic Mini Recorder), and great for pulling in separate audio from the computer input.
Soapbox is excellent for meeting management - it helps propose an agenda and questions to kick off one on ones. This is very helpful for managers who need a little nudge when asking the right questions to move the meeting forward. This is where the Soapbox structure serves well. If you need more complex software to handle custom processes, you may need to look elsewhere.
Scene Composition and Switching + source control which allows for creators and our customers to move between different types of content they might have (different video feeds, slides etc)
Audio mixer and audio control - noise gating, a/v syncing, audio source control
Very usable because it is free and has had a lot of people helping to suggest improvements and sponsors have allowed the product to grow in sophistication and suitability across a variety of situations and use needs. It is very logical to use once you get started, although the dashboard can seem intimidating at first.
For a free product, a range of support is available. There are plenty of ways to find out answers to questions, because there are probably thousands of people using the product who are willing to share what they have learned. It usually works as designed, so needs for support are limited.
We haven't had the chance to reach out to Wistia about Soapbox support, but I know Wistia (as a brand) is epic on all fronts -- sales, marketing & support. So if I had the need to reach out, I'm sure I'd get a reply in a prompt and satisfactory manner.
I have also used TinyTake by Mango Apps and I prefer OBS studio because the video quality results are better and OBS allows you to record an unlimited length of the video. OBS also lets you record an entire screen instead of manually having to draw your parameters, which can create oddly sizes videos if you miss by a few pixels.
Where Zoom and GoToMeeting focus on the meeting itself, Soapbox goes more in-depth and gives the structure that a lot of managers are looking for. In my case, it was the question prompts, shared meeting notes, and meeting feedback that provided the most value. Seeing changes to agenda and notes in real-time is also very helpful.