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Know any good free screen recorders to record trailers?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by yoonitee, Feb 15, 2016.

  1. yoonitee

    yoonitee

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    I've tried CamStudio but it's very buggy and not very good at all. Do you know any other free or very cheap ones available?
     
  2. mgear

    mgear

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  3. yoonitee

    yoonitee

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    Unfortunately my computer is refusing to update even to windows 8.1. I just downloaded FRAPS. That seems to do the trick. There is a limit of 30 seconds but that's fine. I can just edit together lots of videos in Windows Movie Maker. :D Happy.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2016
  4. kittik

    kittik

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    Do you have an NVIDIA card? You should be able to use Shadow Play, which I find to be excellent, it's free btw.
     
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  5. Schneider21

    Schneider21

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    The free version limits your sessions to 30 second clips and contains a watermark of www.fraps.com at the top of your video. The paid version removes these limitations.
     
  6. LaneFox

    LaneFox

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    Bandicam is the same. Watermark (free).

    Check out Open Broadcaster.
     
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  7. yoonitee

    yoonitee

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    Oh yeah. Didn't see the watermark. :( Thanks I'll try that.
     
  8. Philip-Rowlands

    Philip-Rowlands

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    If you're using Linux, give SimpleScreenRecorder a try. I couldn't get OBS Multiplatform to work, but SSR took less than 10 minutes to set up and record.
     
  9. yoonitee

    yoonitee

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    I tried OBS (the studio version) but couldn't get any audio on it.

    In OBS Studio the outputted MP4 video has no audio when imported into Window Movie Maker or played with Windows Media Player.
    But the audio plays when played in VLC player.

    I heard somewhere that the solution is to change the audio codec to ACC but can't find anwhere to do that? Anyone know? I am using OBS Studio.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2016
  10. QFSW

    QFSW

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    I personally use msi Afterburner for all my videos then edit in shotcut
     
  11. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    What's the problem with camstudio? I've used it, while it isn't exactly fast, I don't remember any bugs in it.
     
  12. AlanGameDev

    AlanGameDev

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    Open Broadcast Software is good, although a bit slow.
    These days I use ShareX to record the screen though and it's fantastic.
    I also used Afterburner in the past and it was good, but you couldn't record only a portion of the screen.
     
    angrypenguin likes this.
  13. cyberpunk

    cyberpunk

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    It's not free, but the best I've found is Action!

    https://mirillis.com/en/products/action.html

    It's very fast and efficient compared to other options. I got it mostly because it can record Windows well (for example, recording the Unity editor for tutorials at 60fps) but it can record in-game as well. While it is paid, the personal license is $30 so pretty affordable.
     
  14. QFSW

    QFSW

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    Very true, afterburner as a recorder is only good if you are trying to record a whole game. Doesn't really work for non 3d programs either
     
  15. darkhog

    darkhog

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    OBS. Yes it's a streaming program, but it offers recording as well in either mp4 or ogg (can't remember which, maybe both).
     
  16. eskovas

    eskovas

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    Like @kittik said, use ShadowPlay if you have a NVIDIA card. In my opinion, it's the best screen recorder out there and has barely any performance cost. You can also record both fullscreen and desktop, record up to 60fps and any resolution with really good video quality and relatively small file size.
    It's also completely free without watermark!
    I always use it to record anything for youtube.

    EDIT:
    Second best option for me is Dxtory. It's not very expensive and works really well, with more options and very good quality.
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2016
    frosted likes this.
  17. yoonitee

    yoonitee

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    Well currently it looks like I might have to shell out to buy Fraps. I can't get audio from OBS and ffsplit won't download. I can't use ShadowPlay because I don't have NVidia...
    I guess £25 is a good investment as the trailers are the thing that sells your game.

    I will try ShareX....

    I'm surprised I still haven't found a free screen capture for Windows that actually works yet! :(
     
  18. dogmachris

    dogmachris

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    OBS - it's more targeted at streamers but does screen recording fairly well. And it's free.
     
  19. yoonitee

    yoonitee

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    Yes, it would be good. But still having the problem of it not recording audio when played back in Windows Media Player of Window Movie Maker.
     
  20. dogmachris

    dogmachris

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    Never had that problem with OBS...
     
