[Text-Only - This Post is Text-Only Mode, for now. I may return to this posting and add Screenshots or Images at a later time.]
I was browsing around in the Steam Forums [forii?], where I like to try and answer Technical Questions and give Suggestions about Gameplay and Tips - and I recently answered a query someone had about using the Mouse in Fallout 4 (arguably a 'Shooter' game for the most part) and how it seemed difficult for them to aim in the game (it is possible to utilize an Automated Aiming capability called V.A.T.S., in Fallout 4 - but the game can also be played 'in real time' without it, playing as a First Person Shooter would be played, similar to games like Overwatch, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Battlefield, and more).
So, I answered with a somewhat-lengthy reply, trying to be helpful and informative, letting them know where to do things like change the Settings of the Mouse and the Sensitivity; really trying to show them that there needs to be a 'personalization' of the Mouse Settings, if they wanted to utilize the Mouse, as a gaming tool, to the best of their ability (to "let your ability shine through the Mouse" as it were).
I thought it might be nice to share my answer here too, then - to share with others that may be wondering things like:
"Why am I having so much trouble aiming/killing in <game name>?" "Why does it seem so hard to kill people <in a Multiplayer game>?" "How can I improve my gameplay in Multiplayer/Player-Versus-Player?"
...and similar questions.
Thus, here was my reply in the Forum... Perhaps it can be of some use to you: -----
If I may pop in, as
a 'First Person Shooter' since Wolfenstein 3D (1992), and having won
some Local Tournaments in the past (UT99 and Quake III Arena); you
really need to find your own personal 'mouse sensitivity'…
(I used to do 180's
while running to 'check my six' or headshot the player behind me -
which they didn't like of course, heh)
Note that this
must be adjusted for every new mouse and potentially every new game.
This is the only way to truly have a movement and reaction time/rate
in the game that you personally feel comfortable with.
There are a few
places you must adjust it:
- in Windows
(Settings>Devices>Mouse [for Windows 10])
- in Mouse Software
(that disc that comes with the Mouse that everyone ignores, or the
manufacturer’s Drivers and associated 'Software Configurator' of some type for the mouse from their website), where you
can also Keybind different keys or combinations to your Mouse, if it
can do so, and set DPI gradations/steps.
- in the Game
(Options or Settings)
Again, I cannot
helpfully stress this enough; try to do this for each and every game
you play – it is amazing in how it can personalize your comfortable
movement/scan/hit rate.
It is really
possible to 'hit anything' in a game, if you make your own
personalized changes to all of the above.
Some people like to
move their mouse a lot, slowing down the movement into smaller
gradations for sniping and tight movements.
Some people like to
move their mouse very little, using mostly their fingers and hardly
turning their wrist (these types usually switch DPI settings
as-they-move, for sniping and tighter movements).
Both are arguable
for usage and both can utilize the DPI settings/changes possible on
modern mice.
You must find your
own movement type and movement rate, set by those three locations
previously stated.
Once you set the
mouse how you like it - whether you switch DPI settings on-the-fly
(to make your character scan slower or faster, switching between
scoped and non-scoped, for example) or whether you keep one DPI
setting and alter how fast you move the mouse – you will find that
you can aim/scan/hit a lot better (and also not get tired as fast).
Tip: Don’t
forget to turn off any Mouse Acceleration (The kind that moves your
mouse pointer farther on the screen if you move the same amount of
space on your desk, only faster)… This only adds to the difficulty
in scanning/aiming and makes it harder to build up muscle memory for
your mouse (such as, "I move my mouse this far, and my view onscreen moves this far").
The only recourse,
other than doing the above and taking all of the above steps, is
V.A.T.S….(at least, to be totally comfortable and 'reach your full potential' with the Mouse (wow this is starting to sound like an Infomercial, sorry about that haha))
But, try to have fun
exploring it – find “You” in your mouse movements – and have
fun learning how “You” play!
-----
Note, Dear Reader, that I am not trying to 'be pompous' or 'brag' here, with this posting... I merely stated my 'qualifications' at the beginning, to show that I learned a lot over time and that I had personally found some effective ways to improve playing, with the Mouse (especially in the past).
I do not wish to sound like to 'know everything' as well - and indeed can learn more - I just wanted to share what I did learn over time and hope that this might help others out, too. If you are an experienced FPS player ('First Person Shooter gamer'), then you no doubt already know most of these concepts (or have figured them out on your own).
I should state that I am also nowhere near as good as I once was [being 40 now, alas, age occurs to all..]. Where I once could out-shoot almost anyone, regularly doing 180s-to-instant-headshots (as stated previously), I now regularly get my butt handed to me in games like Overwatch, CS:GO and the Battlefield series of games [although I can still get Top Spot on The Board at times! heh].
Still, I wanted to try to help others... and I hope that this posting helps anyone improve their mousing (and killing/winning), if that is what they desire to do.
I always like helping others and teaching others what I can... "The wiser mind mourns less for what age takes away than what it leaves behind." ~ William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
[Short Disclaimer/Note: These posts ("Personal Projects") contain some 'Editorial' material; that is, some wording and subject matter that is more personal in nature and may contain viewpoints of The Editor/Author, which does not reflect the opinions or viewpoints of this blog in its entirety, the hosting site (Blogspot), its affiliates (Google), or any other associated entity or product mentioned or utilized herein. These "Personal Project" postings will be of a 'personal journal' or 'diary' nature and approach. While they still contain many helpful tips and edifying experiences, avoid these postings if this approach does not appeal to you]
This little 'Personal Project' is one that I only recently started working on, in earnest, anyway. Starting a few years ago, I began recording what I called "Envirogamescapes" [my coin, a working title], where I record a nice long period of time of something naturally beautiful or remarkable in a game, a serene scene or a well-constructed area of a city, et cetera - to use for relaxing or working on something - and to share with others to enjoy, of course!
While experimenting with an efficient way to do this (resolution, codec, etc) I began experimenting with "Time Lapse" recording, as well. This was, where I would record one constant session of one scene/area for literally, hours on end (8+ hours) and then speed-up the material, playing it back at anywhere from 400% up to 2000%, for a nice 'montage' showing the passage of time and how it is displayed/handled by a specific game/engine.
GIF conversion of a Time Lapse recording I did last year in the game Planetside 2 ("Dome at Day and Night")
[Logos added and GIF resized from original recording resolution for smaller upload]
I thought this would be a great thing to share for others to enjoy too - and I have collected many, many recordings (Terabytes of them!) - but as always, I am far better at 'Collecting' than I am at 'Organizing', so these little Projects have been amassing virtual dust on my hard drive(s) for the past number of years... until now.
