Poker Forum

How to record your pokergames with BB FlashBack Express 2

This is new info for the new player

You need a PC, a headset with microphone, BB FlashBack Express 2 installed, download it for free from http://www.bbsoftware.co..._FreePlayer.aspx?cc=true and follow the instructions.

Here is one way to record succesfully.

Note:

Use four coloured deck for better viewing

When you record a single table use a recording area that is 485 pxl high or more

When you record two tables, side by side gets the best result, use a recording area that is 485 pxl high or more

When you record four tables use a recording area that is 720 pxl high or more

START
Open BB FlashBack, choose Record a new movie.
(On the latest release of BB FlashBack express 2 go directly to Step 1 Select Display Settings)
Choose File/Record New Movie

Step 1 Select Display Settings
Check the Switch off Windowsgraphic effect, Set plain desktop wallpaper, Disable the ”show window contents while dragging” option, -boxes

Step 2 Select Sound Settings
Check the Record Sound box
Choose Microphone under Sound Source
Choose Format: 22,05 kHz, check Use MP3 Compression box, choose Normal quality

Step 3 WebCam Recording
Choose Next

Step 4 Record Mode
Click GDI – record all Vista graphics modes and is better at recording moving graphics
Frames per second: Choose betwen 10 and 20 ( on a poker table it works with 10fps and the file size becomes smaller, if you want better flow in your film increase the fps).

Step 5 Other Options
Choose Next

Step 6 Select Area to Record
Click Window or Region, With Region choosen you can resize the recording area with handles, with Window choosen you move your courser over the pokertable and BB FlashBack will automaticly choose the recording area.
Check the Show Recorder toolbar during recording box for easy control
Click Finish and you're ready to record.

Recording
If you have choosen ”Region” in Step 6 a red rectangle will appear. Place the rectangle over the poker table and adjust the size to fit. The benefit with the ”Region method” is that you can skip the top area on which title and type of game is placed. This makes more space for the table itself and you will get better resolution for the end users (PokerTube Viewers).
If you have choosen ”Window” in Step 6 just place your courser over the poker table you want to record and click.
Then click Record and your table starts being recorded.
You make your comments in the microphone on your headset (some of this is so obvious)
Click the red square on the purple toolbar to finish recording. Save the file. Open the file in BB FlashBack Express 2 Player.

Export your file
Before you choose file/export, watch your movie and see if you want to trim it, cut away parts in the begining and in the end. Check what frames to cut in the timeline in BB FlashBack Express 2 Player.
Choose File/Export
Click AVI and OK
To Choose AVI codec depend on what codecs you have installed. I use Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V3, Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V2 or Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V1. They create small files with good sharpness and good sound.

General
Export Frames. Export the Whole Movie or trim it by choosing Selected Frames.

Scaling. Scale your one table movie to 360pxl high or more, Scale your two table movie to 481pxl high or more, Scale your four table movie to 720pxl high or more. Keep aspect ratio when scaling. Your file (the file you upload) will be shown in the original aspect ratio.
Frame Rate
As I said before a frame rate of 10fps is OK on a poker table. This makes small files. Choose higher fps for better flow.

Audio
Check Export Sound, click Same format as in movie or choose 22,05, mono, 16 or 8-bit, check Use MP 3 Compression, Quality : Normal quality

Autoscroll not necessary

More not necessary

Click Export, name the file and save.
Congrats! Hopefully you have a great pokergame to upload.
If your file is very long and big you have to split it. An easy way to do it is to use Easy Video Splitter another free software you can download from http://www.doeasier.org/splitter/.

Tips:
Try out the program on different pokertable sizes. If you know that you're gonna show hand history or last hand, that window often pops up bigger than the table depending on what poker room you're recording. Try this out and adjust the recording area before you record.

If you want to know what it's gonna look like on PokerTube, make a test recording and export it with a resolution of NNN x 338px (keep aspect ratio) and watch it, the pxl pxl height is the important thing. The result is very close to what it's gonna look like on PokerTube.

Feel free to ask questions in this thread.

Approximately how large is an hour of footage and audio?

I have been considering recording a mtt session for a while and I would probably need to do 8 - 10 hours of recording.

Hmmm will have to experiment... May just try the latter half of a session first time round and see what happens.

I never experienced any sync problem myself but have had some problems with the sound when I have tried to record "PC Speakers(what you hear)" and checked the "Record microphone in separate track" -box. One of the tracks have just disappeared. This is probably a bug in the program.
Try to record only the microphone.

Hope this works

Baggy