Recently took a project to do some screen recordings of action games and then upload them to my YouTube channel. Where do I start? Bunch of reviews saying M pro max can get up to 120 FPS in most of the advanced action games. Well, dedicated Memory for both CPU and GPU could be in limbo who will get how much space at the end of the day. 64GB is max available for memory. Anyway, it was put on trial as I said going over 120 FPS on Pro MAX and around 50-60 FPS in M pro. Now the issue is it was possible only when you give up something in the game graphics configuration like putting down the shadow to medium shouldn’t bother you much. The question is, how the MAC PC will remain cool and calm if you play for long hours? As an example, when a new action game is released, I don’t stop playing it until it was finished. Is the cooling system of apple silicon M good enough to run games for long hours compared to EGPU cooling system? Assuming that you also have Windows 11 installed on your “Bootcamp” if you actually want to play action games on Mac book pro. Now two software developers are in the cue to sell “Bypassing softwares” I would say to install windows applications on MacBook pro if you are Apple Silicon user. No Apple hasn't upgraded Bootcamp for Apple silicon but has an utility called ROSSETO to work with Intel base apps. Most people saying it's better not to install the virtual machine windows to run apps because that will significantly slow down the system for conversion plus it can't work with full configuration of the Mac. If you look at the latest update of CROSSOVER you'll see the reason for the price. But I can guarantee that nothing with will work like a native installation of windows via Bootcamp. In this topic I am only concentrating on Macbook pro where some high-end Mac can come with better options in reality.
Now, what is EGPU or external graphics card for Mac books? Well, some EGPUs are recommended on the Mac support page but literally 3-4 brands making them are compatible with Mac OSX anyway. The problem is MAC support has a list of AMD graphics cards that are compatible with MAC OSX that you must follow. I end up buying Razor Chroma which literally supports a long list of Mac-compatible graphics cards. As you understand these are all Desktop graphics cards employed in the laptop via an eternal CPU connected via a very special 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 (USB C) cable. The Razor EGPU is around 7KG weight. The good thing is a desktop graphics card comes with a cooling system and the EGPU casing also has a cooling system. So, it appears a better option to play games for long hours probably. On the other hand, power consumption is higher for desktop graphics as it includes the option to power the EGPU casing mostly helpful to power the cooling system I believe. A 2021 model AMD 8GB desktop graphics card will consume around 150W. There are 12GB and higher memory GPUs available in the market.
Looking at the main issue of screen recording now, what is the quality of graphics I will get with EGPU vs. Apple silicon M? First of all, I will only inform you about the highest performance graphics option that you can get because you must upload recorded game those people can watch on big-screen TVs. Big screen TVs come with 4K-8K graphics and also have true colour and HDR features. How can you screen record that quality video and then upload it? Most games are designed to play @4K graphics maximum. The first rule is, you must record a screen that can display 4K graphics with true tone colour and HDR or Dolby Vision. MAC introduced 4K graphics only on 16-inch MacBooks in 2020 probably, which means where HDR and true tone came in the 2018 MacBook. IMac gives you 5K display on 27inch but as I said most games are designed to play @4k Max. I am assuming you will plug in the EGPU in a 15–16-inch MacBook released from the year 2018. That does not solve the problem at all. Because only 16inch MacBook with Apple silicon can actually display 4K graphics with true tone and HRD Dolby vision feature. Apple named it XDR probably combining all features available in the market in a built-in liquid retina display. What’s wrong with 2018 models then? You will need an external display that is compatible to display 4k HDR graphics. Now MacBook Pro can project a maximum of 6K onto a big-screen TV. Built-in display even with 16inch MacBook, that is not possible over FHD. How will you record 4K HDR games to upload to YouTube?
