ZeikkoJoin Date: 2007-12-16Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
edited December 2011
I have tried <a href="http://www.fraps.com/" target="_blank">Fraps</a>, <a href="http://dxtory.com/" target="_blank">Dxtory</a> and <a href="http://www.bandicam.com/" target="_blank">Bandicam</a>
<a href="http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm" target="_blank">MSI Afterburner</a> has it's own video recording software now built in, and it's multithreaded so your game framerate won't suffer as much as it would with Fraps. It's also free.
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
I personally use Fraps, but I've found that <a href="http://www.gregion.com/game/manual/64.html" target="_blank">Gregion</a> works pretty well also (and is free).
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited December 2011
The thing to note about DXtory is that it is able to record from multiple audio streams, using multi soundcard and this even works on WinXp where the other usually need Vista or 7. It records them into separate streams instead of mixing them together into one stream. Makes editing afterward much better (commentary vs game sound volume for example)
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1890382:date=Dec 15 2011, 11:38 AM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ Dec 15 2011, 11:38 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890382"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The thing to note about DXtory is that it is able to record from multiple audio streams, using multi soundcard and this even works on WinXp where the other usually need Vista or 7. It records them into separate streams instead of mixing them together into one stream. Makes editing afterward much better (commentary vs game sound volume for example)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> This is a real nice feature and, if I hadn't have already purchased fraps, I would have gone with Dxtory. If I start doing any gaming commentary, I'll probably get Dxtory though.
<!--quoteo(post=1890377:date=Dec 15 2011, 06:16 PM:name=ScardyBob)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ScardyBob @ Dec 15 2011, 06:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890377"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I personally use Fraps, but I've found that <a href="http://www.gregion.com/game/manual/64.html" target="_blank">Gregion</a> works pretty well also (and is free).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
pow, gregion, it's free, uses the new avi(no 3.5GB file limit anymore), and has pretty much the exact same video quality as fraps.
There are a few niggles with it, but since it works just like fraps(actually, it works better than fraps in ns2... just saying), you should get it.
The other suggestions: playclaw, msi afterburner, etc, they often do annoying stuff, like darken the recording. Gregion does not do this.
So yeah, use gregion... it's pretty awesome.
Note: fraps will lock the game fps to 30, regardless of what you want(in ns2 this is). Gregion will not. What this means is, fraps will cause mouse lag(crazy mouse lag), gregion will not worsen the mouse lag.
I use CamStudio (which is free) to record in a windowed resolution. I find it less taxing than something like, Fraps' standard codecs, lets say. It also allows for whatever codecs you would like to use with a large amount of customization. By that I mean anything from using a generic quality slider and framerate limit to setting masks and quantization tables. It does it all if you know what you're doing. I like using it for recording emulated games, but I've made NS2 recordings and other new games with it and they look good
Using your own video/audio codecs is a huge bonus as I can keep my file sizes relatively small for uploading.
ScardyBobScardyBobJoin Date: 2009-11-25Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1890549:date=Dec 16 2011, 12:56 PM:name=Josh86)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Josh86 @ Dec 16 2011, 12:56 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890549"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I use CamStudio (which is free) to record in a windowed resolution. I find it less taxing than something like, Fraps' standard codecs, lets say. It also allows for whatever codecs you would like to use with a large amount of customization. By that I mean anything from using a generic quality slider and framerate limit to setting masks and quantization tables. It does it all if you know what you're doing. I like using it for recording emulated games, but I've made NS2 recordings and other new games with it and they look good
Using your own video/audio codecs is a huge bonus as I can keep my file sizes relatively small for uploading.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> While this is true, if you want high quality video (in like 1080p or 720p HD), you really need record as uncompressed or in something like the fraps codec. You can always compress a huge file later, but you can't improve the quality of video captured in a compressed format.
NS2HD: have you tried gregion yet? because I've tried both fraps and gregion. Gregion has a few niggles to get it to work, but fraps causes terrible mouse lag/sliding. Gregion does not, so that's the main reason you are always so terrible in your videos, not because of a supposed lack of skill. But because fraps is being an ass and locking your game framerate.
You can set gregion to record at 30fps(or maybe 29.97 I can't remember), and then have it allow the game to run at full framerate... improving your skill, while still allowing video recording at the youtube fps.
