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Try again now, it should be fixed I think.
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Dec 13, 2019 11:10
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Recently I bought a Dreamcast VGA cable and HDMI converter for said cable for capture purposes, but what I didn't realize is that this will only get me up to 640x480 as opposed to the minimum of 720x480, which is what my Elgato HD60S demands. What would I need in order to go about upscaling the image from my Dreamcast to, say, 1280x960 so that it will work with my Elgato?
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Dec 20, 2019 06:38
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You can get upscaling VGA-HDMI converters, but they tend to be low quality scalers that may stretch the image in weird ways. A Youtuber whose name I can't spell did a video about VGA capture a while ago, and he did have some tips about equipment for 640x480 capture. One of the major tips was to try to get a scaler box from an ancient LCD TV, before everything got integrated the LCD TVs often had the inputs in an external scaler box, that converted everything to a uniform digital signal, and they were often better quality than the cheap integrated-in-a-cable converters you mostly find today.
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Dec 20, 2019 12:36
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If you want quality, you probably want an OSSC but they aren't a super cheap investment.
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Dec 20, 2019 13:03
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I just ended up going with Redream. The only catch is that you have to kick the devs $5 if you want to crank up the internal resolution, but it properly ran the games I was interested in recording when NullDC wouldn't, so I felt pretty good about it. Might be worth checking out for anyone else who wants to do Dreamcast LP stuff!
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Dec 20, 2019 21:27
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Hey folks, I've been experimenting with GB and GBC games and was struggling to get OBS to record in a lossless/pixel perfect form, even when using its built in AVI recording. Everything I tried resulted in a bit of color compression which looked a bit off. After some fiddling around, I found a useful guide for setting up x264 in OBS to record in what appears to be a lossless quality, at least for GB and GBC games. It's right here if anyone wants to look at it. I can't assure it'll work for everyone, but it seems to work for me so far. It's not my guide, but I hope it's fine to put it here since it seems it's been an issue in the past for some LPers. I figured it may help someone else as well, or at least save them some time.
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Jan 7, 2020 01:58
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I suggest just using BizHawk/VBArr/RetroArch and using the built-in recording.
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Jan 7, 2020 07:49
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Commander Keene posted:I suggest just using BizHawk/VBArr/RetroArch and using the built-in recording. This...this would also be a good idea. Recording at the source is usually better, and typically guaranteed to give you lossless video, even if at the loss of performance. For some reason, I only tried looking at directly GB/GBA emulators and forgot entirely about multi-system emulators. (Original VBA was horribly low performance for me when putting out video.) (How did I manage to forget that BizHawk had built-in recording?  )-- With more testing, this method I found seems to still work losslessly when exporting to a format other than AVI and to larger screen sizes, letting me cut down on disk space and memory usage. I don't pretend to know how video codecs and such work, but if it works, I'll take it. 7 minutes of a DS game at 62.5 MB with audio isn't that bad. BizHawk still does the job well, though.
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Jan 7, 2020 17:11
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You can encode after the fact as a lossless MP4 and save on disk space.
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Jan 7, 2020 21:25
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I'm attempting to do an LP of The Walking Dead series. Everything runs smoothly for me until I hit the record button, as soon as I do it turns into a juddery mess. Even though it's not the most graphically amazing game, turning down the resolution or any graphic options makes it look even more dire. I'm not at home to give an example right now. Is this a RAM issue as my computer isn't able to handle all the resources at once? Edit: I'll hold off until I upgrade my hardware. Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Jan 8, 2020 |
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Jan 8, 2020 21:22
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Some questions: is there an easy way to stitch several screenshots together into a larger image? A game I want to LP has a timeline, and trying to manually place each section would suck. Also, will the batch image upload instructions work on a Windows PC that has Python 3.7 installed? I assume that it's just running the code, but the OP says it's specifically for Linux and Mac so I wanted to double check before I gently caress around with it only to discover that it won't work and I'm an idiot.
yamiaainferno fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Jan 13, 2020 |
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Jan 11, 2020 09:39
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No one answered, so sorry for the double post. I figured all that stuff out on my own, but I have a question/request: What are the recommended image sizes for SSLPs? Screenshots, character icons, etc.
