27 réponses à ce sujet

[Sailears]

This is aimed at PC users using fraps to record gameplay footage.
I've spent a the best part of three weeks messing around with different methods (and hair pulling!), but not settled on any conclusion, so felt it best to open this up to the community.

Emphasis on storage, not on making videos. Do you suck it up and buy some 1tb hard drives (pain for backing up I imagine), or do you shrink the raw avi's before deleting the originals (need to be satisfied with the quality to let go of the originals)?

I'm not sure if this topic belongs on the BSN let alone in this forum, but considering this is the place for gameplay videos I suppose there's no harm in asking here, right?

What framerate do you record at?
-- 30, 60, other...

What resolution?
-- Half size, Full size, custom (playing the game at non native resolution).

What method do you use to convert the original files?
-- What tool(s)? - virtualdub, avidemux, megui, any video converter (free version)... etc. Free or paid for?
-- What encoder? - x264, h.264, xvid... etc.
-- Do you also convert the audio, or leave that alone? If so what - aac, mp3... etc?
-- What container? - avi, mp4, mkv...
-- Any other things? - resizing, merging, batch conversion, what bitrates... etc.


One peculiarity I noticed, and I know I'm deviating from the subject of this thread:
Specifically using the free version of any video converter and converting the avi to an mp4 using x264 produces great quality, with the only odd issue being powerdirector (which I already own) doesn't like it - it completely distorts the image. The weird thing is if I instead (again using the same software) either use x264 in an avi, or mpeg4 in an mp4, it is totally fine. So for some odd reason that combination of codec and container as created using AVCFree is messed up. Anyone else using this combination (any video converter and powerdirector) with this issue?
Other tools have worked fine when using x/h.264 in an mp4 although there have been other issues such as colour distortion.

Anyway I digress, and bringing it back to the topic in the title please share what you do to store your gameplay footage.

[Kronner]

I have a LOT of space, currently 3x 1TB + 1x 2TB + cca 5 TBs in external drives, storage space is not a problem.
But I delete all original FRAPS files as soon as they are converted in VirtualDub. No need to keep them IMHO.

What framerate do you record at?
-- 30 FPS, lock framerate box checked
Game is playable, but a far cry from the usual flawless 60 FPS I am used to.

What resolution?
-- Full size 1680x1050 - not an ideal resolution for YouTube videos, but it is my native resolution and I am used to it

What method do you use to convert the original files?
-- What tool(s)? - VirtualDub (64bit) - FREE
Available here - http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/

-- What encoder? - x264vfw64 - FREE (64bit version)
Available here - http://sourceforge.n...iles/x264vfw64/

-- Do you also convert the audio, or leave that alone?
Depends on wheteher I want to add a song to it or not.

If yes, then:
1) Using VirtualDub I save the original audio in .WAV format
2) I mix it up with a song in Audacity (also freeware)
Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
3) Using Audacity, save as .WAV again
4) I replace the original audio with this new .WAV in VirtualDub.

-- What container? - avi
-- Any other things? Default settings, ultrafast conversion set*
*but it is NOT ultrafast lol

Modifié par Kronner, 30 mars 2011 - 11:54 .

[Sailears]

Thanks Kronner.
I've had a go at using virtualdub and the x264vfw several times, but found the output was really choppy. I was using the 64bit versions as well.
I'll give it another go and see.

As a side note - I haven't even got around to playing Arrival yet, I've been so caught up with figuring this out!

[Kronner]

You're welcome!

My settings:

Modifié par Kronner, 30 mars 2011 - 11:55 .

[Bozorgmehr]

I also had issues using Power Director and H.264 codec - the processed video had a grid in it, really weird. I abandoned PD and switched to Adobe Premiere Elements which has done its job nicely ever since.

To keep steady frame rate (and I don't change the settings - 16x AF, 4x AA) I had to lower the res to 1280 x 720 (I used this res to make video editing/processing faster, when Adobe has to adjust the res, it takes an hour to process a couple of minutes of material. I didn't locked frame rate and used 30 fps to keep things playable.

My new Dell 23" IFS monitor (I got last week - awesome screen, every game looks much better - only 215 euro) uses 1920 x 1080 res. I can't record at that res without frame rate problems, but it works fine at half-size. This way I can play like I normally do (no weird res which also messes with mouse settings). Video size is also a lot smaller.

I'll try to record Asari Shep versus Project Rho tonight to test video quality recorded at half-size.

[Sailears]

Ok, gave it a go in virtualdub again, and this time no problems. Weird. Also added a resize filter to go from 1680x1050 to 1280x720 (letterboxed).
Only trouble is no batch conversion - not really a problem, just an inconvenience.

Ah, interesting to hear that about powerdirector and h.264 Bozorgmehr. Unfortunately I already own a retail copy of powerdirector, so can't really afford to ditch it, although it only seems to take issue with x264 in an mp4 container. The ones I encoded with virtualdub as an avi work fine.

Anyone else, feel free to chip in!

