Inquiring about Screen Capturing

[FourBitty]

Hello LTT community,

 

I'm looking to make some gameplay videos as a hobby. I've made a number of videos already using Fraps and open source video editing software, but I am considering something a little better. I know of a few YouTubers that use external capture cards such as these, I am wondering what sort of advantages using a capture card versus software like Fraps. I would assume that external hardware may record better quallity video as it would take workload off of the rest of my PC's hardware - am I right to think that?

 

I am also looking for recommendations for video editing software. While I am willing to spend some money on a good product, I'm not out to spend a fortune on something that is far more complex and capable than I need it to be.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice, this is my first time posting here so forgive me if it's posted in the wrong section or if I need to include more information. I'm not very literate when it comes to producing videos but I hope to learn more about it in time.

 

--

 

FourBitty

[Arty]

Hello LTT community,

 

I'm looking to make some gameplay videos as a hobby. I've made a number of videos already using Fraps and open source video editing software, but I am considering something a little better. I know of a few YouTubers that use external capture cards such as these, I am wondering what sort of advantages using a capture card versus software like Fraps. I would assume that external hardware may record better quallity video as it would take workload off of the rest of my PC's hardware - am I right to think that?

 

I am also looking for recommendations for video editing software. While I am willing to spend some money on a good product, I'm not out to spend a fortune on something that is far more complex and capable than I need it to be.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice, this is my first time posting here so forgive me if it's posted in the wrong section or if I need to include more information. I'm not very literate when it comes to producing videos but I hope to learn more about it in time.

 

--

 

FourBitty

you can record bios and pre windows login with capture card.

Thier more work to setup

they cost money.

 

fraps doesn't record desktop

 

get bandicam

obs

shadowplay (ithink)

[Blackwash]

Using an external capture card to encode your videos on the fly, significantly reduces the performance drop you experience when using other - software methods, such as Fraps.

Fraps depends entirely on how fast your CPU and storage drives are.

It does not compress videos, resulting in huge, loseless quality files that take quite a bit of power to write quickly enough on an HDD/SSD.

Most people prefer capturing to one storage device, whilst playing the game on another.

 

A capture card will encode and compress videos in real time, whilst not really using any actual resources on the system that you play on.

It's own dedicated hardware does that for you.

 

I've struggled a long time with trying to find an optimal recording client/settings for it, but with no avail.

Shadowplay is one of the best software options to record footage with, but it is only available for NVIDIA users, which I am not.

 

If it is quality that you aim for, get an additional SSD and use it for the soul purpose of recording gameplay to it.

Using Fraps and recording @ 60 FPS makes for an exceptional picture, but it's not really worth the space and render time, due to when you edit the videos you will further compress them, and video platforms such as YouTube further compress the file, thus provoking bad video quality.

 

As for video editing software, I've been using Sony Vegas for quite some years now, but Adobe Premier is also a really powerful tool that is used by many.

 

 

 

If on the other hand wish to compromise quality for performance, you can use the integrated H264 hardware encoders found on both the latest NVIDIA and AMD video cards.

 

Shadowplay does exactly that - utilizing that aforementioned hardware encoder on the GPU, it reduces framerates by just above 5 to 10 percent.

 

On the other hand, AMD's GVR, at least for me personally - is a complete disaster of unstable software, still causing performance issues, and it's design is not as clean as the competitors.

 

A workaround is installing the codecs manually and trying to use the VCE (AMD's name for the H264 encoder) via DXTORY,OBS,MSI AFTERBURNER, and all other gameplay capturing programs that allow for external codecs to be used.

 

Also, you can use the integrated GPU of your CPU and it's QuickSync function - yet another hardware encoder, this time from Intel.

 

Cool thing about that is, you can use your main, dedicated GPU to play with, but still have the onboard one enabled, and using the Intel encoder.

 

For me sadly, not one of these methods worked properly, for I own an AMD card, and the performance I sacrificed is way too much.

 

(I am a framerate junkie.)

 

A video capture card would save me, but those can be costly - so it depends on the depth of your pockets.

[Enderman]

capture cards are not worth it

software recording works just as well

I really like shadowplay as it barely affects fps

[gmilh]

I use my video capture card to record consoles, Raspberry Pi and mobile devices (tablets, smartphones), and that's it.

My capture card can only record up to 1080p@60fps, I guess some expensive premium cards might record at higher resolution and framerate, but I don't really see why I should buy a GPU which can handle let's say 1440p@144fps, then an uberly expensive capture card to record 1440p@144Hz, when I could simply buy a more powerful GPU and record via software, and honestly I don't really think I would ever need it.

