Video Screen Capture program. Suggestions anyone? (Camtasia so far)

Dualnames · Sat 26/12/2009 13:09:53

I wonder how you guys record your in-game AGS scenes you put in your videos. For example like Grundislav does it in his videos.

I've always done a workaround, and it's really tiring, and I've had enough to be honest.

I've tried some "famous" programs but they've really not what I'm after.
I want to be able to record sound from the speakers onto the video I will be recording, and for the love of god, it has to end up synchronized.
But that's a minorine.

What bugs me more is that I can't find a program to record something and then have the result at the speed I was seeing it. Problem is it ends up really slow, despite I had no trouble when it was recording.

I've tried:
Camstudio (De-syncs and slows down video)
Taksi (Sucks)
ZD Soft (Same as camstudio)
FRAPS (Not freeware. 30 seconds limitation)
Camtasia (30 day trial with all features available, works perfectly.

Crimson Wizard · Sat 26/12/2009 13:57:25

This was problem for me some time ago, I wanted to show video from my postponed project to another guy.
Usually I used Fraps before, shareware version that allowed to capture 30 seconds of video (that could be enough for a very short preview). But for some reason it started to crash AGS game every time I tried it; not sure why (I successfully used it with AGS games before).

So, I started to download various trial/free screen recorders; some I couldn't make to work properly, others missed some features, so in the end I was able to capture by 2 free programs.

1. VirtualDub (last version is 1.9.8, I used 1.9.7). It must be powerful tool, but is quite complex. After tweaking configs I was able to capture game video, but still made something wrong, because audio was nearly missing.
2. CamStudio. This one was success, but it has one problem: you have to define captured region manually all the time, if you are capturing windowed game (not sure about full-screen, I don't remember why but I haven't tried to do that).
Hmm, I see CamStudio is in your list. Have you any problems with that one? Because my videos were quite good.

Dualnames · Sat 26/12/2009 14:05:35

CamStudio seems to make my video result end up really laggy, though it has no problems whilst recording. Mind you the scene I'm recording needs all processing power it can get. It has particle effects running, tween effects running, animations.

jetxl · Sat 26/12/2009 14:27:09

If you're refering to camtasia studio then you can change the frame rate of the recording.

I use camtasia for longplays because it has a good encoder and recording and editing is quite simple. The editor is, in fact, too simple and very limited. If you want to edit a recording like a music video I suggest you use something else.

Dualnames · Sat 26/12/2009 15:04:13

Quote from: jetxl on Sat 26/12/2009 14:27:09
If you're refering to camtasia studio then you can change the frame rate of the recording.

I use camtasia for longplays because it has a good encoder and recording and editing is quite simple. The editor is, in fact, too simple and very limited. If you want to edit a recording like a music video I suggest you use something else.

I searched a little bit on the forums and nikolas suggested it so, I found it and damn he's right, I found what I needed. Camtasia, really does it.

Wyz · Sat 26/12/2009 16:23:23

You could try Hypercam.

Matti · Sun 27/12/2009 15:06:03

Yeah, I'm using Hypercam too and I'm quite content with it.

Nikolas · Mon 28/12/2009 11:24:49

Keep in mind that Camtasia is a tiny bit heavy on older computers and may slow down the game (frame rates) a little. I had such issues when scoring Resonance (which had to be synced) and me and Vince tried a different capture program, which worked much better. If only I could remember the name (and thus providing a more helpful point to my post)

AHA: CamStudio! FOUND IT!

Dualnames · Mon 28/12/2009 19:59:06

Quote from: Nikolas on Mon 28/12/2009 11:24:49
Keep in mind that Camtasia is a tiny bit heavy on older computers and may slow down the game (frame rates) a little. I had such issues when scoring Resonance (which had to be synced) and me and Vince tried a different capture program, which worked much better. If only I could remember the name (and thus providing a more helpful point to my post)

AHA: CamStudio! FOUND IT!

For a weird reason Nik, it worked backwards on me. CamStudio de-synced, while Camtasia is the program of my life! Or something like that, we're just getting to know each other.

ShiverMeSideways · Thu 31/12/2009 07:57:58

CamStudio doesn't de-sync my audio at all, as far as I know. I'm using it for my Civ 4 LP and indeed, it does make my frame rate drop, which would suck royally for an FPS or if I want a higher frame rate. I'll ask around on Youtube and see what people generally use for FPS recording, maybe I can pickup a tip or two for you (and me

).

