Top Rated OpenReel Alternatives
I can't find anything out there that records as nice as OpenReel with a teleprompter. The teleprompter was the biggest selling point for our leadership. They love using OpenReel and request it for their shoots. It makes them look good and sound good with clean audio & teleprompter. Even without use of the teleprompter, the quality can't be beat.
Quality -- Doing 4K interviews and staff messages during COVID-19 was amazing! OpenReel allows the director to take over control of the iPhone's camera. You can set record qualilty, focus, exposure, and white balance. OpenReel records in the iPhone that is recording using the OR Capture app, so even if the signal breaks up, it is uploaded with full quality depending on iPhone setting. We get great lighting results using a light ring!
Audio - OR suggested buying a "PoP voice Professional Lavalier Lapel Microphone Omnidirectional Condenser Mic for iPhone" from Amazon for $14. I was skeptical. But that quality has been so much better than not going with a mic. It's a tad overmodulated, but it can be fixed in post. Best part, I recently recorded an interview outside with a mower within 10 yards of the subject, the mower didn't exist on the audio. The iPhone and that mic got rid of the mower.
Overall - OpenReel is the best solution I've found and would highly recommend it. It gives you a peace of mind the the video and audio is being captured no matter what the livestream looks like. I once recorded an important interview and the livestream was so bad, I couldn't see or hear the subject. We used Zoom for the questions. I just guessed at setting the AE and AF. When we downloaded the video files later, everything was 100% and we couldn't have been happier.
Technical support is really good and they know their stuff. They have a 50/50 record of getting back to me during a shoot. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Price - OpenReel is really expensive. We purchased a suggested package for far too much, and we were never told that the time bought would expire. Buyer beware! Use it or lose it. We learned the hard way. I would suggest buying low and increasing over time. Also, must pay more to use service overseas.
Clunky UI - It just takes a lot of experience to get the hang of what works and what doesn't. Can't manually control iPhone exposure, but it shows you can. When you set AE (auto exposure), it doesn't lock it in on its own. If you lock it, the next time you go to set it, it unlocks the AE and if you forget to lock it, it drifts. Focus works fine. If you don't manually set white balance, it will drift the entire time (you MUST remember to manually set WB).
Almost unusable teleprompter - The teleprompter takes a long time to get a hang of, most never do. It's a great tool...but teleprompter control is extremely jittery. The recording iPhone needs to be hooked up to make most changes with the teleprompter (font size, white/black background, etc.). This was the biggest selling point for our leadership, but the behind-the-scenes is tedious.
No "Do Not Disturb" option - People who use their phones to record need to figure out how to turn their phones to "Do Not Disturb" or they get texts, phones calls, emails, etc. It would be nice if the OR Capture had an option for that. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
52 out of 53 Total Reviews for OpenReel
Overall Review Sentiment for OpenReel
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With the addition of Webcam and Android phones to the platform, the app is accessible to just about everyone. Subjects (guests) find it similar enough to Zoom or Teams that it doesn't intimidate them. Great quality and controls for director make this a great tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Hard to find huge flaws. Recent interface upgrade to 2.0 improved director side control and ease of use a lot. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The quality is massively better than using webcam platforms like Zoom and Google Meet. The fact that content is recorded locally ensures there are no bandwidth issues that degrade quality. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Depending on the speed of the interviewee's internet connection it can take a very long time to upload files after recording is complete. Since they typically can't leave their phone to sit and upload, it would be nice if the app allowed them to copy the recorded files to their computers and upload from there. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
They have thought of everything - HQ local recording, on-the-fly uploading (wizard stuff!), the ability to control the camera's focus/exposure, teleprompters on phones or computers, countdown timers, and the ability to have multiple people run the controls at once. Onboarding people to the app is really easy as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Some of the interface features need toggling on an off to get working properly from time to time. Combined microphone and talkback functionality/workflow is a bit awkward, but I think a good portion of that is due to challenges with the virtual recording (without showing the person in headphones) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
OpenReel was a savior to our business during the pandemic when in-person shoots were not feasible. It captures footage locally so that there are no worries about picture quality or hiccups in recording due to wifi or network problems. Even post-pandemic, OpenReel is a great way for us to capture footage with colleagues who are in different locations effectively so that we don't have to send a team to travel and capture the shoot.
OpenReel techs were always available to us when we had high-profile shoots to ensure that nothing went wrong and help us troubleshoot if we had any issues arise during the filming. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Some of the downsides, that aren't necessarily the fault of OpenReel, is getting users up to speed on how to use the app and get the app downloaded. There were times where we ran into trouble because the user may have been using an older version of the app or they weren't able to log in to the session in a timely manner. We were always able to resolve the issue, and thankfully they were done during a pre-run-through - which is highly suggested. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
OpenReel allows us to create the highest-quality video, quickly and in a way that puts participants and our teams at ease. It continues to improve with 2.0, making it even easier to use and better organized. By having multiple collaborators on the video call, we can easily divide and conquer - one directing, the other asking questions or handling the interview. Also, we can see what's happening, coach subjects and do multiple takes easily when we see something may not be right. The interface for downloading and/or converting the videos is also great. No more dropbox or email l inks. It's downloaded before we hang up. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There are very few downsides. You still have to know a bit about video, formats and handling an interview, but the technology has worked well. The 2.0 interface and tools have improved many of the downsides from 1.0. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The quality of OpenReel's Capture 2.0 platform mixed with their now universal device type (Apple + Android) make it a no brainer for virtual video production. The local record capability on the device itself is also a game-changer when compared to other options available.
Package that all up with customer support that is always available and willing to help and you have the recipe for a successful video shoot each and every time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There really isn't much to dislike. There were some bugs early on, but like everything that scaled rapidly during the start of the pandemic it just needed time to work out. We haven't had any hiccups and all of our early challenges have been either addressed, fixed, or OpenReel customer support staff has educated us on proper usage of the platform to guarantee our success. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
OpenReel is more than an app. It's a system that allows you to capture video files locally from a webcam or phone. This significantly ups the production value over a simple Zoom recording. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There are still quite a few constraints during the recording process, and the cost is high. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The recording quality is excellent given the recording medium, whether it's an iPhone, an android phone, or even a WebCam. I love that it does not let the network bandwidth disruption affect the recording. I've been getting quality recordings remotely using this tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I have experienced some session failures based on the cache purge recommendations for using Chrome. Typically, I have to have my attendees clear their cache and on occasion, I've had to create new projects inside of the tool and resend invites. It has not been a huge issue, but it can be disruptive when you're on a time crunch. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
It's an amazing video creation tool, the quality is far superior to Cisco Webex and Zoom. The app runs flawless, we have to record video podcasts and it serves as the best tool available with 0 lags and easy to use UI. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
At times, when we have over 50 people at a conference it starts to lag a little. And the render could also be made smoother. It could integrate some of the cool 3rd party API which people can use inside the app. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Director controls allow for exact selections for the scene media feeds, settings and quality.
I love that each feed is recorded seperately and locally and that the file can be uploaded as it is being recorded.
The teleprompter feature is a game-changer too! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Nothing so far. The training sessions were sucvh a big help in getting up to speed with how the applicaiton opperates. Maybe something that could be usefule is the ability to add a simple title or lower thirds name card on top of a video source. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
