How to Record Losslessly Using x264vfw

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Before getting started, you must install the x264 codec in advance. If you do not know how to install it, please refer to the Help section.


Click the Codec menu in oCam, then click the External Codec menu item.

Select Use External Codec, choose the x264vfw codec, and then click the Settings button.


Using the default x264vfw settings as a base, change the parts highlighted in the yellow box in the image below as shown.



 


The following settings need to be changed. 


Preset - Ultrafast ( Set this to improve encoding speed. The file size may become larger, but if you choose other options, significant lag may occur. )

Profile - High 4:4:4 ( The default profile may cause quality loss, so change it to High 4:4:4 for lossless encoding. )

Keep input colorspace - Keeps the color space of the internally received input buffer.  ( If you use other options, encoding may fail. )

Rate control - Single pass - lossless - Change this for lossless encoding.


Click the OK button to apply the settings.


When recording 64-bit games, the settings are applied to x264vfw64 for 64-bit, so run x264vfw - Configure x264vfw64 from the Start menu and configure it in the same way as shown above.


If you record with the above settings, the video will be recorded losslessly. One important point is that if you want to play back the lossless video without quality loss, you must change the settings in your video player.


Below is how to check a lossless video using PotPlayer.

Run PotPlayer, then click Preferences ( F5 ).


In the Preferences window, 


click Video - Color Space/Attributes on the left, then in the Color Space group box on the right, select Convert manually if possible - Default output color space. ( If you do not configure this, even if the recording is lossless, the screen colors may still be altered during playback. )


Click OK, then play the video recorded losslessly.


At this point, press Ctrl + F1 in PotPlayer. As shown below, the output format of the video codec must be displayed as RGB(32 Bits).


Also, in the playback information under the File Information tab, the following properties must match as shown below.


Format profile                 : High 4:4:4 Predictive@L3

Color space                    : RGB

Color range                    : Full

Matrix coefficients            : RGB


Please note that Windows Media Player does not play this properly, and preview thumbnails will not be displayed in Windows Explorer.

Another helpful tip

What to Do If the "Failed to url_fopen" Error Message Appears and Recording Does Not Start

When creating a recording file in oCam, an error may occur if the file cannot be saved to the save path specified by the user. This issue is usually caused by access permissions for the save path or an incorrect path setting. Below is a detailed explanation of how to change the save path to resolve this problem.


To fix the recording file save error, the most effective method is to change oCam's save path to a different location. Please follow the steps below:


1. In the oCam main window, click 'Tools' in the top menu, then select 'Options'.

2. When the Settings window opens, click the 'Save' category in the left menu.

3. In the 'Save' tab, find the 'Save Path' item, check the currently configured path, and change it to a new location.

4. After making the change, click the 'OK' button to save the settings.


By default, it is recommended to set the save path to the Desktop. The Desktop generally has the access permissions needed for all programs to create files, so save errors are less likely to occur. For example, if you set the Desktop path to `C:\Users\[User Name]\Desktop`, in most cases the recording file will be saved without errors.


After changing the save path, restart oCam and try recording again to check whether the problem has been resolved. If the issue continues, it is also a good idea to check whether the selected folder has write permission and whether there is enough disk space.