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Windows 10 Game DVR Recording Software Explained

With the launch of the latest Windows 10 we have got to get our hands on many cool features, one of them is Windows Game DVR. In this post i’ll be explaining this deeply integrated Windows 10 feature which can capture your awesome gameplay without any notch. Press “WINDOWS KEY + G” to Start 😛

Windows 10 GameDVR Recording Software Explained

GameDVR works just like any other recording softwares out there, Nvidia ShadowPlay, Bandicam, etc. These other third party softwares have actually more functionality and features than then GameDVR and they are no different when it comes to capturing or recording, then why GameDVR still better? Well the other softwares might have more functionality or features but one thing that they lack is they are third party softwares which are installed seperately into the operating system while the GameDVR is the part of Windows core design which works and performs with it.

When it comes to budget PCs or old PCs with cheap or outdated hardware, there’s always a lag while playing games and accessing multimedia but with Windows 10 Microsoft have tried hard to remove that and improve the performance and guess what, they are actually able to do that. When it comes to capturing the gameplay on these kind of PC, oh forget it, ShadowPlay only supports high end graphic card and Bandicam well, either you can play at 40fps without recording or record it and play at 20fps which is you know! While GameDVR can record it with a little or no performance drop and game will be still playable. So that what it’s power is, it’s integrated into Windows 10 which help the software encode the video at the same time it streams on your screen and give you a nice playing environment. Well you might be getting some bugs or some of your games will not be supporting it, but we can ignore that for the time being as this is the first version, the software is still in development and when games build on DirectX 12 comes out, i am sure this thing will knockout other softwares.

For a little benchmarking, I myself tested this on my old laptop, i5 2430M 2GB RAM GT5XX something, and well the games i could play on this setup are only a few once. I tried playing Minecraft on 35fps without recording and 28fps avg while recording which was nice. I also tried running CSGO, without recording i was getting 20-25fps and while recording it went down to 15-20 which was actually my hardware’s drop so no issue with GameDVR. So basically it’s a great addup, specially for budget PCs.

Talking about the settings there are only a few once like you can set the shortcuts, or change the directory for saved files or switch Resolution and Video Quality between two options, Standard and High, the resolution will be set according to your screen size, there is no option for changing that to 1080p or 720p, and also no option for setting or locking FPS which is a major con. You cannot record your Microphone for that you have to use other software, i suggest Audacity. Whatever I am not giving up yet as this is only the first version of this application.

One of the major feature is “Record that”, which when enabled, the app will keep the last 30 seconds of gameplay in a 30 fps, 720p video file, so right after you got that sick no-scope you can hit the button and quickly save a clip of everything that just happened. This thing was first introduced in Shadowplay. And Obviously this thing won’t work on many low end computers as it requires lot of computing power to always record something.

That’s it so it’s basically a under developed top software which gives nice performance while being the first version, hopefully it will get all required features in the upcoming updates and comes out a well performing top level software.

Some default shortcuts are:
To open the app ingame: WIN KEY + G
Start Recording: WIN KEY + ALT + R
Take Screenshot: WIN KEY + ALT + PrntScr
Record That: WIN KEY+ ALT+ G

In the last I will chhott down some pros and cons:
PROS:
Records without minimum or no lag.
Comes preinstalled with Windows 10.
CONS:
Lacks a lot of features in it’s first version.

So what do you think of GameDVR, new gameplay/screen recording software, tell us in the comments sections and stay tuned as I’ll be updating this post when GameDVR gets more updates. Peace!

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Windows 10 cool features and is it the best OS

Windows has been always the first choice of operating system for anyone because of it’s easy and simple interface. Windows 7 was the best of all windows, then came Windows 8 & 8.1 which was not as good and failed to become a trend.
Windows 10 was launched on 29 July in 190 countries.

Windows 10 coolest features:

Windows 10 which looks like all the cool features from Windows 7 & 8.1 combined together. Starting off,

  
The Start Menu is back
Start Menu is like the heart for Windows and removing it was the main reason behind the failure of Windows 8 but as they say everyone learns from their mistake so here it is, back with more uniqueness and style. Combined with the original concept of Start and the snappy tiles, gives a whole new design and lots of features to work with. It’s much more customizable than it ever has been before, you can resize it from the edges, pin unpin your favorite tiles, change it’s color and lots more.

