Superman's Speed Server Videos

[SuperMAn]

Hey Everybody,

After getting some requests to upload some content to Youtube, I've decided to start doing so.  Spent some time last night to learn about recording/encoding/uploading and as a result I've uploaded my first video.

It is still more of a "test" video.  I am not very happy with the final quality.  I will try to get the quality as high as possible for future videos.  Also, I did 0 editing.  I just played a couple random songs from my Itunes library while it was recording.  The second song has a copyright apparently, so the video may have ads.  There is nothing I can do about it unless I disable the sound entirely, or delete the video.

I understand that these pub videos won't be for everyone on the forums, they are mostly just for newer players, and for me to learn about the whole Youtube process.


That being.. My Youtube channel is https://www.Youtube.com/SupermanDP2

And here is a direct link to my first  video, a decent game of pgptrain on Superman's Speed #1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHBSkLLiuPY



Any feedback is welcomed.



A few things I know I need to work on (this list is mostly for me, so I don't forget):

-  Better video quality
-  Show the score screen more often when I am dead.
-  Put the names of songs in video description
-  Don't show texture information during recording
-  Maybe a short intro?
-

[not_payl_obviously]

Superman, there is no need to put name of texture you are looking at in video.

Other than that I hate fact that you are from Canada, because your servers suck for me and I cannot play with you.

[SuperMAn]

Superman, there is no need to put name of texture you are looking at in video.

Other than that I hate fact that you are from Canada, because your servers suck for me and I cannot play with you.

Yeah that is true, I will disable it in the future. Thanks.  I usually always play with it on to find what textures are missing on my servers.


As for your other point:  =(

[Toxiic]

As for your other point:  =(

Don't be sad. He's just jelly that we have the best hockey team and we have timmies. Nuff said.

[SuperMAn]

Uploaded my second video last night.  Another game on beta/pgptrain_b4... Mostly because the majority of my demos are of that map.  I end up getting a decent score, but the game wasn't great.  Teams weren't that even and there was a bit of spawn camping.  But I am still using it to learn about Youtube so oh well.  I will try to find better games on a variety of maps in the future


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJfoYt48R7s

This one was recorded at full 1080p and encoded using some better software (thanks Viciouz).  The quality in the video is excellent... when I am not moving...  Unfortunately Youtube's compression isn't great for fast paced games such as this.  This is probably the best quality I can achieve while still being able to upload the video.  File size was around 3.23 GB and the upload to Youtube took around 9 hours =/.

Some bad luck with my song selection again, Manslaughter was under a copyright so the video may once again have ads.
I need to figure out how to check beforehand if the music I use is copyrighted.

[not_payl_obviously]

The quality in the video is excellent... when I am not moving...  Unfortunately Youtube's compression isn't great for fast paced games such as this.  This is probably the best quality I can achieve while still being able to upload the video.  File size was around 3.23 GB and the upload to Youtube took around 9 hours =/.

I think you must be doing something wrong, probably youtube-pros will be able to tell you more.

Some bad luck with my song selection again, Manslaughter was under a copyright so the video may once again have ads.
I need to figure out how to check beforehand if the music I use is copyrighted.

Or just use music that you know isn't copyrighted.

[SuperMAn]

I think you must be doing something wrong, probably youtube-pros will be able to tell you more.
Or just use music that you know isn't copyrighted.

Not sure what I would be doing wrong, the source file I had matches all their specifications and was excellent quality.

It is hard to know what music is copyrighted.  I might just start choosing music from Youtubes online library of music.

[BASEBALLDUDE]

Not sure what I would be doing wrong, the source file I had matches all their specifications and was excellent quality.

It is hard to know what music is copyrighted.  I might just start choosing music from Youtubes online library of music.

All of YouTube's music library is copyrighted. My suggestion is don't be lazy, compose your own music.

[SuperMAn]

All of YouTube's music library is copyrighted. My suggestion is don't be lazy, compose your own music.

Hah yeah right... I'd rather use good music and tell people to just use adblock.  Nobody is ever going to make money off of paintball videos, so I don't care about monetizing them.

Also the music from the Library has the following terms and coditions:

Your use of this music library (including the music files in this library) is subject to the YouTube Terms of Service. Music from this library is intended solely for use by you in videos and other content that you create. You may use music files from this library in videos that you monetize on YouTube.
By downloading music from this library, you agree that you will not:
Make available, distribute or perform the music files from this library separately from videos and other content into which you have incorporated these music files (but not for standalone distribution).
Use music files from this library in an illegal manner or in connection with any illegal content.


Using them shouldn't be a problem.

[not_payl_obviously]

Not sure what I would be doing wrong, the source file I had matches all their specifications and was excellent quality.

It matched their specifications because they could encode it into 1080p, not because it wasn't blurring. I would suspect video codec, but I'm no expert here, so ask someone with knowledge about this.