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Jan 13, 2020 17:25
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yamiaainferno posted:No one answered, so sorry for the double post. I figured all that stuff out on my own, but I have a question/request: For the screenshots in general, something easily visible/readable is preferred. Usually this means somewhere around 400 x 400 in size at minimum, but make sure the aspect ratio stays the same whatever you do. If you ever have plans on it being archived, 900 pixels is the maximum width because it would otherwise mess with the layout there. For character icons, it usually serves as long as people can tell who is talking. A range between 40x40 to 100x100 is usually good. Here's for example one with easy to see screenshots and uses the smaller portrait style. Here's another with small portraits, but because of the natively low resolution it's even easier to see. Keep in mind that things show at true resolution in the forums, while the LP archive has a bit of scaling for ease of reading (at least for me, it does). 40 x 40 is quite small on the forums, but easily visible on the archive. 100x100 is easily visibly on the forums, but quite large over there. As for filesize in general, try to keep it low if you're using LPix. 2MB is the cap per file, and the only things that should ever get close to touching that are gifs or MP3 files. If you're doing a pixel game, you'll probably want to preserve the sharpness, otherwise .jpg compression shouldn't look too bad. If it's an older game from an older system with an actually limited palette, you can actually save the files with the proper encoding to make them very small. For instance, this is very small due to being saved in the proper 8-bit palette format, and it's still a .png. That, and Baldurk offers LPix for free and filling up his servers with needlessly large files is a bit rude, so try not to if you can help it. When it comes to batch uploading them, I just use the Rightload plugin. It takes a bit of care not to wreck your organization, but it works quickly.
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Jan 13, 2020 17:55
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ShareX is the recommended program for batch uploading these days. Also if you just need to stitch screenshots in a row quick and dirty, you can use the Panorama image function of Irfanview.
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Jan 13, 2020 18:15
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Thanks. Here's my tentative sizes, after following y'all's advice. https://lpix.org/sslptest/index.php?id=155802 Kanfy posted:ShareX is the recommended program for batch uploading these days. I ended up just stitching it together manually in GIMP. There was some overlap I would have needed to correct anyway. I'll check out ShareX, though.
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Jan 13, 2020 22:01
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yamiaainferno posted:Thanks. Here's my tentative sizes, after following y'all's advice. Looks good, though you might want to try running that through some light .jpg compression given the amount of required sharpness isn't high. There's only a small amount of pixel art in that, and PNGs are data heavy. Something like this, for instance, done at quality 80. That cuts the size to 1/3rd of the original without losing much quality, and means your LP will use 1/3rd less space in the end.
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Jan 13, 2020 22:19
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80 makes it a bit too artifact-y for my eyes, I'd probably keep it somewhere around 93 or so. 70-80 KB images are unlikely to crash anyone's browser anytime soon.
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Jan 13, 2020 22:46
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With that kinda image I'd try a palleted PNG (256 colors) before JPG, myself.
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Jan 14, 2020 02:04
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From my experience asking for feedback about JPGs, I wouldn't recommend going below 90 quality on anything, unless you'd get like over 200KB an image (and at that point, you might want to try other options instead).
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Jan 15, 2020 22:11
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I'm thinking of moving up to an XLR setup for recording. I currently have a Blue Yeti that I got as a gift a while ago that I've had nothing but trouble with. A bit after I got it it made some horrible feedback screeching noise in the left channel, that corrected itself after replacing the cable but now the left channel is just permanently kinda quiet. I want to go to something I feel I have a little more control over. Amazon.ca has a bundle of a Scarlett Solo and an AT2020 Condenser mic that I'm considering. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on the rest of the fixins for a condenser mic setup (arm+mount and filters and such) or if I should just go with something else like the shure mic linked in the op. The price is a -little- steep for something I admittedly only record off intermittently but I'm getting tired of USB mics crapping out on me.
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Jan 31, 2020 19:02
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Arm/Mount depends on size of the mic, where you want to place it, how your screen setup is, your type of desk, whether your desk is against a wall, whether you will use a pop filter, etc.
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Jan 31, 2020 22:10
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Couple questions for an LP I'm writing up and taking screenshots for: 1) It's a fanmod, but the fanmod thread hasn't been updated in a month. Should I bump that thread anyway or start a new one? 2) If I am to start a new one, should I put my post in the SSLP test poster format because it's so image heavy? (I've already got over 50 screenshots and counting.) 3) One of the reasons I've got so many screenshots is I'm reporting the contents of every single treasure chest pull in a separate screenshot (as I don't have a lot of other events to report). Should I just stitch all of those together in a single screenshot?
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Feb 5, 2020 06:49
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This isn't really Let's Play related, but y'all're the densest collection of experts on video bitrates I know of so I hope you'll forgive the semi-off-topic question. I've been doing livestreams of development of my game on Twitch, and I had someone complain that when I stream during peak Twitch hours, they get the raw stream instead of a Twitch transcoding, and that exceeds what their rural bandwidth can handle. I have OBS at the default stream settings of 6000kbps. This is almost certainly excessive given that most of the time my streams are showing either a code file or the Unity editor; even in play mode the play area doesn't take up the majority of the stream. How do I tell what an appropriate value is for the bitrate? And are there any settings I should be adjusting to improve my quality:bitrate ratio? I don't want to exclude people, but I also don't want e.g. the text in my windows to be illegible. I just have no idea how to go about picking a value or configuring OBS. Thank you!
