Desktop capturing software

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garetjax27

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 24, 2006
Messages
187
What does everyone use for recording their desktop screen? I'm using FRAPs, and not really happy with it.

Curious to see what everyone uses for capturing video on their desktop.

Thanks!
 
Try OBS. You can set it to save to your hard drive and record any games or application (set it to just record an area). It's also free.
 
Does OBS allow multi-monitor display? For example, can it record an Adobe Connect seminar on my secondary monitor while I'm surfing the web/checking email on my primary display?
 
I've used Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 for recording short software tutorials and that kind of thing. Has a lot of features and options. Limited to 10 minutes of recording if you use the free version.

Also, I'm not sure if this product is considered current or still in production by Microsoft, or if it's just a stale download that no one at MS has bothered to remove yet.

But it's nice, if you want to have access to local / editable files, as opposed to web-based options like screencast, which can be useful for quick and dirty screen recordings.

Edit: I just took a look at the OBS tool mentioned. I'll have to give that a try next time. Thanks for sharing that one.
 
Why aren't you happy with Fraps? I use it all the time because it's one of the few that can record DWM (basically the desktop) losslessly.
 
I used Fraps for years, but now I just use nVidia's Shadowplay (it has a desktop capture option). At minimum you'd need a ~$100 for a compatible card, and it is lossy, but the lessened performance hit really is great.

I think higher-end cards can crank up the video bitrate, but obviously lossy means not for every application.
 
I was using FRAPs, problem is that the file it created was ginormous, and for some reason, it's recording so that everything is upside down when you play it back. WTF.

Anyway, I tried out OBS Studio, as recommended by King Icewind, and absolutely love it. Does exactly what I want, it's free, and the features are way more robust compared to FRAPs. But, like Nick Arthur mentioned, initial setup is a pain in the ass with all the options and settings to choose from.

Thanks to all for the recommendations though; I completely forgot about Shadowplay.
 
Are you guys using FRAPS still on Windows 7? I could not get it to work on Windows 8. It wouldn't record the desktop at all, and was flaky about recording video parts within browsers. It worked fine on 7, but appears to be abandoned going forward.
 
Last I heard it still can't record the desktop in Windows 8, but Beepa is still working on Fraps, despite not having released a new version in more than 3 years.
 
Bandicam is better than Fraps IMO, if you are going to pay for one. Can do all the same things as Fraps too.
 
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