Both are provided in a suite but can be installed and started separately. PCHand Screen Capture is a sophisticated screenshot taking software that uses profiles for different jobs.

The software displays a list of already configured profiles after startup ranging from taking a screenshot of windows, the full screen, a scrolling window, freehand or rectangle.

Each profile consists of an input method, output setting and effect. Input methods define how and where the screenshot is being taken, output methods where it will be send to our saved and effects can be used to add additional information to the screenshot automatically.

It is possible to add new profiles to the program or remove existing ones in case they are not needed. The different profiles can be activated directly from within the software program or by configuring hotkeys to use the computer keyboard to trigger them.

Most of the preconfigured profiles use the editor that is shipped with the screen capture software. This editor comes with basic image editing options that include adding text, forms or arrows to the screenshot.

Additional options are provided in the file menu on top. There the user can select filters and other image manipulation effects like rotating or resizing the image.

PCHand Screen Capture is a sophisticated screenshot taking software that’s easy to work with and expandable thanks to the profiles that can be edited or created.

PCHand Screen Recorder is the second program in the software suite. It can record video and audio of a select region of the computer desktop. The program did not work correctly on our Windows 7 Professional test system.

When it was set to manual saving it seemed to record just fine but there was not an option at the end to save the video. If it was set to automatically save it stopped responding and had to be closed.

We will therefor only evaluate the screenshot taking software and not the screen recorder below.

Installation

The PCHand Screen Capture Recorder Suite comes with two setup files that need to be executed separately giving users the chance to only install one of the programs if that is desired. The programs can be registered by clicking on activate.exe after the installation of one or both programs have been finished.

Positive

• Uses customizable profiles
• Hotkey support
• Supports scrolling windows and freehand

Negative

• Some spelling errors in the application
• Effects cannot be configured when creating new profiles
• No option to send to another image editor

PCHand Screen Capture Recorder Suite can be downloaded from the Giveaway of the Day website. The program can be freely registered today only and is available for $49.99 regularly on the developer’s website.

The use of Java ensures that the screen recording service works on most operating systems that Java can be installed on including Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh and Linux. The recording works surprisingly well and is completely keyboard driven. Pressing [ALT S] will start the desktop recorder which will capture the entire screen. Pressing the hotkey combination again will stop the recording and display a preview of the video on the ScreenToaster website.

The alternate hotkey to record only part of the computer screen is [ALT Shift S] which lets the user draw a rectangular shape which contents will be recorded. It is possible to quit at this point which would delete the video or assign a title and description to it to store it on the ScreenToaster servers.

Links will be automatically created that can be used to open the recorded video directly in a web browser or embed it on a website. The service is currently in beta and has a few limitations. Sound for instance will not be recorded at all. There is also no way of saving the video on the computer or deleting a video that has been created before.

The developers will surely offer those features in a later build of the software. There was also no information available about maximum recording time, space per user and other limits that might be in place.

ScreenToaster is a desktop recording service which is currently in private beta. Beta keys are usually handed out quite frequently. It took no longer than two days to receive one.

Update: The Screen Toaster website has been returning an error for quite some time. The project appears dead and the link has therefor been removed from the article. A free alternative is Camtasia Studio.