Zoom conference recording in h265 ?

[dxellas]

Hello everybody,

I am participating in a video conference series which I would like to record for preparation to an examination which will take place in a year.

After searching and reading quite a lot without any further result I decided to ask if there is a simple way to record the Zoom window so that the files don't result in huge size as with h264 it is the case by using iFun Screen Recorder which would cover my needs but doesn't seem to let me choose h265.

Thank you in advance for the interest reading my issue and hope to get some advice.
Best regards to all.

[jagabo]

If you're getting "huge" videos with h.264 you will get maybe 2/3 of huge with h.265. It's likely you just chose bad settings (too high a bitrate) for the h.264 encoder. Especially if this is a talking head type stream.

[Cornucopia]

If you have a pro license with zoom, it will allow you to record either locally or in the cloud. Cloud recording is quite efficient and versatile, giving you multiple viewport options. It does use h.264, but is quite efficient (as rarely is a session set up to be > 720p15, particularly for all parties), so it is unusual for recordings to be "HUGE".
IIRC, previously zoom used vfr as well, but I believe that if standards-compliant mp4 filesaving is checked (recommended), those files are now all cfr. But they certainly are all vbr/cq/crf, and because one is using their own back-end cloud resources to do the recordings, it is both realtime, efficient, and about as high a quality as you would reasonably expect to get from such meetings, especially when one doesn't often have direct control over all the parties' link bandwidths.


Scott

[dxellas]

Hello and thanks for your replies,

My monitor (25") resolution is 2560x1440.
I recorded the videos keeping this high. Maybe this is what the files makes big.
For example a recording in iFun Screen Recorder of just 1h16min created a file of 18GB.
Every day the video sessions last 7-8h so that is no option at all so I am wondering how I could reduce the file size without losing a lot of quality.

These are the settings I am using:


I cannot understand why 1080p/50 ts h265 recordings on my E² receivers are of reasonable size and offer very good quality as well.
For example a file of 45mins just needs 1,3GB.
Other recordings may need a little more (depending on the bitrate) but never getting above 3GB per hour.
So this is far less than the recordings of iFun Screen Recorder.

Recording using Zoom is not possible since I am not the host and the record button is inactive for us simple participants.

Can I do anything else or do I have to stick with just recording the Audio without Video ?

[jagabo]

You're recording at about 30 Mb/s. I don't see any explicit bitrate setting in the image you posted. What happens if you lower the Quality setting? (That may be the bitrate control.) Does the recorded filet get smaller? Is the visual quality noticeably worse? Lowering the the frame size will allow you to get lower bitrates too. And the zoom broadcast probably isn't 2560x1440 resolution anyway. So a lower resolution may look just fine. Using a lower frame rate can lower the bitrate requirement too. A talking head video will get a little jerky at 15 fps but is that critical? And it won't make any difference at all with static images and charts.

[dxellas]

I have changed to 1920x1080/24 with quality=standard and a 1min test file was about 38MB small. That's quite ok and the result is ok as well for my needs.

But iFun Screen Recorder seems not to be the ideal application since I would like to record just anything from Zoom and not my desktop.
Is there any alternative I could try ?

[smrpix]

As Cornucopia said, the most effective way to capture a Zoom meeting is to use Zoom's own record tools. (If you are not the meeting host, the host can give you permission. ) Zoom will give you each camera and audio track separately if you want as well as a composite view -- and the file sizes are unbelievably efficient.

[dxellas]

The host is often changing and I don't risk to ask about permission.
As I mentioned before this is just for personal use as this way it would be easier to prepare for the examination.
But thanks anyway for the hint.

[Cornucopia]

If you don't have the express permission from the host, and, by extension, those other participants, you could very well be violating their privacy rights. There is a way to do this properly, and other ways. We've already told you the proper way.


Scott

[dxellas]

The other participants are ok with it (as with recording just the audio) since they as well are interested in a recording of the sessions. This is the first thing I have done asking explicitely everybody if it is ok and yes they liked the idea as well.
Just the hoster (or more likely the organisation he/she is working for) might be not ok with it because theoretically one might be sharing it by uploading on video platforms.
And no there is no secret content discussing about just common basic knowledge on specific topics.
Not everybody out there is a bad guy but just wants to makes its life a little bit easier.

[smrpix]

And the zoom broadcast probably isn't 2560x1440 resolution anyway. So a lower resolution may look just fine. Using a lower frame rate can lower the bitrate requirement too. A talking head video will get a little jerky at 15 fps but is that critical? And it won't make any difference at all with static images and charts.

Agreed, Zoom's default settings are 1280x720 at 25 fps. Dxellas is overdoing it for the task at hand.

[dxellas]

And the zoom broadcast probably isn't 2560x1440 resolution anyway. So a lower resolution may look just fine. Using a lower frame rate can lower the bitrate requirement too. A talking head video will get a little jerky at 15 fps but is that critical? And it won't make any difference at all with static images and charts.

Agreed, Zoom's default settings are 1280x720 at 25 fps. Dxellas is overdoing it for the task at hand.

Thanks for that info. I have reduced now the video resolution to these values.
Any alternative to iFun Screen Recorder would be highly appreciated so that I can change to other windows while just recording the Zoom session.

[JoseFinol]

I can totally relate to the need to record Zoom meetings for exam preparation. It's great that you're proactively seeking a solution.