Just last week, I began to attempt to focus on these Projects, 'processing' and 'finalizing' them, creating logos and experimenting with effects and various software (graphic editing and video editing applications), to try and bring these years-old aspirations to some kind of fruition.
[/Begin Personal Drama Rant]
Hopefully, within a reasonable period of time, I can 'finish' some of these videos - if my own personal tendencies don't get in the way - "thanks, A.D.D. for not letting me focus on one thing too long!", "thanks, ongoing illness, for making me too tired to work on one thing too long!", "thanks, O.C.D for making me feel guilty about 'dropping' projects!"... great stuff, all around, way to go brain and body!
I also tend to have Perfectionistic tendencies - which, while it sounds 'like a good thing' or even perhaps that I am 'bragging', it is not really 'a good thing' - it often leads to never finishing many personal projects or never reaching many goals that I set for myself - as somewhere along the way, I feel that "if it isn't Done Really Really Well, then there is no point (on going further, or submitting it, etc)" - I cannot count the number of times I didn't hand in Homework on time, or at all, in the past because of this - thanks again, brain!
So, as part of my own Personal Psychotherapy perhaps - and as part of a personal yearning to share some great gaming material/scenes/beauty with others, I am going to try to 'focus' and 'buckle down' and other phrases that only make half-sense to me, to Finally Finish some of these - and I will not only share them here (and on YouTube/etc), I will attempt to journal some of that ...journey, here as well.
I am not sure how long it will take, as I know every video, every graphic, will feel [because it has in the past] "never quite finished"; but I gain some strength in beginning this endeavour from a quote I recently came across, by a fellow perfectionist, the great Leonardo Da Vinci, who stated: "To an Artist, a Work is never Finished, it is only Abandoned..".
[/End Personal Drama Rant]
The Long Exposure Shot
While I will still be working on those other Projects that I began years ago (Time Lapse videos and "Envirogamescapes"), I want to focus here [in these articles, for now] on the journey for what I am calling a 'Simulated Long Exposure Shot' - that is, a game capture (screenshots/video) that looks as though it was taken In Real Life as a Long Exposure photographic image.
Even if you are not a Photographer, I'm sure you have come across such photos before - created In Real Life simply by setting any camera to a longer/slower shutter speed, exposing the film (or the detectors/sensors in digital cameras) to the material/medium/scene for a much longer time, allowing the incoming Light to develop/collect the image over time, creating the effect of the moving parts/areas of the photo being Blurred, but the static or lesser-moving parts/areas of the photo to remain more clear/crisp (hence the phrase I am using, 'Long Exposure'). Here is a Stock Photo example of this effect:
In beginning this journey, I played with some effects that were 'built-in' to a few graphic editing programs I like to use [this is just a short list of the 'main' ones that I use]:
The GIMP The Graphic Image Manipulation Program (now called simply GIMP), a powerful Open Source image editor with an interface loosely based on Photoshop
Corel's Paint Shop Pro Formerly JASC's Paint Shop, a full-featured graphic editing program
Inkscape A great Open Source image editing program, geared mainly towards editing Vector-based material
Not really finding what I was attempting to accomplish via the Automated Tools of these programs - that is, the 'trails' of lights in traffic being the first effect I was going for - I quickly shifted to looking up some Videos on the subject and querying some Experts in the field [of Photography]. I quickly found two sources of information, among many; a video (that seemed to produce the effect I was looking for, but with clouds) and a helpful forum (with experienced Photographers and Editors). Here is one of the many Videos I found on the subject, the first one I came across showing an example of the effect I am trying to achieve [although he performs it with 'clouds' versus my 'traffic lights' goal]:
Along with many other videos and examples of potential ways to approach this - although they all dealt with Real Life photography, as opposed to my Video Game Capture approach - I also found in my searching, a very helpful group of people in the Corel User Support Forums, where I received many ideas about how to 'blend' or 'blur' the images in a way that could potentially emulate the effect [of 'lines of light, coming from the traffic'] - and again, although they were experienced and giving possible approaches to the emulation of the effect from the realm of Real Life photography sources, the concepts could [I felt] carry over into my goal, simulating the effect using purely Digital Material (ie. game captures). To read that Discussion Thread, it is located at the Corel Forums, here.
To start off, I tested out some of the ideas that these knowledgeable helpers were positing, using PaintShop Pro. Each contributor had their own 'off the top of their head' approach, this effect or that one, layering it this way, using these filters - I thought it was great to hear it all! I did a few quick compilations of the tests - and here's what came of them:
Various effects and filters quickly tested, most from PaintShop Pro
(This example compilation will be repeated in the following four paragraphs)
Click to see Full Size
There was quite a difference in some of the effects and approaches, as shown above. In the first one, a user suggested to try the built-in Photo Blend, an automated utility that would essentially take a number of photos and 'blend' them together, amassing all the differences between them, into one image. You can also tweak what 'you want to keep' and what 'you want to get rid of', as well, in the process. As seen, the Photo Blend utility worked well with combining the differences between the images - but it did not add a 'streak of light' effect at all. Still, a useful utility that I will have to remember to return to, someday.
As seen above, in the second section, a 'layering' approach by another helpful user actually produced a result very similar to the Photo Blend utility, as 'ghost images' of cars from one image blended into another image where there were no cars in those places. While I don't fully understand how the 'Lighten' layering setting works (technically/mathematically), it appears to simply keep the lighter-coloured areas of the images, as it blends them together; the lighter a pixel is, the more it is 'kept', it seems.
In the third section above, the result can be seen of a suggestion from another knowledgeable user, which was to add a Motion Blur to the images (Motion Blur is essentially a 'blur that has a direction'), blending the layers together in the end with the Screen setting. The little of what I know about the Screen layer blending effect, is that it accentuates the lighter areas between the images, where middle-of-the-road tones get some blending as well, while darker areas are not carried through very much at all (ignored). The result is an overall brightened image, where the lightest areas are maintained well. While this layering approach wonderfully gave the 'streaks of light' effect I was looking for, it also 'blurred' the entire image - whereas the end goal I am searching to emulate has the more 'static areas' of the image (ie. non-moving) maintained crisp and clear - seen more in the first two sections of the Example Compilation above.
The fourth and last section of the Example Compilation is actually the result of a quick test in VideoStudio Pro, a video editing application also from Corel. In it, I tried the NewBlue Motion Blur effect, with the 'angle of blurring' set to match the direction of the roadway. The result seems promising - the light sources are 'stretched' and the buildings are left crisp and would perhaps would more detailed if I played with the Blending settings more (I also had to Blend each image as Overlays in the Overlay Tracks of the Timeline (as this is a video editing application)). For a quick test though, I think it showed potential for emulating this effect.