  21. Andy-Touch

    Andy-Touch

    A Moon Shaped Bool Unity Legend

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    I use Screenflow (https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/) for whenever I need to screen-record and I can't recommend it enough! It has a free trial that full-screen watermarks the exported video but the full product is only $99 and well worth the money!
     
  22. GoesTo11

    GoesTo11

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    That looks really good but it looks like it is Mac only.
     
  23. yoonitee

    yoonitee

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    Well I went with Fraps in the end. I usually like to use free or opensource stuff, but in this case, just because I really need good quality trailers I think I can justify the money. Hopefully more than 5 people will buy my game in which case I should recoup the money! ;)
     
  24. I_Am_DreReid

    I_Am_DreReid

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    BB flashback express recorder
     
  25. darkhog

    darkhog

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    Tried playing it back in say VLC? It might be problem with WMP/WMM (as it's often the case with Microsoft software). Then you only need proper video editor, I recommend DaVinci Resolve.
     
  26. yoonitee

    yoonitee

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    Yes, it worked in VLC. But the problem is I edit my videos in Windows Movie Maker to add captions, titles and then you need to save it in wmv/mov format for uploading to Steam. Thanks, I'll take a look at DaVinci. (Well, I've already paid for Fraps but maybe this will help someone else!) Or also, Fraps won't be so good if I need to do long videos as it saves everything losslessly in one enormous file. So this could still be useful.

    I'm almost tempted to make some Windows Capture software... seems like there is a gap in the market! But that would be taking me away from completing my game... so no I won't do that!

    Wow, is DaVinci resolve free??? That looks quite nice. Thanks for letting me know.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2016
  27. Dustin-Horne

    Dustin-Horne

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    Just to throw this out there... screen recording isn't too tough, there are tons of great suggestions here. The problem I always have is encoding the video for YouTube. It seems that no matter how high quality I make the video or how I encode it, YouTube always re-encodes it and horks it up. What would be really fantastic in addition to screen recording is a nice list of applications and video encoding settings for uploading to YouTube, aside from the dime a dozen FFMPEG tutorials that require a lot of tweaking and trial and error (not very user friendly).

    As a side note, if you're looking for a professional application that does an awesome job for YouTube, I tried out Sorenson Squeeze and its built in YouTube profiles provided far and above the best quality for me:
    http://www.sorensonmedia.com/squeeze/squeeze-desktop/

    Unfortunately, Squeeze is very expensive. I contacted them about a discount since I'm just a hobbyist and the offer they gave me was somewhere in the 5% to 10% range (don't recall exactly), so it's a great application but more-so if you're a business or studio looking for awesome results. It's not priced friendly for individuals. Although it does look like they've added some options, but the Lite version is still $199 and I believe it doesn't have much control over the output (presets only).
     
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  28. Dustin-Horne

    Dustin-Horne

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    The Windows 10 recorder is actually alright. It records as MP4, full screen. Win+G opens the game bar, but you can go directly into recording by pressing Win+Alt+R
     
  29. QFSW

    QFSW

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    I use Handbrake to do video encoding, very happy with it. (I personally use h.264 with a quality rf of 17, compression down to placebo and have the audio as mp3 passthru. Doesn't look as good on youtube as on my computer but still looks pretty good)
     
  30. Player7

    Player7

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    hmm on a similar subject.. any know of any good OSD utility that shows keyboard input and mouse buttons? something compact and customizable or nicely designed? Pretty sure I've seem some guides on making something like that with c# years ago, but must be someone whos made one already?

    Kind of thing that should just be built into something like bandicam, fraps etc really.
     
  31. darkhog

    darkhog

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    I recall something like that being in Camtasia, but it costs around $300 (don't exactly remember).
     
  32. undyingwill

    undyingwill

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    Go for screenr . Is online recorder that put camstasia in his pocket.
     
  33. darkhog

    darkhog

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    Screenr's dead, sadly.
     
  34. undyingwill

    undyingwill

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    Ahh yeah sadly.. was quality and good recorder with no errors.
     
  35. Tomnnn

    Tomnnn

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    Recording real time stuff? OBS.
    Letting the game play itself (cutscene, intro video, whatever)? Export screenshots at a rate of 60 frames per second. It might slow the game down but the stitched images into a video will be a perfect 60 fps - or whatever your target framerate is.
     