[AlwaysFSX]

OBS. OBS. OBS. OBS.

 

[FourBitty]

Wow, thanks everyone for your replies.

 

 

Using an external capture card to encode your videos on the fly, significantly reduces the performance drop you experience when using other - software methods, such as Fraps.

Fraps depends entirely on how fast your CPU and storage drives are.

It does not compress videos, resulting in huge, loseless quality files that take quite a bit of power to write quickly enough on an HDD/SSD.

Most people prefer capturing to one storage device, whilst playing the game on another.

 

A capture card will encode and compress videos in real time, whilst not really using any actual resources on the system that you play on.

It's own dedicated hardware does that for you.

 

I've struggled a long time with trying to find an optimal recording client/settings for it, but with no avail.

Shadowplay is one of the best software options to record footage with, but it is only available for NVIDIA users, which I am not.

 

If it is quality that you aim for, get an additional SSD and use it for the soul purpose of recording gameplay to it.

Using Fraps and recording @ 60 FPS makes for an exceptional picture, but it's not really worth the space and render time, due to when you edit the videos you will further compress them, and video platforms such as YouTube further compress the file, thus provoking bad video quality.

 

As for video editing software, I've been using Sony Vegas for quite some years now, but Adobe Premier is also a really powerful tool that is used by many.

 

 

 

If on the other hand wish to compromise quality for performance, you can use the integrated H264 hardware encoders found on both the latest NVIDIA and AMD video cards.

 

Shadowplay does exactly that - utilizing that aforementioned hardware encoder on the GPU, it reduces framerates by just above 5 to 10 percent.

 

On the other hand, AMD's GVR, at least for me personally - is a complete disaster of unstable software, still causing performance issues, and it's design is not as clean as the competitors.

 

A workaround is installing the codecs manually and trying to use the VCE (AMD's name for the H264 encoder) via DXTORY,OBS,MSI AFTERBURNER, and all other gameplay capturing programs that allow for external codecs to be used.

 

Also, you can use the integrated GPU of your CPU and it's QuickSync function - yet another hardware encoder, this time from Intel.

 

Cool thing about that is, you can use your main, dedicated GPU to play with, but still have the onboard one enabled, and using the Intel encoder.

 

For me sadly, not one of these methods worked properly, for I own an AMD card, and the performance I sacrificed is way too much.

 

(I am a framerate junkie.)

 

A video capture card would save me, but those can be costly - so it depends on the depth of your pockets.

 

Yeah, I'm looking to be able to record with something that is the least detremental to FPS, and as I have an NVIDIA GPU I think Shadowplay is the way to go. Recording at 1080p 60FPS is the goal.

 

As for editing, there's little more that I would need to do aside from simple transitions and possibly integrating an intro/outro. Would Movie Studio 13 suffice?

 I know a lot of people use Vegas but it might be overkill for what I need.

 

Thanks a lot for your detailed response, I'll post here again if I run into any snags.

[Blackwash]

Just roll with Shadowplay.

You should be able to record 1080p 60fps just fine, without any considerable performance loss.

And you save money on external recording hardware, and it's less of a hassle as a whole.

 

Sony Vegas might seem "overkill" but it's actually quite easy to use and an intuitive piece of software, if you make it that way.

And it also gives you power house options in case you decide to indulge yourself in the deep corners of how-to-edit/render.

 

I've not used Studio 13 so I can't tell you, but presumably most video editors have basic video/audio track options, into/outro editors, faders, detailed export settings, etc.

 

You could always "buy" Sony Vegas and give it a go..

 

Not that I'm supporting piracy of course.

 

[FourBitty]

Just roll with Shadowplay.

You should be able to record 1080p 60fps just fine, without any considerable performance loss.

And you save money on external recording hardware, and it's less of a hassle as a whole.

 

Sony Vegas might seem "overkill" but it's actually quite easy to use and an intuitive piece of software, if you make it that way.

And it also gives you power house options in case you decide to indulge yourself in the deep corners of how-to-edit/render.

 

I've not used Studio 13 so I can't tell you, but presumably most video editors have basic video/audio track options, into/outro editors, faders, detailed export settings, etc.

 

You could always "buy" Sony Vegas and give it a go..

 

Not that I'm supporting piracy of course.

 

 

Sounds great, I'll give ShadowPlay a shot. Thanks again for all your advice, really appreciated.