Cabbage · Sun 10/01/2010 02:07:37

Well, Camtasia is definitely the most professional screen-recorder, but it is quite expensive to buy... I also think it would require more memory to run and therefore may make games lag (more), and I agree that it's editor is very simplified and limited... but then I've never really used it much so I don't know whether it is worth the money. As for Hypercam, while it is very popular, it's not free, it costs about as much as FRAPS, which is actually designed for recording games... and I don't really understand the appeal of Hypercam over other software, I've never used it - but why is it so popular?!. VirtualDub can also be used for screen-recording; it is a popular free program, and it should record video well, it also has some good video editing filters too. However it is far less user-friendly, especially when it comes to screen-recording (Though do use it for video editing once you have successfully recorded your video!). As far as game recording is concerned FRAPS is the most popular program as it is designed specifically for recording gameplay videos, (BTW, the watermark and 30-Sec limitation is removed when you buy it - obviously, and you may need to use certain settings on AGS like DirectDraw will need to be changed to Direct3D in the settings file for FRAPS to record it) but then it does cost money, yet not nearly as much as Camtasia.

CamStudio, however, should work well, the de-synced audio is probably related to the slow playback issue you have experienced. This is almost certainly caused by compression settings, if you are playing a high-res video that is uncompressed it will usually play very slowly, sometimes with de-synced audio, and you might even see a weird colour cast.

To solve this you can try the following steps:

The simplest way to do this is to open CamStudio, go to Options > Video Options > Compressor > And from the drop-down box select the CamStudio codec. (You might not have the CamStudio Lossless Codec, if not, download it here: http://camstudio.org/CamStudioCodec14.exe)
Record the scene and see what happens. Or if you have an uncompressed video that you need to convert, then you can convert the video in VirtualDub (http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/)
[Download and open VDub, go to Video > Compression, select the CamStudio Codec, drag the uncompressed video into Vdub, go to File > Save as AVI...]
Another thing to try is converting any uncompressed video taken with CamStudio via VirtualDub with the Huffyuv v2.1.1 codec (http://neuron2.net/www.math.berkeley.edu/benrg/huffyuv-1.3.1.zip). That should convert video perfectly as it is one of the most reliable codecs I have used (Though it wont let .avi videos play in some media players).
Obviously, you should try opening the video with another media player. If you haven't tried that already...
If it turns out that you still cant play any videos correctly, try importing the video into Windows Movie Maker and publishing a low-quality video. Low quality videos rendered through Windows Movie Maker are encoded with lossy codecs (they don't retain the same quality) but they will play fast no matter how long the video is, and they should work in all Media Players.
If that still doesn't work check the frame rate setting on CamStudio by going to Options > Video Options > Frame rates, you should see 50 MS and 20 FPS in the two boxes, if they are not set to that, then change them. You will have to re-record everything after doing this.

This ~~should~~ will fix playback issues.

Most FPS games are recorded at 30 FPS, and should you want to upload your video to Youtube, Youtube converts all videos to a smooth 29.97 FPS using completely different codecs (and YouTube does offer HD so the quality will still be good, but not perfect, and thats as long as you can wait long enough for it to upload...). Most monitors can only display up to 60FPS so its pointless capturing at a higher framerate in most cases. One thing you might want to do is download FRAPS which is free for an unlimited time, which means you can use it as just an FPS counter... this means you can monitor how many FPS you get in-game and how many you get when you are recording the screen (You will always experience some FPS drop using screen recording software). 60 FPS or higher is perfect.

So... don't give up on freeware. And think before switching to Camtasia. Though, on the other hand if I were you, for AGS, I would just buy FRAPS, because it's so easy to use, reliable, it's designed for recording game play, it's the worlds best FPS counter, you can set the FPS rate which it records at instantly, you can set it to use Lossless quality, etc. so it will save you a load of hassle... the only thing you need to remember is to set your games to use Direct3D in AGS for FRAPS. But if you get CamStudio working you might be able to get Camtasia quality video for free!

P.S. I hope I have found the right solution, and if not I hope you at least learnt something. =)

Haddas · Sun 10/01/2010 03:36:18

What you need to have is 2 computers and have a capture card in the other.

zabnat · Sun 10/01/2010 15:40:57

I just tried recording AGS game with VirtualDub and it worked like a charm. With compression set to x264 lossless and sound to mp3 128kbps, a little over half a minute clip with resolution 640x480 and 30fps takes about 5 megs. I would recommend this for anyone wanting record AGS game to video with free tools. You have to change the settings in couple of dialogs and get the compression filters, but once set up, it's really easy to use. I could make a tutorial if somebody needs one.

Bulbapuck · Tue 19/01/2010 16:43:48

I found a video that might interest you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYXnSJgGGoA

Don't know if the link works, just thought I'd share.

zabnat · Tue 19/01/2010 19:46:15

Long gone are the days when serialz were distributed in textfiles. Why would we use textfiles now when we have youtube?

zabnat · Thu 21/01/2010 10:59:05

Here is one more possibility. UltraVnc screen recorder