Tuesday, 3 March 2015
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| Nerdy woman using old fashioned cine camera.
In one of our last posts, we mentioned how the upgrade to Lollipop would be a boon to developers. The option to record Android screens without rooting the device is now available, so I dare say things will get a tad bit easy. But I don’t see the majority of Android devices getting the Lollipop update any time soon.
Today I am going to share an interesting ADB script that can help you easily record screencasts from your Android device directly to the computer without installing any app. Also the trick is completely free and leaves no watermark on the video.
Note: Using ADB tools, you can record your Android screen as a video, but that requires a massive installation of the ADB platform. This script just includes the necessary files for video capture, which is enough for our purposesface.
Recording the Android Screen
The first thing we need to do is enable the USB debugging option on the device from within theDeveloper options. The particular settings are hidden by default and you will have to tap the build version under About phone repeatedly. After 5 to 6 consecutive taps you will get the message that the Developer Option has been enabled. In the Developer Options, enable USB debugging and plug the device in to your computer. The phone might ask if you would like to trust the connection. Tap on Always remember and connect.
 
Note: Make sure you have the specific ADB Drivers on your phone installed on Windows if your device is not recognized.
Download and extract the Android Screen Recorder script on your computer. The folder can be extracted anywhere and there’s no need to import it to the Windows environment variable. The extracted folder will contain two batch files and one folder with the necessary ADB files.
If the device is connected to the computer, execute the AndroidRecordScreen batch file as administrator. The screen will show you the device connected to your computer and the resolution in which it will record the file, along with the bit rate. Pressing any key will open a recording window and whatever operations you do on your device as of now will be recorded.
Once you are done, close the recording screen that popped up. The recorded MP4 file will be saved in the respective folder in your computer and also on the SD card on the device.
Using the AndroidRecordScreen_advanced batch file, one can change the resolution and bitrate, but the maximum recording time cannot exceed 3 minutes. The changes made here will only be saved for the particular video and you will have to edit the settings every time you need to record the screen. Advanced users who understand batch files can edit and change the variables to make the changes permanent.
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Conclusion
So that was how anyone can record Android screencasts directly to their computer without root access. The video length might be limited to three minutes, but you get a full HD video without any watermarks and without paying a single penny. If you face any errors while using the script, don’t forget to ask about them in the comments section.
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