ZeikkoJoin Date: 2007-12-16Member: 63179Members, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester
I have been trying Gregion this week and I will definately start using it as my recording software. I use xvid codec to create decent sized video files which i can uplaod directly to Youtube. The FPS drop it causes is about 3-10 which is bearable and much better than i had with other tools like bandicam and dxtory. I'm still using default settings and haven't tested performance and video quality with other settings. I have one problem though. I can't get it to record my microphone without me hearing the microphone myself. My audio drivers don't have the audio mix thing mentioned in the Gregion website. :S I guess I still have to use Fraps for casting.
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited December 2011
<!--quoteo(post=1890708:date=Dec 18 2011, 06:25 AM:name=NS2HD)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NS2HD @ Dec 18 2011, 06:25 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890708"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There are many pretenders, but none have yet matched FRAPS. Playclaw, MSI, whatever, for some reason they just can't seem to catch the old Frapster.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Did you try DXtory though, I mean if it increases FPS for my rig, it's bound to do magic stuff on yours
+ more FPS on my rig then Fraps (DXtory max 64FPS, Fraps 53 FPS, when I set both to 100FPS recording :P) + doesn't lock down the FPS to what you're recording at + multi threaded + multi HDD + multi audio channel into separate streams, easy to fix audio problems + resizing to anything if you want + use any codec (DXtory's proprietary raw is sharper/clearer then Fraps) - the only that thing bothers me is that is can't detect NS2.exe in window mode
Heh, I seem to be an advocate of DXtory. Don't get me wrong, I still use Fraps for some things that DXtory can't use in window mode. But using Audacity to record voice and Fraps to record vid+audio and then mixing them together. It's not as intuitive as a the "simply press here to record both commentary and video/audio" thing DXtory has (even on WinXP, multi audio)
I have a question regarding not just making videos if NS2, but generally. Afaik Youtube re-encodes the videos we upload, right? What if I upload it in a codec Youtube uses itself? Does it still re-encode them then? I want to avoid re-encoding because it will affect the quality no?
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited December 2011
As far as i know, they re-encode the 240p,360p,480p if you upload in 720p
They probably use (GSpot says)
mp4v: 30FPS (MP41 or MP4 v1) Progressive, YouTube advises H.264, but it could be Xvid/DivX. GSpot says "Codec Undetermined"
mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC, stereo 44.1KHz with a VBR of 100kbps to 256kbps
But I'm not sure about the bitrate, seems to be a VBR averaging 3 to 4 Mbps for 720p. But yeah, I think they re-encode regardless... I don't know about 1080p, but I've seen the VBR around 3 to 5Mbps (fake 1080p, heck the 720p is fake as well. We need a faster WWW, blast you light speed limitations)
I think, simply upload at a much higher VBR or constant bitrate and let YouTube re-encode using this higher quality version. The way I understand it is they still keep the original file on their servers, to use as a re-encode if they up the quality once more...
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited December 2011
I'm currently switching back to Xvid as I simply love using Virtual Dub with AVIsynth. I'm now in the process of scripting together an *.avs file to drag and drop into VD and it will slap together EVERYTHING
<ul><li>PreRoll</li><li>Splash screen with a fade out</li><li>Video content with my kouji82 logo that fades in and out</li><li>Add the commentary sounds into that</li><li>Applying an autolevel filter that detects darker areas (still not entirely happy with this one though, it tends to flicker a bit<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->)</li><li>PostRoll</li></ul>
All from a simple drag and drop, no more fiddling with the thing in Premiere. Boot time, fiddling with the thing and encoding time vs dragNdrop, I don't know about you. But I'm willing to ditch H.264 for Xvid for YouTube content in any case!!!
<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Oh apparently there also is a HDR filter...
<!--quoteo(post=1890551:date=Dec 16 2011, 04:13 PM:name=ScardyBob)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ScardyBob @ Dec 16 2011, 04:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890551"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->While this is true, if you want high quality video (in like 1080p or 720p HD), you really need record as uncompressed or in something like the fraps codec. You can always compress a huge file later, but you can't improve the quality of video captured in a compressed format.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You <i>can</i> record uncompressed in CamStudio! That's whats great about CamStudio for me, I can use a very lossy or lossless encoder, or do completely uncompressed (raw) if I wanted to. You can use any encoder you want, even Fraps' FPS1 if you wanted (which I don't use becuase I don't think it's all that great compared to some other codecs out there). So many choices: H.26(x), XViD, Divx, MPEG, WMV, Quicktime...you name it, you can do it.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always found those open-sourced projects to have a bit more detail and options in their software than the commerical stuff. CamStudio may not look pretty, but I don't need a neat looking GUI.
