Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~ Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I just received an email from Beepa this morning informing me that a new version of Frap is available. From what I can tell, there are two big improvements: * The CPU burden for Fraps has been significantly reduced. Personally, Fraps has always had a minimal impact on my framerates while recording. However, I did test the latest version with Crysis; with previous versions, recording gameplay frequently caused the FPS to drop as low as 20. Now, while still not ideal, Crysis is consistently playable while recording. Everything else that I normally DO record--my multiplayer games--continue to run as smoothly as always. * Previously, Fraps could be set to record your microphone input, but the record feature was ALWAYS ON--all of your sneezes, coughs, and otherwise undesirable background noise were included in your recordings. Fraps now has a feature similar to a Push-To-Talk function in that you can define a keystroke to trigger microphone recording, which I will call Push-To-Record. The only issue that I now have with this feature is that Fraps does not recognize any mouse buttons as a valid trigger for PTR; I normally use MOUSE 4 (a thumb button) to trigger PTT in TS3 and games that support voice chat. In fact, Fraps won't let you use a key-combo either, such as ALT + T--you must use a single-key input. This means that I'll have to find a key that is not bound to a vital function in any game that cannot be remapped (Arma makes this somewhat difficult). I will then need to configure my MOUSE 4 button to act as that keystroke, and after doing that, I will need to reconfigure the PPT bindings for TS3, Ventrillo, and every game with a voice chat feature. Minor issues with keybindings aside, however, I continue to be pleased with the initial investment I made for Fraps (I paid $37 at the time; I don't know what the current price is). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter~SPARTA~ Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I use scroll lock for my PTT for my voice programs. Not many programs (much less games) utilize this key and its not one I'm likely to accidentally bump during normal keyboard use. Then I map scroll lock to my mouse four, like you said, and it works like a charm. Just a suggestion. - JHunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoScream~SPARTA~ Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I'm a lifetime licence holder, love it love it.... $37.00 (dam it was only $25.00 some years ago..... inflation gets us all). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~ Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 I use scroll lock for my PTT for my voice programs. Not many programs (much less games) utilize this key and its not one I'm likely to accidentally bump during normal keyboard use. Then I map scroll lock to my mouse four, like you said, and it works like a charm. Are you CERTAIN Arma doesn't use Scroll Lock? I'll take your word for it and give it a shot today. I just confirmed that Fraps does recognize ScrLk as a valid input for all of its functions, and it's also recognized by the games that have their own built-in chat feature that I commonly use (such as all of Valve's games). The minor downside to doing all of this is that I need to become accustomed to a remap of my mouse button functionality for the purpose of maintaining Back/Forward button functionality with web browsers, back I have already devised a working solution for such purposes. On a completely unrelated note, I have an internal 2TB HDD in my rig that I had been using for backups. I have since purchased an external 2TB for backup operations, and am now using the internal exclusively for Fraps. This might sound like overkill until you consider that recording with Fraps at 60fps and at 1920x1080 resolution chews up 3.9GB per 30 seconds of footage. 2TB allows me the luxury of keeping Fraps running non-stop for lengthy gaming sessions so that I won't miss anything that I would consider worthy of preservation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter~SPARTA~ Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Are you CERTAIN Arma doesn't use Scroll Lock? I'll take your word for it and give it a shot today. I absolutely am not certain about that. Haha. I do not specifically remember having to change any binds within Arma, but its been so long ago that I would have done it, I cannot be sure. - JHunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwing~SPARTA~ Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Hey Fatal, I am totally noob when it comes to recording game video with Fraps or any other software for what it matter. So, I do understand first of all you need a very large drive when you start the process, because FRAPS will create a very large file, but then what do you do? I mean, I am quite sure you will convert whatever final job you got (editing, cutting, converting...). What CODEC and package do you use for your final creation and what is the file size difference? Like to say, this project was a FRAP file 250GB and after editing and encoding it results to be........ Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~ Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 (edited) ...I am totally noob when it comes to recording game video with Fraps or any other software for what it matter...I am quite sure you will convert whatever final job you got (editing, cutting, converting...). What CODEC and package do you use for your final creation and what is the file size difference? Like to say, this project was a FRAP file 250GB and after editing and encoding it results to be........ Hi Batwing, Please keep in mind that anything I mention about Fraps applies to the fully-licensed version. The trial version of Fraps is much more limited in regards to features, and its code is not as fully optimized as the full version. While I'm sure it's obvious that you will get better performance from Fraps with a powerful PC, one other thing I highly recommend is having Fraps save footage to an internal hard drive that is separate from the hard drive you have your games installed on. I would only recommend using an external drive if it has an eSATA connection. Finally, that drive should be defragmented so that there are large chunks of contiguous empty space. Fraps uses it's own proprietary codec to record footage in an .AVI format; you must have Fraps installed on the machine you plan to use for editing. Rest assured that it is easy to produce a final, edited video file that will have a much more manageable file size. The final size of that video is going to depend primarily upon three factors: the resolution of the final render, the codec used for the final render, and the bitrate you use to determine overall quality. Before you begin recording, however, I recommend using the following settings for Fraps: 1. If you have a fast CPU and GPU, set Fraps to record at 60fps, because Fraps will cap your framerate at whatever value you choose while recording. 2. Use the 'Full Size' setting. While this uses more hard drive space for recording, it produces the highest possible quality image. It also reduces CPU load because Fraps doesn't have to capture and then shrink the image. Assuming that you want to produce a high-quality video, there are two codecs that I recommend: 1. For the absolute highest quality, use MPEG-2. If your source video is at 1920x1080 resolution or higher, encode your video using the Blu-Ray spec (1080p); otherwise, use the 720p option. And since you're going all out with this option, use the highest bitrate possible (32000kbps), because the increase in file size is worth it for the cleaner output. Using these settings, a 5-minute video will be approximately 1GB in size. If your source video is not in widescreen format, use option 2. 2. For very high quality video with smaller files sizes, use WMV with the highest bitrate (10000kbps) at 30fps. At 1920x1080, each minute of video uses somewhere between 80MB and 100MB of hard drive space. WMV is suitable for any aspect ratio. YouTube will accept uploads in either of these formats, as well as several others. The question now becomes, "What software should I use to edit/render my videos?" I cannot stress enough how much easier and more satisfying video editing will be by choosing a commercial, consumer-targeted software package. While there are some free options available (I'll recommend one in a moment), there are two very affordable packages that I recommend: 1. Cyberlink PowerDirector 9 Ultra64: This package costs $99 from Cyberlink's website or from retail outlets. It is hands-down the best consumer package available. And, as its name suggests, it is the first--and so far only--editing package for hobbyists (as opposed to professionals) that uses 64-bit code. It runs smoother, it renders faster, and it can utilize more than 3GB of RAM if you have it (obviously, you need Vista/Win7 64-bit). It is slightly more complicated and has a steeper learning curve than my second recommendation, but this is because it is much more powerful and packs more features. Cyberlink also has several tutorial videos online that will teach you all of the basics plus some of the advanced features. If you have a 64-bit machine, there really is no reason to choose option number 2, but... ** EDIT** If you have an Nvidia card that supports CUDA, PowerDirector 9 Ultra64 will also utilize your GPU to speed up rendering. 2. Adobe Premiere Elements 9 is pretty good, and overall, it is a bit easier to use than PowerDirector 9. It also costs $99, but if you order directly from Adobe's website, you are eligible for a $20 mail-in rebate. Rather than go into the details of each package, if you want more specific information, read the excellent reviews of these products at PC Magazine's website (pcmagazine.com). As far as free options are concerned, there really is only one that I think is worth the trouble to get it working: VirtualDub. The problem with V-Dub is that, compared to commercial products, it lacks polish and is an absolute chore to use. You REALLY have to understand editing and codecs to make it work for you. Furthermore, depending on what you want to accomplish with your videos, you'll have to download a multitude of separate add-ons and codec packs just to get some basic functionality. V-Dub does not come pre-packaged with any codecs; you'll need to hunt them down and install them on your own. It does work, but what you'll save in regards to money will likely be offset by a high level of frustration in getting it operational. A lot of this information has been very general in nature, but hopefully helpful. Please feel free to ask for more specific information if needed. Edited February 26, 2011 by Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwing~SPARTA~ Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Thanks a lot, way better understanding now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~ Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 (edited) Thanks a lot, way better understanding now Glad to be of help. Also, although you may already know this, I should have mentioned: the two software packages I recommended come packaged with the codecs I mentioned plus several others, plus all sorts of special effects, transitions, and titles that can be applied to your videos. In both cases, there are already several pre-configured profiles that you can choose from. The only tweaking I had to do to those profiles was to manually adjust the bitrates to higher values. Even without doing so, you'll get good results. I also edited my previous post to mention that PowerDirector 9 will utilize Nvidia GPUs that support CUDA to speed up the rendering process. ** EDIT ** See PowerDirector 9 in action with these tutorial videos. Edited February 26, 2011 by Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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