Desktop / Game capture recommendations

[AGTDenton]

Hi Guys,

Interested in what you might recommend for a couple of screen capturing projects I'm going to start.
One being gaming and the other being desktop based tutorials.

Gaming:

For a while DXTory seemed to be the way to go for game capture, but they've not produced any updates since 2017 and a number of forum posts report problems with newer versions of Windows 10. Not to mention almost all of the 2020/21 support posts have gone unanswered.
Two main attractions to DXTory for me was the ability to support multiple audio sources, and create individual audio tracks of those sources making editing more flexible, and secondly the lack of system resources the application would use.

I believe multiple audio tracks is not possible with either the built in Windows or Nvidia capture?

I did once come across a piece of software that could create an audio track per application you had running, so you could pick discord.exe, the game as well as traditional hardware audio sources, but cannot find it again or anything else with that ability, based on reading user manuals or blurb on the website.

OBS might be the alternate? How is it for system resources?
Is hardware capturing worth it today, Avermedia & Elgato seem to have quite a selection of parts now.


Desktop Recording:

I've spotted Action (https://mirillis.com/en/products/action.html) seems to be a pretty good all round bit of kit and looks fairly easy to learn.
Similarly TechSmiths Camtasia seems to have evolved into a very good application aimed at tutorial creation.

It's been a very long time since I did any tutorial type things and always used basic free software which was limiting.

[Saracen999]

I'll be watching this thread with interest too. Action! certainly looks interesting. I'll be particularly interested in any user experiences, 'cos I kinda went straight to OBS as apparently what almost eveybody uses.

I remember Avermedia from years ago but havent used one of their products for about 20 years. I do have an Elgato capture card and yeah, I think it's great, but it's not in this area. If I was looking for hardware (and might be soon) I would start there. Typically not cheap, but then, quality stufff rarely is.

[Jonj1611]

I bought Action years ago, haven't used it in a while but was certainly straight forward to use and worked without issue and didn't seem to bog the computer down which at the time with a dual core was most helpful!

[AGTDenton]

I'll be watching this thread with interest too. Action! certainly looks interesting. I'll be particularly interested in any user experiences, 'cos I kinda went straight to OBS as apparently what almost eveybody uses.

I remember Avermedia from years ago but havent used one of their products for about 20 years. I do have an Elgato capture card and yeah, I think it's great, but it's not in this area. If I was looking for hardware (and might be soon) I would start there. Typically not cheap, but then, quality stufff rarely is.

This is about the best and most recent review I could find of Action. Sadly for the Audio feature he doesn't go into it in enough detail, but I can sort of tell its limited.
As you have experience of OBS, you'll be able to compare it in greater detail than me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bUMgqHt_CA

I'll have a deeper read of Elgato & Avermedia, one plus point I've noticed for Avermedia is the use of their software, which does look quite advanced. However, from what I can tell their RECentral software can only be accessed with hardware purchase, which is really annoying for finding out anything about it or giving it a demo as their hardware pretty much starts at >£200.

What PC spec are you using with OBS?

I'm considering a 3700X with a 3060Ti (If the price drops next week as expected).

I bought Action years ago, haven't used it in a while but was certainly straight forward to use and worked without issue and didn't seem to bog the computer down which at the time with a dual core was most helpful!

That's good to hear, for the sake of £20 I will probably end up getting it, considering it's a Lifetime license a future version may end up bringing in the features I want.

OBS while I'm sure technically great, looks like it has a steeper learning curve. Comparing the screenshots I do feel more comfortable to get going with Action.

[Saracen999]

...
.
As you have experience of OBS, you'll be able to compare it in greater detail than me.
....

Hmmm. I think I need to rephrase. When I said I went "straight for OBS", the long-form version of that is .... found out what a few people use, including a YouTuber friend of mine (which was OBS) so watched a few tutorials, then downloaded it, ready for use on the system I'm cuurrently spec'ing up, and parts-hunting for, but don't yet have.

My read on OBS is that, yeah, it has a learning curve but not as much as screenshots make it look. But there's always a linkage between versatility in the software and at least an element of learning curve. It all depends on what you want to do. Put it this way, you don't get Photoshop to just crop your holiday snaps, and (with an exception or two) you don't go looking for free or cheap 'domestic' video tools to make a $100m Hollywood movie. (Yeah, that analogy might run into an issue over DaVinci Resolve, but the principle is sound).

