Recommended Video Capture Software?

[Kittra]

I figured I'd also mention a couple things since you are using a Laptop to play the game.

Laptops typically feature slower RPM drives, which means they spin and record data slower than typical full drives. This impacts video recording performance because, depending on the amount of data you need to write, the write speed of the drive may not be fast enough to compensate. Laptops usually come with only one HDD installed as well, meaning everything (chat programs, browsers, games, recording programs, recorded video file etc.) are talking to the same HDD at the same time, further reducing the available bandwidth you have at your disposal.

All this can lead to your video output file appearing laggy, because there simply was not enough bandwidth for all the data being written.

Even desktop PCs with a single 7200 RPM (standard spin speed for full drives) suffer from this problem because everything has to use the same hard drive at the same time. It's recommended that you record to a separate hard drive or an external hard drive so that nothing impacts your recording performance as far as your hard drive is concerned.

[Shirana]

@Kittra well that would explain my current problem then 8D
Only one hard drive with one disc. Would prolly explain a lot lol
thanks for the help though :3
One last question though. I doubt it but would recording from a Flash Drive work? It's my only other option now.

[Kittra]

@Kittra
http://i60.tinypic.com/23rpmro.png
^ Notice the difference in recording to where I am in game? lol it just stays like that right after I switch to FF14 (but if I keep the active window OBS then it records just fine and if I switch to FF14, it stops recording video, and back it starts recording just fine again. wtf 8D

Hmm, strange.

Are you using Window Capture or Game Capture for the video? (My guess would be Window Capture)

I would recommend setting up some capture hot-keys in Settings > Broadcast Settings and just set it to something like Alt+P for both stop and start. Then, try playing the game in the foreground and then press your hot-key to start recording and see if that works.

You can also try Game Capture mode, which is the recommended capture mode when using OBS for games.

@Kittra well that would explain my current problem then 8D
Only one hard drive with one disc. Would prolly explain a lot lol
thanks for the help though :3
One last question though. I doubt it but would recording from a Flash Drive work? It's my only other option now.

Flash drives are, unfortunately, not well suited for video recording unless special codecs are used (like what you get with DSLR cameras). =(

Don't give up!

Keep messing with some settings on OBS or give another program a whirl. Sometimes it's the stupidest things that can lock up a recording, but it feels great when you finally figure it out. =)

*EDIT*

I almost forgot to ask.

Have you removed your power saving options from your laptop at all?

It's possible your recording problems (past and present) are being caused because Windows is causing your CPU to throttle in power.

Example, it may say it's operating at 1.6ghz, but in power saving mode you typically use 5-15% power which = 300-500mhz. That's about the operational speed of my old 1991 Gateway 2000...

[Shirana]

Sadly, still doing the same even using the hotkeys while playing the game AND switching it to game window (you were right about me having it record under window mode~)

edit: Still Says taking too long to encode at the bottom right too lol

[lxSch]

It does not matter what software you are using - they all use same 3rd party codecs to encode the video.
Huffyuv/lagarith - lossless codecs (huge file size), very little cpu usage.
Mjpeg/RTV1 - lossy, high file size codecs, light cpu usage.
x264 - lossy, smallest file, huge cpu usage.
H264 (hardware) - no cpu usage, uses videocard to encode the video (intel/amd/nvidia), small file size. Shadowplay uses H264.
If you have enough disk space (considering 1 minute = 1 gb) - try saving and huffyuv/lagarith or MJPEG/RTV1 and encoding later.
If you do not have enough space - you can try utilizing H264 codec that requires OpenCL (i think your amd hardware should have opencl enabled). I think OBS should have this codec available, and msi afterburner should have it available too in some future.
Also, try reducing game fps to 30 and resolution to 720p - those are specs youtube converts video to anyway, so playing/recording at higher is pointless.

[Kittra]

Sadly, still doing the same even using the hotkeys while playing the game AND switching it to game window (you were right about me having it record under window mode~)

edit: Still Says taking too long to encode at the bottom right too lol

Hmmm. set it for a 480p resolution and test to see if it likes that.

Also in Settings under the Advanced tab, set Process Priority to High (this will tell your PC that the process is important), Scene Buffering time to 1000 (this gives your CPU more time to encode, but please be careful when you stop recording as it cuts the last 2-5 seconds you "observe" out of the file), and this last one is the most important x264 CPU preset to Superfast. While you're at it, also check the "Use CFR" box (this takes a load off your CPU by cutting a few corners, basicly it eliminates micro-managing of each frame).


*EDIT*

I have a few family members who stream on laptops no more powerful than what you have and they all were amazed at the improvements they got to encoding power after they turned off power saving (at least while plugged into the wall).

