Best recording application

Over the past few weeks I've been testing and comparing many different recording applications to see which is the best. I ended up picking Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) many of you who watch Twitch streams like myself or the occasional YouTube VOD may have noticed it is very popular in the streaming community. This is widely due to the fact that it's completely free, open source and offers many features all in a small light weight package. While it is a superior streaming utility it's recording functional and performance is unmatched.

The feature that makes this application stand out from the rest is it supports both NVIDIA Shadowplay and AMDs VCE. These technologies allows you record both manually (start recording -> stop recording) or using a buffer (continuously record 0-30minutes) without any performance penalty. NVIDIA has their own application for this called Shadowplay but it’s very buggy and the functionally isn't that great. OBS supports the NVENC codec (Shadowplay technology), AMD VCE and their own called Replay Buffer designed for users without supported NVIDIA and AMD cards.

So if you are currently using Bandicam, FRAPS, or any other recording application I suggest trying out OBS. Since I've had any issues so far and the quality, performance, and functionality is superb not to mention it's free. Below are some useful guides I used to help get everything setup if you run into any issues or have any questions feel free to drop me a PM or reply below
https://obsproject.com/

Guides:
https://oc.tc/forums/topics/531a511512ca956f8700a54d - Setting up OBS [Low quality settings]
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/how-to-make-high-quality-local-recordings.16/ - Setting the quality to high
https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/how-to-use-the-replay-buffer.103/ - How to utilize the replay buffer system
http://www.overclock.net/t/1487972/obs-with-nvenc-tutorial-337-50-fix-included - How to use NVENC (shadowplay)
https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/obs-branch-with-amd-vce-support.13996/ - For users with AMD GPUs
http://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/1w2d1s/howto_shadowplay_1080p_30fps60fps_h264_game/ - How to setup AMD APP

These are just a few, there are far more detailed guides and YouTube videos available as well.

TLDR: Bandicam, FRAPS etc.. sucks switch to Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)

 

@Aqualie since you say so, I will try it now. Last time I tried streaming with it I had a pretty major issue because it could not record in complete Full Screen and when I was recording in Windowed Full Screen the Windows Aero was also being rendered by the integrated GPU simultaneously causing serious unnecessary lag.

 

Also if you have AMD graphics card you can use your GPU to stream, no FPS drops at all and it won't be using your CPU.
https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/obs-branch-with-amd-vce-support.13996/

 

I believe I remember seeing this issue while I was looking into NVENC on the OBS forums it should be resolved by now.

Nice find, I wasn't aware AMD had similar technology. I'll update OP with this information.

 

Ohh its a cool recording software
But I prefer using this https://mirillis.com/en/products/action.html
It's not free after 30 days but I like it Best Recording software I've ever had!

 

NVENC failed to initialize even with the replaced DDLs but I think I'll keep them for now and see if my driver keeps crashing as with the latest version of it o:
However, I found my perfect setting using QuickSync as encoder at 1.5MB/s, 30FPS with no visible quality loss which is great! (Note that while I record my actual FPS is 20 higher than what Bandicam delivered)

edit: first BSOD with new-old drivers xD

 

msi afterburner ....60 fps ingame....60 fps on record...

 

I'm using the latest drivers as well (347.52) with the NVENC Preset set to High quality and haven't had any issues so far. For my second client I am using my CPU with the x264 codec at medium-high quality, both are set at 60FPS and uncapped bitrate. To find out why your NVENC is failing to initialize use the "Upload current log file" utility under the Help -> Log Files menu and then click the analyze button to view a generated error report or copying the URL into your browser providing the complete log file itself.

 

ohh i saw this and its cool to use. nice

 

This came at the right time for me as I'm not at home right now and can't play the game since the internet where I am currently at isn't good enough while at the same time, I've been trying to find out how to take game videos without so much FPS drops after giving up on the idea long ago. Thanks for sharing this one, it seems I finally bumped to one that might just work for me.

Among all the game recording application I have tried, this one certainly comes on top. It doesn't drop my FPS as much as fraps, bandicam or razer cortex but I'm still not satisfied enough with the results to take game videos myself and upload them for other people to watch. I'm getting 30-40 FPS while recording, if I don't, I get 50-60+ FPS. I did a little more searching on how I can possibly improve FPS (without having to upgrade hardware) while recording and something common came up from all the results and that is using different hard drives to separate the workload. When I get back home, I'll try copying Aion into one of my external hard drives, then have another external hard drive where the game footage will be saved which would leave my laptop's hard drive just busy running the OS. I really hope that all these together would work so I can finally take and upload my own PvP videos.

It's just to bad for me that my GPU doesn't support VCE

 

@Stark we might just do a double-POV duel vid now that I kinda can record as well ;p

 

Depending on how long you plan on recording I suggest trying out the Replay Buffer feature which can store a continuous stream of up to 30 minutes in a buffer (RAM/memory). Which you can later commit to storage at any time without having to suffer from continuous write operations while you're recording.

 

i'll try then.......