<!--quoteo(post=1890764:date=Dec 19 2011, 03:09 AM:name=NurEinMensch)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NurEinMensch @ Dec 19 2011, 03:09 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1890764"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have a question regarding not just making videos if NS2, but generally. Afaik Youtube re-encodes the videos we upload, right? What if I upload it in a codec Youtube uses itself? Does it still re-encode them then? I want to avoid re-encoding because it will affect the quality no?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Yes, youtube will re-encode. They also keep a copy of the version you upload so that if they ever change their codecs they can re-encode from your source file. From my personal experience, the best way to avoid trouble with re-encodes is to upload in the highest quality and most standard format that you can. Ideally 1080p @ 29.97fps using H.264. The final export I use to upload to youtube is typically around 400Mb per 10 minutes but it's probably going to be higher with fast moving stuff like NS2. If the video size is taking too long to upload you can step down to 720p.
Another tip that's been hinted at in this thread is to capture your source material in an intermediate, low compression format. This creates huge files (100+GB/hr) but it gives the best data to the H.264 encoding process which helps make the final vid look best. I capture at 30fps and export to 29.97fps and it hasn't produced any noticeable distortions. The main reason I do this is because capture programs seem to like 30fps while 29.97 is a more standard format for broadcast.
Edit: Another tip... My 24" monitor is 1920x1200 by default but I change resolution to 1920x1080 before recording to make sure my source material is in the same aspect ratio and pixel layout as my final product.
Youtube offers some <a href="http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&guide=1728585&page=guide.cs" target="_blank">basic</a> and <a href="http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&guide=1728585&topic=1728573&page=guide.cs" target="_blank">advanced information</a> for people concerned about these exact issues.
I use MSI Afterburner which is a killer for me. It's the only one not degrading my performance, and this is the main quality I research in video capture (with... video quality). The quality is better than FRAPS and does not darken your footage. Easy to use, just out of the box, nothing complicated, and free.
Dual recording is not in yet, but should be in future versions apparently. Anyway you can record the sound with another software that does that if you need it.
<!--quoteo(post=1988376:date=Oct 8 2012, 07:00 PM:name=Regnareb)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Regnareb @ Oct 8 2012, 07:00 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1988376"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Anyway you can record the sound with another software that does that if you need it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
MSI afterburner also records sound, but you need to use the Beta version's
Hmmm, it seems that at the beginning of october, <a href="http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=369136" target="_blank">it wasn't in it yet</a>. But as I do not use the betas, I can't tell if it is in or not today.
Comments
None of them is free though.
The only open-source alternatives I've found can't record full-screen games or perform poorly. :/
This is a real nice feature and, if I hadn't have already purchased fraps, I would have gone with Dxtory. If I start doing any gaming commentary, I'll probably get Dxtory though.
pow, gregion, it's free, uses the new avi(no 3.5GB file limit anymore), and has pretty much the exact same video quality as fraps.
There are a few niggles with it, but since it works just like fraps(actually, it works better than fraps in ns2... just saying), you should get it.
The other suggestions: playclaw, msi afterburner, etc, they often do annoying stuff, like darken the recording. Gregion does not do this.
So yeah, use gregion... it's pretty awesome.
Note: fraps will lock the game fps to 30, regardless of what you want(in ns2 this is). Gregion will not.
What this means is, fraps will cause mouse lag(crazy mouse lag), gregion will not worsen the mouse lag.
hopefully will start showing some fun footage :)
(btw last nite on turtle, found a little 'hack?/trick?' in the map.. hard to show but mayyyybe with a video :p)
Using your own video/audio codecs is a huge bonus as I can keep my file sizes relatively small for uploading.
Using your own video/audio codecs is a huge bonus as I can keep my file sizes relatively small for uploading.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
While this is true, if you want high quality video (in like 1080p or 720p HD), you really need record as uncompressed or in something like the fraps codec. You can always compress a huge file later, but you can't improve the quality of video captured in a compressed format.
You can set gregion to record at 30fps(or maybe 29.97 I can't remember), and then have it allow the game to run at full framerate... improving your skill, while still allowing video recording at the youtube fps.