So, I figured I'd tell you how to do it just in case you want to give it a try.
(guessing Windows 8 from your screenshot)

Pull up your search tool from by touching the upper right-hand or lower right-hand corner of your screen and clicking the magnifying glass. Type "Power Options" and select the battery icon that shows up. Whatever power plan is currently selected, click the blue text to the right of it labled "Change plan settings." Underneath the Display and Sleep options is more blue text labled "Change advanced power settings" click that. At the bottom of the scroll list is "Processor power management" and you'll want to change the Minimum processor state to 100% (for laptops I believe they have an option here for "Only while plugged into the wall" or something along those lines.). Double-check to make sure the Maximum processor state is 100% and that should finish it off. Just be sure to click the "Apply" button on the way out.

I hope that improves your situation. =)

[Shakarlyn]

It does not matter what software you are using - they all use same 3rd party codecs to encode the video.
Huffyuv/lagarith - lossless codecs (huge file size), very little cpu usage.
Mjpeg/RTV1 - lossy, high file size codecs, light cpu usage.
x264 - lossy, smallest file, huge cpu usage.
H264 (hardware) - no cpu usage, uses videocard to encode the video (intel/amd/nvidia), small file size. Shadowplay uses H264.
If you have enough disk space (considering 1 minute = 1 gb) - try saving and huffyuv/lagarith or MJPEG/RTV1 and encoding later.
If you do not have enough space - you can try utilizing H264 codec that requires OpenCL (i think your amd hardware should have opencl enabled). I think OBS should have this codec available, and msi afterburner should have it available too in some future.
Also, try reducing game fps to 30 and resolution to 720p - those are specs youtube converts video to anyway, so playing/recording at higher is pointless.

What lxSch says it is golden. You're complaining about CPU time, this is the best method since you do not have an Nvidia card that supports ShadowPlay (There isn't an AMD equiv yet). You could also look into other H264 recorders like what he's mentioned.

[Shirana]

@Kittra
yeah, I've had my battery on max performance ever since finishing a semester of college and using my free time to get back to games 8D
ANd I wasn't quite sure what to put for the resolution to make it 480p so I re-read your post earlier and set it to Resolution Downscale 852 x 480...was closest to "960x540 which falls in the realm of a 480p video on YouTube." that you mentioned earlier. Though it came out kind of blurry it worked just fine! SO I am happy. I care little for HD/Very high quality anyways. 360/480 is what I watch on youtube anyways even if 1080 is available lol I see nothing wrong with it besides the slight lack of clarity. But it works just fine so I can play around with the settings more till I got something nice :3

Edit: Also disabling coding while previewing helped wonders too. And Turning off preview in general also helped

@lxSch & Shakarlyn
I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I just know, from guessing mostly from settings in OBS, that this uses x264 and you are suggessting a recorder that uses huffyuv/lagarith or MJPEG/RTV1 or something.

[Kittra]

What lxSch says it is golden. You're complaining about CPU time, this is the best method since you do not have an Nvidia card that supports ShadowPlay (There isn't an AMD equiv yet). You could also look into other H264 recorders like what he's mentioned.

I think the problem here is that Shirana is using a Laptop, which typically doesn't have a hard drive capable of writing fast enough for Huffyuv/lagarith not to mention the space requirements. =\

The only thing I can really think of that will work 100% is FRAPs. Once again though, huge file size, the need to encode later, it all gets tiring after a while.

[Kittra]

@Kittra
yeah, I've had my battery on max performance ever since finishing a semester of college and using my free time to get back to games 8D
ANd I wasn't quite sure what to put for the resolution to make it 480p so I re-read your post earlier and set it to Resolution Downscale 852 x 480...was closest to "960x540 which falls in the realm of a 480p video on YouTube." that you mentioned earlier. Though it came out kind of blurry it worked just fine! SO I am happy. I care little for HD/Very high quality anyways. 360/480 is what I watch on youtube anyways even if 1080 is available lol I see nothing wrong with it besides the slight lack of clarity. But it works just fine so I can play around with the settings more till I got something nice :3

Great!

Going by your screenshot, the reason the picture is blurry is due to the bit rate it's using to encode.

Higher bit rates require more power, but you can find a nice balance through experimentation.

You can change the bit rate in the "Encoding" setting by increasing or reducing the Max Bitrate (kb/s), the Buffer Size (kbit) (which is usually set to 0 or the same as the Max Bitrate) allows you to dial down, or dial up the bit rate spent in high motion scenes to make them look better or tell the CPU take it easy on those frames, because you don't see what's going on when spinning the camera anyways.

I don't recommend you set the Buffer Size to 0, because that basicly tells the program "You know what, lets toss caution to the wind and drive this Sports Car at 200mph (321kph) and have the time of our lives... or spin out of control and fly off a cliff!" if you get my meaning. >_>

*EDIT*

Oh, also: 852 x 480 = 480p video and will probably look better than 960x540 because YouTube won't have to downsize it to 480p resolution. =D