That’s not actually expensive on the side of EGPU lovers or users. You will need a hardware name decoder (video capture card) which will capture the graphics from external display for you and record on your MacBook. There is a free software called OBS Studio which will give you a list of capture cards it will support. EGPU users will win if we compare the total cost of the screen recording project with an Apple silicon M user. EGPU cashing price is around $AUD400 mark, 8GB desktop graphics card around $AUD350-$500 mark, video capture card price is around $AUD 250-$500 mark which is compatible with 4K HDR recording. I will assume that you have a 4K or 8K TV with HDR graphics at home already. Because, for Apple silicon M, with a 16-inch MacBook, you will need the free software OBS studio to record 4K HDR video at 120 FPS. What I mean is, if you add around $1000-$1300 AUD on top of your existing 2018 model MacBook you can get EGPU @8GB GPU to play unlimited games on your Mac OSX and Windows 11 on your Bootcamp plus a video capture card to capture video which you will project from your Mac to the 4K or 8K TV. 16-inch Apple silicon M will cost far more than that.
Most problematic part of it that the Quicktime player will not record in HDR format then converting to HDR on a software may significantly change a lot of things. There is no reliable software which will record over 70mps bite rare to maintain the quality of video at 60Fps. Only reliable software is the OBS which has various configuration issues if you run on windows for long hour recording. It really smooth on Mac Silicon as I have recorded up to 3-4 hours at a time.
It is true that in terms of power consumption over the years plus size of the device like EGPU might bother you sometimes. You can feel cool and calm like the dual cooling system on the EGPU with RGB lighting at night or at parties with friends saving a considerable amount of money if don’t need to carry your project everywhere.
Format of the video file is a bit complicated. People say only HEVC MP4 format can encode HDR which is also known as H265 MP4 file. H264 MP4 files cannot encode the code for HRD graphics in the output video of the recording and editing software. I made an 8-hour video of TOMB RAIDER 2013 at 4K 60FPS with a 35mbps bit rate gave me a 125GB size video. Video editing is necessary when you want to make a video of a full game. YouTube has a recommendation about bite rate for various quality of video at HDR and SDR graphics, 30FPS, 60 FPS, 4K, FHD. Now bitrate increases the size of video a lot whereas YouTube recommends up to 75mbps bit rate for a 4K video over 60FPS. The situation is bad because most video editing software won't able to match the bite rate because they will automatically reduce them to 20-35mbps. So, end of the day people will watch a blur video on YouTube on their big screen because of the stability of the bite rate of your file.
Becoming a professional and using “video editing app” like Final Cut Pro which probably can digest any quality of video then can give you the recommended output that you want to publish for big screen TV. Don’t pay for any software before checking the output features, supported file formats, bite rate, FPS, HRD support. Some software may give you hardware acceleration to compile the video quickly and save your time. Now I must make you aware that every scene of a game has its own color theme to create vibration, when you try applying a color profile on the whole recording it may affect some exposures. Specifically manual HDR editing is designed for photography and movie scenes to edit exposures scene by scene. I may give you hint about color profile (Gumat), Gama correction, brightness and such. A perfect display of a “lens flare” on a video can electronically possible in combinations of hardware and software. You'll need wide range of color and brightness and other natural elements you'll find on a colourful display. HDR can artificially improve image with lighting and other that we do in photoshop software.
Here are some brands that will sell video capture cards, some of them with video editing software for free. As we are talking about 4K 60FPS HRD recording, editing then publishing some brands will not work with their present offer. Few will work on Mac OSX like Avermedia Bolt, Blackmagic mini, AJA io 4k where the cheapest Avermedia Bolt is $550 stating Mac system can’t record HDR. Very odd. Brands like Razer, Elgato, EVGA, Matrox have offers under $500 but the problem is 4K 30FPS is the highest recording option. Anyway OBS studio can capture video from an external display connected to your MacBook Pro without any need for a capture card. If your MacBook Pro supports HDR on an external display like a 4K HRD tv things will be easier. A free Video editing software like DaVinci Resolve on Mac OSX. Will give you the option to enable HRD metadata in the project settings in various HRD enable file formats. It could be convenient if you order had ordered your MacBook Pro with an 8GB AMD RADEON graphics card or using at least an 8GB graphics card in your EGPU device. Before you read the following paragraph I will surprise you with news that iMovie on iPhone imputing HDR configurations on any video you make on iPhone and edit on it.