[Note From The Editor/Author: I am not affiliated in any way, nor do I receive anything, from Corel (or any other of these companies in this post) for mentioning their products, in any form - I am merely an enthusiastic user of these products and I use other, similar editors just as much (such as CyberLink's PowerDirector, Sony's Vegas Movie Studio (now belonging to MAGIX), Open Source programs, such as GIMP and Inkscape, and many more). I switch often between them, using each for their offerings and capabilities and switching back again when one offers features that another does not. I state this so that you, dear reader, know that I am not influenced by these companies to write or say what I express in these posts]
The next thing I did [on my own now] was play around a bit with PaintShop Pro's Push and Smudge Tools, dragging a point from the car lights outward in a line:
Testing out the Push and Smudge Tools, to emulate a Long Exposure effect (the goal of this Personal Project)
As seen above, it gave me a nice 'light line', similar to what I am aiming for - but it was hard to make a straight line (holding SHIFT, normally used to make straight lines, did not seem to work with these Tools) - and I'm not quite sure yet if I want to do this potentially many, many times when blending together multiple traffic shots to compile a finished Simulated Long Exposure Image - but I do think these Tools showed potential, especially after using a concept suggested from a Corel Forum User (known as "Flagpole") to combine the edited layers with a 'Lighten' filter [I assume, to keep the darker areas dark and 'carry over' the lighter pixels from one layer to the next]. While this overall did create the 'streaks of light' I desired, it does not seem viable (at this point) as the main approach I would take for simulating the effect.
[For now, I'm getting tired and must stop here...]
Coming in Part II
Simulating the desired "Long Exposure" effect completely within a Video Editing Program - more automated perhaps - but will it work better than a true Image Editing Application..?
The Answer to that question - and more steps taken towards progress in this Personal Project - next time! When? I have no idea! "Soon™"....
[Update/Addendum 2016-12: I recently received PaintShop Pro X9 as a 'Christmas Eve Gift From Santa' and did a quick test of this again, to find that this 'FIX' also works for the Screen Capture "Stand-Alone" version that was recently released with PaintShop Pro X9! Thank you to everyone that is stating this 'still works' with VSPx10!]
I just wanted to share a Quick Tip for those having problems recording audio with the Corel ScreepCap utility, especially if you are seeing a "Prepare Record Failed!" Error/Popup, upon trying to begin recording. I experienced this myself at first, when trying ScreenCap, so began Troubleshooting to see what could be the cause. While I did not find out the exact reason for the error I did find a fix that worked and is repeatable, allowing me to record audio with Corel's Screencap utility from then on. Hopefully, this will work for you, too...
I purchased VideoStudio x8 about a week ago [as of the time of this post] - and I have been having a blast learning it and exploring all of the great content that came with it. While I might do a "First Impressions/Review" article on the program, and maybe even some Tutorials eventually, for now I want to focus on this error/problem with the ScreenCap module, especially since experiencing it myself and then seeing it in the Corel User Forums, finding out that it is in fact an 'older' problem for many. To begin, I will present the steps I found to enable working audio recording with ScreenCap.
The "Prepare Record Failed" error from Corel's ScreenCap module that pops-up when this problem is encountered,,
captured within Windows 8.1, at the time (the solution below was done in Windows 10)
Here are the steps I took, that solved the problem with 'no audio' when recording with the ScreenCap utility, causing it to crash (and display the error message shown above):
[Note: These steps assume that the user is attempting to utilize the onboard (built-in) audio adapter of the mainboard - if you are using a differing device (eg. a sound card), then merely follow the steps replacing that device with the ones mentioned below. As well, I took screenshots of these steps in Windows 10, which is why my Desktop may appear slightly different than if you are running Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 - the steps should work in the same manner, however]
There are a few ways to open the Sound Devices list in Windows, but one of them is to right-click the little speaker icon in the System Tray (the area in the lower-right corner with the date and time). In the sub-menu that pops up, click "Recording Devices".
In the Recording Tab of the Sound panel/window that comes up, let's make sure you can see Disabled and Hidden devices in the list. To do this, right-click somewhere in the white inner area (but not on a device in the list) and a pop-up menu should appear, saying "Show Disabled Devices" and "Show Disconnected Devices". If these do not have a checkmark beside them, click on each of them one at a time, to enable these options. Now, you should see all the recording devices currently attached to your system. Some will be 'greyed out' if they are not plugged in or nothing is plugged into them.
In the list of devices, right-click the "Stereo Mix" device and choose "Enable", to 'turn on' the recording capability of your onboard audio adapter (the built-in audio capability in many modern mainboards). If a green checkmark is on the icon representing the device, it is also the Default Device for Recording (that is, the one that a program will try to use first, for recording). If there is no green circle with a checkmark, right-click once again on the same device and choose "Set As Default Device", and now one should appear next to the "Stereo Mix" device. [if your system is already configured with the motherboard audio enabled and recording, this step may not be required]
Click OK to close the Sound panel/window and close the list of audio devices.
Start up Corel's ScreenCap utility by double-clicking the icon on the Desktop for it, or navigating to the Tile or Shortcut in the Start Menu, to launch it. [In my case, I had an icon on my desktop that said "Corel ScreenCap x8" and I used that] Once it opens, click on the word "Settings" near the bottom of the panel, to open up the options/settings for Screen Capture.
In the Audio Settings category/area, click on the Circle next to "System Audio" to Disable Screen Capture from attempting to record from there [this seems counter-intuitive, but this is what I tested in Troubleshooting and doing this 'workaround' allowed me to 'fix' the problem and get it working - it seems more of a 'workaround' with getting the program to work, than a true 'fix' however, but this is what can be done, for now].
Just above the "System Audio", click on the "I" next to "Voice" to Enable recording from that input [this seems counter-intuitive again, as we are not going to use a microphone in this example, but this is the second part of the 'workaround' to get Screen Capture to record audio, for now].
Now, we will tell Screen Capture to use a different device for recording sound (as input). Click on the "Sound Check" button, next to the "Voice" setting. This will open up the Sound Check window/panel.
Next to the "Input Device" setting, click on the pull-down menu and your device that we enabled earlier should show up in the list, as "Stereo Mix".
Choose that device from the pull-down list and if you want to check to make sure it is receiving sound, you can click on the "Record" button. Once you click on this button, it will automatically record for ten seconds. If you quickly start a sound file, song or game, it should record exactly what you hear. Then, it will play the short test recording back for you, automatically. [this should verify that ScreenCap can now record audio through that device]
Click the "X" in the upper-right corner, to close the Sound Check panel/window.
That's it!
Now you should be able to hit the big red circle button at the top of the Screen Capture panel to begin recording - and it should now capture everything that you can hear through your speakers/headphones...
