Captivate 5 and Win 7 - 64 bit

[Brad Lawryk]

does Captivate 5 work with 64 bit Windows? Doesn't say in the requirements.

Brad

[JoeS_iii]

Brad,

The FAQ section on the Adobe webpage for Captivate 5 clearly states that it is only certified for 32-bit versions of XP and Windows 7.  Why?  Don't ask me.  64-bit Windows platforms have been around for 3 years now and Adobe is surely taking their sweet time acknowledging that fact.  They don't even have a Flash player plug-in that's compliant with a 64-bit web browser yet.  Adobe, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR ! ?  Don't you realize how many customers with high-end PCs are running 64-bit platforms now (if only to be able to take advantage of more than 3GB of RAM)?

Now, I haven't yet tested Captivate 5, but what I can tell you regarding Captivate 4 is this...

• The program works on a 64-bit PC (with the latest patch), providing you are recording a 32-bit application.
• When attempting to record a 64-bit application, only one frame is captured.  After initiating the recording, whether in automatic or manual mode, all keyboard and mouse input is ignored.  The only response you can get is clicking the tray icon to end the recording session.
• However, full-motion recording of 64-bit applications does work, since the camera runs continuously regardles of keyboard and mouse activity.

I suggest installing a trial version of Captivate 5 for your 64-bit OS before committing to the purchase.  I suspect that the results may be similar to those of Captivate 4; but, again, I don't KNOW that to be a fact.

I plan on testing Captivate 5 on my Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit) workstation and will post again when I've tested it's ability, or lack thereof, to capture from 64-bit applications.

[Captiv8r]

Hi folks

@Brad - Captivate 5 seems to be working fine for me on Windows 7 64 bit. The deve team states they have tested pretty extensively on 64 bit. So that should be good news despite the fact the page only claims it is certified for 32 bit.

@Joe - While Adobe folk do look at the forums from time to time, we cannot guarantee they will see your statement. If you really want to put the information in front of their eyes, you must do so using a channel they monitor regularly. That channel is the Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form. (Link is in my sig)

As for Captivate 4, here is what I see. It does behave as you are reporting. I'm using Windows 7 64 bit and it acts that way for me with the single screen capture. Now it's cumbersome as all get out, but you can actually record a 64 bit app. What you have to do is click the red recording rectangle. Each time you click it, you get a screen capture. To end the recording, click the red rectangle a final time (to shift focus to the application) and it appears to respect the designated key to end recording.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Adobe Certified Captivate Training SorcerStone Blog Captivate eBooks

[JoeS_iii]

Rick,

Thank you for your speedy response and 64-bit tip. One question though... What if your demo includes a combination of still-shot captures and FMR? Can you invoke and stop FMR without ending the recording session?

Thanks again,

-Joe

[Captiv8r]

Hi Joe

Yes you should be able to do this. As I stated earlier, if this is one of those pesky 64 bit apps Captivate balks at, the first step would be to click the red recording rectangle to shift focus. Then tap the Full Motion Recording (FMR) key. Normally it's F9 but you can change it if you need to. That should trigger FMR to begin. Then you may need to repeat that process to stop FMR. The key to stop FMR is F10 and agaiin you can change it if you need to. Again, before Captivate may recognize the key you may need to also shift focus by clicking the red recording rectangle. Most annoying.

One thing I plan to try is to deactivate and uninstall Captivate 4 on my Windows 7 environment, then install it in the Windows XP Mode virtual machine I've installed. This is a nice way to allow former applications to continue functioning on Windows 7. You may also create a shortcut icon to launch an app in the Windows 7 environment that is actually operating in the XP mode virtual machine. But the app behaves as if you are running it in Windows 7.

Might be the workaround needed. The Windows XP mode and virtual machine are free to obtain and install from Microsoft. But they aren't available if your Windows 7 is Home Premium. You have to upgrade the OS. That was my first move after bringing home my new baby. Upgraded Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Adobe Certified Captivate Training SorcerStone Blog Captivate eBooks

[JoeS_iii]

Thanks again Rick,

I have tried, as you likely also have, running Captivate in XP compatibility mode. That did not work. I have Windows 7 Enterprise Edition, so the virtual machine route should be doable. However, since it will be used to capture a true 64-bit application demo, I think there's a good chance that this will similarly fail. If you test it, please let me know the results.

-Joe

[Brad Lawryk]

Thanks guys,

That answers a lot of questions. I did get Cap4 to work eventually but cannot install Flash Player in IE or Captivate crashes again. But with BrowserLab now, I don't need IE as much anymore.

But that does explain why I couldn't do a Captivate project for Dreamweaver though as it wouldn't actually capture some stuff and would just be a blank capture window. Will try on 32 bit DReamweaver.

Any ideas when a Cap5 trial will be availabble?

