Quick and Dirty Screen Record/Capture

[awkduck]

There are some good tools for Desktop/Screen capturing (video). Some don't always work. For example, I've had issues using VirtualDub and Vbemp, on some systems. Others are not free, even if abandonware.

This one is as good, if not better, then an old version of Camtasia. I would install/use the Xvid encoder, or some codec pack. If using an older machine, maybe mpeg1/2 would be better. For audio Vorbis, MP3, AC3, or PCM. For best results, you'll need to fine tune the Video options. Specifically, the "Caputre Frames Every" and "Playback Rate". But if you machine is too slow, or under load, you may have to settle for less then exacting cursor movement (recorded).

It's called "Free Screen Recorder", but I swear I've tried a couple others by the same name. This one actually works.

Here is the link.

[defuser]

When I searched, I didn't find anything easier than LICEcap v1.1, which allows you to write to a regular GIF file with a given refresh rate. It is able to display the passage of time, as well as mouse button clicks:

It works on Windows 98 and higher. Sometimes, however, it was still necessary to convert the resulting GIF to MP4 to add to the video hosting service. This was required in cases where the GIF size exceeded the size allowed for adding to the photo hosting site. There are quite a few free converters that allow you to do this, both directly in 9x and in a VM with a later OS, but I made do with free online services. Thank you, this tool really looks great, light, simple and convenient, I will definitely try it out in action.

Edited October 14, 2023 by defuser

[awkduck]

@defuser I was thinking about full desktop capture (full color). But LICEcap is an interesting application. It has a lossless format (LCF), which can be opened in Reaper. That can then be edited (basic editing and a handful of FX/Transition filters) and converted to something else. With KernelEx, I have had Reaper v6 working (minor quirks and workarounds with VSTi UIs). So, potentially this could be a more professional approach. I haven't tried it. But LCF supports full color. The issue would be memory, as lossless probably takes up a bit of space; and LICEcap doesn't apear to have a "live" record to disk option. If lossless is close to raw, then "live" to disk might not be a likely option. At least not on my system :)

I'll look into that.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Have you tried HyperSnap ?

I still use Snagit but you will need to use older versions than even my old version.  According to a few searches, Snagit 8.1.0 was the last version for Win98.

[awkduck]

34 minutes ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

Have you tried HyperSnap ?

That is for screenshots.

I've never used Snag-it. It seems to have some nice options. 

LICEcap's LCF format is not near RAW. So file size is not a problem. It does seem like it records live to disk (maybe?). Cockos mentions that you should probably have at least a Gig of ram, when using LCF. It can't quite do fullscreen. At 1024x768, it can do 1014x717 maximum. That isn't horrible. Reaper can render it to some other format, using it's cut down FFmpeg. I choose a WEBM container with VP8 and Vorbis (vorbis, only if audio is included). There where other options, but not a ton. The Video played fine. I used LICEcap v1.32.

There may be a slight decrease is CPU usage, when using LICEcap over "Free Screen Recorder" (paired with the Xvid codec). The LCF codec is maybe a little less CPU intensive. But you could also use a less compressed format, with "Free Screen Recorder".

In my opinion, they are both simple and usable. If the last version of FFmpeg "to work on Win9x" supported LCF video, you could skip Reaper. That would make it another free option.

[pangoomis]

Old CamStudio 2.0 should work:

https://retrosystemsrevival.blogspot.com/2020/07/camstudio-20.html

Of course best "screen capture" would be to use a capture card

[awkduck]

9 hours ago, MrMateczko said:

Old CamStudio 2.0 should work:

https://retrosystemsrevival.blogspot.com/2020/07/camstudio-20.html

Of course best "screen capture" would be to use a capture card

That one has not worked for me. There is a more recent release of that application, under a different name . It also does not work for me. Likewise, I have issues with VirtualDub's screen capture. The mouse leaves black square trailers (where ever it goes), or the screen is black and only the mouse is seen (leaving mouse icon trailers).

It could be due to using Vbemp. Maybe not everyone, using Vbemp, has this issue. But I am one of the unfortunate cases, where loading a DoxBox causes the screen to go berserk (must be launched fullscreen). Camtasia, Free Screen Recorder, and LICEcap are the only ones that have worked, thus far.

[jumper]

In Display Properties>Settings>Advanced>Performance, try reducing the Graphics Hardware Acceleration level to correct problems with the mouse pointer. Also try different color depths and resolutions.

 

[awkduck]

4 hours ago, jumper said:

In Display Properties>Settings>Advanced>Performance, try reducing the Graphics Hardware Acceleration level to correct problems with the mouse pointer. Also try different color depths and resolutions.

 

I should have been more clear. The issue is only in the captured video. The actual graphics are fine. Just the two mentioned screen capture applications render their output with such artifacts. Nothing seems to abate those issues (including your suggestions). Since other applications work fine, rendering capture, it must be a conflict between the driver, my chipset, and certain capture methods.

I suspect that there is an issue with my shared video memory and Vbemp. If it is that, it is probably due to a poor BIOS implementation. This specific machine was not intended to support Win98. But I haven't really looked in to it. 

[D.Draker]

ChrisPC Screen Recorder

[pangoomis]

On 10/18/2023 at 7:17 AM, awkduck said:

That one has not worked for me. There is a more recent release of that application, under a different name . It also does not work for me. Likewise, I have issues with VirtualDub's screen capture. The mouse leaves black square trailers (where ever it goes), or the screen is black and only the mouse is seen (leaving mouse icon trailers).

It could be due to using Vbemp. Maybe not everyone, using Vbemp, has this issue. But I am one of the unfortunate cases, where loading a DoxBox causes the screen to go berserk (must be launched fullscreen). Camtasia, Free Screen Recorder, and LICEcap are the only ones that have worked, thus far.

I have tried that CamStudio on 98SE on VirtualBox using SoftGPU and the Microsoft Video 1 codec and the videos are looking fine, have you tried different codecs?

[awkduck]

@MrMateczko I tested CamStudio, again (could not remember the exact video issue). With Xvid, the render is completely black. Microsoft Video 1 codec would stop recording, after a second, with error "Could not create AVI". If I lowed the quality it would render poorly with choppy capture. Default quality setting was fine, but with really bad quality render. Divx "Quality Based 100%" rendered good with modest enough CPU load. So, it was an Xvid problem there. VirtualDub, not so much. I couldn't even get raw video capture.

Edited October 21, 2023 by awkduck

[awkduck]

NCH Debut Sceen/Webcam Cature works okay too.