The ScreenCap utility does not seem to like 7.1 (8-channel) or 5.1 (6-channel) or even Quadrophonic (4-channel) audio as of the time of this post - you may still get the "Prepare Record Failed" Error if you do not change your system's audio adapter to Stereo (2-channel) Mode.
The above steps are the ones I took to enable these devices - and although it is mainly for users who have a similar type of audio device that I have at the time of this posting (a "Realtek High Definition" audio adapter/chip in their system (on their motherboard)), other devices may be slightly different in the naming if you are using a different audio device (the hardware and name listed for it, eg. "VIA HD Audio" or "SoundBlaster Z", etc) - but the steps should still be quite similar (the windows to open up, what to click on, etc). These are the exact steps I took, and they enabled me to record audio through the Screen Capture utility; and so I wanted to share them in the hope that they will work for you, too.
[I may return to this post and add a tutorial video showing visually how to do the steps in Windows in the near future - if I do, it will be located here]
Enjoy - and See You In The Games!
[Editor's Log: Just a note about my Wallpaper in the images within... For fun, I had created a background (desktop wallpaper) and a logo (shown in the above material) about The Blog, done in the style of the AMD Badge Logo and AMD Background Pattern - as I am currently enjoying an AMD GPU - but I do not have a preference between AMD GPUs and NVIDIA GPUs, I have owned both in the past and will use both in the future. I am not endorsed or affiliated with either AMD or NVIDIA in any commercial manner. Just letting my precious readers know I am impartial and like both of them!]
[Update: Since the time of this posting, GameDVR has been Updated by Micrsoft and now offers 60fps Variable Framerate and other new options, such as recording resolutions higher than 720p. I will try to do another TestRun of GameDVR and these new-and-improved settings, Soon™]
Just after the Windows 10 Release, I upgraded the main OS[Operating System]on my PC to Win10 (from 8.1). Yes, I took the plunge... I was actually in the Beta for Windows 10 and have been double-booting with it, testing it off and on for months now, testing out mainly game compatibility for a future article here [Coming Soon™], and for the last few days, I have been trying out Windows' built-in game recording program to see if it could possibly replace third-party game recording applications such as MSI Afterburner, Bandicam, Dxtory and more. Today, presented with a more loosely-formatted 'TestRun', here is what I found...
Game DVR in The Xbox App
In Windows 10, many programs and applications have been created with a Tablet 'feel' to them, with a simplified interface and large 'buttons' to click on, commonly referred to as "Apps" [this concept was introduced and is carried over from Windows 8, but all of the 'regular' Windows programs, such as the Windows-Vista-era Control Panel are still there for Veteran Users]. The built-in "Game DVR" in Windows 10, that lets you record gameplay, is within the Xbox App. The Xbox App is very easy to find and open, as it is in the Default/First panel, when clicking on the Start button/area', shown below:
Game DVR is found in The Xbox App, shown here in the Start Menu of Windows 10.
Click to see Full Size.
The Xbox App can connect to your Xbox Live Account, keep tracks of Achievements, launch installed Games, Connect directly to your Xbox and more... but as this is a blog that talks [mainly] about games and gameplay recording, I'll focus on the Game DVR portion of the app [from the point of view of a PC user], for this article.
Game DVR Settings
Taking a look at the settings, you can enable and disable Game DVR entirely if needed (or for compatibility with other programs running or performance reasons) and within it you can set your own Keyboard Shortcuts - which may be needed for some games that won't recognize the Windows Key (with the Windows Logo on it, on Windows Keyboards, usually next to the ALT keys). The original Default Windows Shortcut Keys for the Game DVR cannot be changed or modified, but the ability to let you assign your own set of Shortcut Keys makes up for this. Here is what my assigned keybindings look like, below:
An example of the Keybindings found in Game DVR in Windows 10.
The "Your Shortcut" section allows for personalization of keybindings to your own preference.
Click to see Full Size.
Buffered Recording is a great inclusion in the Windows 10 Game DVR, where it is called "Record That" [recently changed to "Background Recording"††].
For those who aren't familiar with it, Buffered Recording is where the game recording application constantly records in the background ["working similar to a treadmill" as I like to tell others] where the same space (on the hard drive) is recorded over and over, over-writing itself (losing the previous data) constantly - until the user (you) stop the program, essentially telling the program "keep that last bit you just recorded on the treadmill" - where it will then save that last portion 'permanently' to a video file, keeping the last thing you saw on your screen (the last 30 Seconds, for instance, if it is configured to buffer record that amount of time). Then, Buffered Recording begins the process again, recording another 30 seconds and re-recording over that new portion, again and again, until it is 'saved' by the user. Seen in the past in the game recording program FRAPS (and today in many programs, such as Shadowplay, MSI's Afterburner, Open Broadcaster Software and more), it is a very useful feature to capture that 'bit of action that just happened' in your gaming adventures.
In the Screenshot of a section of the Game DVR app below, I have configured a setting of 30 Seconds of buffered recording. Since this buffered recording is running constantly once the app detects a 3D/accelerated program running, it can be configured to not run if you are using it on a Laptop and running on the Battery, by simply removing the Checkmarks in the Checkboxes present below. [It can also detect and record any 3D-accelerated interfaces, such as a web browser window or player within a webpage, but it does not seem to record the Windows Desktop in general, at the time of testing]
In this Updated Screenshot, it can be seen that the Buffered Recording capability of Game DVR is now called "Background Recording", changed from "Record That", found in previous builds of Windows 10. Background Recording can be Disabled or Restricted if needed. A buffering time of 30 Seconds is shown. Click to see Full Size.
Game DVR Quality Settings
As for the recording Quality settings, there are simply two options: Standard and High.
Game DVR recording quality settings have two options, Standard and High.
Both settings are configured as High in the above screenshot of the quality settings.
In my testing, it appears to have an effect mainly on the Bitrate used to record with, where the settings create an output, on average, with these recording bitrates:
Standard: ~10Mbps max. (VBR) [Variable Bit Rate, changes as needed] High: ~20Mbps max. (VBR) [Variable Bit Rate, changes as needed]
Indeed, according to the Microsoft site page for the Game DVR app, looking it up after some testing, these are the exact limitations of the two quality settings.
However, the Xbox site page also lists Resolutions to be limited by the setting - which it doesn't appear to be limited to [at least on the PC, in my testing] - for instance, I was able to record in 1080p even though I had selected the "Standard" recording Quality Setting (although the Bitrate was still limited within the file to about 10Mbps), whereas the Xbox website page for Game DVR lists "Standard" as recording in 720p. [It is possible, that the recording engine is 'upscaling' the footage for the recorded file, that is, recording at 720p 'internally', then resizing it to 1080p before it saves it into the recorded file output... but after looking at the recordings themselves, it does not appear to be the case (the level of detail maintained by the codec is the same in both Settings). Perhaps Microsoft may change these settings in the future.]