Brad Lawryk
Adobe Community Professional: Dreamweaver
Northern British Columbia Adobe Usergroup: Manager

[JoeS_iii]

Hi Brad,

From the "Preorder" page, here's when Captivate 5 is expected to be available to purchasers...

"Preorder now. English language version expected to ship by mid-June 2010.

See language version availability below."

I assume that a trial version will be released close to the time of the official product launch (speculation on my part) -- though, I wouldn't hold my breath. You never know what last minute problems may delay any software product release.

Regards,

-Joe

[Captiv8r]

Hi all

@Joe - I had to step out for a bit but before I did I began the installation process for eLearning Suite in my Virtual machine. I returned to find it had installed and that was great! I then created an icon to launch Captivate from Windows 7. It did open, but unfortunately the behavior wasn't what I was hoping to see. I suppose because it's operating from within the VM that it believes that's its universe. So it wouldn't capture anything on Windows 7 environment. RATS!

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Adobe Certified Captivate Training SorcerStone Blog Captivate eBooks

[JoeS_iii]

As I suspected. C'est la vie'. Thanks for checking and for getting back to me.

-Joe

[greymoss]

I am currenlty publishing Captivate 4 files and delivering these in Articulate files. However, i now have difficulties with team members that have WIN7, 64 bit and Windows 2010 being able to load them. Any thoughts?

[Captiv8r]

Welcome to our community

Define "difficulties". What you have described is not unlike walking into a doctor's office and saying you don't feel well.

Where don't you feel well? Does something specifically hurt? Are you bleeding? Dizzy? Nauseated?

So what, specifically do you see or what happens when it goes all wonky?

Does it not open at all? Does it open, but later presents an error? Does it appear to open then fail in some other way without an error?

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Adobe Certified Captivate Training SorcerStone Blog Captivate eBooks

[greymoss]

In fact, it does make me nauseated:) Files that are taking 1 and 2 minutes for others are taking 21 and 26 minutes to

load for these users. Worse, they are in our IT Business Applications group. SO clearly they should be able to make these work themselv

es:)

[RodWard]

Have someone investigate the end user's actual bandwidth when they are loading the SWF files.

That's the first thing I would check.

The fact that others on your network are able to load the files quickly indicates it IS possible.  You need to find out why this particular group of people are having a different experience loading the same files.  What's different about them to the others?  What do they all have in common that the others don't?  Is it their setup, their location, their OS versions, their brand of PC, their branch on the network, what?

[Guest]

This is why Apple doesn't want to add flash on iPhone n iPad.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Friendly reminder here.

Many folks have substantially differing opinions as to the real motives of Apple. But these forums aren't the place to discuss them. They are for discussing Captivate issues.

Please keep threads on topic.

Thanks... Rick

[pedro-perla]

Hello Rick

Just I want to say that it is important for us

to know how the work done in adobe captivate 5 is gonna work on iphone Ipads

as many of our target users are using them

[Chris_Val_Kef]

Hey,

Any ideas if CP5 will be released soon? Somebody stated in a previous post that it will be available in mid-June. Any news for a new release date?

Hope it works in win7 x64 ... CP4 doesn't open any project for me in win7 x64 and has capturing issues...

Thank you guys!

p.s. Hurry up Adobe!

[JoeS_iii]

Chris,

I have requested email notification from Adobe as soon as Cp5 is available for trial download. No notice yet received and they haven't provided updated information regarding when it will launch. An online chat agent, as of this morning, now says Cp5 is "expected to be released by the end of June with the trial version soon thereafter."

–Joe

SME/Technical Writer

MFG - Learning Experience

412-967-2700, Ext. 3037

[Chris_Val_Kef]

Thank you Joe for your fast reply and the good news!

I'll  be checking every day for the release!

[Xeon64]

June 30th. Still no Captivate 5.  I am going insane waiting.

[Captiv8r]

Take a deep, cleansing breath... Relax.... Think on good things....

Ahhhhhh

[jod-zeee]

Hmmm ... June 30 and I just checked for Captivate 4 trial for a client to show them what it can do and what I found was 5!

Couldn't find anywhere when it was released. I guess I was only a few hours short of getting the version I needed.

I'm in the middle of a project with a tight deadline and don't have time to learn the new version, but will be very excited to in the future!

Can I still load v4 trial?

Jo

[JoeS_iii]

Jo

Try the link below to access the Captivate 4 trail download page. Version 5 is in prerelease status and a trial version of it has not yet been made available (they're running a bit late). If you click on the "Try" link on the Captivate 5 page, it only lets you specify an email address for notification once the trial download is available. Here's the Cp4 trial page link (copy and paste it into browser's URL field)...

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=captivate&loc=en%5Fus

Cheers,

Joe

[jod-zeee]

Thanks!

Jo