Do I need a new hard drive to record gameplay?

[Jerry_82]

I recently bought a capture card to stream video games on my ps4. I kinda want to also record at the same time to edit and post on youtube. How much storage do I need and what kind of hard drive should I look for? I was planning on getting a western digital $50 1tb hdd for it. Lots of people say get a ssd and transfer to hdd but I have no idea what that means. I assume the sdd is for compressing the video faster then using the hdd as storage. I'm not trying to spend too much so I'm not really looking for a sdd. Also what editing software would be good for editing? I only have experience with windows media maker but that doesn't seem like a quality software to use. Thanks!

Oh yeah, how much power do I need to record and stream at the same time? I have an i5-7500 but I won't be recording and streaming and playing on it. I see it as a streaming pc if I use the ps4 to play. If I do play on pc (league of legends), is this enough to record, stream, and play? I've streamed with dual monitor no problem but idk how much recording takes.

 

[photonboy]

I highly doubt you need an SSD to keep up with a captured video stream.

The amount of video you can store depends on the CAPTURE CARD and settings you use in the software. If you did H.264 1080p/30FPS at HIGH quality it might be something like 5GB per hour.

Thus 186 hours of recording or 93 hours at 60FPS and similar settings. Higher quality 4K at 60FPS could be down to 20 hours. Maybe consider getting a 2TB HDD as the added cost isn't much.

An i5-7500 should be fine since the hard work is done on the capture card. All you're doing is sending a video signal out the network if streaming or simply copying to the HDD.

Record+Stream+Play

Wait, so you MIGHT be recording the PS4 while also playing on the PC?

I'm no expert but I do think likely the impact on the PC's CPU would be minor... you would have a delayed time LOADING any PC games that are also on the HDD (and I can't guarantee it wouldn't cause a stutter recording PS4 gameplay but you'd have to test that).

So... I suspect the SSD is to prevent stuttering when it's accessed. I would get the HDD first then see if you have any issues. Try by just recording, then try recording but open software that is installed on the HDD.

If the HDD is dedicated to recording I doubt you'll have issues since only the capture card should be accessing it.

 

[Jerry_82]

I highly doubt you need an SSD to keep up with a captured video stream.

The amount of video you can store depends on the CAPTURE CARD and settings you use in the software. If you did H.264 1080p/30FPS at HIGH quality it might be something like 5GB per hour.

Thus 186 hours of recording or 93 hours at 60FPS and similar settings. Higher quality 4K at 60FPS could be down to 20 hours. Maybe consider getting a 2TB HDD as the added cost isn't much.

An i5-7500 should be fine since the hard work is done on the capture card. All you're doing is sending a video signal out the network if streaming or simply copying to the HDD.

Record+Stream+Play

Wait, so you MIGHT be recording the PS4 while also playing on the PC?

I'm no expert but I do think likely the impact on the PC's CPU would be minor... you would have a delayed time LOADING any PC games that are also on the HDD (and I can't guarantee it wouldn't cause a stutter recording PS4 gameplay but you'd have to test that).

So... I suspect the SSD is to prevent stuttering when it's accessed. I would get the HDD first then see if you have any issues. Try by just recording, then try recording but open software that is installed on the HDD.

If the HDD is dedicated to recording I doubt you'll have issues since only the capture card should be accessing it.

I won't be playing ps4 and pc at the same time. I got the capture card to stream ps4 since the streaming software included with the ps4 only supports 720p and it limits customization. I stream pc right now with no problems. I play both but not at the same time. Recording wasn't my initial plan but I'm interested in it now since I bought an expensive capture card (elgato hd60 pro). I was going to play stream and record ps4 or stream and record pc. I plan on recording 60fps 1080p if I can. 93 hours seems like a ton but I haven't worked with any recording yet to know how little or much it is. I'm working on a budget but I have seen alot of people recommend 2TB drives. I'm not sure yet tho