1. An error message (which points to the BB Capture Driver) is seen while recording.
A corrupted installation of the Capture Driver may be the source. This can be reinstalled by a repair program built-in with FlashBack.Here are the steps:
- Locate the BB TestAssistant installation directory
- Run "DrvInstaller.exe"
- Select "Uninstall BB Capture Driver"
- "Install BB Capture Driver" to reinstall the driver properly
2. What are factors that may affect the file size of my final movie file?
- Content
The content of the movie will affect the file size more than its duration time. Long movie with just static desktop is likely to have smaller file size than a short movie containing a lot of graphics. Content like photos, customer Windows wallpaper, website images, animation, scrolling windows and Windows graphic effects will likely increase movie size.
Graphical wallpaper and Windows graphics effects can be switched off automatically in BB TestAssistant while recording. These options can be found in the Recorder Options dialog, Graphics tab.
- Soundtrack
To reduce file size added by a soundtrack, do the following:
- Enable the "MP3 Compression" in the sound recording options (Recorder Options --> Sound tab)
- Import MP3 rather than WAV files when adding sounds in the Player application.
- File format (for non-FBR)
File sizes differ significantly when exporting to another (non-FBR) format:
- Flash format usually has the next smallest file size. EXE format should be no more than 200-300K larger than the original FBR file.
- AVI and WMV files are regularly the largest format, although the selected codec during export is a major factor in affecting the file size.
3. When my movie is replayed, it does not diplay graphics or text correctly or they are missing altogether.
If your machine has multiple graphics cards, go to Control Panel > Display > Settings tab > Advanced > switch the primary graphics to with your other video card.If you use a capture driver to record (default for Windows XP), recording special technology such as Flash, Games, Movie Players, or if recording animating material may cause some distortions upon replay.4. Audio is not available while replying my movie.
First, test whether audio is working in your machine by testing a a sound file. If this doesn't work, then there could be an issue with your system audio.If a PC microphone is available, use the Sound Recorder program to try to record a sound. If you cannot hear an audio, it is possible that your machine is not configured to use the microphone as a sound recording device. To change the sound source or increase its volume, go to the Audio Properties menu item in Sound Recorder and select the correct sound device for Recording and check that the volume is set correctly, along with playing back a voice recording.
By default, Sound Recorder is found in Start menu > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment
If the sound is verified to be correctly installed on your computer, go to BB TestAssistant Recorder > Options > Sound tab and verify that the "enable sound recording" option is switched on (switching to off will result in no sound being captured when recording a movie). If this setting is enabled a button marked "Set…" should be seen.
Pressing this button displays a list of all the sound channels installed on your machine. The channel checked is the channel captured by BB TestAssistant upon recording, which can be modified by selecting another checkbox. This will prevent a scenario where BB TestAssistant is capturing audio from the microphone when you are trying to record your system sounds.
5. BB TestAssistant doesn't update with the Check for Updates wizard.
First, check if the Internet connection is working properly by trying to open a website in your browser. The updates wizard reports an "error during check" message if internet connection is unavailable.
Serial keys are also verified while using the check for updates Wizard. A shareware version of BB TestAssistant within the 15 day trial, an extended trial key, or a full key after purchasing will be accepted. If your key is not listed in our server, the update wizard will report "Licence key not recognised". If you see this error message please contact us for assistance.
Check for Updates Wizard has a known bug when updating from version 1.3.x to 1.4.X. In this case, an update will be detected and downloaded; however, a prompt will continually appear to close the BB TestAssistant Player regardless of whether it is actually running or not. As a solution, manually download and reinstall the latest BB TestAssistant from: www.bbsoftware.co.uk/BBTestAssistant_Download.aspx
6. The program doesn't accept my full or extended trial key.
As a reminder, trial keys are case sensitive and include spaces.
If an extended trial key has been used in a copy of BB TestAssistant, all future extended trial keys (i.e. you can only extend once) will be rejected. If you would like to get a further trial, please contact us to discuss your request.
As a reminder, all serial keys generated by our server after February 1, 2005 (whether an extended trial or full purchased key) are a digit longer than serial keys that are previously used and require BB TestAssistant version 1.4.1 and above. These will not work with earlier versions.
The latest version of BB TestAssistant can be downloaded here: www.bbsoftware.co.uk/BBTestAssistant_Download.aspx
7. My FBR movie file does not load in the Player.
In case an FBR movie file does not load and if the player displays an error message, close immediately after launching or crashes outright:
This might happen if the movie being loaded is created or edited in version 1.4 and if the Player is an older version (which does not fully support movies created by version 1.4). To resolve this, download the latest version of BB TestAssistant from: www.bbsoftware.co.uk/BBTestAssistant_Download.aspx
Another possible cause is if the file is corrupted. This may happen if saving the file is interrupted or when the file is saved on a disk with hardware errors. There is no automatic way of recovering a corrupted file and the restoring from your most recent backup will be the best option.
8. I cannot run the BB TestAssistant Player on Windows NT .
BB TestAssistant player is not supported in Windows NT, although the recorder should work normally on this platform.
9. My system runs extremely slow when recording.
If you are recording in GDI or DirectX mode, the frame rate may be set to a very high value that may not be properly handled by your system.
To check which recording method you are using, please open BB TestAssistant Recorder > Options > Record mode. If available, 'Capture Driver' option should have the fastest method of recording. If using either GDI or DirectX recording mode, decrease the frame rate value to speed up your system while recording.
Please also verify that your machine meets the minimum system requirements for BB TestAssistant:
- 300 megahertz (MHz) or higher CPU clock speed required; 600 megahertz or higher recommended.
- 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher.
- 20 megabytes (MB) of available hard disk space for application files.
- Graphics card with 4 megabytes (MB) or video memory required; 8 megabytes (MB) recommended.
- Super VGA (800x600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor.
10. My exported AVI file movie plays fine on my machine but not in others.
Exporting to either of these formats will prompt you to select a codec from a list of all the codecs installed on your machine. The selected codec also needs to be installed on the machine that will play your AVI movie in order to play it properly.
It is recommended to advise the viewer to install the relevant codec, try another codec or export to a different format.
11. My exported movie to Flash (SWF) appears distorted or has low quality.
BB TestAssistant creates both an HTML and a SWF file when exporting to Flash format. It is recommended to open the HTML file in order to see your movie at the correct size and quality.
12. Attempting to record a DVD or video clip with BB TestAssistant fails or the results are poor.
BB TestAssistant is recommended to record normal Windows applications. All screen recording software, including BB TestAssistant, will not work have a hard time recording video clip footage because these are contained in files using compression technology. In attempting to record these with a screen recorder, all the screen activity has to be recorded without the advantage of the codecs and compression engines used in the video file.
If output is seen, please go to BB TestAssistant Recorder > options > record mode and select either GDI or DirectX mode. Then, start recording and load the DVD or video clip (recording must be started before loading the DVD or video clip). This step should produce a capture of the video, although as stated above the performance vary and the resulting files may have a large file size.