Video/Game capture for a 1.9 GHz computer?

[Electroshock Therapy]

Hiya everybody!

So I'm going crazy (we're on a good start, eh?) and I've suddenly become in need of a complex and systematic hobby. Gameplay capturing and guide making crept up in my noggin several months ago and the urge hasn't gone away. However, everywhere I look, every method or product I look at has a minimum CPU requirement of 2.0 GHz.

This kinda boggles me. I bought my laptop a year ago with an Intel Pentium 1.90 GHz. I needed something quick because my old one was ancient and couldn't upgrade from XP during the XP Death of 2014, and I this is the best I could afford. Anyway, it seems strange to me that a simple but modern computer can handle quite a bit, but can't handle recorded footage because it be get all choppy? That's what everyone is telling me anyway.

So does anyone know of a method or product that I can use for my little ol' computer with a whopping 0.1 GHz "below par" CPU?



I mean, I probably don't need to capture footage to write and design a guide, but holy heck will it be useful and less maddening! Remember, I'm already going crazy!

[Mirage]

I stream 720p/30 at 5 Mbps with a 1.9 ghz dualcore i5. It's no problem.

[Electroshock Therapy]

I'm hoping it wouldn't be a problem, but many people told me that if I tried Elgato or Hauppauge, the footage will be choppy.

Now I tried to use a free recorder and tested it on a PC game, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. It's a fairly big adventure game, but the gameplay is pretty slow. It's more of a puzzle platformer than an action game, so it's not a strain on my computer graphic-wise. The game runs just fine, but all the recorders I've tried (Camstudio, Fraps, ActivePresenter, Apowersoft) screwed up the video.

I'm thinking this could be two things. 1) My computer just can't handle recording period, or 2) It's because I was recording AND playing a game on my computer at the same time. If it's the latter, then that's okay. That's the only PC game I play anyway; most of my gaming is done on consoles.

So if it's a matter of both playing the game and recording that my PC can't handle, should I risk the money and buy a capture device? For console use, anyway?

[Mirage]

you won't be able to use stream command on elgato, but just normal streaming with no effects or anything will work

[escobert]

I stream horrible quality with my i3@ 3.7 ghz I also play an extremely CPU intensive game that isn't anywhere near optimized yet so that may have some effect.

You can see the quality I'm getting using Overwolf here. I have a Intel i3 dual core @ 3.70ghz, 8gb RAM, solid state drive and a GTX480 with 1.5GB VRAM. My settings say i'm streaming at 720p but I think it lies.

[Mirage]

You also don't have to stream at 720p. You can stream SD as well, that would further reduce CPU requirements.

Edit: I did this with elgato hd60 and OBS at a 2500kbps bitrate. http://www.twitch.tv/pseudopad/v/4574285

Using OBS gives you a more stable stream than elgato's own software, but uses a lot more cpu resources. I can stream at a higher bitrate with the elgato software, but it'll glitch out here and there.

[escobert]

for me, quality isn't a concern as I mostly just record to save my own ass in case of hacking/glitching or rule breaking. then I have video proof.

[Electroshock Therapy]

I've been delving more into their help pages, and they say Pentium processors don't meet specification. Mirage, I know you said you have a 1.9 GHz processor and it works, but I wonder if that's because you have an i5 processor? I don't know. I really need a time-consuming hobby, but I'm wary about spending too much money on something that won't work on my computer.


So I'm still unsure. :/

EDIT: I was looking at HD60. Seeing as how I have a PS2, the original HD unit with a cable converter is what I should be looking at. It just says I won't be able to use all features. How much is "all" I guess I wouldn't know until I find out. I just want to record, not stream.

[Electroshock Therapy]

Well, I just got mine in today. I can record smoothly at 720p so that's cool. I tried 1080p but the video got hung up on processing. Oh well. The video was a bit choppy anyway. So at I know the limitations there. It's not a big deal for what I'm trying to do. I don't know how well streaming will work. But seeing as how it's not something I'm particularly interested in, then that's no big deal. So far I'm pretty happy.