Question: What's the best, free/cheap screencast + voice recording software for Win32?

SteveRockSteveRock Join Date: 2012-10-01 Member: 161215Members, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
Ideally something that compresses as it goes, so we don't get ridiculous file sizes for 15-30 minute videos.

Comments

  • LocklearLocklear [nexzil]kerrigan Join Date: 2012-05-01 Member: 151403Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, WC 2013 - Shadow
    edited May 2014
    @SteveRock

    Probably OBS?

    https://obsproject.com/

    I believe it is compressed video in MP4 or FLV format if you choose. It also supports very high bitrates if you choose.
  • PaajtorPaajtor Join Date: 2012-11-09 Member: 168634Members
  • CCTEECCTEE Join Date: 2013-06-20 Member: 185634Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    HE NEEDS ANSWERS NOT MORE QUESTIONS!
    :p
  • LocklearLocklear [nexzil]kerrigan Join Date: 2012-05-01 Member: 151403Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, WC 2013 - Shadow
    OPEN BROADCASTER SOFTWARE.

    YOU CAN'T BEAT AMAZINGLY GOOD FREEWARE.
  • VetinariVetinari Join Date: 2013-07-23 Member: 186325Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    I don't know if it can record voice, but nvidia's shadowplay is supposedly good. If you have a nvidia card, that is.
  • RetracedRetraced Join Date: 2013-01-30 Member: 182616Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited May 2014
    Either OBS or dxtory (if you consider $50 cheap compared to the costs of other programs) utilizing a x264/h264 codec. You'll get similar video quality with each if dxtory uses that kind of setup, although OBS will have fewer options for controlling the levels of multiple audio sources (mumble vs in game, etc.), if that matters.

    Shadowplay is great for file size as well, as someone mentioned, although it still has various kinks to work out and has even fewer audio/mic control options than OBS. Its video quality, especially in the color, is slightly lower than both OBS and Dxtory at comparable bitrates (with the tradeoff usually being that Shadowplay ends up causing less fps loss).
  • BeigeAlertBeigeAlert Texas Join Date: 2013-08-08 Member: 186657Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    Retraced wrote: »
    Either OBS or dxtory (if you consider $50 cheap compared to the costs of other programs) utilizing a x264/h264 codec. You'll get similar video quality with each if dxtory uses that kind of setup, although OBS will have fewer options for controlling the levels of multiple audio sources (mumble vs in game, etc.), if that matters.

    Shadowplay is great for file size as well, as someone mentioned, although it still has various kinks to work out and has even fewer audio/mic control options than OBS. Its video quality, especially in the color, is slightly lower than both OBS and Dxtory at comparable bitrates (with the tradeoff usually being that Shadowplay ends up causing less fps loss).

    I use shadowplay all the time and it works great. Just have to make sure your display settings is set to "fullscreen", and not "fullscreen windowed" or any others. Took me a while to figure this out.
  • RetracedRetraced Join Date: 2013-01-30 Member: 182616Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited May 2014
    Yeah, Shadowplay worked absolutely perfectly for me for local recordings, although I had all sorts of problems when trying to stream (fullscreen) with it. That said, I'm on an SLI setup, and many others have reported both perfect stream results... and bugs/heavy frame loss with local recordings. Lots of system specific issues, unfortunately.

    Lots of choices, although if it absolutely must be free, it's really between OBS and Shadowplay. Afaik, Fraps gives great quality, but it will result in the massive (100+ gb/30 min) files that the default dxtory codec is known for.
  • It's Super Effective!It's Super Effective! Join Date: 2012-08-28 Member: 156625Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited May 2014
    If your recording PC has a NVIDIA 600 Series GPU or above, you can capture both Desktop and In-Game using NVidia Shadowplay. The Software compresses it to H.264 MPEG4 on the fly, and can record voice if you want. I've been able to record native resolutions of 1920x1080 at a silky smooth 60 FPS.

    A 10 Minute round of NS2 is about 4 Gigs, which is a hell of a lot better than the 1GB/Min of other recorders.

    I use this for my videos and desktop recording. It also allows you to cast to twitch.tv.

    It is free as it comes with all Nvidia drivers, chances are you might already have it installed :)

    I use OBS for my twitch streams every night mostly because it allows for Voice activated mic, whereas Nvidia Shadow play is ON or OFF toggle. I can't comment on it's recording to file quality, as that is what I have the above for.
  • SteveRockSteveRock Join Date: 2012-10-01 Member: 161215Members, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    Great, I'll try Shadowplay. I'll try OBS for streaming...but some of our guys can't stream cuz of bad internet.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    SteveRock wrote: »
    Great, I'll try Shadowplay. I'll try OBS for streaming...but some of our guys can't stream cuz of bad internet.
    Why not do both. OBS can use the same api that shadow play does.

    Google "obs nvenc" to find out about it. I have not tried it as I have an amd gpu.
  • SteveRockSteveRock Join Date: 2012-10-01 Member: 161215Members, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    @james888 sweet! OBS actually works well. my GeForce is not new enough for shadowplay apparently.
  • SebSeb Melbourne, AU Join Date: 2013-04-01 Member: 184576Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Silver, Retired Community Developer
    FRAPS!!!!


    ...

    I'll show myself out.
  • Soul_RiderSoul_Rider Mod Bean Join Date: 2004-06-19 Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    @SteveRock‌ I use obs for all my videos and streams. The only issue is you have to rename your video recording each time, but hey, other than that it is an amazing program.
  • It's Super Effective!It's Super Effective! Join Date: 2012-08-28 Member: 156625Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    Didn't you guys get a pair of GTX 780's for NSWC?
  • meatmachinemeatmachine South England Join Date: 2013-01-06 Member: 177858Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    edited May 2014
    Didn't you guys get a pair of GTX 780's for NSWC?
    For display purposes only :D

    Edit: Didnt even intend to make the pun in this post ;) LOL
  • joshhhjoshhh Milwaukee, WI Join Date: 2011-06-21 Member: 105717Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    Those all went into Hugh's machine. Donchaknow.
  • kmgkmg Join Date: 2008-02-28 Member: 63758Members
    obs with nvenc is the best, hands down.
  • It's Super Effective!It's Super Effective! Join Date: 2012-08-28 Member: 156625Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    Didn't you guys get a pair of GTX 780's for NSWC?
    For display purposes only :D

    Edit: Didnt even intend to make the pun in this post ;) LOL

    AH! AH HAH!
  • philoglphilogl Join Date: 2012-10-24 Member: 163529Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Silver, WC 2013 - Silver
    Bandicam supports both nVidia nvenc and AMD APP. Either way, using the graphics card accelerated processing is the best way to go, whether you use it with OBS, Bandicam or Shadowplay doesn't really matter. I use OBS for streaming and Bandicam for local recording (I have a Radeon card) but will switch over to OBS for recording just as soon as they support AMD APP. I find Bandicam extremely simple and easy to use though, so it's a great starting point if you don't care about customising your H264 settings all that much. It's also extremely lightweight and does not affect performance. Currently I take a slight performance hit recording locally with OBS due to it not supporting the hardware accel.
  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    edited May 2014
    Shadowplay is perfect, if your system is supported (negligible performance impact since it is HW processing not software). Otherwise OBS would look good.
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