Anyway, my point is OBS might be overkill, or might be worth the learning curve depending on your needs .... and inclinations. I don't need it, but having spoken to friends and watched the tutorials, it appeals to me as, after a bit of unintuitive setup and jargon-learning, simple enough for simple tasks but powerful enough for anything I'm ever likely to want. I'd rather face off against the learning curve now than get used to something simpler now then maybe bump up hard into the limitations of something simpler and have to switch. I hadn't see Action!, though.

Actual experience though, is, how should I put it .... limited? To none.

The Elgato is a bit different, and for a different project. But that's an analogue capture card, for VHS, DVD via scart/S-video, etc. I tried various 'cheap' options, which varied from okay but with limitations making them useless to me, to out and out junk.

[Saracen999]

Action Review ....

....
As you have experience of OBS, you'll be able to compare it in greater detail than me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bUMgqHt_CA

Sorry, I had to give up on that. It was giving me a headache. It seemed to me to be a masterclass in how NOT to do a video tutorial or review. My advice to the maker would be :-

First, evidently it was either totally unscripted, or he wasn't following it because his speech clearly followed his thought process and as a result, was garbled and jumped all over the place to clarify something he really should have already said, making it irritating to try and follow. Oh, and knock off the nervous "umm, er yeah ..." before getting back on point, all the time. And secondly, using the mouse to illustrate what you're talking about is one thing, but making it dance all over the screen like it has a termite infestation in it's underwear is entirely another. By all means turn on a mouse hightlighter (makes it easier to see) and point at what you're selecting or referring to, but don't wave the damn thing all over the screen like a demented Tasmanian Devil on amphetamines. It might feel to him like it's illustrating something, but to a viewer, they'll spend about half their concentration just trying to see where the mouse cursor is going in case it matters.

No matter how good the tutorial/review otherwise is, those sorts of 101 errors make it unwatchable for me. YMMV, of course.



Note: A video doesn't want to seem scripted, either, if it looses all energy by doing so. The art is to pretty carefully follow the structure of a script but making it seem/sound like natural flow.

[AGTDenton]

Action Review ....
Sorry, I had to give up on that. It was giving me a headache. It seemed to me to be a masterclass in how NOT to do a video tutorial or review. My advice to the maker would be :-

First, evidently it was either totally unscripted, or he wasn't following it because his speech clearly followed his thought process and as a result, was garbled and jumped all over the place to clarify something he really should have already said, making it irritating to try and follow. Oh, and knock off the nervous "umm, er yeah ..." before getting back on point, all the time. And secondly, using the mouse to illustrate what you're talking about is one thing, but making it dance all over the screen like it has a termite infestation in it's underwear is entirely another. By all means turn on a mouse hightlighter (makes it easier to see) and point at what you're selecting or referring to, but don't wave the damn thing all over the screen like a demented Tasmanian Devil on amphetamines. It might feel to him like it's illustrating something, but to a viewer, they'll spend about half their concentration just trying to see where the mouse cursor is going in case it matters.

No matter how good the tutorial/review otherwise is, those sorts of 101 errors make it unwatchable for me. YMMV, of course.

Sorry I should have emphasised it was the best of a very bad bunch. I mainly watched it for the visuals and not the commentary as he skipped over so much that would have been useful. Maybe my first tutorial video should be Action 4

Note: A video doesn't want to seem scripted, either, if it looses all energy by doing so. The art is to pretty carefully follow the structure of a script but making it seem/sound like natural flow.

I will most likely fall down this trap but know exactly what you mean, most of the QuakeCon stuff I've watched is beyond cringeworthy! And the Windows 11 one where the guy almost breaks down in tears was another level.

[AGTDenton]

Just adding to the list of potential softwares, discovered XSplit
Looks pretty impressive. Although it appears to be geared more towards live streaming, some of the upcoming applications they're developing look very interesting for desktop recording and it's an attractive price for a Lifetime subscription. Looks like they have a decent demo.

https://www.xsplit.com/

I'm still speccing up a PC so will be a couple of weeks before I can actually test anything.

