Screen recording guide - How I do it...

Help, advice and trading in technicolour
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Trader_Tom
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:51 pm
Location: Sheffield

I did a search earlier and couldn't find any specific guide for screen recording. As a result, I thought I'd share, step by step, how I go about recording my screens.

Firstly, I should point out that I mostly use this for recording the days racing on days I can't trade for reviewing in the evening. I also record my actual trading but find it does slow down Bet Angel. If I was trading seriously I probably would either not do it, or invest in a faster PC but for now, the educational value far outweighs the effect it has on my trading. Obviously, everyone has their own preferred way of recording and software but this is what has worked for me personally.

My preferred software is called "Active Presenter". The free version is perfectly find for what we want to do. You can download it here...

https://atomisystems.com/download/

Go ahead and install the software. Once open, click on "New Project". You want to be using the "Record Software Demonstration" Capture profile pictured below...

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Name your file, preferably with the days date for reference, click "OK" and away we go!

Next up, you'll be given the opportunity to select which area of your whole desktop you want to record. Simply resize the green area to suit your needs. For me personally, I just want to record my central 2 monitors so I've dragged the green section up to cover this area...

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Next up. Hit the big red record button. Please be aware that ANYTHING you do on these screens is now being recorded. Be careful not to leave behind anything incriminating...

To pause or stop the recording, go to "hidden icons" in the tray at the bottom right of your screen and click the active presenter icon to bring up the control panel.

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Don't worry about recording hours before or after the racing (or whatever market) has finished because next I'm going to show you how to edit your recording before exporting it.

Once you hit the stop button and your recording is complete you will be faced with a timeline in the bottom of the screen. Firstly, you want to zoom out this time line as much as possible by clicking the "zoom to fit timeline" button. Once you've done this you can go on to cropping the selection you want.

Click on the timeline and you'll be given 2 tabs. A green one and a red one. Drag the green tab to the beginning of the days racing and the red tab to the end. Once you're happy with this selection, click "crop to range". This will leave you with just the part you want to export...

Image

Now all that is left is to export the file. This can take some time so I usually leave it going overnight to view the next day. Go to the "Export" tab at the top of the screen and click "Video". I have found the best format is WMV for quality so just stick with all the standard settings. Browse for a suitable folder so you can find your file, name it and click "OK".

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Then all that is left to do is wait a very long time!

Next I'll give a few tips on how to get Bet Angel performing how you want it while you're away from your computer. You need Bet Angel to cycle through the markets in guardian automatically. I am usually only interested in the last 5 minutes before post time so I have mine set to automatically switch to the next market every 300 seconds. It goes without saying that you need to make sure you load all the markets in to Bet Angel first!

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One other thing I need to mention is centering the ladders. We all love a big steamer or a drifter but when you're not the to adjust the ladders you will find the current price could fly off the screen entirely. To combat this I have made a file that will centre the ladders every couple of minutes. Firstly, you'll need to download Auto Hot Key here...

https://autohotkey.com/download/

Once installed you'll need to create a script. To do this, right click on your desktop, go to "new" and select "AutoHotKey Script".

Image

Once open, copy and past the following text and save the file...

#Persistent
SetTimer, PressTheKey, 120000
Return

PressTheKey:
Send, {Enter}
Return


Once saved. Double click to run the file. To stop running the file, go to your hidden icons in the main tray, find the file and close it.

This is a script that is set up to press the Enter key every 2 minutes. As standard, the enter key will centre the ladders in Bet Angel (make sure you click on the ladder window before leaving it all day). If you want to edit this file, simply right click on it and select "Edit Script". To edit the time in which the script will wait to press the enter key you need to change the value that is highlighted in this image...

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This is in milliseconds so if you want it to refresh every minute instead of every 2 minutes you would need to change this value to "60000" and save the file.

One thing to note when running this file is that if you forget to cancel it, it may interfere with your trading or worse, end up sending an embarrassing, half complete e-mail to your co-workers.

Hopefully this guide has been of some use. It is a great way of getting some screen time if you work all day and should accelerate your progress if you're willing to put some time in to it. It can however, be extremely dull! Live pictures are a very important part of trading so I am working on trying to find a way that I can record Racing UK on this computer and At The Races on a separate computer. I need to be able to refresh the pages and play the video every 10 minutes or so so as to avoid any time differences between the pictures and whats happening on the screen. If anyone can help with that it would be much appreciated! I normally wouldn't bother but if a horse suddenly drifts then it would be nice to know if it is because it's playing up or being talked down.