Now few definitions must be mentioned to maintain the picture quality. Native Resolution: is the exact number of dots on the physical screen. If the “Native Resolution” is 1280 x 768, the screen is physically 1280 dots wide and 768 dots tall. Supported Resolution is the number of dots a monitor can emulate electronically. The monitor may accept 1980 x 1200 as a “Supported Resolution”, but the image will only be as good as the “Native Resolution.” You must need to understand this from the perspective of the hardware of the screen. Screen is manufactured with a maximum capacity that actually doesn’t restrict by the size of the screen. Apple support shows the ongoing hardware development for pixel, colour depth, maximum colour support (mill-bill), architecture like True Tone, and Liquid Retina, and enhancements like HDR, and XDR. If you wanna understand the concept of HDR I would say it’s an assumption that when a colour is at its darkest or lightest form on the screen it looks like pixels are breaking. It will be a hypothesis when you’ll say it @ a 4K resolution. on the other hand, increasing the range of colour may increase accuracy of natural color which is one of the aims of HRD. The problem is when apply HRD color on a normally shooter video it will change the color a lot specifically it will try to increase the brightness of all light colors. So increasing the range of colour might bring more details I must mention artificially in our vision with the closest colour shade. Around 2017, the shortcut was under invention with GAMA correction and other tricks when million colours and other technologies were underway. I must say game programmers design the game with a colour theme in their minds, I won’t recommend ruining it but enhancing it with real techs like True Tone, 16bit depth, and calibration with the native capacity of the display hardware. On Apple TV you’ll see an option to calibrate your TV screen colour, brightness and contrast with your iPhone built-in display which is called HRD as its claimed definition. It actually changes the picture quality of your TV even at FHD resolution. If your CPU AND GPU are in a lower capacity like a TV then you’ll need various shortcuts to cope with technologies developed by computer industries. On the other hand, if you look at the technical development in the camera you’ll find they usually shoot things at very high resolution and continuously upgrade tech to capture higher details of light, shade, flares and other natural impressions without a filter. If they call it HDR that will have real value as a true technology. What I mean to say HRD color profiles will do is a little bit more than increasing the range of color (Gumat) may not always accurate natural expression will never be exact color of the game theme. HDR like HLG, PQ, P3, Dolby Vision are described a bit more below as you will see the same color profile/preset or the same video file looking different due to various types of (native) display technologies you'll find on TV computer and such.
Few more definitions to understand HDR: As you understand that they are just some codec of digital video files. So you can keep changing the color preset to have a different outlook of the colors of a video. Every dot of the screen may become more brighter, every color of things may look more dense or more exposed to eyes with best closest color sheds. But it's not real or exact always. You might ask me the question when you shoot video in digital how you will know that colour was accurate? But when game is printed in digital there is no nature behind it, what they print from their theme color in mind is real.
The funny thing is I used the M1 Max XDR display to screen record Shadow of the Tomb Raider at optimal 4k graphics. As you know OBS studio has direct HDR recording option where Quick Time of Apple will record screen with Rec709 SDR color space. But after recording I found Quick Time recording is giving more accurate color. So if the file is kept as it is it look best on any type of monitor whether HRD or SDR. As I said the XDR monitor of MBP was showing exactness of the game’s original HDR color. When I compile through a video editing software to convert to HDR it makes changes in the color, when I screen record on HDR it does the same. But the viewer can always switch off HDR on their device to enjoy the game graphics in original color format.
1. Color Spece REC.709, REC.2020, REC.2100 : 709 is not suitable for HDR configuration. Color Transfer Function will show the code if you open the property of a video file. ST 2084 is a HDR color specs. Now the reality is if you record a XDR liquid retina display enabling the HDR on your game graphics that gives you the original HDR color of the game without extreme alteration. Read SDR-HDR conversion.
