Despite the fact that the program is free (this is an open source), it provides really extensive features of video and audio recording from a computer, more productive and, important for our user, has an interface in Russian.
Attention: I recommend the instructions for the new version of the program - recording video from the screen in Obs Studio. In the example below, the use of OBS to record video is from the desktop (i.e., creating screenshots), but the utility can also be easily used to write a game video, I hope after reading the review will be clear how to do it. I also note that OBS is currently represented in two versions - OBS Classic for Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10 and OBS Studio, which in addition to Windows supports OS X and Linux. The first option will be considered (the second is currently being in the early stages of development and can be unstable).
Using OBS for recording video from desktop and games
After launching the Open Broadcaster Software, you will see a blank screen with a proposal to start broadcast, start recording or launching the preview. At the same time, if you immediately do something from the listed, then only an empty screen will be broadcast or recorded (however, by default, with sound - both from the microphone and sound from the computer).
In order to record a video from any source, including Windows desktop, you need to add this source by right-clicking on the corresponding list at the bottom of the program window.
After adding a "desktop" as a source, you can configure the seizure of the mouse, choose one of the monitors if there are several of them. If you select "Game", it will be possible to select a specific running program (not necessarily the game), the window of which will be recorded.
After that, it is enough just to click "Start Recording" - in this case, the video from the desktop will be recorded with the sound in the video folder on the computer in the .flv format. You can also run a preview to make sure the video capture is working fine.
If you want to configure the settings in more detail, go to the settings. Here you can change the following main options (some of them may not be available, which depends, including from the equipment used on the computer, in particular, video cards):
- Coding - setting codecs for video and sound.
- Broadcast - Setting the direct broadcast video and sound to various online services. If you only need video recording on your computer, you can set the "Local Record" mode. Also, after that you can change the video save folder and change the format with FLV on MP4, which is also supported.
- Video and audio - setting the appropriate parameters. In particular, the default video permissions used by the video card, FPS when recording, sources for recording sound.
- Hot keys - Setting hot keys to start and stopping recording and broadcasts, enable and disable sound recording, etc.
Additional features of the program
If you wish, in addition to directly recording the screen, you can add an image of a webcam over the video recorded by simply by adding a "capture device" list and configuring it in the same way as it was done for the desktop.
The setting of any of the sources can also be opened, clicking on it twice in the list. Some additional settings, such as location change, are available via the right click on the source.
Similarly, you can add a watermark or logo over the video using the "image" as a source.
This is not the entire list of what can be done with Open Broadcaster Software. For example, it is available to create multiple scenes with different sources (for example, different monitors) and performing transitions between them during the recording or broadcast process, automatically disabling the recording from the microphone with "silence" (noise gate), creating recording profiles and some extended codec parameters.
In my opinion, this is one of the excellent options for a free program for recording video from a computer screen, successfully combining ample opportunities, performance and relative ease of use even for a novice user.
I recommend to try if you have not yet found solutions for such tasks that you would fully approach the set of parameters. Download OBS in the examined version, as well as in the new - OBS Studio you can from the official site https://obsproject.com/