[Trainer-Talk] Seeking accessible video capture software

[Deborah Armstrong]

A friend sent me the following:
>Turns out that VLC can already record your Windows desktop -
>https://www.howtogeek.com/120202/how-to-record-your-desktop-to-a-file-or-stream-it-over-the-internet-with-vlc/

This was very fascinating, but unfortunately, trying to figure out how to do this in VLC was exactly the sort of typical thing I'd like to demo; the fact that it's only partly accessible. I couldn't locate all the different things it advised me to click on.

And we won't be equal as blind folks until we can take directions like this and simply follow them without need for "special" access training!

For your convenience, here are the text of that site's instructions, in case some more intrepid user wants to see if they can get this to work:

VLC is full of powerful features, including the ability to record your desktop. VLC is great for quick captures, although it doesn't necessarily have the
more advanced features of a dedicated screencasting application.

To record your desktop to a file or stream it, perform the normal transcoding or streaming process with your desktop as the capture device.

Recording Your Desktop to a File

To capture and record a video of your desktop to a file, click the Media menu in VLC and select Convert / Save.

Click the Capture Device tab and select Desktop from the Capture mode box.

The default frame rate is one frame per second, which won't appear very smooth. You'll probably want to increase the frame rate. After you're happy with
the frame rate, click the Convert / Save button.

Set a destination file in the Destination section. You can enable the Display the output checkbox to display the contents of your desktop in the VLC window
while recording, but this isn't necessary.

To adjust the resolution and video codec, click the edit button to the right of the Profile box. You can also select a profile from the profile box and
use it as-is, without editing it.

Change the resolution by clicking over to the Video codec tab and using the options in the Resolution section. For example, you can use half your desktop's
resolution by typing 0.5 into the Scale box.

After specifying your options, click the Save button and click the Start button.

VLC will inform you that it's "streaming" your desktop to a file. Use your computer normally and VLC will record your desktop. When you're done, click
the Stop button.


Open your saved file to view the video of your desktop. You can send this file to others, upload it to YouTube, or do whatever else you like with it.

Live-Streaming Your Desktop

To stream your desktop over the network instead of recording it to a file, click the Stream option instead of the Convert / Save option in the Media menu.

Select the Desktop capture mode on the Capture Device tab, select your desired framerate, and click the Stream button.

In the Destination Setup section, select a streaming method from the dropdown box and click Add. You can also control transcoding and other options from
here.



From: Deborah Armstrong
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2017 7:44 AM
To: 'trainer-talk at nfbnet.org'
Subject: Seeking accessible video capture software

This is a problem we've all had. You are working with an application using a screen reader. It's not quite accessible or intuitive. You can use the program or the website , but it's tricky.

When this happehns to me, I want to make a video that shows the exact steps. It would record what I'm typing, what's onscreen and what my screen reader is saying.

This way I could send the video to a developer to show them an accessibility glitch. Or I could send it to a student's helper to show a work-around for accessing something tricky.

I already use a digital voice recorder if I want to demo something to a blind student, but I'd like a way to send a demo to a low-vision or sighted person that would work for them better than simply audio.

Is there Windows software that will do this that is accessible to the screen reader user?

I thought of holding up my iPHONE near the screen but I probably would aim it wrong since I wouldn't have feedback about what it is capturing.

Thoughts?

--Debee