A Viable Alternative to FRAPS.

[TinmanX]

Now I've been a FRAPS user for years and years and never really enjoyed it as a program but it really was the only thing available to us for what we do here.
I was always on the lookout for something else and found this software by utter chance, Having had my new system since November, I considered the bedding in period to be over and decided to begin trying to eek a little more from the components. I downloaded MSI Afterburner as the over-clocking tool of choice for my Nvidea GeForce GTX 470. While playing with the options and settings I noticed a tab 'Video Capture'.

So, lets put these 2 pieces of software side by side and see how they stack up.

First up, The Machine.
Processor:  Intel i7 930
RAM:            12gb
Video Card: Nvidea GeForce GTX 470
Display Settings:
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (1080p)

The Game
Aces High, Obviously.
I used full graphics settings, shadows, etc. everything checked except the ground detail, which was set to it's lowest setting
Offline mode
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
FreeTrack (think TrackIR but with a homemade headset and webcam.)

Results
With both programs set to capture at half screen FRAPS came out just a hair ahead in the FPS department, 2 FPS ahead in the weeds and 3 FPS ahead at altitude but it was close.

Fraps Results:
Average FPS 40 OTD
Average FPS 58 at alt

MSI Afterburner results:
Average FPS 38 OTD
Average FPS 55 at alt

I did not do a recording from film. There are reasons for this, the main one being that FPS isn't really an issue when taking caps from .ahf as most of us reduce film speed to 33%-50% for capture anyway.

The interesting part come when we examine the results.
FRAPS recorded 3 minutes of footage, the file ending up at a massive 2.7gb or 0.9gb/minute
Afterburner recorded 3 minutes of footage, the file size, 1.72gb or  0.57gb/minute

Quality
I can find no immediate difference between the two as far as graphic quality. Afterburner presents slightly darker but the icons are easily read which is not possible with FRAPS.
FRAPS records it's film in blocks, splitting larger files up, this gives both a stutter when recording and when playing back that I have always found unforgivable.
Afterburner records its film, as far as I been able to tell, in one file.


Summary
I didn't want Afterburner to do well. I paid money for FRAPS because it was the only thing available. MSI Afterburner is completely free and for free holds it's own very well against the commercial alternative.
Afterburner also comes with a handy-dandy overlay which can present either on your Logi-keyboard or OSD. This will put information over your game including the time (i know, lame, but it's handy for hangers) processor and video-card temps, workload, fan speeds, etc.

Try it for yourself: http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/index.htm
Remember, the video capture program comes as part of the over-clocking software. After installing, click 'settings' and then scroll through the tabs to find 'Video Capture'. You do not have to OC your card to use the software.

I didn't want to use YouTube for this as it really borks the quality but I have uploaded one capture from each FRAPS and MSI for some form of comparison.

MSI - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQmXRSTeKBM
FRAPS - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ8zUKMRIyk

[ImADot]

FRAPS recorded 3 minutes of footage, the file ending up at a massive 2.7gb or 0.9gb/minute
Afterburner recorded 3 minutes of footage, the file size, 1.72gb or  0.57gb/minute

FRAPS records it's film in blocks, splitting larger files up, this gives both a stutter when recording and when playing back that I have always found unforgivable.
Afterburner records its film, as far as I been able to tell, in one file.

Try recording more footage.  As far as I know, Windows has a 4Gb limit on file size.  I've recorded long enough segments with Fraps to create 4 files of 4Gb each.  Thrown together with Adobe Premiere into one complete dogfight sequence, there is no stutter or hiccup where each file seams together.

It's cool to hear of other recording methods...I might look into this one.  My system is fairly good as I can run 1920x1200 with most everything maxxed out and v-sync'd to 60fps.  But, I take a hit when running Fraps and have to settle on 30fps when recording.

