To start you must first enable the function. Open the options and click on "Advanced" and then the tab "Video recording". Now activate "Video recording". Make sure the option "Minimize main window" is checked, this is for ease of use and will minimize the Pamela window so that it does not cover the Skype video window by accident.

Before you record you may want to check that you have made the correct settings and that all is working. There is a test function in Pamela for video. Open the options in Pamela (in Tools menu) and click on "Call recording" and then the tab "Video recording".

At the bottom you will see the option to set the recording codec. We recommend you install the DivX codec to record as it offers best compression and quality. If you don't have DivX installed, download it for free from DivX.com website.

Installation might require reboot before codec shows up. Try restarting Pamela after installation first. Note: Depending on your system you might see two DivX codecs in the video codec list. Select the one matching your computer (1 or 2 CPU).

The video compression codec selection is a bit tricky because not all of them work. There is unfortunately no possiblity for Pamela to filter the ones that do and don't. For that reason we suggest you use DivX which has been tested and works most of the times.

Now you are ready to test Pamela video. Follow these steps

1. Open Skype, click Tools, Options, Video. Start Skype video test. Important: make sure you have the Skype video window visible on your desktop.

2. Once Skype test video is shown, open Pamela, Tools, Options, Call recording, Video recording. Click the "Start video test" button.

You should then see: "Video test successfully completed", indicating the frames tested, the window size and the average frames per seconds.

If it does not work, there might be an incompatibility with the graphics card, driver or other components. There is a likelyhood that the video recording will not work due to these reasons.

Important note when recording video: No window or mouse pointer should be in front of the Skype video window as it will get recorded as well. For this reason Pamela will automatically minimize to the tray bar so that the Skype video window is the top most window.

Now you are set. Recording video is just like recording a call. Every call you record now (which has video), will be a video recording.

The default setting is that Pamela will automatically ask you if you want to record a call. Just click yes, and off you go.

Alternatively you may manually start the recording either via the main Pamela window (the red recording button in the toolbar) or from the tray icon by right clicking on it.

Recorded video calls will be indicated by a webcam icon in the Skype recordings tab of Pamela.

Pamela has the option to record full screen video. This means when you are on a Skype call and want to record your entire desktop you can do that now. This option is located in the Video Recording options tab.

"Unable to create convertor stream (Output file)"

This can be fixed by changing the audio format of the recording to either WAV or OGG or reverting back to "mono" recording.

The audio format is changed by opening the options and clicking on "Advanced" and then "Sound".

We anticipate to fix this in the next release.

Pamela uses the Windows ACM system to create MP3 files. However on some systems this codec is not accessable by Pamela and you will need to install the LAME MP3 coder/encoder.

Follow the instructions below to install the ACM LAME codecs to your system.

1. Quit Pamela
2. Download the attached ZIP file
3. Extract the files in the ZIP file
4. Right click on the INF file and select "Install"
5. Restart Pamela
6. Open sounds options and configure MP3 to be default in both windows (Tools, Options, Advanced, Sound). Note: this does not apply to Pamela Call Recorder!

1. Double click on two black arrows in main Skype window (left bottom corner).
2. Click "Disconnect" (link in right bottom corner of the Pamela entry as identified by Pamela.exe).
3. After that icon will turn pink again.

We have reported this to Skype and they are looking at this issue.