Game DVR Format and Frame Rate
The files created, upon superficial examination, appear to be MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC) codec files, using VFR (Variable Frame Rate).
Note: this usage of VFR can potentially cause issues with importing these files into NLE video editing programs (Non-Linear Editing applications) as I wrote about in an earlier article, stating it is a reason that many are having problems editing and importing Shadowplay recordings, here at the blog.
Bandicam, another popular gameplay recording program, addressed this issue in a recent update to their application, by including an option to record in CFR (Constant Frame Rate), to alleviate this issue - I wrote a short post about that, here at the blog, as well.
[Note that not all video editing applications will have this issue - some programs, such as Cyberlink's PowerDirector and Corel's VideoStudio for example, do not seem to care what frame format type is imported into it as they both accept and edit VFR-created recordings without problem, in my testing. As well, I have tested importing Game DVR recordings with Sony's Vegas Movie Studio 13 and Editshare's Lightworks 12 (without Transcoding) and had no problems importing and editing the Game DVR clips, despite the clips having the VFR frame type format]
Using VFR, the recording output process changes the Framerate for the output file as needed, reducing the frames written into the file when less is changing on the screen/between frames, and increasing the amount of frames inserted into the output file when more is happening onscreen.
Looking at the recorded files that Game DVR produces, they seems to have an average output of 30fps [something many online are already speaking negatively about] - but that number increases up to 60fps at times, as needed/decided by the codec. For instance, the media information in one output file, a short Game DVR test recording of Battlefield: Hardline, shows the framerate data following:
Frame rate mode: Variable
Original frame rate: 29.970 fps
Minimum frame rate: 14.978 fps
Maximum frame rate: 60.241 fps
So, the VFR settings for Game DVR appear to be a Target Framerate of 29.97 frames per second (the NTSC standard, as I am currently in North America); but it increases it at times, up to about 60fps. 60 frames-per-second seems to be the upper limit, as the game itself was able to run at over 90fps when playing it (when it was recording this very file) - this can be seen in the screenshot below, in which I left the FPS (Frames Per Second) Overlay/indicator for Bandicam running in the game [Bandicam was not recording, it was merely running for the Overlay]:
An example of Game DVR Recording Quality and Performance, this frame was extracted from a recording that was utilizing the High settings of Game DVR. A lightly compressed JPEG image, it also shows the Quality maintained by Game DVR at this setting. While the recording was saved with a Variable Framerate within, it also shows the high Performance maintained by Game DVR, as the game itself is still running at over 90fps while recording, with Game DVR. Click to see Full Size.
To mention the Audio formatting used for a moment, the Audio within the Game DVR recorded file output appears to be a typical MPEG-4 Part 10 AAC format, at a 48kHz sampling rate and a 192kbps bitrate [which is in my opinion, a "good enough" BitRate for general audio recording use, especially when utilized as part of the Advanced Audio Coding format of MPEG-4 Part 10, which is capable of higher apparent quality than matching MPEG-1 Layer 3 ("MP3") BitRates]. The BitRate can be adjusted though, down to 96kbps, to reduce recording file sizes, if needed.
Game DVR Audio Recording Settings, showing the choices available at this time,
from 192kbps down to 96kbps to reduce recording file size, if needed.
Unfortunately, the Audio track appears to be limited to Stereo as of the time of this posting - in fact, if you are having problems with 'No Audio' in your Game DVR recordings, changing your Audio Device output to Stereo may alleviate the issue for you.
Steps to open your Audio Devices in Windows (and also change the Drivers installed for them, if needed as well) can be found in my previous post about Game DVR, here: http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.com/2015/08/quick-tip-part-2-of-2-no-audio-recorded.html
Game DVR and Game Compatibility
When testing Game DVR, it was not always possible to record every game, especially when the game was not running in 'Windowed Mode' - this recording app seems to more easily detect a game in Windowed Mode, at this time.
In Fullscreen Modes, many games were not detected at all. Even if a game was detected and it was possible to record with Game DVR, there were not always indicators or panels of information that showed up, to assist in the recording process or to notify that it was occurring.
This appears to be by design, after looking at the Xbox website for Game DVR - it states a warning, that: "...If a PC game is in full-screen mode, the Game bar will be blocked from opening. To use the Game bar or the shortcut keys, you’ll first need to adjust the game settings to open in Windowed mode. Once in this mode, press the Windows key + G to open the Game bar, and then select the checkbox 'Yes, this is a game'. You can now either play in Windowed mode or switch the settings back to full-screen mode, but once in full-screen mode you’ll have to rely on the Windows shortcut keys, as the Game bar will be blocked. In this mode, use the Windows key + Alt + G and Windows key + Alt + R sequences to create your recordings. The other keyboard shortcut combinations will not work in full-screen mode..."
(quoted from the Microsoft Game DVR website).
So, if you want to use Game DVR to record most games[not all, as it does not work with all games], you may have to run the game(s) in Windowed Mode, to increase compatibility. You can try running the game(s) in Fullscreen Mode, but I found during testing there may be no indication that the recording process is occurring or not. For some games (eg.Tomb Raider 2013), a red panel/indicator would be shown in the upper-right corner, for other games (eg. Battlefield 4), the game screen will slightly 'dim' in brightness, indicating that Game DVR has 'saved the last recording'.
I want to note here, that most games do not seem to even be detected by Game DVR if they are run in Fullscreen Mode. [In my opinion, this is a large negative against Game DVR, as most gamers are probably running their games in Fullscreen Mode, if the game is capable of it. Hopefully, this limitation of Game DVR will change in the future, via a patch or Hotfix from Microsoft - after all, other game recording programs can handle Fullscreen Modes (for example, Bandicam, Dxtory, MSI Afterburner (which is also completely free, like Game DVR) and many more)]
Since we are talking about 'negatives against Game DVR', I should continue by saying that there are a few options that are not configurable by the end User at all, leaving a 'restricted' feeling to the app [these options may change in their configurability in the future]. I will list two of them here:
The folder to save the Captures to cannot be changed.
If you don't like where the game is saving the recordings, too bad, it can't be changed. In a way, I see the point of this [from working in IT in the past], as the folder it is utilizing should experience no troubles, for the User of Game DVR, to create files in. It is in a location that should not conflict with other Security or Permission settings on a system. However, as an end User and Gamer, the inability to choose to save the recordings to another location (perhaps a larger drive, or a faster one) is frustrating, and I have no doubt this limitation may turn many away from Game DVR, for the time being.
The alerts (pop-ups) for the app cannot be changed.
