Debut Video Capture Pro review (2024)

Debut Video Capture Pro is completely free if you download it for personal, rather than commercial, use, which is a big plus. It's also easy to use, and with one major exception offers nearly every tool you could need to capture video from your computer screen – it even has tools not found in any of the other applications we've reviewed. You'll find Debut Video Capture Pro somewhere near the middle of our guide to the best video capture software, however, because it can't edit your video once it's been captured. This may or may not be a problem, as you can download one of the best video editing softwares to use alongside it, but it's the sort of thing we'd like to see in an application of this quality.

The application supports capturing video in several ways: Record your desktop or screen, including PowerPoint presentations or streaming internet content such as Hulu and YouTube. You can also record from a webcam, a network IP camera, or something like a DVD or Blu-ray player. Please be aware of violating copyright law in these instances, and do not republish copyrighted material without appropriate permission or credit.

Debut Video Capture Pro review: Features

Recording audio is just as important as capturing video, and Debut has your back here. You can select a microphone as your audio input if you want to provide narration for your video, speakers to record whatever audio is streaming on your computer, and mouse clicks to accentuate your clicks. Changing between these is made easy on the app's main screen.

In addition to the desktop video-capture and audio recording options, Debut offers scheduled recording, something some of the other top capture applications don't typically offer. Scheduled recording is easy to access and use; it's located on the main page of the interface. With this feature, you can name the recording and choose the video source, audio source, date, and the start and end time. It's really easy to use and one of the app's most advanced features.

Debut Video Capture Pro review: Interface

Even if you've never used an app like this before, Debut Video Capture Pro's simple interface makes navigating the program straightforward. The toolbars and menu items are clearly labeled so you can locate features quickly, and you can learn how to use this program with few to no problems.

Additionally, the program offers programmable hotkeys. Hotkeys are simple keystroke shortcuts that, among other tasks, start and stop recordings, record a portion of your screen, encode, and change the output file format. You can also use hotkeys to add or change text captions, color settings, and watermarks. They make the program even easier to use.

Should you buy Debut Video Capture Pro?

The main drawback of Debut is that is doesn't have a built-in editor. You can still edit your recordings by downloading Debut's sister program, VideoPad, for free, and you can do this right from Debut's interface. Videopad is very easy to download, and you can use it to edit and enhance your project. However, it's still an extra step, and because it's technically a separate application, we can't credit VideoPad's editing features to Debut on our reviews matrix. If you're looking for exceptional built-in editing tools, take a look at Movavi Screen Capture.

In terms of quality, the finished video created by Debut was very good, but not the best. Our video experts examined the video created with Debut and noted minor problems with pixelation and jumpiness in parts of the video. And while it's not as smooth and clear as the video produced from the award winners, it comes close.

NCH Software has a reputation for making good, easy-to-use software, and Debut Video Capture is no different. It has the important capture tools and capabilities we look for in the best video recording software. While it lacks integrated editing tools, you can always download a free video editor to use. The end results were among the best we saw in our reviews, making Debut well worth considering.