CaptureGem 2.14.12: conversion fixes, automatic cleanup of failed recordings, and more reliable Chaturbate, Stripchat, Cam4 and VR recording

CaptureGem 2.14.12 fixes recordings that failed to convert in recent versions, cleans up recordings that can't be converted, gets capitalized Chaturbate usernames recording again, and makes Stripchat, Cam4 and VR recordings more dependable.

Failed recordings are retried after updating, then cleaned up after 3 days

Until now, a recording that couldn't be converted kept its temp files forever, even with Temp File Retention (Hours) set to 0, and they could quietly fill your disk. In 2.14.12, once automatic retries stop, those files are deleted 3 days after the last failed attempt.

Recordings that failed in an earlier version aren't deleted right away. After you update, CaptureGem automatically tries to convert each of them once more with 2.14.12, and several of the fixes below make recordings that failed in 2.14.11 convert now. If one still fails, it's deleted 3 days after that attempt. Every future update does the same: a recording that failed is tried once more with the new version before it's cleaned up.

You can also try a recording again yourself: open Queue Status > Unfinished recordings and click Retry conversion. Each recording there shows when it will be deleted. To change the 3 days, set Untranscoded Temp File Retention (Days) in Advanced settings to any value from 1 to 365, or to 0 to keep failed recordings until you delete them yourself.

What's New

• Conversion fixes on Windows and Linux. CaptureGem 2.14.9, 2.14.10 and 2.14.11 for Windows and Linux shipped with an in-development build of FFmpeg, the tool CaptureGem uses to convert recordings. That build dropped options CaptureGem relies on, so some recordings failed to convert: recordings that changed resolution partway through failed with exit 3, SexLikeReal and Dreamcam VR recordings that needed repair failed with exit 6, and with Full verification every segment could be flagged as corrupt. 2.14.12 bundles a stable FFmpeg release on every platform, CaptureGem now adapts to the FFmpeg version it finds, and every release build is now tested against the exact FFmpeg it ships. Recordings that change quality partway through also join cleanly, without short pauses between the parts. macOS was not affected by the conversion failures.
• Clean up temp files. Alongside the new 3-day setting above, Delete All Temp Files in Advanced settings (next to Audit disk space) and in Unfinished recordings frees the space used by every failed recording and every kept temp folder in one step, after you confirm. Anything recording, converting or being sent to support is skipped. Each row in Unfinished recordings now shows when it will be deleted automatically, and Delete source files is right on the row.
• Chaturbate models with capital letters. If you added a Chaturbate model with capital letters in their username, such as CharlotteLive, CaptureGem could show them as Offline even while they were live. CaptureGem now checks Chaturbate with the lowercase room name, so these models are detected and recorded, and you don't need to re-add them. Usernames that differ only in capitalization now count as one model: CaptureGem won't add the same model twice, and if your list already has both spellings, only one records and the other shows "Duplicate username". The Test cURL check in Settings also uses the lowercase name.
• Clear message for a Chaturbate room that doesn't exist. In some setups, such as recording through a proxy or right after a Chaturbate security check, a misspelled or deleted room showed a confusing error such as "invalid character '<'" or "HTTP 404", and the tooltip suggested Custom Headers, which can't help. It now says Chaturbate has no room with that name.
• Stripchat recordings that start mid-stream. A recording can begin between two keyframes, the points a video player needs to start from, for example when CaptureGem joins a show or Stripchat switches quality. Those recordings could fail with exit 6 and never convert. CaptureGem now skips the short part at the start that can't be played and keeps everything after it, with audio and video still in sync. A short piece left with no playable video at all after a quality switch is skipped too, at every verification level. A long one is kept, the conversion stops with your files intact, and the audit explains why.
• More Stripchat recordings convert. Stripchat sometimes writes an empty video frame after a quality switch, leaves a quality group with no video, or a part is cut off when a download fails. Each of these could make a recording fail with exit 6, and they now convert. In our tests, all 10 Stripchat recordings that users sent to support after they failed in 2.14.11 now convert. CaptureGem also no longer keeps a half-downloaded segment.
• No lost or frozen video when Stripchat's stream timing jumps. Sometimes part of a Stripchat recording carries timestamps from a different point in the stream, or the recording stalls and picks up again much later. These recordings could convert without an error but lose most of the video after the jump, or keep the stall as a long frozen picture. In recordings sent to our support team, one lost almost half of its 12 minutes and another had 35 minutes of frozen picture. When the stream picks up again at a keyframe after the jump, as it did in both of those recordings, CaptureGem now converts each stretch on its own and joins them, so all the video is kept and long stalls are cut out.
• Cam4 recordings with Basic or Full verification. Some Cam4 rooms send keyframes only every 8 seconds or so, and their segments are cut in between. With Basic or Full verification, CaptureGem rejected every segment of these recordings and the conversion failed with exit 3. Each segment is now checked together with the part of the stream before it, so these recordings convert. If a segment is missing, only the frames that depend on it are dropped, instead of most of the rest of the recording.
• Smoother Cam4 recordings. On the same Cam4 rooms, every segment boundary added a small gap of 0.2 to 0.3 seconds, so a 31-second recording could come out about 34 seconds long, and some recordings stuttered or played frames out of order. CaptureGem now joins these segments seamlessly. Cam4 recordings that started several seconds before the first keyframe also no longer fail to convert.
• Interrupted VR recordings. Dreamcam and SexLikeReal VR recordings that were cut short by quitting, restarting or updating the app, or by a crash or power loss, could fail with "missing VR segment duration" and never convert. CaptureGem now saves each part's details while it records, and can measure a part directly from its video if those details are missing. Dreamcam recordings whose first keyframe arrives late now convert too, and when a Dreamcam broadcast sends no keyframes at all, the audit says the broadcast was at fault.
• Proxy tab: Stop stays available. In proxy mode, Stop Recording could disappear and the row could say "Completed" whenever the player paused for 15 seconds, for example during a stall, a quality change or in a background tab, and the recording was stopped early. Stop now stays available for as long as the recording runs, and a recording only stops on its own after 60 seconds with no video.
• Live Monitor previews. Live previews in the Monitor tab could stay blank for many recordings on Chaturbate, Stripchat, Cam4 and other sites. They now show a recent frame.
• View Audit Files shows the right details. View Audit Files could say "Final video metadata is missing" for videos that converted fine, because an older version had left an empty folder in your Metadata folder. CaptureGem now finds the right folder.
• Easier to read in dark mode. The description box in Send to support is now easy to read in dark mode.

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