When completing a recording with Game DVR, a pop-up may slide in from the bottom-right corner, telling you that it has saved the file. It may also do this for Screenshots taken by the app [I say "may" here, because in Fullscreen Modes, these indicators may not show up at all]. The problem is, this alert/popup cannot be disabled, or the location of where it shows up, changed. Perhaps I am 'spoiled' by other game recording programs; but almost all other utilities of this nature allow configuration of the Overlays or Notifications, even if it is just the colour of them, or what corner of the screen they are shown in. Again, I feel that this inability to change the location of the alert/popup [changing the opacity or colour of the popups would be nice, devs] will turn many away from Game DVR, at this time.
One last possible point against Game DVR I have found during testing is: at times it will give an error (when trying to capture some buffered recording, with the Record That†† feature) that states "Record That will not work" and to "Start it and try again" - even though the Record That function is Enabled (already started) and was just working previously. There is no other error or information, merely that it 'will not work'. There seems to be a lot of compatibility and detection issues with Game DVR, at this point in time... [Rushed to be released with the Windows 10 Release, perhaps?]
Game DVR Compatibility List
Below then, is a list of a handful of games that I have personally tested Game DVR with, up to as of the time of this posting. It should be noted that for this list, I tested mainly Fullscreen Modes of games that allowed it (as I thought most gamers would also run games that way). This was also done to highlight the low Fullscreen Detection occurrence with Game DVR. [Once again, Game DVR functionality may change in the future, with Updates and Patches from Microsoft, and these future changes may help alleviate many of the problems and incompatibilities it currently has - in fact, hopefully they will]
List of Some Games Tested with Game DVR (in Alphabetical Order)
Note that when running games in Fullscreen Mode, most will not show any indicator at all, when recording with Game DVR, even though it is functioning and recording the gameplay. Many games will still perform an audio indicator (Xbox alert type sound), even if there is no visual indicator shown. As well, some games will 'dim' the screen momentarily, to let you know the recording has been saved.
OK = Works in Fullscreen Mode (records gameplay, may have only audio indicator) DNW = Does Not Work (fully or at all)
APB Reloaded = DNW†*
Batman: Arkham City = DNW
Battlefield 4 = OK
Battlefield: Hardline = OK
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive = OK
Diablo II = DNW
Diablo III = OK (Default Shortcuts did not work, Custom ones did)
Grand Theft Auto IV (GTAIV) = OK
Guild Wars 2 = OK
**Hearthstone = OK
Hitman: Absolution (Steam) = OK
Hitman: Contracts (GOG) = DNW (the GameBar opens but cannot be interacted with)
Just Cause 2 = DNW
Left 4 Dead 2 = OK
Media Portal (Live TV Viewing Application) = OK
Minecraft = OK
Planestside 2 = OK
Plants vs. Zombies (Steam) = OK
Rollercoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum (Steam) = DNW
Street Fighter IV (SFIV), Tested with Benchmark = OK
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (TESV) = DNW
The Secret World = OK (possible problems, clips were cut short)
Tomb Raider (2013) = OK (possible problems, it would stop intermittently)
Torchlight (GOG) = DNW†*
Trove = DNW†*
WinTV (Live TV Viewing Application) = OK
World of Warcraft (WoW) = OK
**(Hearthstone) - I experienced an odd 'flickering' when using Game DVR - but this only occurred in Hearthstone and in Standard Quality recording mode with Hearthstone. The symptom itself seems similar to what would be experienced in GOP-related artifacting (the size of the Group Of Pictures) as, the entire video would 'flicker' or 'flash', about every 3 seconds, when played back. As the codec used by Game DVR is MPEG-4/h.264/AVC, I state that it could be related to the GOP, as the Default GOP setting for h.264/AVC is 250 or 300 frames (depending on the interface used) - which, recording at about 30fps, is about 3 seconds. I may mention this occurrence to Blizzard, as it did not appear in other games or utilities (for example, the Unigine Valley Benchmark produces no such artifact/effect). [I suggest only using High Quality recording mode to record Hearthstone with Game DVR for now, as a Workaround]
†* (Various games, not all were tested for this) - I noticed during testing, that most games that will not normally record in Fullscreen Mode with Game DVR will record and buffer record (which Game DVR calls "Record That"†† [which in my opinion should perhaps be called 'Catch That' or 'Keep That' or similar]), if the game is changed to 'Fullscreen Windowed Mode' [which also assists in ease of Multitasking (ALT+TABbing, etc)]. In this mode, it is not an 'exclusive' Fullscreen mode, but it will take up the entire area of the screen/desktop/etc, so that nothing else is seen but the game. In this mode, Game DVR works far more compatibly with many more games than with Exclusive Fullscreen Mode.
If your game that you want to record, isn't buffering or recording with Game DVR, try changing the in-game options to a 'Windowed Mode' type, such as "Fullscreen Windowed Mode" - it should then work with most games!
As can be seen above, the functionality for Fullscreen Mode did not work in many games. Some games showed a red timer in the upper-right corner (eg. Tomb Raider 2013), but most did not. I am 'guessing' here, but perhaps the current functioning of the indicator(s) in Game DVR is a result of two factors:
1) An attempt to not interfere with the 3D displaying of the game material, whether for distraction (Streaming, Recording, etc) or for Performance purposes, it is simply not allowed, for most games - Indeed, it is stated at the Game DVR information page, that in Fullscreen Mode, the visual cues will not be shown. The function of the restriction however, is not disclosed fully.
2) Incompatibility with most games - As most games did not show any visual indicator (but the majority did give an audio indication of a recording being saved, for those that Game DVR worked with), perhaps there was a lack of compatibility at this time, for those games. I do not doubt that perhaps there was not enough cooperation from some game companies and publishers, with Microsoft, to provide sufficient Code to include the interface into their games (especially in the light that, to some companies/publishers, Microsoft is a direct competitor, with some game licenses/franchises).
Whatever the reasons, my testing found that in Fullscreen Mode, the functioning of Game DVR is either 'invisible' (no indicators, or just audio indicators) or non-compatible (not working at all) in many games.
Game DVR Output Quality, Comparison of Settings
The concept of apparent quality is mainly subjective; that is, what one person perceives as "good quality", another may perceive as "bad quality" [there is the property of mathematical identicalness of quality, but that is not what I am referring to here, I am referring to the human perception of apparent quality in the visual realm]. In short, the recordings that Game DVR produces as output are subjectively of "Good" quality. Now, this is out of a ranking that I would have between relativistic phrases, decreasing in apparent Quality, as:
Great Good Okay Bad
If someone were to ask me if Game DVR gave 'low quality output' I would say, "No". However, if someone else were to ask me if Game DVR gave 'really nice high quality output', I would have to say "Not exactly, but it is Good". As I will show, the utilization of the MPEG-4/AVC codec is done quite well overall in the Game DVR utility, with h.264/AVC extended options apparently enabled, such as Deblocking (to reduce compression artifacts and the 'corruption' look of them), Variable Frame Rate (to assist in apparent smoothness of motion)and a Long GOP (large Group Of Pictures, a large amount of frames in between, to compress with) utilized, all higher functions of the MPEG-4 Part 10 H.264/AVC codec.
