Recording software for WoW?

[Tommy2er]

Hey guys. I tried posting this last night but I got no replies, so I thought i'd try again

Basically me and a few friends are looking into making WoW videos. I have all the tools to create the videos themselves apart from the actual recording software.
What I need is a program that can:
Record decent quality video
Record decent quality audio (both straight from my mic and over vent, at the same time)
Preferably have an option to disable video capture and only capture audio (both straight from mic and vent at the same time)
Compatible on Mac.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. This is something I have been looking forward to do for a long time this is just the last piece of the puzzle.
Thanks in advance <3

[CR77]

http://fraps.com/

[Syrrah]

Macs can record movies inherently, but I'll assume you don't have a mac, so FRAPs?

[Deleted]

Fraps.....but dunno if it works with Mac

[Syrrah]

Fraps.....but dunno if it works with Mac

you don't need it with Macs, they have an option to record without extra software

[Deleted]

camtasia, but im not sure if it works with mac's tho.

[Tommy2er]

you don't need it with Macs, they have an option to record without extra software

If you mean through QuickTimeX, that is pretty bad and records the entire screen as well as maintaining lacklustre quality.
If you mean through WoW's built in game recorder, it's good and records in game sound yes. But it doesn't record vent.

Also when it comes to Fraps: "Fraps is a universal Windows application"
I need something for Mac OS X not Windows.

[error406]

wow has a in game recorder?
Please, do tell.

[Kewi]

FRAPS is good, it is just demanding like most video recording programs.

People like to record at 1920x1080 with sound on and the game at high settings... and they don't realize they need
1) Great hard drives, A dedicated recording-only RAID array, a 10k RPM disk drive, or SSD to pull that off (SSD Could be shared with game, but at 2GB+/Minute it fills fast)
2) A dedicated processor.. WOW needs to be set up to use X-1 or -2 processors, leaving 1-2 processors free for FRAPS.

Most issues with FRAPS come down to the 2 issues above...
(Or simply stop trying to record WOW, running on High/Ultra, at full resolution equal to or greater than 1280x1024)

[Tommy2er]

FRAPS is good, it is just demanding like most video recording programs.

People like to record at 1920x1080 with sound on and the game at high settings... and they don't realize they need
1) Great hard drives, A dedicated recording-only RAID array, a 10k RPM disk drive, or SSD to pull that off (SSD Could be shared with game, but at 2GB+/Minute it fills fast)
2) A dedicated processor.. WOW needs to be set up to use X-1 or -2 processors, leaving 1-2 processors free for FRAPS.

Most issues with FRAPS come down to the 2 issues above...
(Or simply stop trying to record WOW, running on High/Ultra, at full resolution equal to or greater than 1280x1024)

That's all well and good, but it's a Windows application according to their website. Meaning it won't work on Mac, which is what I need. :/

[-Atlass-]

Not to mention that recording the sounds on vent including your voice is going to be somewhat difficult. I have tried to look into how to do this and there is really no easy way. At least not that I have found.

[Tommy2er]

Not to mention that recording the sounds on vent including your voice is going to be somewhat difficult. I have tried to look into how to do this and there is really no easy way. At least not that I have found.

Indeed. That's why I came here. I need a program that can do a lot.

[Kewi]

Sorry, I missed that "compatible with a mac" line.. But this info should still apply ~~


An article with good information on uncompressed video recording demands:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...hdformats.aspx

Table near the end states the mostly uncompressed disk write speed needs based on resolution & FPS:
1280x720 @ 24fps ~~ 332 megabits/sec (41 MB/s)
1920x1080 @ 24fps ~~ 749 megabits/sec (93.5 MB/s)

Most modern 7200rpm HDD's max out around 100MB/s max sustained sequential writes. This is barely capable of supporting 1920x1080 at 24fps.
With other-disk-access this is further hampered, which is why a dedicated (modern) HDD is recommended.
Also, most people like to record at 30 fps, further increasing load and pushing it out of the maximum possible speed of drives.
You need to ignore maximum burst write speeds for any reviews or advertisements, and look at sustained speeds. Max speeds use buffers in a short spurt to see how fast it can write a small file, this is NOT the case on files vastly larger then the buffer size, which is why "sustained" is important, and any review articles you read you want to look at sustained, burst means next to nothing (you don't generally record just 5 seconds of video)
Keep in mind, "Modern" HDD means don't pull out your 250GB 7200rpm disk from 3 years ago, or at least don't expect it to pull 100 MB/s, I use 2 of these 250GB 7200rpm disks, however they are on a RAID array, and the raid array is what allows it to work -- but it only pulls 115MB/s max sustained. My independent 1.5TB Disks pull 105MB/s by themselves -- The technology simply got better over the last 2 years and new disks are better at the sustained writes by themselves.


On the subject of processors, Unless Mac's handle the game and video recording massively different... you'll need a quad core or better to do 1920x1080. you want to use WOW's processorAffinityMask variable to lock it to #-1 or #-2 cores.. This will free up 1 or 2 cores for any video recording and system demands while you're dumping all the video information to the HDD.... Personally I have WOW set up for CPU's 0-2 (1-3 physical cores) and FRAPS dedicated to the 3rd and 4th core -- 3rd overlaps, but FRAPS alone maxes out my 4th core at 2.4GHz)

Now, remember, most of these numbers can be reduced by simply using smaller resolutions, or recording at smaller resolutions. If you plan to replace audio, don't record audio.... I don't generally record sound, but I'd likely have ventrilo do it's own recording to a seperate HDD and line up the audio track later in an editing program.

[Tommy2er]

I'l be sure to keep all of that in mind, Kewi. But that's only relevant if I can find a program which can do what I need it to. And at the moment that doesn't seem to be happening.

[Fog]

I haven't used it to record WoW videoes since I didn't play WoW back when I had Mac, and I don't have Mac now. But I used a program called ScreenFlow who could record picture and sound from the desktop, and record from microphone and even with your Webcam. All at the same time! I used it mostly to make guitar videoes on YouTube.
And it's only for Mac users. It's not free if you want to use all its features, and I don't know about the quality of the actuall video, but I guess it should be fine.

Never the less, you can always try the trial version of it and see if you like it.

[Tommy2er]

I haven't used it to record WoW videoes since I didn't play WoW back when I had Mac, and I don't have Mac now. But I used a program called ScreenFlow who could record picture and sound from the desktop, and record from microphone and even with your Webcam. All at the same time! I used it mostly to make guitar videoes on YouTube.
And it's only for Mac users. It's not free if you want to use all its features, and I don't know about the quality of the actuall video, but I guess it should be fine.

Never the less, you can always try the trial version of it and see if you like it.

That seems to be great. I'l get my mates on vent later on to try that and see how well it works and try the in game capturing, but it seems awesome.

[Fog]

That seems to be great. I'l get my mates on vent later on to try that and see how well it works and try the in game capturing, but it seems awesome.

Keep in mind it records the desktop itself, not only the game. One little flaw, but some clever editing should fix that.

[Cuteness]

Im gonna /bump that tread.

So im a mac user - knwo how to record movie from wow with my mac options BUT i woudl liek to add (or simply record) the teamSpeak voice chat to my movie - any software that can record those 2 at once on Mac OS?