Did you try DXtory though, I mean if it increases FPS for my rig, it's bound to do magic stuff on yours
+ more FPS on my rig then Fraps (DXtory max 64FPS, Fraps 53 FPS, when I set both to 100FPS recording :P)
+ doesn't lock down the FPS to what you're recording at
+ multi threaded
+ multi HDD
+ multi audio channel into separate streams, easy to fix audio problems
+ resizing to anything if you want
+ use any codec (DXtory's proprietary raw is sharper/clearer then Fraps)
- the only that thing bothers me is that is can't detect NS2.exe in window mode
Heh, I seem to be an advocate of DXtory. Don't get me wrong, I still use Fraps for some things that DXtory can't use in window mode. But using Audacity to record voice and Fraps to record vid+audio and then mixing them together. It's not as intuitive as a the "simply press here to record both commentary and video/audio" thing DXtory has (even on WinXP, multi audio)
They probably use (GSpot says)
mp4v: 30FPS (MP41 or MP4 v1) Progressive, YouTube advises H.264, but it could be Xvid/DivX. GSpot says "Codec Undetermined"
mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC, stereo 44.1KHz with a VBR of 100kbps to 256kbps
But I'm not sure about the bitrate, seems to be a VBR averaging 3 to 4 Mbps for 720p. But yeah, I think they re-encode regardless... I don't know about 1080p, but I've seen the VBR around 3 to 5Mbps (fake 1080p, heck the 720p is fake as well. We need a faster WWW, blast you light speed limitations)
I think, simply upload at a much higher VBR or constant bitrate and let YouTube re-encode using this higher quality version. The way I understand it is they still keep the original file on their servers, to use as a re-encode if they up the quality once more...
<ul><li>PreRoll</li><li>Splash screen with a fade out</li><li>Video content with my kouji82 logo that fades in and out</li><li>Add the commentary sounds into that</li><li>Applying an autolevel filter that detects darker areas (still not entirely happy with this one though, it tends to flicker a bit<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->)</li><li>PostRoll</li></ul>
All from a simple drag and drop, no more fiddling with the thing in Premiere. Boot time, fiddling with the thing and encoding time vs dragNdrop, I don't know about you. But I'm willing to ditch H.264 for Xvid for YouTube content in any case!!!
<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->*<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->Oh apparently there also is a HDR filter...
You <i>can</i> record uncompressed in CamStudio! That's whats great about CamStudio for me, I can use a very lossy or lossless encoder, or do completely uncompressed (raw) if I wanted to. You can use any encoder you want, even Fraps' FPS1 if you wanted (which I don't use becuase I don't think it's all that great compared to some other codecs out there). So many choices: H.26(x), XViD, Divx, MPEG, WMV, Quicktime...you name it, you can do it.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always found those open-sourced projects to have a bit more detail and options in their software than the commerical stuff. CamStudio may not look pretty, but I don't need a neat looking GUI.
Fraps rapes fps too much.
Yes, youtube will re-encode. They also keep a copy of the version you upload so that if they ever change their codecs they can re-encode from your source file. From my personal experience, the best way to avoid trouble with re-encodes is to upload in the highest quality and most standard format that you can. Ideally 1080p @ 29.97fps using H.264. The final export I use to upload to youtube is typically around 400Mb per 10 minutes but it's probably going to be higher with fast moving stuff like NS2. If the video size is taking too long to upload you can step down to 720p.
Another tip that's been hinted at in this thread is to capture your source material in an intermediate, low compression format. This creates huge files (100+GB/hr) but it gives the best data to the H.264 encoding process which helps make the final vid look best. I capture at 30fps and export to 29.97fps and it hasn't produced any noticeable distortions. The main reason I do this is because capture programs seem to like 30fps while 29.97 is a more standard format for broadcast.
Edit: Another tip... My 24" monitor is 1920x1200 by default but I change resolution to 1920x1080 before recording to make sure my source material is in the same aspect ratio and pixel layout as my final product.
Youtube offers some <a href="http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&guide=1728585&page=guide.cs" target="_blank">basic</a> and <a href="http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&guide=1728585&topic=1728573&page=guide.cs" target="_blank">advanced information</a> for people concerned about these exact issues.
It's the only one not degrading my performance, and this is the main quality I research in video capture (with... video quality).
The quality is better than FRAPS and does not darken your footage. Easy to use, just out of the box, nothing complicated, and free.
Dual recording is not in yet, but should be in future versions apparently. Anyway you can record the sound with another software that does that if you need it.
and thanks for the MSI afterburner tip
it does more than just record as well!, might as well help me O/C to improve FPS further lol
MSI afterburner also records sound, but you need to use the Beta version's
But as I do not use the betas, I can't tell if it is in or not today.