2. HLG V. PQ HDR where PQ is better and developed to dolby vision.
After all considerations, I have found that true technology can deliver optimised performance and results. I haven’t found any 4K or 8K HRD tv which can actually display colour and HRD or Dolby vision profile like a Retina display. When you will plug your MacBook Pro into a TV and place them side by side you’ll find the difference. As a result, recording the screen of MBP should be the best result if it is recorded at @4K60FPS40MBPS. Few other issues you must know, when your computer or TV is 60Hz it means you can’t get more than 60FPS because it’s locked with the refresh rate of the monitor. DAVINCI RESOLVE app has various colour profiles you might wanna tweak if you record a TV screen or Mac screen. The problem is Feral Interactive is a game developer who develops world-famous games for Mac with very active support. I refunded some games to Apple Store because my Xbox controller didn’t work with the support, but they still working on them; I haven’t tried the Sony controller on Mac yet. Finding no other way using BOOTCAMP to play Steam games. I can guarantee you that Windows 11 never looked better than on Retina display on Mac. Now 64GB unified memory on M1Max from Apple will change the game for gamers and I believe more developers will enter the Mac world for a clutter-free energy-saving gaming option end of the day. I used two apps on my Mac for screen recording, FILMAGE SCREEN to record the system sound then used the QUICK TIME of Mac because you can use a shortcut key while the game is running to record the screen and view it on your Touch Bar of Mac. For some games, you must start the screen record when the game is loaded and running. Quick time will record screen @4K60FPS70mbps whatever will be available natively on your system but it can’t record system sound rather pick up the sound of the speaker from the microphone. Just you have to select the sound of the FILMAGE SCREEN on the configuration of Quick Time (Filmage audio device). Just don’t regret after recording screen playing games for hours and then discover no sound was captured by Quick time. Some 16inc MBP has 3K native resolution but it can scale the resolution to 4K and when you record the screen and play on Quick Time just press Command I to load inspector to find the details of your video. The Same colour profile will react differently in different display technology. For example, I used Apple TV colour profile on my MBP and on my 4K DOLBY VISION TV. Colour comes completely different. As I said, I haven’t found anything like Retina display for screen recording. I believe you understand the fact that when your OSX and Game graphics both are scaling your image to 4K on 3K native MBP screen you actually view 4K resolution in your own Retina.
Screen recording on windows 11 is very convenient with OBS studio which is a free software. As we are only interested about 4K 60FPS 50-70MBPS recording most apps or software will not be helpful at all. Few important issues about OBS settings are key frame interval should be 4-8 which you will find advance or recording settings. Second thing is put the priority below normal. For quality vs. Speed select balance. Increase the KBPS of the video to 75000. Source should game recoding full screen. Match the resolution with the highest resolution you have in your game. If your game is running logging into a different platform like 2K; exclude those. Do some trial recording selecting color profiles and other configuration. Until you get a smooth and perfect color in the recording adjust everything with your PC specifications. OBS 10Bit HDR color profile is perfect but may not be digested in video editing software. I used DAVINCI RESOLVE on mac and I couldn't match the exact color profile with the OBS studio but BLACKMAGIC 4K film is an excellent color profile on the video editor.
Uploading video on YouTube can make you suffer if you don’t want to shop the full game video in 2-3 parts. You will need a super-fast internet preferably 100mbps to upload on YouTube. YouTube will give up processing your video and abandon it if it takes long hours. The Good thing is Mac OSX can start uploading where you left and can finish an upload in 2-3 days. The bad thing is in the end you might waste your time when YouTube wont able to process it. People say, there are pick hours and slow hours for YouTube uploads. Some ISP had slower-speed for Upload compared to download. The situation can keep getting darker for you if you are not sure what you are doing. Who is going to watch your video? How many clicks do you want for a 4K game to watch all the way in one sitting on an 80-inch big screen 8kTV? Is it better to upload from the Mobile? Do you have a lot of space on your mobile? Don’t give up………….
Read SDR-HDR conversion. Read SDR-HDR conversion. Read SDR-HDR conversion.
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