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FastCast v0.5.0

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@CalvinSturm CalvinSturm released this 17 Jul 02:10
· 10 commits to main since this release
v0.5.0
7d24f8f

FastCast v0.5.0 is the live layouts release: switch between screen and camera arrangements at any moment — even mid-recording or mid-stream — plus a noticeably faster, calmer interface and much faster software encoding.

Rebuilt 2026-07-17: this release was rebuilt to fix the window not fitting shorter screens (the Start Recording button could end up under the taskbar). If you downloaded the 2026-07-16 build, please re-download; the current SHA-256 is below.

Requires Windows 10 (20H1+) or Windows 11, x64. Portable ZIP — no installer needed.

Highlights

  • Live screen/camera layouts. Screen only, screen + camera, camera + screen, or camera only — switch any time without stopping, even while recording or streaming. Your layout and webcam placement are remembered across restarts and survive resolution changes, and camera layouts wait until the camera is actually ready before going live.
  • Layout hotkeys + shortcut reference. Ctrl+Alt+1–4 switches layouts from anywhere (change to Ctrl+Shift+1–4, or turn off, under Advanced). Ctrl+Alt+F9 still starts/stops recording. Hold H while FastCast is focused to see every shortcut.
  • Fits smaller screens. The window now sizes itself to your monitor's free space. On shorter displays — 1080p with a taskbar, or laptops with display scaling — the preview shrinks (or hides on very short screens) so the Start/Stop buttons and every control stay reachable. No more hiding the taskbar to reach the recording button.
  • Microphone gain + clipping meter. Adjust mic gain from −12 dB to +12 dB while recording or streaming; the mic meter warns when the boosted signal clips. Your gain setting persists across restarts.
  • Last recording panel. When you stop, the main window shows the file you just recorded — its size, a validation verdict, and any warning in full — with one-click Open and Show in folder.
  • A faster, smoother app. The interface now repaints only what changed: idle CPU roughly halved, and button flicker and window-drag smearing are gone. While you record, the bottom bar becomes a transport deck with a live session clock — red while recording, green while streaming.
  • Faster software encoding. On systems without a hardware H.264 encoder, frame conversion is ~5× faster than v0.4.0 (AVX2 with identical output; older CPUs fall back automatically) — smoother recordings on laptops and older machines.

Fixes

  • The main window fits your screen's free space; on short displays the preview shrinks or hides so the recording controls are never pushed under or below the taskbar.
  • Changing the output resolution no longer resets your webcam placement — saved layouts scale into the new canvas.
  • Webcam crop correctly follows the recording's camera source.
  • Input fields no longer paint over the hold-H shortcut panel.
  • Save Support Bundle saves locally only (it no longer tries to open a mail client), and the Pro checkout button opens the correct store page.

Upgrading from v0.4.0

  • Unzip v0.5.0 anywhere and run fastcast.exe — your settings are stored separately (under %APPDATA%\FastCast) and carry over automatically. You can delete the old folder.
  • Check for Updates and Save Support Bundle moved from the title bar into the Advanced card (gear button), under the new Support row.

Download & verify

  • FastCast-0.5.0-win-x64.zip — portable build containing fastcast.exe, QUICKSTART.txt, LICENSE.txt, and THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt.

  • To verify the download, run in PowerShell:

    Get-FileHash .\FastCast-0.5.0-win-x64.zip -Algorithm SHA256

    Expected SHA-256 (also in the .sha256 sidecar):
    a84fae6c4e2879dfc4ff9684bdae99664a9c9242506f19528fc950a114aa0ad5

Validation

  • cargo fmt --all -- --check, cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings, and cargo test --workspace all passed, including new AVX2 bit-exactness, UI regression, and screen-fit coverage.
  • Recording, streaming controls, layout switching, hotkeys, update check, support bundle, and all new UI states manually exercised on real hardware during development.
  • The rebuilt package was smoke-tested from a clean extract: diagnostics, GUI launch, a 10-second recording that validated cleanly, and a clean exit.

Notes

  • Unsigned build. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher (More info → Run anyway).
  • On displays scaled above 100% the UI renders slightly soft; a fix is designed for a future release.
  • FastCast Free remains free during the open beta; FastCast Pro is a paid license.
  • No telemetry, no accounts, no crash upload, no background polling, no auto-update. Check for Updates only reads this public release feed, and only when you click it.
  • FastCast remains a focused single-scene Windows recorder/streamer, not a full OBS replacement.
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