Resolution issue with video capture.

See if this helps please: http://www.beyondsims.com/the-sims/the-sims-3/the-sims-3-tutorials/the-sims-3-tutorial-machinima-tips-and-tricks-learned-from-black-widow-flower-garden/

Sadly nothing has worked yet. It doesn't matter too much because when I actually start recording for my channel I will use FFsplit or Fraps, but when I encounter problems I tend to want to fix them.

It's weird because it's a new installation so it shouldn't be acting like this, I've had some issues with my game but have been playing them a long time and I notice that when I uninstall / reset the game and then install again those issues are gone. I also have the tendency to fix any issues that I find but I don't really understand why a new game would do that.  You should try contacting EA's customer support so that they'll see if there's an issue they need to fix. https://help.ea.com/contact-us

Scroll down the page to the bottom, on the right side choose your country, then scroll back up and fill in the steps, you'll be given ways to contact them for help: a message, live chat or phone number (depending on what country you're in).