In this article, I am going to be looking at the overall visual quality of the recordings produced by Game DVR. In a future post, a Quality Test article, I am going to be pitting Game DVR output more directly against output produced by other game recording programs, such as Bandicam, Dxtory, Gaming Evolved (Raptr) and more - look for that article here at the blog, Soon™
As mentioned higher up in this article, Game DVR has two main Quality Settings: Standard and High, with each setting apparently limiting the overall BitRate of the produced file. For instance, analysis of recordings done with the "Standard" setting, finds that the BitRate 'tops out' at ~10Mbps, whereas recordings done with the "High" setting finds that the BitRate maximum ends at ~20Mbps. To compare the apparent visual quality of the two, we'll be looking at a few games, using side-by-side gameplay of each setting.
To begin though, I want to first show the effect of Deblocking, which Game DVR seems to utilize. Deblocking is a function within the MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC) codec that Game DVR uses and it contributes to apparent quality of video material by 'softening' or 'blurring' edges of blocks that the screen is divided into, when the codec analyzes it, working towards 'hiding' artifacts of compression. Simply put, it will attempt make video "look better to human eyes" by 'softening' negatively-affected portions of the video (portions that are negatively-affected by lossy compression). As an example of this effect, take a look at the Screenshot below:
In the above Screenshot, the left side is an extracted frame from a GameDVR-produced recording, which appears to use Deblocking. The right side is an extracted still frame from a recording where Deblocking has been Disabled (from an application that does not have it Enabled, to be exact). Overall, the effect of the Deblocking filter in the H.264/AVC codec is quite apparent, where almost all of the edges of the "blocks" that the screen is divided into by the codec when compressing it (the "Macroblocking" artifacts of compression) are 'softened' by the filter, attempting to hide the negative effects of compression from human perception.
This reminds me of an example I compiled for an earlier article, where I talk more in-depth about H.264/AVC and the various settings of it. That example is just above this paragraph, but the links to those posts here at the blog are just below - seek them out for more information regarding x264, the Windows Interface for the H.264/AVC codec, along with Suggestions for the various settings of it, when it comes to recording gameplay:
Getting back to the Game DVR Settings offered of 'High' and 'Standard', let's take a look at Street Fighter IV again, to begin with. I use the Street Fighter IV Benchmark for a few reasons: one is, there is a good combination of fast-moving areas of the screen, in contrast to lower-motion areas, like the backgrounds. This creates a nice mix of material for the codec to analyze and attempt to compress, letting us see what the output will be. Below, is a still-frame comparison of the two settings, each with a frame that was extracted from their respective Game DVR recordings:
Game DVR High Settings and Standard Settings, compared using the Street Fighter IV Benchmark.
Click to see Full Size
In the frame I have chosen for each, there was a large amount of motion happening on the screen (a high amount of changes occurring in the video material). This frame is immediately after a large blue explosion in the center area ('magic' from each opponent clashing in the middle).
Overall, the Quality maintained by Game DVR is quite acceptable for both. In fact, the differences between the two settings may not be obvious at first glance, until one begins to scrutinize, then seeing some compression artifacts, especially in the area around Sakura's leg (the opponent on the right), and the area just above Ryu's head (the opponent on the left). In those spots, the Macroblocking (compression artifacts that look like 'little squares' or 'corruption') is more visible. The codec seems to handle the onscreen occurrence well though, as the background is not overly compressed ('smoothed out') and elements such as the ideograms on the statue can still be clearly seen.
Below, is a clip from the same game, using the same scene/area/fight shown above, where it can be seen that the negative effects of compression are even less visible when watching the video/recording itself:
Let's take a look at more complex game material [in contrast to the stylized/cartoon approach of SFIV], by taking a glance at the Unigine Heaven Benchmark.
Game DVR High Settings and Standard Settings, compared using the Unigine Heaven Benchmark. Click to see Full Size
In the frames above, there is not a lot 'going on' as far as we, as humans, may think about it; but there is a lot changing on the screen at one time, at least as far as the codec is concerned. As the camera flies down the preset path in the benchmark, everything around it and in view is slowly changing, from sky to stone to wood, and so on. The codec analyzes this and decides what it thinks is more important to human perception, and either tries to maintain clarity (Quality) or compresses it further, allowing the area to lose detail (mathematically lossy compression).
Overall again, the Quality maintained by Game DVR is acceptable for both, but in contrast to the above example, there are slightly more differences and these are slightly more obvious (for example, the foreground center area, where the pathway stones are, and to a lesser extent, the areas around the windows in the house farther back). In these spots, the Macroblocking (compression artifacts that look like 'little squares' or 'corruption') is more visible. The 'High' side (left side) is quite capable of handling the level of detail, losing very little; while the 'Standard' setting (right side) is simply limited by a slightly-too-low of a Bitrate, where the codec must make 'the hard decisions' and allow a loss of detail in areas it thinks will not be missed (such as the tuft of grass to the left of the pathway in the shadows).
Below, is a clip from the same benchmark, where it can be seen that, again, the negative effects of compression are less visible when watching the full-motion video/recording itself:
Lastly, let's look at another modern source, the game Hitman: Absolution and how Game DVR handles the high amount of small details and contrasting light and dark areas, by running the Hitman: Absolution Benchmark.
Game DVR High Settings and Standard Settings, compared using the Hitman: Absolution Benchmark. Click to see Full Size
In the above screenshot comparison, I have again taken two still-frames from each recording produced by Game DVR for each setting. With the more complex material used in this game, a larger difference in Quality can be seen between the two recording settings, as the 'Standard' (right) side has far more Macroblocking occurring, despite the Deblocking capability of Game DVR's usage of the MPEG-4/AVC codec. In its analysis, the codec has decided that the brighter, complex pillar designs are 'more important to the human eye' than the darker details of the stones that line the bottom of the gazebo in the plaza. This is common for video compression codecs and how they handle video material, it is just that it has resulted in a high amount of loss in the details of the stones and surrounding darker/flatter areas. The fog and shadowed area between the piles of boxes (bottom center-left area) has also suffered from the decisions.
