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Codec question

edited May 2008 in General Discussion
Which codec is the best to record with? >_>

Comments

  • Well, I think that depends a little on your workflow, but for many purposes a lossless codec will be the best.

    -- If you wish to record a video and post it directly to the web for download, you'd want to use a codec that most people will be able to play, and that will give decent looking video with relatively small file sizes. XviD may be a good choice then, or perhaps x264.

    -- If you wish to post the video directly to YouTube or similar video sharing websites, then it won't matter if it's a codec most people will be able to play, as long as the site you're uploading to support it. Youtube at least supports the Camstudio Lossless codec, so that is probably a good choice.

    -- If you plan to reencode the videos after recording using, for instance, Virtualdub, then a lossless codec like the MSU Screencapture Lossless Codec or the Camstudio Lossless Codec is a good choice.

    -- If you are using the SWF Converter in Camstudio it doesn't really matter as long as the quality is good, so lossless codecs like those mentioned above will be a good choice.

    Links:
    MSU SCLC - http://compression.ru/video/ls-codec/screen_capture_codec_en.html
    XviD - http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Koepi_XviD.htm
    Camstudio Lossless - http://camstudio.org/

    (These are my thoughts on the subject, other may have different opinions, and I won't say I'm an expert.)
  • Flash Screen Video codec is good option too. It is supported by FFmpeg

    http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=Flash_screen_video
  • edited May 2008
    Thanks, the Camstudio Lossless Codec (recording) and x264 codec (compressing) works perfectly, I get high quality video and low filesize.
    ...Now I have an audio codec question: which is best? <_<
    Also, how do I get the audio to playback with the video correctly? It keeps speeding up the video by >10x and it's rather annoying.
  • Lame is generally considered to be one of the best, if not the best, MP3-encoder out there, I think. By installing this version, you can use it in Virtualdub:
    http://www.free-codecs.com/download/LAME_ACM_Codec.htm

    Your playback issues may be related to the video settings in Camstudio. If you open the video options you can set "Capture frames every" and "Playback rate", or you can use the auto adjust-feature -- which I do not.

    The two options, "Capture frames every" and "Playback rate", need to have the right ratio in relation to one another. The formula is 1000/"Playback rate" = "Capture frames every", as 1 second = 1000ms. For example, if you want video at 10fps, then you need to capture a frame every 100ms, as 1000/10=100, and set the playback rate at 10fps. For 15fps, set "capture frames every" to 66.

    You can also fix sync problems in Virtualdub: Go to Video --> Frame rate, and select "Change so video and audio durations match" (third from the top).
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