Topic: Recording Footage (Capture Card)

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about posting no-commentary gameplay videos to YouTube. How would I go about doing this? What should I keep in mind?

It's really not hard, especially if you aren't doing commentary, as you won't even have to use an editing program for the most part.
Just get a capture card, record, and upload. Or is there anything in particular you're wondering?

Yes, as a matter of fact. I don't really want to just do it for fun, but I don't want to be overly-serious, either. So kinda like a prosumer, if you know what I mean. The idea of ad money seems enticing, but I'm not sure where to start. Can you help?

I don't know anything about monetizing, sorry. I've always just done it for fun. But if that's what you wanna do, make sure you get good quality equipment. Do you have a capture card in mind?

No, that's what I need help with.

I have no clue where to even start as far as making an attractive channel and things like that. Hopefully someone else can step in and help, too.

I'm using a capture card called Avermedia Live Gamer Portable. It's relatively cheap and does it's job very well. I definitely recommend it. Of course, you could always get better if you think it's worth paying more.
If you're good with art, people always appreciate a nice looking channel. But of course, that's not going to matter if your content isn't up to snuff.

I've been in a semi-similar situation for a while, so I've personally put a lot of thought into this type of stuff. But straight up, unless you get big in certain multiplayer gaming communities, I find it difficult to see a person getting far with videos without commentary of some sort. Literally the only channel of the past 5 years I know to do that was a popular Let's Play channel that just made commentary-free versions of their already popular video content.

That being said, if you can get past the borderline inevitable lack of attention that type of channel would get, you can straight up get a capture card online if you search, or you could go to Best Buy or some similar electronics focused store (and their online stores would show what they would presumably have at their actual stores). I personally got an Elgato for 180 dollars, but I should say that despite it being almost universally loved and them just handing out an editing software (if a really basic one), I personally ran into issues relatively quickly that made it difficult to justify continuing to use it. I've not seen a well liked capture card sell for less than 90 bucks when I checked. There are less expensive ways to capture gameplay, but for real good quality stuff, especially for HD gaming is pretty expensive.

The only ones worth watching are the stuff like no damage runs. Far too many where they cannot even play the game properly.

There is probably a market for stuff like 3DS eshop games finding all the secrets. That stuff barely exists.

Really good quality can never be achieved when a 60fps game is shown at 30fps. (Caring about doing the job right would mean using mp4's for now).

@OmegaMetroid93 Thanks a lot for the help. Do you have a YT channel I could check out?

@kkslider5552000 @unrandomsam I don't want to get into an argument, but I want to mention that I believe there is a market for "no-commentary" gameplay videos. I can vouch for this personally, as one of the reasons I got a Wii U in the first place was because of how awesome the games looked on a big screen. Without the "no-commentary" videos, I wouldn't have been able to get a feel for the entire game, graphics audio and all. That's why I think there's a market for those types of videos.

No worries.
If there's anything else, just ask.

Yeah, I do have a youtube channel. Same name as here. OmegaMetroid93.
Check it out if you want, but it's nothing special.

You just captured (pun not intended) my dream.

How did you mange to get that many subscribers, and just plain do an awesome job with the channel?

Well, it's basically what OmegaMetroid said. I wouldn't say there's too much to it. Just play and upload.
From starting out, I imagine getting the right equipment would be a great start. Although pricey, an Elgato Game Capture HD is pretty good. I've been using it for probably almost a year now, and it hasn't had any weird issues yet. It's the easiest to use, to the knowledge of what I've heard.
As for making your channel look attractive, try seeing what new kinds of videos you can come up with in the no-commentary category. Of course, things like normal gameplays or walkthroughs would fit right in. Going beyond that would make your content and channel even more interesting, I'd imagine. I've had trouble with that myself, so I've gone as far as doing things like outtakes (when I horribly mess up on something) or provide small challenges for viewers. If you're an awesome artist (or just great with pictures), sprucing up your channel art and whatnot would definitely give some sort of appeal. If you aren't one, you can always ask someone to make one.
I'd worry about ad revenue a bit more when you get a bunch of more viewers. It's definitely worth the effort, so long are you are wary of who allows what, however. Nowadays, while companies like Ubisoft (and most indies) don't mind anyone doing walkthroughs and whatnot with their games, other companies (like Nintendo) will probably claim your video and earn revenue from your videos, or give you a copyright strike. As far as things go, I've only experienced the former with Nintendo's newest games (ex. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze). Starting out, I wouldn't be all that worried, though.
All in all, there isn't too much to worry about. Try to "be a part of the community", too! The more people may see a comment of yours on a video, or see you in general, the more likely you'll get a viewer that may be interested in what you have to offer!
Oh, and this isn't a must, but if you're uploading gameplay on a game that you're not very suited to, it wouldn't hurt to get acquainted to it. I can't tell you how strongly people have generally acted when I didn't do very well on a game. D:

I just need a new and free editing tool for my videos. The one that came with my capture device is outright horrid...anyways yeah when I do my videos I usually just what I normally do when gaming. Sometimes goofing around while waiting in-game for something. lol (like in my Monster Hunter videos I sometime get irritated by the Shakas and try to attack them at the end of the quest. xD )

Wow. That's a lot to digest. I have a couple questions about the Elgato, though:

• Can you use external video editing software (like iMovie or FCP) or do you have to use Elgato's app?
• Is a midrange laptop (2.26GHz Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM) powerful enough to record at least 720p?
• What resolutions can be recorded at 60fps (1080p or just 720p)?

I'm sorry. ^^'
-Well, when you finish recording, you can use the software to trim the videos and export them in other formats, but you don't have to use it. You can use external software to edit videos (I use Windows Movie Maker for smalls enhancements after I finish recording something).
-Should be, but here's a link to the official page itself. http://help.elgato.com/customer/portal/articles/1020255-what-...
-Both should be available.

Don't be sorry. Long posts like that are actually extremely helpful for a newbie like me.

I just realized something: I'm talking about all this, but yet I have absolutely no clue when I'll have the money to actually get something like this.

Ah, I wouldn't worry about it now. The time I bought this was when I got enough revenue from uploading, but that was in a much later year, so I'd imagine you might get it sooner. However, it's great that you are thinking ahead! Until you do eventually get it, you can probably just do the ol' grab-a-camera-and-record-the-tv-screen thing. xD
If that's not what you'd prefer at the moment, then it wouldn't hurt to test things out by recording a gameplay from a PC game using Fraps, or something. As far as I know, Fraps is free, and the most I've used it for is Cave Story and a few web games.

@StaticWind How did you get so many subscribers? Is that how you started earning money?

@ChrisT99 Well, by a few years of uploading, socializing, and channel decorating. In a way, yes, it is how I started earning money, but the video views are what get you revenue. Of course, the viewers are mostly made up of subscribers, so they factor in, too. Although, I've seen plenty of people get to that rate (or past it, even) because of how active they were on video comments, user pages, etc. I know someone that reached about 500 in less than two months or so, which is nice. From what I know, you'd either have to be really lucky or just be that good in interacting with other users to get at that rate so quickly. I was kind of ignorant during my first year, so I didn't get very far in that time.

@StaticWind Thanks for the inspiration. Please check my sig, I think you might like what you see.