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Feb 18, 2020 05:50
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The best you can do is set OBS up for local recording with the exact encoder parameters you'd stream with, and make some test recordings (about 2-4 minutes each) at several bitrate settings, then compare. Initially try 2000, 4000, 6000 to check how they compare, they pick the pair where one is acceptable and one is just below acceptable, and try some values in-between. Make sure your tests include both mostly static screens, some rapid switching around/opening and closing menus, and scrolling. If you're using x264 there's also some advanced tuning parameters that might improve its response to your particular content. Edit: x264 tuning options - the stillimage one is probably worth testing. nielsm fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Feb 18, 2020 |
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Feb 18, 2020 08:31
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Thank you! Sounds like there's not really a "magic bullet" so to speak, which I guess makes sense -- if there was, it'd be enabled by default. I'll play around a bit and see what looks good. I'm currently recording in .mkv but I don't have any particular attachment to that format, so knowing that x264 has relevant options is useful.
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Feb 18, 2020 21:16
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How does capturing footage off an older console work? Is it as simple as plugging the console's outputs into a SD capture device hooked up to my computer, and then recording with OBS, or is there more work involved than that? I can only imagine that serious tinkering would be needed to make old low-resolution games not look like hell on modern PC monitors.
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Feb 21, 2020 20:29
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Meaty Ore posted:How does capturing footage off an older console work? Is it as simple as plugging the console's outputs into a SD capture device hooked up to my computer, and then recording with OBS, or is there more work involved than that? I can only imagine that serious tinkering would be needed to make old low-resolution games not look like hell on modern PC monitors. 1) Using an SD capture device, which seems to be getting more and more outdated 2) Converting an old console's output into HD using special cables or modifications, then using an HD capture device 3) Using an HD retro console (like a Retron or Super NT) with an HD capture device 4) Emulation
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Feb 21, 2020 22:53
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The catch is that not all SD capture or converter devices handle the slightly weird signals that some old consoles output. I think the most versatile might be older TV tuner cards, possibly from before PCI-E became a thing, those tended to have lots of tweaks for hitting the right signal timings etc, as far as I know. USB capture devices are much less likely to offer all the tweaks you might need.
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Feb 21, 2020 23:17
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So I've never done an LP before, or even really any video anything at all. I've downloaded HyperCam 2 and it seems adequate for my purposes with one exception, can I get it to simultaneously capture game audio & my microphone? I don't really want to do it separately because a, that sounds more complicated, and b, due to the nature of the game I am interested in I want to talk about what I am doing in the game as I am doing it, not as a retrospective like I think a lot of people do. Alternately is there something better than HC2 to do this?(that's still free) I appreciate the answer is quite possibly in the OP but it's a little overwhelming with information and nothing stood out as obvious to me. Free only at this point, because I don't want to spend any money on this before I have some idea if this is going to be something I want to keep doing.
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Feb 22, 2020 13:47
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OBS Studio is free and can do what you want (and more). You can just set it up to do local recordings instead of streaming.
