Screen Recorders and recording from consoles.

[MJN SEIFER]

I'm going to start YouTubing as soon as I can, and one of the things I will do is, of course, Let's Plays. Firstly what do you use to record off your actual consoles, because if you download a Screen Recorder, it will only record things on the computer, right? So if I wanted to do a Let's Play of a PlayStation game for example, what should I use?

Also, as I will still need to record things from the computer (not just for gaming) are their any Screen Recorders you can recommend? Are there any that are safe and legal to download, or do I have to buy them too?

Finally will the device I use for recording from consoles record anything from television, because I want to do things like animation reviews as well?

I will try to look myself, but I thought I'd ask to make things easier.

[Skyblade]

OBS (https://obsproject.com/) is a common free download starting point for screen capture. Built for streaming and recording, it was what I used when I first started out. X-Split (https://www.xsplit.com/) is a closed source recording/broadcasting software, with greater capability and a free version. But they also have a paid subscription service (or lifetime subscription for currently only $200, which I'm actually considering getting, since currently I'm on a one-year subscription which came with my video card when I built my new computer) that unlocks several of the more versatile and powerful features.

As for capture devices, AverMedia makes some quite good ones, with the AverMedia Live Gamer Portable (http://www.avermedia.com/gaming/product/game_capture/live_gamer_portable) being one of the most unique, as it allows you to record game video and audio even away from your computer (though it only records microphone input as well when connected to your PC), but Elgato has become the most popular recently. I myself use an Elgato HD60 Pro (https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/game-capture-hd60-pro), which is an internal card that connects to a PCIe slot. They also have external ones which connect to your computer with a USB card, like the HD60S (https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/game-capture-hd60-s).

A separate piece of hardware is needed, because your computer likely does not have a method of accepting audio/video input. Most video cards will have output methods (many these days will even have multiple output ports), but accepting video input is not typically supported.

Capture Devices are essentially a branching throughput. They take the output of your console, and broadcast it through a USB or other connection to your PC, while simultaneously sending it through another connection to your TV. Each of them also will come with a program to translate the signal your computer gets into something that you can see on your PC. Most of them will also include streaming or recording functionality built-in, or you can use screen capture or application capture to record them through other recording/broadcasting software (such as OBS or X-Split).

Most of the software used these days handles both recording and streaming, and will accept game audio and video, as well as microphone input for commentary.

[MJN SEIFER]

Thank you for responding. I tried downloading OBS and I got both 32Bit and 64bit; the latter doesn't work because I don't have a .dll and still doesn't even after I download it and place it where I'm told (it might work after I reboot, I don't know, I'm just guessing) and the former works, but I can't quite figure it just yet - I can't get what I record to play, if I'm looking at the right things.

I downloaded X-Split but when I clicked on it, it asked me to register - does this mean that I downloaded the paying version, or does it do this if you download the free as well (and is registration free)?

Thanks for the help so far.

[Skyblade]

Thank you for responding. I tried downloading OBS and I got both 32Bit and 64bit; the latter doesn't work because I don't have a .dll and still doesn't even after I download it and place it where I'm told (it might work after I reboot, I don't know, I'm just guessing) and the former works, but I can't quite figure it just yet - I can't get what I record to play, if I'm looking at the right things.

I downloaded X-Split but when I clicked on it, it asked me to register - does this mean that I downloaded the paying version, or does it do this if you download the free as well (and is registration free)?

Thanks for the help so far.

OBS was originally built for streaming specifically, so its recording functionality is kind of annoyingly hidden. If you go into Settings, then the Broadcast Settings tab, there's a button for "automatically save stream to file". Click it. Also adjust the File Path to where you want the videos to be saved.

Registration for X-Split is free. Just have to create an account with them.

On both, you have to then select the recording source. For OBS right click in the "Sources" page, and select "Add", then whichever you're going to use (Window Capture or Game Capture being the most commonly used for actual games, though you can also capture images to use for layouts). For XSplitBroadcaster, it's just the "Add" button at the bottom of the screen, then Game Capture if it's playing a game the system recognizes, or screen capture if what you're playing isn't on the list (or if you're using a capture card, as that software isn't usually recognized as a game).

[Marshall Banana]

I use StarTech's USB3HDCAP device, and I output from an old broadcast monitor (Sony BVM -- it's awesome) that my husband and I use when playing our old consoles (PS2 and older). I think, in this case, we also split game audio between our speakers and our StarTech device, capturing audio separately from video. If we need to capture from a modern console, we use an HDMI splitter, to send the signal to both our TV and our StarTech. The StarTech connects to our PCs via USB 3, where we use OBS to stream or record.

Modern consoles are much easier to capture from, since most capture devices are meant for them, seems. Capturing video from older consoles is simpler than I described if you aren't picky about video quality, but it can become tricky otherwise.

[Mirage]

I use an Elgato HD60 for capturing from consoles that output through HDMI, but it does not work on PS3, because you can't turn off the HDCP encryption on that console. There are devices available that decrypts it for you, but I can't vouch for them as I've never used them. I expect them to introduce some lag, and perhaps degrade the quality a bit.

For PS3 (and PS2, Gamecube and other consoles without HDMI), I use an analogue capture device with component RGB cables (not the standard bundled yellow composite cable). While an analogue interface, this is still good enough for 720p/1080i, and the very minor analogue signal interference you might experience will surely be minuscule compared to the quality loss you get from the compression done by your computer prior to streaming it. For this, I use a Roxio game capture pro, but I can't recommend it to others as I find the software bundled with it terrible, and it doesn't play nice with OBS and other streaming programs.

[Marshall Banana]

Oh, Mirage, you can get around that PS3 issue with an HDMI splitter...for some reason. I have no idea why that works, but it does.

Edit: Splitters are pretty cheap, too. About $20 - $25.

[MJN SEIFER]

I faffed about with OBS, and it looks like it can do what I want for screen recording (it actually turns out that I was saving the recording as the wrong format, so they wouldn't play). I shall check out the capture devices suggested when I can.

Thanks for helping, everyone :)

[Darth Ganon]

Are there any decent inexpensive HDMI capture devices (like no more than $50)? I'd like to just test the waters rather than dive right into some $100-200 equipment.

I tried the Dazzle for composite recording and it worked fine, but it was difficult to manage with only one screen. Now that I have a second monitor I'd like to dabble in this again.