These trade-offs are to be expected however, and it should be remembered that the codec was in this case also purposely limited to only about 10Mbps (which is less than half the Bitrate of a BluRay movie) and forced to record in 1080p (Full HD). At the same time then, it should also be noted at how well Game DVR did handle this complex scene with its 'High' setting (left half). It seems that for gaming at around 1080p, the High setting is quite capable of holding it's own, while for lower resolutions (1366x768, 720p HD, etc) the 'Standard' setting should be acceptable and produce even more acceptable/smaller filesizes[filesizes are examined more in an upcoming post, a Quality Test of Game DVR, including direct comparisons to output quality from other game recording programs such as Bandicam, Dxtory, AMD Gaming Evolved (Raptr) and more - Coming Soon™].
Below, is the full-motion comparison of the two settings, both recordings of the Hitman: Absolution Benchmark done by Game DVR, showing how, while the 'Standard settings' side suffered at this Resolution by it's limited Bitrate, the 'High settings' side shows that Game DVR is quite a capable game capturing utility:
One last caveat, with regards to Quality and recording with Game DVR [as of the time of this post] - I was running into an intermittent occurrence where the produced recording was 'corrupted' in some manner, even though there was no problem with the game that was running, or any other indication that something was amiss while recording the gameplay - the end result/recording merely came out with this corruption going on, a couple examples of it, I will show below:
Example of the 'corruption' that seems to occur at random, when recording with Game DVR at this time. I have highlighted some of the contrasting areas in green rectangles to make them more obvious. Click to see Full Size.
Above, is a full-motion example of the intermittent video corruption that occurs with Game DVR at this time, shown in a short excerpt from the Battlefield: Hardline Single Player Campaign.
Game DVR Final Result
As a 'Final Result' then [in this more-loosely formatted TestRun], the "free" (included in Windows 10) game recording app Game DVR would be a very viable alternative to other game recording programs (such as Bandicam, Dxtory, Raptr, OBS, MSI Afterburner and more) - but as it stands at the time of this writing, while it does work with most games, it will not work in 'Fullscreen' Mode in lots of cases (although this issue can be alleviated in some cases by going into a 'Windowed Fullscreen' Mode). As well, there is currently a seemingly-random problem with video corruption, as seen in the examples just above - and this may scare away many, many people from Game DVR, for now.
There is little configurability with the Settings (for Quality, there is only 'Standard' and 'High'), but the Default formats/settings seem acceptable for most gaming purposes, seeming quite capable to handle most game material, especially with the 'High' Quality Setting. As I always state, do a few short tests of your favourite games, to see if the Windows 10 Game DVR is right for you, providing a level of Quality for game recording that you find acceptable for the light performance 'Hit/Lag' Game DVR produces (it reduces performance very little, as it utilizes GPU-acceleration and modern codecs for high performance).
[I did not test negative game performance/effect of Game DVR at this time, but may return to this post and add that information in the near future... Overall for now, know that the performance hit for Game DVR is very little, as it uses the GPU more than the main CPU of the system. As with other programs such as Shadowplay, AMD's Gaming Evolved (Raptr), Mirillis's ACTION, Playclaw 5 and other utilities that can utilize GPU-accelerated recording, doing so in this way produces only a few frames of 'lag' in performance.]
So, whether you try it today or wait for a few Updates to see if there are improvements to compatibility (and possibly configurability and fixing the corruption issue), whichever you choose, I hope that you have found the information herein possibly contributing to your decision. For the most part, Game DVR worked pretty well. Have fun trying it out and recording with it - and look for an upcoming Quality Test article, where I compare Game DVR output quality directly against other game recording programs, such as Bandicam, Dxtory, ACTION!, Playclaw 5, Gaming Evolved (Raptr) and more... Coming Soon™!
See You In The Games!
Personal Version/Opinion Add-On/DLC: Myself, although I like the Buffered Recording functionality [something that Shadowplay, MSI Afterburner, Mirillis' ACTION!, Playclaw 5, AMD Gaming Evolved (Raptr), OBS and others offer, but something that Dxtory, Bandicam and others do not provide at this time], there are many games that simply do not work with Game DVR (many do not work at all, even in Windowed Mode) and this will no doubt keep many away from it. If they can get to patching Game DVR and increase the compatibility and number of games that it will work with, I see it as a viable competitor then, to most game recording applications, especially since it "is free" (it comes with Windows), has "good enough" Quality, and offers Buffered Recording [and in my testing for this article, I found it is importable and editable with video editing applications such as Sony's Vegas Movie Studio and Editshare's Lightworks (even without Transcoding)]. For the Audio, 192kbps AAC is a 'decent' starting point for Quality and most programs that handle AAC audio these days Default to 160kbps or 192kbps. Back when MPEG-2 was the most popular codec being used over the Intertubes (and DVDs), I always preferred 256kbps bitrate or higher for the Audio (I have somewhat sensitive hearing - but do not consider myself an Extremely-Sensitive-Hearing-Audiophile) and AAC 'sounds like' it carries more fidelity than MP2/MP3 audio at the same bitrate [part of its mathematical functioning], so I concur with - and was pleased to find - the 192kbps AAC setting used as the Default within Game DVR. It is unfortunate that a Target Framerate of ~30fps (with an apparent maximum of ~60fps) is a limitation within Game DVR, as when watching recorded clips, it is somewhat obvious that the framerate was not the same as the game [when the game itself can be run at 60fps or higher, there is an odd 'choppy-ness' to the playback of the video that was not present in the game itself - the video comes out not as 'smooth' feeling, to watch (especially when slowed down or played at half-speed for a "slow motion" effect)]. Perhaps this limitation was done in the name of performance, as it would take less system resources to save/buffer video during gameplay, using this lower framerate (there are literally less frames per second to process/save/etc). Perhaps this limitation was done in the name of compatibility (for conversion to hardware/mobile players and Consoles). Perhaps this limitation may change in the future, as well. Overall though, I was pleasantly surprised with the Performance and Quality of the Game DVR recording utility in Windows 10. Being "free", if it can gain more compatibility with a larger number of games (and get that 'random corruption problem' fixed), I see it catching on with many gamers that make the eventual switch/upgrade to Windows 10. Have fun with it - and See You In The Games!
††Note/Update 1: "Record That", the buffered recording capability of Game DVR has, since this writing began, changed its' name to "Background Recording" and may change back again in the future
Update 2: As of 2015-11, Game DVR seems to not be working [for me]... at all. There has been much negative Feedback (the App) about it and many threads already started in the Official Microsoft Forums for this, and although many are, not everyone is experiencing this trouble. I just wanted to make a quick note here that I am, so you may know, dear reader, if you are experiencing this: "It's Not Just You™"...
Update 3: As of 2016-05, I have only played with GameDVR for a very short time, but in the few short tests I did (booting into Windows 10 on a dual boot system), it seems to be working again, if still having some minor problems with Game Detection, etc.