[Kronner]

Did you use the default resize filter, or a different one? I will experiment with the resize filter - 16:9 resolutions are best for YouTube; my native resolution has 16:10 aspect ratio.

Modifié par Kronner, 30 mars 2011 - 03:06 .

[Sailears]

Default one. I just set it so the horizontal was 720 (vertical is automatically set to 1152), and letterbox to aspect ratio (16:9).

[Leeroi]

Hey, BeresaadSoldier/Omicrone here. You can see my videos here.

I've written a few things about FRAPS recordings in various threads, and since this thread is about file storage, I'll cover a bit of that but also add in more about the recording process itself.

I was a FRAPS user until recently - I recorded at 1280x720 (720p) in windowed mode at 60FPS by having ME2 installed on SSD drive and FRAPS set to dump the recording on a WD Caviar Green 1TB drive. My 2nd drive isn't the fastest out there, but it's large and a 720p at 60FPS doesn't require amazing write speeds. I was also able to aim properly because at 30FPS my aim is not as good. I'm also using high graphical settings, everything set to max with forced 8x SLI Anti Aliasing and D3D Overrider which allows vertical sync without a dramatic drop in FPS.

For optimum recording speed you need ME2 (or any game) installed on a separate drive, FRAPS' affinity set to processor cores that the game IS NOT using (mine are 1, 3 and 7) and FRAPS set to dump files to a RAID0 configuration of fast hard drives (a pair of 1TB WD Caviar Black edition would be able to handle 1080p at 60FPS). Of course you'll have to check if the raid controller of your motherboard supports such high write speeds.

For editing purposes I use Sony Vegas with x264 codec. I don't do much editing apart from lighting and colour curves because ME2 looks beautiful - no need to blur out graphics if you're recording with anti-aliasing etc.

However, I've recently abandoned FRAPS for a couple of reasons - ME2 isn't the only game I play and I recently bought a 120Hz 1080p screen which allows me to play shooters at 120FPS and improves gaming experience overall. If I wanted to record videos with FRAPS at 120FPS in 1920x1080 resolution I'd need a raid controller and an SSD setup that would cost a few thousand dollars. You'd need server-speed data transfer for your machine to handle it. And since I wanted to play the games at 120 FPS and record at the same time, I started searching for a different program.

And I found it - it's called DXTory. It's an alternative to FRAPS that basically lets you record videos at 30FPS (or w/e you set the recording FPS at) without an obvious drop in performance. It's not free, just like FRAPS isn't, but it's definitely worth the money because it offers a lot more features, different codecs and recording methods and so much more. I don't want this to sound as an advertisement, because FRAPS is still excellent and I have it installed, but you can see a comparison here and judge for yourself.

Give it a try (you can do that with the free version), see the performance increase while gaming and make your mind up. The only negative is the free version has a watermark on recorded footage, but it's worth trying it out if you're into making gaming videos.

As far as storage is concerned - I prefer to keep the raw files until after I've edited the footage. Once I'm happy with how it looks and I'm ready to upload the files, I delete the raw files.

I hope this post helps some people out because I know annoying how performance decrease during recording is. There's nothing like playing the game at the FPS you're used at and recording at the same time - it definitely makes for better experience while watching the pwnage!

=)

Modifié par Leeroi, 30 mars 2011 - 03:24 .

[Sailears]

^Woah that's a motherlode of information!
I like the sound of that - playing at native resolution and recording to 1280x720 or whatever, and not splitting the files into 4GB chunks. I will certainly give that tool a try.

I only have one hard drive in my system (500gb samsung F3), partitioned into 3 and I am able to record ME2 at 1680x1050 and 60fps with fraps, although with the occasional stutter.

[Leeroi]

Well, recording at 60FPS with FRAPS is essential for proper aiming (at least to me) and that's the only reason I did it. Yeah, it has some perks like being able to slow down the footage and make it look smooth and slow without jittering or framerate loss, BUT for frag movies/speedruns or what have you, that's not necessary. So with DxTory you have the best of both worlds - play at high FPS, record at low FPS to save hard drive space. It's pretty amazing imo.

[Kronner]

Nice tip about DxTory - I've tried trial, and it is definitely better than FRAPS as far as framerate hit goes. Thanks!

[Bozorgmehr]

Never heard of DxTory but I'll give it a try, looks promising - thanks for the tip Leeroi!

Fraps is a CPU killer, it's the only time I'd love a 3+ core CPU instead of my good old C2D X6850 which runs any game flawlessly, but when fraps joins the party, frame rate drops significantly.

[Jamesnew2]

I've used DXTory and its a lot better imo. Fraps is a bit of a pain till i got my 1tb hard drive.

[XCPTNL]

Bozorgmehr wrote...

Fraps is a CPU killer, it's the only time I'd love a 3+ core CPU instead of my good old C2D X6850 which runs any game flawlessly, but when fraps joins the party, frame rate drops significantly.

