Recommendations on good free screen recorder

[technicality1]

Hi,

Not sure if this is in the right section. But does anyone know if there is a good free video screen recording software, and one which isn't a trial, dosent have any adware included, and hasnt got a time limit on it?. I've tried a trial version of Ice cream recorder, which I was quite impressed with, but it only limits you to 10 mins per recording. Ive heard VLC can screen record, but evertime I try it nothing happens or it shuts down.

[pippas]

I don't think the free version of Debut has any time or trial restrictions?.. although some features may be in the paid version only

I've been using it for about 7 months now... just a snag screen when you open, to confirm 'home' use

See here: http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/

(See the 'get it free' notice near the top of the page)

[technicality1]

I don't think the free version of Debut has any time or trial restrictions?.. although some features may be in the paid version only

I've been using it for about 7 months now... just a snag screen when you open, to confirm 'home' use

See here: http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/

(See the 'get it free' notice near the top of the page)

Thanks for that.

I have used Debut Capture for capturing vhs tapes. I know that it does allow screen recording, but I heard that it doesn't record sound from the computer except from microphone input. I experimented with Debut the other day with the screen record function, however, the results seemed rather poor; the video seemed stuttery even at 25fps. For some reason also, the programme shut down due to error.

[pippas]

I experimented with Debut the other day with the screen record function, however, the results seemed rather poor; the video seemed stuttery even at 25fps

I think you'll find most (if not all?) 'screen record' software runs the risk of 'stuttery' performance. Note the comments by one of this forum's most expert members in post #2 of this thread: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/375981-Creating-animated-titles-with-HTML5-and-CSS3...14#post2424814

I had certainly found the most effective way to overcome this problem - when applied to animation capture - was to slow down the animation by 10, record the screen sequence, and then decimate that video file.

And Debut - although not perfect - dropped fewer frames than the other options I tried....

Also, I found that being able to select an intraframe codec (Grass Valley HQX) to record the video seemed to help with fewer dropped frames, which reduced any resultant 'stuttering',

Of course, slowing down the source file is not always possible, so it seems likely you may get some stuttering, whatever you chose to record the screen with....

Maybe the games recording enthusiasts know of a way to help eliminate stuttering with screen capture software? ...Some of those guys are pretty clued up....

[theewizard]

i don't do game capture
but
there are three things that can influence/change screen capture
Resolution
bitrate
and the codec involved

capturing full screen to a high compression codec like 264 or worse hevc 265
is a sure way to get problems

a 720*480 display is a lot easier to record than a 1920*xxx file
recording in high bitrate avi is less cpu intensive than recording in lower bitrate h264 with high quality compression

record in say 4kb or 6kb avi to a nice LARGE file
you can reduce file size later when you edit and convert or archive the file

oops. don't forget frame rate
try to record in the same rate as the stream, less chance for a glitch or stutter

[Baldrick]

I added NCH Debut to our software screen capture section. I hope the direct link work.


Are you capturing VHS tapes using a capture card? Or how?

[KarMa]

Open Broadcaster Software for x264

[technicality1]

I added NCH Debut to our software screen capture section. I hope the direct link work.


Are you capturing VHS tapes using a capture card? Or how?

One of my aims is to capture decent video/audio from my home videos from vhs. I bought a USB device (climax digital) so that I could use to record from a vhs recorder and capture them in whatever format it could capture them (as regards to old home videos, I'm not that bothered about resolution as long as its decent and acceptable). However, the software that came with it proved to be pretty useless to my tasks, because whenever the tape experienced any kind of jumping the recording would often stop and display a "cannot record" message. Apparently this is due to the software having a copy protection system built in, but my videos are obviously not copy protected. So I basically bought a capture device that wont capture any videos unless the picture doesn't experience any sudden or abrupt jumping. A lot of the tapes are badly worn through playback or poor tape medium or poor storage, and so cannot be fixed.

Since that I decided to try Debut, and it did seem like a good bit of software for capturing from vhs tapes: the settings are a bit confusing though and you have to tinker with the right audio/video settings and set frame rate. The last time I tried it though the captured audio seemed very tinny and distorted. I also used VLC to try and capture from tape, and was quite surprised that it did, except that the picture was quite poor. I know that VLC is not suited for that ki did thing. I think Video Studio Pro does screen recording.

Regarding the screen recording. I have also tried WM Capture, and IMO it is a very good screen recorder, barely any judder or frame stuttering was noticeable from the recordings I tested from YouTube. However the trial only allows for a few minutes.

I tried to download Open Broadcaster software, but for some reason it wouldn't open when downloaded to my laptop. I've heard Open Broadcaster is full of adware and malware.

[William Tarason]

You can try ShadowPlay if you have Nvida graphic card.