ShareX: Long Recorded Videos Not Jumping Quickly Given Moment

ShareX is a powerful, open-source screen capturing and video recording tool that supports a wide range of features, including lossless screenshot capturing, automatic image editing, and video recording. FFmpeg is a popular, versatile multimedia framework that can be used for various tasks, such as audio and video streaming, transcoding, and editing. However, some users have reported issues with long recorded videos not jumping quickly enough when using ShareX and FFmpeg. In this article, we will discuss the possible causes and solutions for this issue.

Understanding the Issue

When recording a long video using ShareX, the resulting file may not jump quickly enough when seeking through it using FFmpeg or other media players. This issue can be frustrating for users who need to edit or analyze the video content. The cause of this problem is related to the way ShareX records videos and the settings used during the recording process.

Causes of the Issue

ShareX records videos using a lossless codec called Lossless Direct Streaming (LDS), which is designed to preserve the original quality of the video and audio streams. However, LDS is not optimized for seeking, and the resulting files can take a long time to seek through, especially when dealing with long videos. Additionally, ShareX does not provide an option to change the recording codec during the recording process, which can limit the flexibility of the user.

Solutions

There are several solutions to the issue of long recorded videos not jumping quickly enough when using ShareX and FFmpeg. One solution is to re-encode the ShareX video using a more efficient codec that supports fast seeking. FFmpeg can be used for this purpose, and there are several popular codecs that offer good balance between quality and seeking performance.

Re-encoding the ShareX Video using FFmpeg

To re-encode a ShareX video using FFmpeg, follow these steps:

1. Install FFmpeg on your system if you haven't already. You can download it from the official website: https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html
2. Open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory containing the ShareX video file.
3. Run the following command to re-encode the video using the H.264 codec, which offers good balance between quality and seeking performance:

 ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac output.mp4
 
 

In the above command, replace "input.mkv" with the name of your ShareX video file, and "output.mp4" with the desired name and format of the output file. The "-crf 23" option sets the constant rate factor to a value that offers good balance between quality and file size. You can adjust this value to suit your needs.

Alternative Solutions

Another solution to the issue is to use a different screen recording tool that supports efficient codecs and fast seeking. Some popular alternatives to ShareX include OBS Studio, Camtasia, and Bandicam. These tools offer various features and settings that can help improve the seeking performance of recorded videos.

In conclusion, the issue of long recorded videos not jumping quickly enough when using ShareX and FFmpeg can be frustrating for users who need to edit or analyze video content. The cause of this problem is related to the way ShareX records videos and the settings used during the recording process. One solution to this issue is to re-encode the ShareX video using a more efficient codec that supports fast seeking, such as H.264, using FFmpeg. Alternatively, users can consider using a different screen recording tool that supports efficient codecs and fast seeking.

References

• ShareX
• FFmpeg
• OBS Studio
• Camtasia
• Bandicam