An explanation of what Action does that trumps OBS would be nice. Otherwise this is just an opinion.
There's no reason to spend $50 if what you need it for can be done for free with a cross-platform open-source program.
Haha sorry I had a few drinks and was tired.
Okay, the thing with OBS is largely in its interface and general ease of use. Yes, OBS works, and it even uses nVidia's NVENC for streaming and recording. It's functional and will do what you need it to. In the end, most capturing software is the same, especially if it uses direct recording. If you're using the same codec and settings, then D3DGear, Fraps, OBS, Action, and DXtory are all gonna give you essentially the same end result.
However, it all comes down to the UI and ease of use. OBS is a piece of software that looks like it was cobbled together over a weekend for someone's college Computer Science assignment. You can make it do what you want, but it's rather aggravating. It also lacks an on-screen indicator that you're recording, which to me is an instant failure. The inability to see whether or not the recording is in process renders the software worthless, IMO. There is nothing worse than hitting the record hotkey, making an episode, and then finding out that for SOME reason the recording didn't start, and when you're doing direct record you literally can't alt-tab out of the game to see if the software is recording because... it's direct recording. Tab out and the recording stops.
There's also microphone audio. The last time I checked OBS doesn't record mic audio to a separate track. This makes sense because, like XSplit, it was made to do streaming but also does recording. This is another insta-failure. The inability to isolate your microphone track and edit it separately from the game track, leaving the two audio sources just locked to one another, can EASILY lead to ruined recordings because the levels are mismatched and there's no way to fix it in post production.
"But hey, SGD, can't you record your mic with Audacity?" Sure, this is true, but the issue then is lining up your mic audio with the game. You can do certain things like saying a certain word while moving the selection on the menu screen, but that's imperfect at best. Being able to record your mic IN the software means that the commentary and game footage are 100% lined up every time.
Action and DXtory are, as far as I've seen, the big two with game capturing these days. DXtory seems to be more popular than Action, partly because I believe it's the lightest on system resources and definitely gives you the most fine-tuned control, but Action is more streamlined and more flexible. DXtory only does direct recording and certain games don't play nicely with that (Binding of Isaac, Minecraft, etc), so you can't change it to desktop mode and still record. DXtory also doesn't come with presets. There are HUGE guides for codecs with DXtory, and it doesn't work with nVidia's NVENC.
Action does everything you want software to do. On-screen indication for recording, mic audio in a separate track, simple presets for recording, a streamlined UI. It's PRIMARY flaw is in its in-application file browser where if you accidentally delete files they're gone forever (and that's a MASSIVE flaw), but everything else about it just works better and more easily than any other options.
You can absolutely make great videos with OBS. However, it's more of a struggle and requires more workarounds. On the same token, you totally CAN make amazing images in GIMP. But there's a reason why people buy Photoshop. It's more powerful and less difficult to use.