I run games on one of the new Sandy Bridge Intel Core-i7 2600K (default clock at the moment) Quad-Core CPUs with a Nvidia 580GTX videocard and FRAPS is still using resources like crazy which is one of the reasons I still haven't made some videos. Because I'm used to play at 1920x1200 and lowering the resolution to 1280x720 on a 27" LCD is very weird - as is playing in windowed mode. So I'll give DXTory a try as well.

As far as storage goes: I use a SSD for Windows and some games, and a 500GB 2,5" HDD for the most important data. I also use on of those: www.sharkoon.com/ - this way I can use my "big HDDs" (2x1TB, 1x2TB) for storage and backups. 1-2TB HDDs are really cheap nowadays so getting one for backups and saving your gameplay footage is really worth it in my opinion.

[Leeroi]

Yeah, that's definitely true. Also very cheap to set up a RAID0 with 2x500GB drives. It beats a single hard drive in write speeds no matter the application.

I'm still unsure about upgrading to sandy bridge cause my i920's doing a good job, but maybe during fall when Battlefield 3 comes out, I'll swap mobo and CPU.

GTX 580 is a beast of a card, I'm getting the EVGA superclocked edition tomorrow so I'll see how that performs compared to my GTX 295. The good thing about DxTory is it's easy on the CPU by utilising more threads from multiple cores. FRAPS' latest version also significantly lowered CPU requirements but I find the lack of option to de-sync recording FPS from in-game FPS is a major drawback especially at higher resolutions.

[Bozorgmehr]

That should help. I've tried different setups in the past, but my hdd's and GPU are not the bottleneck when I'm using fraps. I'm running Windows (and fraps) on X-25 Intel SSD, games on Raptor X and data on 2x 1T Samsung F1 (raid 0). Installing fraps and ME2 on (non-raid) Samsung HDD didn't changed anything. Lower res and graphic settings nothing. The CPU goes berserk because of fraps - let's hope DxTory improves that.

I've also tested recording half-size (still using fraps) so I didn't have to change res and I must say I'm pretty impressed with the quality. In fact, I don't think it would matter at all for YouTube which reduces quality anyway. I'm uploading a vid now to see if it makes a difference (I did rescale to 720p).

[Kronner]

Bozorgmehr wrote...
In fact, I don't think it would matter at all for YouTube which reduces quality anyway. I'm uploading a vid now to see if it makes a difference (I did rescale to 720p).

Same here. It doesn't look that bad, and playing while recording only half-size is so much smoother.

[Sailears]

^True that. Half size makes it a lot more stable and is potentially worth the quality loss.
I've had a go with the dxtory trial and it works very well with a silly amout of features, although I had a few issues with trying to resize the movie capture. I'll certainly keep watching its development, but as I've already got a full version of fraps I'll pass on it for now.

Edit: Maybe I should change the thread title to "How do you store raw gameplay footage in preparation for editing"!

I'm still curious about containers. Random googling suggests not to encode to x264 in an avi - causing problems like audio/video not in sync, and generally not recommended; but is this really a problem? I admit I have no clue what this is about, and haven't experienced any problem myself. Is it necessary to have it in mp4/mkv, or not really an issue?

Modifié par Curunen, 30 mars 2011 - 08:27 .

[Kronner]

I've never had any problems with the avi container.
This was recorded at half-size (of 1680x1050), and then upscaled to 720p.
Not really great quality, but should be watchable.

[Aynien]

One thing that I have noticed while recording another games is that, I don't get the "laggy" feeling while recording them, as I get record either DA or ME. I did 2 full matchs on brotherhood mulplayer, skiping only the loading screens(for obvious reason) and I didn't changed the game flow  at all. 
Also, when recording either DA or ME, I have to lower my res from 1920x1080 to 1280x720, but I could do it on my native res just fine on the others...

[Sailears]

Kronner wrote...

I've never had any problems with the avi container.
This was recorded at half-size (of 1680x1050), and then upscaled to 720p.
Not really great quality, but should be watchable.

^Aah Arrival! Sorry mustn't watch it yet - still need to play the DLC (hopefully in the next few days)! ../../../images/forum/emoticons/w00t.png

That's odd Aynien - I find ME/ME2 a lot smoother to record than other games.

Modifié par Curunen, 30 mars 2011 - 11:28 .

[Sailears]

Just wanted to bump this for anyone else to chip in.

[goofyomnivore]

Don't want to necro a thread, but lots of good info here and I thought I could ask my question here rather than creating a new thread.

I'm a noobie at using video recording. I did my first attempt this past night.
(my video)

Anyways my question is -- the video is darker than how I play. Is that a side effect of FRAPS/compression? If so is there any way to remedy it? I used Fraps and Staxrip.

[Aynien]

strive wrote...

Don't want to necro a thread, but lots of good info here and I thought I could ask my question here rather than creating a new thread.

I'm a noobie at using video recording. I did my first attempt this past night.
(my video)

Anyways my question is -- the video is darker than how I play. Is that a side effect of FRAPS/compression? If so is there any way to remedy it? I used Fraps and Staxrip.

It can be alot of factors, from the colour scheme on your monitor, to how you scaled colours while processing the video.