(IMPORTANT QUESTION!) What's the best recording software?

[quasarrgames]

So i want to make KSP videos. I made ONE with the Fraps free trial. It worked fine for me. Very minimal framerate loss, and (i think) reasonable file size.

I also tried the Dxtory free trial, but it basically halved my framerate and gave me files more then three times as big as fraps files. Unless i am doing something REALLY wrong, i am not going to be using it.

I might try bandicam, but i haven't heard many good things about it.

Also tried this other thing called Camstudio (later found out it was a trojan) with HORRIBLE framerate, but the filesizes were already so small i didnt need to compress them.

Basically im wondering which screen recorder software is the best (particularly for KSP) and what other good ones i have not tried yet. I just want to make sure i make the right choice when i get around to buying one of them.

EDIT: Also, what is the average file size of a video after compression? I normally get about 1-2 MB per second. Is this alright for youtube?

THANKS!

Edited April 12, 2014 by quasarrgames

[ZedNova]

I think most gamers on youtube use fraps to record their gameplay.

[TinfoilChef]

I've found that I get the best results with Fraps. Open Broadcast Software is also pretty good.

There used to be a problem with Fraps when changing scenes where KSP would crash occasionally but I've not seen that happen since 0.23. Though to be safe it's easy enough to stop recording, change scenes and then restart the recording.

If you're recording for Youtube (and probably even if not) you'll probably be interested in the Raise Minimum Ambient Lighting mod so that stuff is visible on the night side of whatever. Very useful even if you otherwise fly strictly stock

[The Destroyer]

I like Bandicam.

[KvickFlygarn87]

OBS (Open Broadcast Software, don't be fooled by its name; it can also save to file without streaming or Fraps. If you are limited by filesize or $$$, go with OBS, otherwise Fraps.

[quasarrgames]

bump to answer edited question (sorry)

[Dartguy]

If you have an nvidia GTX 600 or higher video card, you can get their Shadowplay software for free. I have heard good things about it, but I haven't tried it personally.

[FenrirWolf]

I second OBS. You can easily choose to do local recording, broadcasting on twitch.tv, or both at the same time.

[Guest]

This is the first time I have heard of Open Broadcast Software so I downloaded it to give it a whirl. Sadly it does not support integrated GPU's. A dedicated graphics card is necessary. Fraps works like a champ on my old laptop, so until I either get my new machine built or OBS supports the older Intel integrated graphics cards, I'll stick with Fraps.

[lajoswinkler]

And how about something free? I'm not paying a lot of money for something I won't be using often.

[Guest]

OBS is free. Fraps has a free version with limited features. In my experience, free and easy or free and functional do not usually go together. There are other free products out there, but they are either hard to set up and use or they cause severe frame rate drops. Setting up a camcorder to record your monitor is probably the best "free" alternative, unless your video card has RCA outputs that can go to a dvd recorder or VCR. There are products out there that can capture video and audio from a HDMI cable, but they are far from free.

[hotmailcompany52]

If your on mac I find quicktime player to be the best. It can record you screen, your voice and your webcam.

[Godot]

Action (by Mirillis) seems to be nice ... but it is definitely not free (aside from a 30 days test version)