How do you record PC gameplay without screen recorders?

Answer 1

If by "screen recorders" are meant - programs that reside in the background and capture what is on-screen, then the easiest solution would be to connect the PC to a compatible device through an S-Video connection (like a TV), and then record off that to a VCR. Specialized (and often expensive) devices exist that allow the connection of S-Video (and many other video source formats) and digital recording of audio/video information.

A TV + VCR combo is a cheap and effective solution, but keep in mind that in order to do this, the TV must then duplicate "what it sees and hears" on its outputs for the VCR to "see" the same thing and record it. Most cheap VCRs that don't have built-in tuners will do this, as they only record what is displayed anyway, but care must be taken as to which source is used in this connection, in order to avoid conflicts between the PC and the VCR (in most cases of such, the VCR may simply record no video). In order to capture game footage, the TV display may need to be set as the primary (1st) display device, since most games start up on the "default" display/monitor and rarely offer the choice of which display to run on (most of them don't even run well in multi-monitor environments). In case of non-digital TVs, gameplay resolution may also be a problem, depending on the operating system, the drivers and the game in question.

Of course, the specialized video equipment mentioned earlier does not have this issue, but view cloning may be required in order to see anything (these devices don't provide a screen).

The cheapest, most reliable and of least quality would be to use a camera to record the screen. However, even if mounted securely, the recorded video may suffer from image flicker due to the lack of synchronization between the camera's frame rate and the monitor's refresh rate.