All the best,

Tom
Last edited by Trader_Tom on Thu Dec 15, 2016 6:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
iambic_pentameter
Posts: 443
Joined: Wed May 18, 2016 1:24 pm

Tom

Brilliant guide - thanks for taking the time to put it together.

Iambic
Trader_Tom
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:51 pm
Location: Sheffield

iambic_pentameter wrote:Tom

Brilliant guide - thanks for taking the time to put it together.

Iambic
You're welcome pal. I can't give any solid trading advice to anyone other than newbies so I thought I'd try and contribute in some other way : )
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Dallas
Posts: 22671
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:57 pm
Location: Working From Home

Trader_Tom wrote: I thought I'd try and contribute in some other way : )
Very useful thread which am sure will help many
Trader_Tom
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:51 pm
Location: Sheffield

Dallas wrote:
Trader_Tom wrote: I thought I'd try and contribute in some other way : )
Very useful thread which am sure will help many
Cheers mate : )
Bluesky
Posts: 420
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:26 pm

Thanks for posting this Tom really appreciate you taking the trouble to put it together for us, it should probably be stickied otherwise it will be lost in older pages soon.
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Euler
Posts: 24700
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Bet Angel HQ

Thanks for taking the time to post this up.
Trader_Tom
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:51 pm
Location: Sheffield

Euler wrote:Thanks for taking the time to post this up.
No problem. It was a nice break from looking at the ladder every evening. I was starting to get tunnel vision haha.
Bluesky wrote:Thanks for posting this Tom really appreciate you taking the trouble to put it together for us, it should probably be stickied otherwise it will be lost in older pages soon.
Not a problem =] It's up to admin whether they think it is sticky worthy or not :lol:
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Euler
Posts: 24700
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Bet Angel HQ

We have a screen recording thread in another area. My instinct was to move this thread there and make it sticky.
Trader_Tom
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:51 pm
Location: Sheffield

Euler wrote:We have a screen recording thread in another area. My instinct was to move this thread there and make it sticky.
Do whatever suits you mate : )
Yorkshire Pud
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 7:51 pm

Great "Screen Recording Guide For Dummies " there Tom, just what I for one needed being technologically challenged and all!! Just need a "Trading For Idiots Guide" now Euler!!

I look forward to the advanced guide on linking it with pictures if you manage to work it out Tom!!
Trader_Tom
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:51 pm
Location: Sheffield

Yorkshire Pud wrote:Just need a "Trading For Idiots Guide" now Euler!!
There is such a guide. You have to go on the masterclass to get it though :geek:

Just don't drop it on your foot!

Image
Yorkshire Pud
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 7:51 pm

Yep I know....I intended getting myself booked on it once Peter had refreshed the "Bible" but I decided to leave it until the New Year. Going to do the Horse Trading Workshop too. In the meantime I'm just trying to learn as much about the markets as I can and digest all the great info on here! When did you do the Masterclass? What prior knowledge / experience did you have? and do you think you did it at the right time in your development?
Trader_Tom
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:51 pm
Location: Sheffield

Yorkshire Pud wrote:Yep I know....I intended getting myself booked on it once Peter had refreshed the "Bible" but I decided to leave it until the New Year. Going to do the Horse Trading Workshop too. In the meantime I'm just trying to learn as much about the markets as I can and digest all the great info on here! When did you do the Masterclass? What prior knowledge / experience did you have? and do you think you did it at the right time in your development?
Drop me a PM mate, I'll gladly talk to you properly about it.

To anyone reading this. I highly recommend the course, I just don't think this is the place to talk about it at any length!
Bradhack1
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2016 4:59 pm

Hi Tom,

an excellent user guide which I have tried to copy in its entirety. A couple of things I can't seem to get working correctly if you are able to assist at all?

When I load the markets up in Guardian and then go to watch the screen capture in the evening, it has changed to the correct market for the last 5 minutes but has changed to the 'One-click' screen rather than the ladder, can you tell me how to make it change straight to the ladder every time?

Secondly, I have installed the hotkey application, however, when I go to set it in motion, it states that the 5th line is invalid - is this something that happened to yourself and can you suggest a fix at all?

Many thanks if you can help - this was just the post I was looking for as like you my day job keeps me away from the markets during the day.

Thanks.
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