[KingofHarts]

I'm not sure if this qualifies for Technical discussion... but here goes. If it doesn't I hope it can be relocated and not trashed.

So, yea... title and sub says it all, really. I REALLY WANT to be able to record a multitude of videos for uploading onto my YouTube channel. Videos of progress on my Sonic Trilogy engine, videos of Sonic Triad progress... Let's Play videos of my emulator games, and/or playing some hacks, including my own... etc.

I've tried my hand at downloading MANY a tool to do this: HyperCam, CamStudio, VLC Media Player, and a couple others... nothing doing. Each time, either the video doesnt have audio, or it is not synced well with the video, OR the video freezes while the audio plays... No matter what, the video itself is very choppy, and not smooth at all... shall we say, piss poor framerate to the fucking extreme??

So, I wanna know... from guys like Hez, Mercury, or anyone else who is able to manage to get their shit recorded and onto YouTube. Please, share with me your secrets. How do you do it? I feel like I've tried so many different routes, and have either come up empty handed, or holding a pile of revolting shit similar to what my puppy would leave on my dining room floor (... Dumb mutt... it'll be the Chinese pound for her if she keeps it up.)

[MainMemory]

In the case of emulators, you generally want to use an emulator that has video recording built in, such as Gens Rerecording or Fusion. Fusion uses a custom video codec though, so if you want to upload to YouTube you'll have to install the codec on your computer and convert it to a format YT understands (I use VirtualDubMod and x264vfw).

For Direct3D games, or recording an Aero desktop, Fraps works well, but is not free, and requires the same thing for its videos as Fusion.

For games that don't use Direct3D... I use Fraps anyway because I couldn't get any others to work (mostly they wouldn't record sound). It ends up being a video of my entire desktop, but oh well.

Edit: I guess if you're doing a Let's Play, you'd have to record the microphone separately or use a separate program rather than the emulator's recording...

This post has been edited by MainMemory: 22 February 2013 - 08:03 AM

[KingofHarts]

MainMemory, on 22 February 2013 - 08:00 AM, said:

In the case of emulators, you generally want to use an emulator that has video recording built in, such as Gens Rerecording or Fusion. Fusion uses a custom video codec though, so if you want to upload to YouTube you'll have to install the codec on your computer and convert it to a format YT understands (I use VirtualDubMod and x264vfw).

For Direct3D games, or recording an Aero desktop, Fraps works well, but is not free, and requires the same thing for its videos as Fusion.

For games that don't use Direct3D... I use Fraps anyway because I couldn't get any others to work (mostly they wouldn't record sound). It ends up being a video of my entire desktop, but oh well.

Edit: I guess if you're doing a Let's Play, you'd have to record the microphone separately or use a separate program rather than the emulator's recording...

I'll give Fraps a go this week and report back. As far as recording for my Let's Play, do you mean doing a separate recording for the game's sound? or of my commentary? If it's the latter, I've already got that figured out, if its the former... that's gonna be a pain in the ass... methinks.

On the emulator note, I tried with Regen... got the poor framerate issue. I DO have Fusion, I'll test run that now.

This post has been edited by KingofHarts: 22 February 2013 - 08:16 AM

[MainMemory]

Your commentary would have to be separate from the emulator's recording and mixed in later.

[KingofHarts]

Ok, that's easy enough then.

So I tried with Gens ReRecord... Only tried twice, as I'm experimenting with the various settings. Both have given me MUCH better results than in the past. The first time all was well except for the fact that the audio was WAY off sync... could be fixed with some video editing, but I'd like to find a way to do this without the extra hassle...
Second time with different settings, was almost perfect, except the color and quality was a bit off. It's the closest to a perfect result I've had though...

Both times I used the Cinepak Codec. First time with Compression quality at 100, second time with comp. quality at 0. I'm trying other codecs and settings now to see what works.

My one big complaint though... is how much it slows the gameplay down. While the AVI goes at full speed, the gameplay being recorded runs at a snail's pace. Is that normal?

[MainMemory]

I also experienced slowdown while recording. Made it impossible for me to record Blue Sphere Plus in max speed mode, which is when I started using Fusion.

[KingofHarts]

Which version of Fusion do you use? I got 3.51 and it has no video recording fucntion, at least not that I am able to find.

[dsrb]

KingofHarts, on 22 February 2013 - 07:22 AM, said:

So, I wanna know... from guys like Hez, Mercury, or anyone else who is able to manage to get their shit recorded and onto YouTube.

Hez always makes a point of stating that the slow play and low framerate in videos of his games are due to the recording software and nothing else, so I don't know whether he's had much more luck than you have.

[MainMemory]

KingofHarts, on 22 February 2013 - 08:52 AM, said:

Which version of Fusion do you use? I got 3.51 and it has no video recording fucntion, at least not that I am able to find.

3.64, it was added in 3.6.

[Mercury]

KingofHarts, on 22 February 2013 - 07:22 AM, said:

So, I wanna know... from guys like Hez, Mercury, or anyone else who is able to manage to get their shit recorded and onto YouTube. Please, share with me your secrets. How do you do it?

I used CamStudio 7 to make this video, and haven't done much of anything else or since. It just... worked. I didn't have to tweak anything or go through any hassle. I was surprised; perfect framerate, etc. So I don't know what advice to give, sorry. I'm guessing I might just have a decent enough computer to run it and Game Maker simultaneously.

Another program I know can capture is virtualdub, but I don't have any personal experience using it to capture my desktop. There's also Debut, but be warned it's going to dun you with install-on-demand modules for all their other software.

[Covarr]

MSI Afterburner is free, and it can do the FRAPS thing, recording Direct3D or OpenGL games. Quality's not quite as god, though.

Personally I like Dxtory, but it's not free, about the same price as FRAPS.

This post has been edited by Covarr: 22 February 2013 - 04:51 PM