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Feb 22, 2020 14:34
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Geemer posted:OBS Studio is free and can do what you want (and more). You can just set it up to do local recordings instead of streaming.  Considering how pretty much everyone uses OBS Studio these days, it should probably be added along with Nvidia's GeForce Experience video capture (which is what I tend to prefer for PC games).edit: Meaty Ore posted:How does capturing footage off an older console work? Is it as simple as plugging the console's outputs into a SD capture device hooked up to my computer, and then recording with OBS, or is there more work involved than that? I can only imagine that serious tinkering would be needed to make old low-resolution games not look like hell on modern PC monitors. Jamesman already listed most of the options (speaking of which, the RetroN should be listed under Emulation or preferably left off the list altogether because it's just a really lovely emulation box with illegally implemented emulators) but didn't mention video scalers/line doublers such as the XRGB-mini Framemeister (which is what I use) or the Open Source Scan Converter which can convert the analog signal to digital HDMI you can then record with an HDMI capture device. These scalers are pretty expensive, but you get what you pay for. More recently, cheaper options such as the Retrotink and the RAD2X have become available but obviously don't have all the bells and whistles you can find on the more expensive devices. If you're going to use one of these things, you'll need high-quality analog cables for your system. Avoid cheap cables from no-name manufacturers because they're always of poor quality and will introduce video noise or audio buzzing, and instead opt for quality cables from Retro-Access.com or RetroGamingCables.co.uk. Depending on the system and the scaler box you have, you'll generally want either RGB or component (YPbPr) cables. The Nintendo 64 doesn't support anything above S-Video without mods (and PAL N64 consoles don't even support that because Nintendo hated us in the 90s), and the NES can do composite video at best so you should probably just emulate that... and the TurboGrafx-16 which only supports RF!  The GameCube is a bit weird in this regard because while it does support component video, only NTSC consoles actually support 480p progressive scan and you need an expensive GameCube component cable or an HDMI solution to enable it... or just play the games on a backwards compatible Wii instead. PAL GameCubes only do 480i/576i at best without mods or homebrew solutions, which is also the case with the original Xbox in that region.You should avoid the cheap, generic converters you can find all over Amazon and eBay for 30 bucks, especially if you're going to play games from pre-Dreamcast systems. Those systems output a video signal called 240p (not to be confused with YouTube 240p which is just lovely low-res video), and as I don't want to bore you with tech I'll just say it was more of a video trick than an actual resolution and these cheap converters hate it, as does your HDTV. They interpret the signal as interlaced 480i and attempt to deinterlace it, which of course doesn't work and ends up looking like absolute poo poo. If you ever see flashing effects behave in a weird manner, e.g. your character disappearing completely upon getting hit even though you're running the game at 60 fps, that's incorrectly handled 240p. These effects will also look wrong in a 30 fps video. Speaking of 240p, one unfortunate issue with video scalers is the fact some games in the 32-bit era in particular tend to switch resolutions constantly, so you've got 240p gameplay and 480i menus. On a CRT display that is not an issue, as it would handle the transition seamlessly. However, in the digital realm it takes a couple of seconds to switch between modes so games like Silent Hill 1 and Chrono Cross are nearly unplayable on a Framemeister or OSSC. In those edge cases, I'd recommend emulation through either official or unofficial methods. Another thing you most definitely should avoid are the Pound HDMI cables for various systems. They're pretty cheap and might look like an attractive option, but the actual output looks extremely poor with washed-out colors and blurry visuals. DMorbid fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Feb 22, 2020 |
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Feb 22, 2020 17:20
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Doc M posted:I just noticed the OP is so out of date it doesn't even mention OBS or OBS Studio.  searching the first page for OBS gives you a post from 2 years older than the latest edit that mentions both it and Studio, yet here we are with VirtualDub's screen recording capabilities still listed.Oh, no, false alarm, OBS is there, but its name is written out fully instead of using the acronym that literally everybody uses.
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Feb 22, 2020 17:29
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Oh yeah, it is there. Apparently I can't read. Still, the hardware and software recommendations are from 2014 and 2015 respectively!
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Feb 22, 2020 17:31
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I'm not disagreeing that they should be updated. I just caught myself in the last moment before posting and added the last line stating it's in there to avoid getting called out on it. The big problem is finding someone who's willing to take the time and has the knowledge to rejigger the OP.
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Feb 22, 2020 17:43
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Thanks, OBS seems to work pretty well. One thing, it would be nice if there was a way to adjust game volume/my voice after recording, but maybe that's asking too much of free software intended for streaming anyway?
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Feb 22, 2020 18:42
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Pharnakes posted:Thanks, OBS seems to work pretty well.
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Feb 22, 2020 19:02
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Yes, exactly. Is there a way to do that easily without mucking about with too many different programs? If not I think I've pretty much found the levels I'm happy with, but if there's a really easy way to do it I'll probably take it.
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Feb 22, 2020 19:09
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OBS lets you set up multiple audio tracks in recording. You need to set the output mode to Advanced, then on the Recording page make sure the container format is MKV. Then you can enable more than one audio track. With that done, go to the Advanced audio properties and set up which audio sources go to which numbered audio tracks. That way you can decide which sources to mix together, and which to separate out.  
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Feb 22, 2020 20:07
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Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for. Now (probably) final question, what is the best thing to recombine the audio and prepare for upload with? (that isn't 5 years old)
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Feb 22, 2020 20:48
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| # ? May 24, 2024 15:57 |
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I'll look into updating the op a bit sometime soon. It'd be more up to date if people mention it to me more often but alas, I only really find out like this. v ve: Tweaked the video recording section a bit. Removed a few that nobody should be using anymore, left a few options for the sake of it, and moved OBS to the top. Zeratanis fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Feb 22, 2020 |
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Feb 22, 2020 21:07
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