  36. Aiursrage2k

    Aiursrage2k

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    if your putting it on steam I dont think it needs to go on youtube though unless its for greenlight.
     
  37. FMark92

    FMark92

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    Massive necro, son.
     
  38. frosted

    frosted

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    I'm really interested in encoding for youtube, I've never been able to get a video up that doesn't look like a blurry mess compared to source video.

    @Dustin-Horne's recommendation is pretty expensive at $200 for the lite version, but even Primere's export to youtube still butchers the video.

    Anyone have good results with anything else?
     
  39. Elzean

    Elzean

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    I use OBS for recording (it's free) and Lightworks for editing video, the free version has all features and can export to youtube in 720p, here is the comparison page.

    Edit: i have a few video on my channel if you want to see the result
     
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  40. Martin_H

    Martin_H

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    Unless there is a way to prevent youtube from re-encoding by already uploading to their exact spec, I don't know how it would even be possible. If your uploaded source material is near enough to lossless, then whatever codec you use shouldn't make a noticable difference for the final result that youtube spits out after re-encoding it automatically.
    If you compare to other videos and find your's to be looking worse, it could be that the color palette of your video is less well suited for the compression algorithm than the video you compare it to. If I recall correctly games with a reddish palette are unpopular with streamers because the green channel often is compressed with double the bitrate than the red channel. I think some streamers for example set their HUD in games like Elite to green for that reason, it causes less artifacts. And grass/vegetation, especially with motion blur, always looks like crap on youtube as well according to comments I've heard from (I think it was) totalbiscuit.
     
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  41. Dustin-Horne

    Dustin-Horne

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    Yeah it's a crapshoot. I even tried completely uncompressed videos at one point in mp4 containers and YouTube still butchered them. I tried different profiles and settings and even following guides and just really struggled to get something decent. I really liked squeeze and the video quality on youtube was great (granted that was 2 years ago), but I just couldn't justify the price tag.
     
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  42. FMark92

    FMark92

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    OBS.
    Video codec: H.264 (don't skimp out on bitrate)
    Audio codec: MP3 or AAC (44.1kHz)

    Or so I'm told by a friend.
     
  43. eatsleepindie

    eatsleepindie

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    It won't let you down at least. I use Windows native recorder now but I used to use Fraps for everything. Great program that produces great results.
     
  44. niranjaysingh

    niranjaysingh

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    Hello Friends,

    How are you?

    Hope you are doing well!

    I need a video tool in which the following features are included. Could you please help to find the best vendor who offers the below features at the best rate.

    1) Convert text into speech.
    2) Screen recording feature with high resolution.
    3) Video Editor (synchronize the audio and video file).
     
  45. Kiwasi

    Kiwasi

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    You are probably going to need several tools for that.

    For 2 you'll want OBS Studio. For 3 you'll want Adobe Premiere Pro.
     
  46. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Check the link below. Balabolka, the first entry in the list, is completely free but it's a very basic voice. Quality voices are included with some of the other entries in the list, but to make full use of them you will need to pay.

    https://www.techradar.com/news/the-best-free-text-to-speech-software

    OBS Studio. If you want to use it for streaming in addition to recording video make sure to grab the 32-bit release as the plugin (OBS Virtual Cam) that sends the video you're recording to a streaming service only works with the 32-bit release.

    https://obsproject.com/
    https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-virtualcam.539/

    Adobe Premier Pro is the most popular solution for video editing. That said it has a monthly subscription cost.

    https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html

    For an alternative that has a one-time cost check out Vegas.

    https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/
     
  47. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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  48. Devastadus

    Devastadus

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    Just use the built in windows gamebar, if your on a PC.
     
  49. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    That is fine, providing someone is using same OS as yourself. Which is often not the case.
    I don't have it, so I don't know which Windows OS version exactly you referring to.
     
  50. jerichojanuary

    jerichojanuary

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    If you are on Mac, you can directly use the QuickTime player. Also, Camtasia is great but pricey. If you want free screen recorder, try OBS/Screen-O-Matic/CamStudio. Here some best screen capture software.