International Mac Podcast

Hey folks,

I’m here to do a review of one of my favorite and most relied-on apps during my daily podcasting workflow. This application is Call Recorder from eCamm Software. Call Recorder is a way to record calls from Skype, which is a popular audio and video conferencing application. Skype is made for Mac, Windows, and Linux, but Call Recorder is Mac only. Keep reading for a detailed review and a great offer for IMP readers!

Call Recorder acts as a plugin for Skype, and the main way of controlling it is through a small floating window in Skype. Here is what Skype looks like with Call Recorder installed. The blurring is mainly to maintain peoples’ privacy…that is not part of Skype’s interface.

The call recorder window is discretely displayed on the left, by default. The middle button is for record, and the button on the left is to display the preferences, also accessible from Skype’s preferences. Let’s talk about the preferences for Call Recorder.

Here is what the preference pane in Call Recorder looks like.

Let’s start at the top. First, you have your QuickTime settings, responsible for handling the audio and video in the call. (Yes, Call Recorder is able to record both audio and video…sweet!) Anyways, first, you can choose your format for the audio of the show. This should probably stay at the defaults. Then, you have the audio quality. If you are just recording voice, then you can probably use low or medium. However, there are some instances where I am forced to use Skype for musical purposes…in that case, I set the audio quality to High. Then, you can set your video encoding. It defaults to H.264, a somewhat new and very cool codec by apple. Then, you have your video image size. It can go all the way from 120×90 up to 640×480. I like to keep it at 640×480, because when it comes to video, I am obsessed with quality.

The second part of the Call Recorder preference pane is the Recording Options section. This is where you can select what format the video is recorded in. The two most popular options are side by side and multitrack. I like multitrack, because that gives me the best control over my video.

You also have a few miscellaneous options, which are pretty self-explanitory.

Lastly, before I leave you tonight, I would like to talk about the Movie Tools that come bundled with Call Recorder. These are a bundle of tools that are installed in your Applications folder, in the subdirectory called “Movie Tools.” There are a variety of tools in here for converting your audio, but for now we will just look at “Split Movie Tracks” and “Split Sides Of Conversation.”

In “Split Movie Tracks,” you are presented with a simple interface. All you do is put your movie from Call Recorder in there, and each participant in the video call is separated to a different video file…same with “Split Sides Of Conversation,” but it is just for audio.

That’s it for tonight. Call Recorder sells for $14.95 U.S. but Ecamm have very kindly given IMP readers a discount code good for 15% off simply enter coupon code IMP2008 when asked. Thanks for reading!!!