Moving on we have a new browser, known as the successor of Internet Explorer but it’s build fully from the scratch. Presenting

  
Microsoft Edge
We all must have used Internet Explorer or might not have used, it was more like a tool for downloading Chrome or Firefox and less likely to be called as a browser. Shitty design, crappy speed, like all cons from other browsers were combined and IE was born. After lots of updates and tryings to make it somewhat better Microsoft finally get to know, ‘iss ka kuch nhi ho skta’ and they dumped it to create something new, unique and innovative. Microsoft Edge, it’s fast, clean, simple and attractive. Nothing like rocket science, only a few good and useful features which makes it idle for anyone looking for a clean and fast browsing experience. Although developers would not like it much cause lack of ability to use plugins and stuff for which Chrome is known for. But Microsoft has promised that in the later version of Edge they would be adding these kind of developer stuff.

Let’s move to something which will be useful to all the gamers out there, yes i am taking about

DirectX 12 and Game DVR
For those who don’t know what DirectX is, Microsoft DirectX is a collection of APIs for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Now with DirectX 12 users having old or low end PC will get a good increase in performance while gaming or doing any multimedia related stuff. With this Microsoft also introduced us with the GameDVR a whole new software deeply integrated into Windows itself for recording gameplays and screen (Press WindowsKey + G to activate while playing a game). As it is deeply integrated, the recordings come out with immense quality and yet no lag while playing. Using it with DirectX 12 boosts it performance and game-play looks clean without any shuttering. GameDVR also has a feature know as “Record that”, like if you are playing a game while not recording it and suddenly you do something extraordinary like took down a Jet with RPG, then you can quickly press the shortcut for “Record that” and it will recover whatever you did in last 30 seconds and will save it as a video. I have written a separate article on Game DVR, click here to read more.

Virtual Desktops
Working with lots of Windows became more easier with the introduction of Virtual Desktops. For instance like I am working on my blog and on the other hand i am playing a game, so while switching between the apps i use for blogging, the game window will appear again and again and will create a clutter of windows, so by the use of virtual desktops i can create two or more desktops. I’ll use one for opening my blogging apps while at the same time i can create another one for gaming or another one for video editing and etc. This really removes the messy clutter while multitasking.

And of-course how can we end this blogpost without talking about the most beautiful feature added to Windows 10,

“Hey Cortana”

Cortana is your clever new personal assistant. Cortana will help you find things on your PC, manage your calendar, track packages, find files, chat with you, and tell jokes. The more you use Cortana, the more personalized your experience will be. Cortana really added a dashing glimpse to Windows 10 with her smartness. She’ll help you with almost all small jobs you waste time on.
Here are few things you can say to Cortana:
  • How old are you?
  • Tell me a joke.
  • Show me the latest NBA scores.
  • How many calories in a boiled egg?
  • Put swimming on my calendar for tomorrow.
  • Change my 3 PM event to 4.
  • What’s happening this weekend?

I also want to talk about search which is integrated in the Start Menu, in older versions of Windows when i used the search it was like ok, takes some time to find for what i am looking and so on, but in Windows 10 this thing is really great, like no waiting at all. I use to first type the phrase or app i was looking for then wait till it loads and then click on it to open but with Windows 10 it’s like if i want to open task manager i just type task and press enter it takes less than a second and Task Manager opens up. Must say this time Windows is very much optimized, fast and snappy. I was trying hard to find out even one big con or bug, but instead ended up finding more cool stuff.

With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft really started a trend and according to recent news, Windows 10 was installed on 14 Million devices in just 24 hours of it’s launch, i mean that’s awesome and I can really say it’s the best Windows OS ever. I’ll be updating this post with more beautiful features Microsoft has added after I myself explore it to the fullest till then Stay tuned and share your thoughts with us in the comment section. 😀