Live capture with webcam VSx10

[Candive]

I have a Microsoft LifeCam Studio camera connected to my PC running Windows 10 and using VSx10. I tried to capture some video using VSx10 but the quality wasn't very good. I tried selecting various video profiles but they all seem to be substandard. Even trying to add a new profile I was limited to the default Format. The only two formats available seem to be DVD or MPEG 2 HD which create an mpg video. I then discovered Windows 10 has a camera app and I captured using that app which saves the file as MP4. The difference was huge! Cristal Clear. So my workflow is to capture using the windows camera app and editing in VS.

My question is, can I add different formats to capture in VS generating the same quality as I can with the simple Win 10 app? If so, How do I do it? There must be a back door or something?

[asik1]

And why do you need a back door in VS if the win10 app does a good job?

[lata]

Hi Candice
The Live Screen Capture that comes with CVS x10 can only capture to WMV the highest resolution being your monitor resolution
I do not know of a way to change the capture format.

[Candive]

Hi asik1,
You make a valid point; use the best tool for the job. To honestly answer your question; I really enjoy using Videostudio and have done so for many years and I guess I'm always trying to make it perform better. I though I might ask the question since someone out there may know the answer.

lata, you anticipated my next question. I did notice that the live screen capture only captures in WMV and yet there is a drop down box (with only one selection!). Why can't a user select more than one codec? They are available in the system.

But I guess I am expecting too much from a consumer video editor. The advantage of VS is its simplicity and it does the job - just maybe not the best job. The live screen capture is good for simple things such as taking a screen shot of a problem you may be experiencing with your computer to share with a technician or even someone on this forum. But if you want to progress further, there are better programs available. At least VS gave you a basic understanding of the functionality and typical workflow.

After making my post I did research other screen capture programs with webcam support. Two free programs I now can recommend is Flashback Express and OBS Studio;
https://www.flashbackrecorder.com/express/
https://obsproject.com/

Flashback is pretty straight forward and easy to learn so I would recommend it to VS users if they wanted to take the next step. I personally like OBS Studio because it has a more efficient workflow. Flashback comes with a screen capture program and player/editor. It takes a number of steps to generate the video file you require. This is not the case with OBS. Once set up, its easy to capture and generate a video file. OBS interface is clean and may be a little intimidating to first time users but watching a couple of youtube tutorials got me up to speed in no time.

The only problem with OBS is the infamous "black screen", which can be a problem for window 10 users. I had this problem but after a bit of googling I was able to resolve it. If you trial OBS and after installation get the black screen, here are the steps that helped me resolve the issue.

1. Open Windows Settings ( just write Settings in Start)
2. Go to System -> Display
3. Scroll down to find Graphic Settings
4. Hit Browse
5. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\obs-studio\bin\64bit or C:\Program Files\obs-studio\bin\64bit or C:\Program Files (x86)\obs-studio\bin\32bit Whatever the path is for you depending on your setup..Basically just find obs launcher
6. Select obs64.exe (or whatever it's called for you)
7. Hit Add
8. You should see OBS added as an app below. Hit Options.
9. Switch to Power saving. You should see your Power Saving GPU being the onboard gpu and the High performance GPU being your nvidia or whatever you are using.
10. Test display capture in OBS.

I hope this helps forum members who may be interested in other "free" (and excellent) screen capture programs available. Thanks again asik1 and lata for responding to my query.