What is the best video capturing software?

[SquadronLeader 61]

Hi, I would appreciate your thoughts as to what is the best software for capturing flights in video on both MSFS 2020 and P3D - both freeware and payware.

Video editing can be done in another programme - is just your recommendations for capturing the video.

 

Thanks

[neilhewitt 494]

OBS by a country mile. It's the most flexible and powerful, and it has very small overhead. It has no effect on the sim (some other capture methods do seem to cause problems).

There's a bit of a learning curve and you need to set it up properly to get the best out of it, but there's plenty of documentation online. And as it's open source, it's free.

Open Broadcaster Software | OBS (obsproject.com)

(Note that you'll see most people talking about streaming with it, and yes, it can stream, it's what most streamers use, but it's a brilliant recorder too.)

[SquadronLeader 61]

Thanks Neil

[vonmar 123]

I have used NCH Debut for years.

https://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html

 

[320Driver 63]

9 hours ago, neilhewitt said:

OBS by a country mile. It's the most flexible and powerful, and it has very small overhead. It has no effect on the sim (some other capture methods do seem to cause problems).

Thanks for that info, it looks indeed very useful.

[newtie 533]

Not sure it's the best (whatever that may mean) but I used Camtasia extensively in my prior life as an instructional technologist. Excellent compression utilities.

Free 30 day trial if I'm not mistaken.

Cheers,

Mark

[Chock 17,769]

Depends to some extent on your set up, the length of video you want to capture, and the final intent of the video and where it will be viewed. FRAPS is good for some stuff and fairly flexible, but it produces quite large files and doesn't work with some sims. I used to use it for recording my youtube videos but switched to using the built-in ATI one for my video card when it stopped being able to record P3D for a while (they have fixed that and I think you can now use it, but I am happy with the switch I made). There is an equivalent NVidia capture capability for their cards which can be used in a similar fashion to the ATI one I use as far as I'm aware, and these are good because your GPU is already processing the data anyway, so they are the lowest in terms of overhead and can also be used for streaming if that's what you want.

GPU capturing capabilities usually allow you to capture at lesser or greater frame rates and downsampling or upsampling as well, and they will also capture desktop and either a hot mike or via PTT, so there is flexibility there for V/Os as well as final rendering intents. The format will go into most NLEs directly (I use Adobe Premiere Pro for that, which can also do V/Os for any corrections you may need to make, if you are creating reviews, tutorials or some such). If you need a good microphone, I can recommend the Blue Snowball incidentally, which is USB so and comes with a small desktop tripod stand, so it's small and easy to position.

If you are doing tutorials or something like that, Adobe Captivate is a good choice, since it can record all kinds of different modes and create standalone emulations of software for training. The only downside to it really is that it isn't part of the Adobe Creative Suite, so it requires an additional purchase, but it is certainly a very good solution for training and relatively easy to get to grips with. There is a freebie trial available for it.

Personally, if it just streaming and youtube/vimeo vids you are making, then I'd say give your GPU's recording capabilities a try and then maybe edit in Windows Live Movie Maker if you don't want to spend any cash at all. If you want a bit more in the way of production values, then Adobe Premiere Pro would be my recommendation for editing stuff, unless you are using a Mac, in which case Final Cut Pro would be my recommendation for that.

Last but not least, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you get yourself a pair of Monitor headphones (also known as DJ headphones) for video production. The reason for this is that you want to master a video at the editing stage with audio reproduction which has a flat response when at -12dB. Lots of people don't do this and instead edit their stuff on their 'super-duper bass-enhancing headphones' or speaker systems, which sounds great to them of course, but when anyone else listens to it and they don't have that exact same audio set up, they won't hear what you heard on your super-duper bass-enhancing headphones and instead will usually hear something which sounds cack on their different audio system. If on the other hand, it sounds alright on a set of monitor headphones, the chances are it will be okay on everyone else's computer/phone/ipad etc.

 

[Rogen 1,087]

A while back I trialed them all looking for the most sutable for myself.

And settled on Action! as all the others were lacking in one way or another (you know that one item you really want but is not there).

It had a trial version, an active forum, regular updates, was simple to use with a selection of recording methods and FPS choices and can visualise mouse clicks and separately record mic to a alternate sound file.

To put the vids together I've recently discovered DaVinci Resolve which has available a free version (limited but more than adequate for my use).

Check this vid, captured by Action! and pieced together by DaVinci Resolve

Cheers