[prono]

[quote ]
As far as I know, Windows has a 4Gb limit on file size. 
[/quote]

Wrong. Its 16 EB (exabytes) = 4GB * 4,000,000,000 . Happy recording 

[Krusty]

I ran into problems with 4GB file limits. You have to format it a certain way to allow larger files. Once you do that, you have a lot more than 4GB.

I don't recally exactly what I had to do at the time. NTFS format and maybe change the cluster size or something.

[ImADot]

Yeah, I'm not going to muck up my system by playing around with file system types and cluster size, etc.  I am perfectly happy with 4Gb files that mesh seamlessly in Premiere.

[guncrasher]

tinman

this is weird i have a 2500k with only 8 gig ram and 465 vc.  using fraps and ah recorded with all sliders up and shadows at 4096 my frame rate doesnt go below 55 more than a second or two and mostly stays at 60.  you sure you have the latest fraps update?

semp

[TinmanX]

Sorry for the tardy reply, I'm running a head tracker alongside all of that. If I turn it off I get solid 60fps. I suspect when this new mouse tracking thing comes in all our FPS will take a hit.

[JOACH1M]

I recorded my last film I made 2 weeks ago with this, but the file Is so big it won't upload properly ad I didn't use Sony vegas to render it either, I used a free editing software.


MSI afterburner doesn't record sound either

[TinmanX]

I'd be interested to hear what settings you use? I'm still getting file sizes with MSI that are far smaller than anything FRAPS can achieve when capturing at full screen. No, there is no sound capture but I didn't ever use sound capture on FRAPS either.

Here's something though. I render each capture individually with Windows Movie Maker before it goes anywhere near Sony Vegas. This makes a huge difference in file size when putting your final movie together, for instance, the final, unedited capture for that last shot in my last video (a 4 minute capture filmed at 0.25 speed in AH Film Viewer) was almost 4gb pre-render. After passing it though Windows MM (with the film speed cranked up to 4x to bring the speed back up to 1.00) the same shot measured at 40mb with no loss of quality. That makes a huge difference when you are editing clips together or uploading clips.

I would use this technique (filming at 1/4 speed) regardless of whether I was using FRAPS or MSI as it reduces if not removes the glitches that AH Film Viewer sometimes has when fetching terrain/skins/etc.

[JOACH1M]

I'd be interested to hear what settings you use? I'm still getting file sizes with MSI that are far smaller than anything FRAPS can achieve when capturing at full screen. No, there is no sound capture but I didn't ever use sound capture on FRAPS either.

Here's something though. I render each capture individually with Windows Movie Maker before it goes anywhere near Sony Vegas. This makes a huge difference in file size when putting your final movie together, for instance, the final, unedited capture for that last shot in my last video (a 4 minute capture filmed at 0.25 speed in AH Film Viewer) was almost 4gb pre-render. After passing it though Windows MM (with the film speed cranked up to 4x to bring the speed back up to 1.00) the same shot measured at 40mb with no loss of quality. That makes a huge difference when you are editing clips together or uploading clips.

I would use this technique (filming at 1/4 speed) regardless of whether I was using FRAPS or MSI as it reduces if not removes the glitches that AH Film Viewer sometimes has when fetching terrain/skins/etc.

I recorded with full frames at Max frame at 65, I have a g470 and every enabled besides in cockpit shadows(my card gets way hot after this is on) film viewer playback speed is at .95

I used some free editing software when I get home I'll post the name, but I rendered it at 60fps and the file was doubled to some huge number



Edit: what do you use to speed up the final, I did have some better shots but they glitch so bad I just didn't use them

[TinmanX]

I use Windows 'Live' Movie Maker that ships with W7. just drop the capture in there, click edit then set speed to 4x (or whatever multiplication takes your film back to 1.00) and render for HD display. Then use that clip as your master and delete the huge capture file.

[JOACH1M]

I use Windows 'Live' Movie Maker that ships with W7. just drop the capture in there, click edit then set speed to 4x (or whatever multiplication takes your film back to 1.00) and render for HD display. Then use that clip as your master and delete the huge capture file.

Ok....thank you very much cheech!