nicepaul's dashboard

Thanks for the great suggestion, Ward. I have suggested this feature myself and we're considering it for a future product update.

The hurdle to overcome is that Projects are already split into Sessions (presumably one session per user), and this would mean further splitting each session into several clips. From a features point of view, I really like it, but from an application information architecture point of view it does add a layer of complexity that is currently blissfully absent in the app.

Travis: from your post I'm not sure you realise this... you can already click '+' on your Apple Remote to add a chapter marker during recording, which will be available in the exported video.

Daniel - we looked into that possibility, but if my memory serves me correctly that would only be possible in Leopard, but (unlike ScreenFlow) Silverback works in Tiger, too.

As Andy said, we tried to strip out what we considered to be fairly niche feature ideas like this, but if there's enough interest we would consider looking into it again.

Thanks for reporting back, David, and glad that got your export time down to 1.5 hours for a one-hour session with no video, or - more usefully - 3 hours with video. That's far closer to what I'd expect!

Hi davidc, and thanks for the feedback.

You should actually find the export time will be reduced if you export at the highest quality settings, as it's the compression that is extending the processing time. We realise that this is counter-intuitive, and in a future update we're looking at a way to make it clearer that the trade-off is smaller file size and longer export time vs. larger file size and shorter export.

Another way to reduce export time is not to use semi-transparent video overlay. Processing time will be less with no video at all (obviously), or with video 'on' rather than semi-transparent. The trade-off there is the ability to see activity 'under' the video vs. a shorter export. You might also want to record at a lower resolution if you have a huge screen.

In terms of general export times, we will continue to try to improve performance in future updates, but our tests show that Silverback's export times are faster than other software which compiles screen activity with video, under similar conditions.

When we've used Silverback for long sessions, we've left it exporting overnight. We're also looking into a batch-export feature as a priority, so that you can start exporting several long sessions and leave all of them going at once.

Please try re-exporting the same session at a higher quality and with no semi-transparent video, and if the export time is still as long could you email me (paul@clearleft dot com) and I'll ask you to send me some tech specs about your Mac to see if this is a bug.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the feedback, GoTommy.

Whilst testing the app, we did note the increased processor use / export time/ file size for people with large screens. In the absence of the ability to record just a portion of the screen, reducing the resolution under System Preferences > Displays would go some way to addressing those issues.

Just came across this video of someone demoing Silverback + Parallels.

http://britmansell.com/?p=42

We'd love to do a Windows version of Silverback, but we decided to focus on the Mac platform for the initial release for a couple of reasons.

* All modern Macs come with a built in iSight camera and mic, so the hardware is more predictable
* There are a few usability apps for Windows, but none for Macs
* We're primarily a Mac shop so it made sense for us to focus on a Mac app to start

However if the app is popular and we see a demand, we'd be more than happy todo a Windows version.

...and I've just finished writing an intro to usability testing which will be published in .net magazine in the near future.

Thanks for your really positive comments!

Since we're still in beta, we'd love to hear of any bugs or unexpected behaviour you encounter at beta@silverbackapp.com

thanks,
Paul

Just discovered Basecamp has permanent redirects to S3's dynamic URLs. Right click and copy a link URL instead of clicking it then copying from address bar. That may be a suitable work-around for your users too, but annoying that it's not documented on Basecamp. – Nice Paul, on May 22, 2008 17:35

Regarding file uploads, when it gets in there:

* can we upload multiple files with each comment? Our current bug tracker only allows one file per comment.

* can files have permalinks? Sometimes I like to upload an image and display it inline in the post rather than as an attachment. This is impossible with Basecamp's hosted files, as their URLs keep changing.