Bandicam Screen Recorder

Whether you're an old pro at screen recordings or this is your first time out, Bandicam makes it easy to set up and start recording anything on your screen. Less experienced users will like that the default settings mean you can basically start recording in only a couple clicks.

Pros

Capture options: You can choose to share your whole screen or only a specific portion, and it's easy to resize the window so that it shows only what you want it to. You can record in AVI or MP4 format, and there are presets that let you quickly adjust to a specific width or adjust for a YouTube-friendly recording. It will include any sounds that are playing while you record, too, so you can play your own soundtrack or capture the full sound effects if you're recording a game you're playing. There's also an option to capture straight screenshots, with four output options, including BMP, PNG, and JPG.

Easy to use: While there are advanced options and settings, if you don't want to mess around with these, Bandicam is preset to record in AVI format at 30 frames per second. It also detects your primary sound device and webcam (if you have one). When we went this route, the recording was of good quality, but it was also good when we made some minor tweaks of our own and changed to MP4 instead of AVI.

Cons

Some features not available: We were happy to see a button to edit the recordings we'd made, but it turns out that that just leads to an option to purchase the publisher's editing tool, Bandicut. Some tools offer these as part of the package. In addition, the option to play the recordings just opened our default media player.

Bottom Line

If you need to record your screen with a minimum of fuss, Bandicam makes the process easy and creates good quality recordings or screenshots. It's not free, but the trial version will let you know if the price is right for your needs.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Bandicam 2.1.2.740.