[AGTDenton]

I've spotted Action (https://mirillis.com/en/products/action.html) seems to be a pretty good all round bit of kit and looks fairly easy to learn.
Similarly TechSmiths Camtasia seems to have evolved into a very good application aimed at tutorial creation.

It's been a very long time since I did any tutorial type things and always used basic free software which was limiting.

I bought Action years ago, haven't used it in a while but was certainly straight forward to use and worked without issue and didn't seem to bog the computer down which at the time with a dual core was most helpful!

Finally revisiting this and I went with Action for the princely sum of £13.83
For a lifetime activation, excellent value and currently looks like their excahnge rate is out of date, as it's $20 US.

It looks like I can have up to 3 audio tracks for non streaming videos; Primary, Secondary & Additional.
Unfortunately the Additional input track is recorded to a separate file, so there's synching to be mindful of, if there's a problem I'll update.
For what I want to do I'm sure it won't be an issue.

Initial test with a Twitch live stream, which was very easy to setup.
Quality was off however, lego sized in places. Turns out the default bit rate is quite low but also I have an Ultra Wide and broadcast in the default. It is possible to use Ultrawide.
I'll ramp up the bitrate to 6000Mbps (or as close as I can get, the slider isn't very accurate to use) and change the resolution for the next trial run.

While there's not a lot of settings, it feels enough for the app.

Overall very pleased and might in the end meet my needs for both projects, certainly good enough to get started with.


Note: XSplit have since removed any mention of their upcoming beta software, which is a shame it looked like a good package.

[AGTDenton]

Having spent some time now with Mirilis Action 4 I can give a mini review:

• Overall very easy to use whether it's livestream or desktop recording.
• Ability to save any livestream content without having to download it from where you published it.
• Connects to the most popular livestream services with ease.
• Very high quality screen/desktop recording
• Good customisation options to video & audio, without being too advanced.
• No noticable performance hit

It only really has one bad point:


No matter what advice I've received or tutorial read I just can't get a good quality livestream with any configuration.
Unfortunately support has been a little lacking from Mirilis on this one.
Any fast paced movement just looks like duplo bricks all over the screen and not nice to watch for anyone.
As soon as I switch to nVidia's in game stream it's mostly fine. Though nVidia lacks any decent customisation.

If only Mirilis could work out why I'm having problems I wouldn't need to consider anything else.



However, interestingly I just found out that I get a free 1 year xsplit Broadcaster subscription with my ASUS TUF Card. (EDIT: and it includes VCam)
If anyone else has an ASUS TUF, you might qualify: https://www.asus.com/event/2015/VGA/XSPLIT/index.aspx

I will now give that a go and see how I get on.

[MrJim]

I've only ever used OBS Studio for game capture, using the Nvenc codec. It's obviously free to use, & there are loads of tutorials on Youtube. Although it wasn't so intuitive that I din't need to refer to a tutorial, it wasn't that difficult to set up as I remember.

[AGTDenton]

I've only ever used OBS Studio for game capture, using the Nvenc codec. It's obviously free to use, & there are loads of tutorials on Youtube. Although it wasn't so intuitive that I din't need to refer to a tutorial, it wasn't that difficult to set up as I remember.

Having looked at xsplit this afternoon I've managed to achieve a higher quality livestream over Action, one that I would be happy going ahead with.

From what I've seen today of OBS in YouTube videos & screenshots, xSplit and OBS are similar in their approach, with the likes of the GUI & their interpretation of scenes etc..

However, for me the advantage of Action is it does away with the scenes approach offering a much simpler interface.
In fact once you've configured everything how you like such as the resolution & bitrate, after that it's a simple hotkey. With xSplit I have to mess around configuring the scene, of which most of the features I wouldn't use, and for some reason there's no default hotkeys setup for livestreaming so out the box I have to alt+tab. A minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but the scenes stuff I can't escape from. I see it's advantages of course, very useful for people wanting to include a webcam and adrolls or whatever during the live stream.

Both xsplit & Action support the NVenc codec. Action actually has more options, though none make a difference in my eyes, however, I don't have an HDR monitor/TV to test one of those options.

Now that I have a worthy comparrison I will persevere with Action support as I can upload my videos for them to see.

I may still install OBS tomorrow as a 3rd test.