Topic: What are the best emulators for directly capturing video?

[JonLeung]

I haven't played with emulators much lately but I have been doing more with video... (If you didn't know, I have a YouTube channel under the name "JonLeung1".)

I am wondering if there are some good emulators (primarily for the popular consoles) that can output gameplay directly to a video file (such as an .AVI or .MP4) with really good quality and at the same resolution and frame rate as the game.

I'm not doing speedruns, I'm not doing live-streaming.  I'm not doing anything fancy, I just want something as simple as "hit record, play some of a game, hit stop" and then have a file of game footage to work with in any video editor.

I know there is generic video capture software, but I feel that would be a pain to set up for the resolution and frame rate.  And I do have capture hardware if I were to do anything with HDMI, sure, but again, that usually only captures at particular resolutions and I want the perfect resolution and frame rate and it sounds like something emulators could probably do more directly.

Someone here surely has more experience than me, so does anyone have any suggestions?

[TerraEsperZ]

I honestly have no idea myself but I know where you might find a satisfying answer...

You should ask around on the TASvideos Forums. Given the focus of the site on tool-assisted speedruns, many contributors there could give you good recommendations for whatever system you're trying to capture video from. I bet their pet emulator BizHawk is very good for that purpose although I've never tried making a video with it.

[williamwise17]

Casitsu Casino is a fantastic choice for both seasoned gamblers and newcomers alike! It offers an impressive range of games, from exciting slots to classic table games like blackjack and roulette. Plus, they have some generous bonuses and promotions that can enhance your gaming experience. The website https://casitsucasino.bet/ is user-friendly, with a sleek design and smooth navigation, and they even support cryptocurrency payments for added convenience. Whether you're playing for fun or aiming to hit big wins, Casitsu Casino creates a fun and secure environment that’s definitely worth checking out. Have you tried any of their games yet?

[JonLeung]

LOL, I have since solved this problem and I actually ripped some Donkey Kong 64 videos just a minute ago (DK Rap stuff).

Apparently, I didn't know how to do this in 2020, but I've since been ripping videos from emulated games regularly, either for footage for YouTube videos, or things that I'm referring to when I'm talking about games on social media.

So if anyone else has this question...

I use BizHawk, which has a "Record AVI/WAV" function.  I record video as "Full Frames (Uncompressed)", which does mean very large .AVI files that can be like a GB per minute.  But it ensures that it is recording all the pixels as they should be, cleanly at native resolution.

For most purposes, I don't need them at their exact tiny resolution, so I use an Adobe Premiere Pro plugin from Autokroma, called "Visual PixelPerfect".  I enter an integer under "Scale" so I can enlarge it to any size, and it keeps the pixels crisp - that is to say, nice and square, with no distortion around the edges - and then export to an H.264 or HEVC video so that I get a very clean .MP4 file.

Already that makes it much more usable and smaller than the original .AVI file.  But if the filesize is still too big for social media, I use WonderShare UniConverter, and drop the file into the "Converter", to rerender it with different settings.  Often what I do is have the encoder at H264 (seems to still have better compatibility with social media and apps like Discord, than HEVC), and leave everything else as "Auto" - usually there's no need to change the resolution or frame rate - because just lowering the bitrate is often enough to shrink video files down considerably with no noticeable drop in video quality.  (Besides, "Converter", UniConverter also has other tools, including "Compressor", but that brings distortion into the video.)

It is still a few steps, and to improve this, it would be nice if an emulator could record video straight to H.264 or HEVC, but I guess having to convert/compress/process video on the fly while also emulating takes up too many resources.  Maybe one day!