[prozajik]

Well, not that i am an expert, but while i was searching the internet for improving my stream, selda sent me an interesting link about how to record in HD quality. I would guess this might be the most used "way" of recording FPS games.
You would have to use dxtory + h264 codec. Dxtory is just better version of fraps (like inf x better) and codec obviously deals with the video. This h264 is widely used not only for local recording but also for streaming (i have it as only option in my OBS (program for streaming)).
So you could give it a shot and see if quality improves or not. I think the quality was decent enough, but i would guess that dxtory will make it really smooth.
Anyway, source + guide: http://sokosensei.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/how-to-properly-configure-dxtory-h264-encoder-mp3-lame-encoder/

One more thing, dxtory is unfortunately paid, i am not sure but i think they have a trial / demo version so you might try it with that and see or ... . Hope this helps

[SuperMAn]

Well, not that i am an expert, but while i was searching the internet for improving my stream, selda sent me an interesting link about how to record in HD quality. I would guess this might be the most used "way" of recording FPS games.
You would have to use dxtory + h264 codec. Dxtory is just better version of fraps (like inf x better) and codec obviously deals with the video. This h264 is widely used not only for local recording but also for streaming (i have it as only option in my OBS (program for streaming)).
So you could give it a shot and see if quality improves or not. I think the quality was decent enough, but i would guess that dxtory will make it really smooth.
Anyway, source + guide: http://sokosensei.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/how-to-properly-configure-dxtory-h264-encoder-mp3-lame-encoder/

One more thing, dxtory is unfortunately paid, i am not sure but i think they have a trial / demo version so you might try it with that and see or ... . Hope this helps

Hm I will test it out.  I'm not convinced the recording is the problem though.  Both the original recording and the encoded h.264/mp4 have amazing quality.  The quality drop only happens when the file is uploaded to Youtube.  This makes me think that perhaps some of my encoding settings are conflicting with something on Youtube.


Fraps is paid too but that doesn't stop me from using it .

[Ace]

Here's a clip from Vindictus forums, another game I play, where people commonly use this format, for a solid quality. Don't need to use the specific programs, just the codecs info is fine.


Recording
Dxtory (I use this one for Vindictus)
Video Codec: Dxtory Video Codec; YUV420
FPS: 29.97 (you don't want to record at 60fps only to reduce it down to ~30fps for obvious reasons)
Audio Codec: PCM 48000 Hz, 32 bit, Stereo
Check: Enabled Synchronous Surface Lock
Processing Threads: 3


Fraps (I use it for console captures)
FPS: 30
Force lossless RGB capture


Encoding A Lossless "Master Copy"
Adobe Premiere Pro CS6
Format: AVI
Check: Export Video Only
Video Codec: Ut Video Codec YUV420
FPS: 29.97
Field Order: Progressive
Aspect: Square Pixels (1.0)
Check: Render at Maximum Depth, Use Maximum Render Quality
&Export (large file output)

Format: MP3 (preferred for Microsoft Expression MP4 H.264 Compression)
Check: Export Audio Only
Channels: Stereo
Audio Bitrate: 320 kbps
Codec Quality: High
&Export
-or-
Format: AAC Audio
Check: Export Audio Only
Audio Codec: AAC
Sample Rate: 48000 Hz
Channels: Stereo
Audio Quality: High
Bitrate: 320 kbps
&Export


Compression for Youtube
Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 Pro
Drag your newly encoded video from Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 to the Media Content box
Encode tab;
Output Format: MP4
Video Codec: H.264 High
Audio Codec: AAC-LC

Video Mode: CBR - 1 pass
FPS: Source
Bitrate: at least in the 20000-40000kbps range, the higher the better but the larger the output file &encoding period
Size Mode: Source
Aspect Ratio: Source
Multi-Reference Search: Quality
Sub-Block Search: Quality
RD Optimization: Quality

Audio Mode: CBR - 1 pass
Bitrate: 512 kbps
Channels: Stereo
Sample Rate: 48 kHz
Bits Per Sample: 24

Enhance tab;
Check: Add Audio Overlay
File: select MP3 file encoded from Adobe Premiere Pro CS6

Output tab;
Directory: select output location
Encode (Located at bottom center)


There are a lot of text but it's actually a relatively short process for the quality preservation.
If you have any questions about how or why something is done feel free to ask. MeGUI is also another Encoder, but that requires slightly more knowledge to use effectively.

For computers that cannot handle Fraps well, you will experience a larger FPS drop than Dxtory. The quality is comparable but Fraps will ultimately give you better quality on a paranoid level. The good thing about Dxtory is that it's difficult for most people to spot the difference in quality and it uses much less system resources. You'll most likely have a better gameplay FPS while recording.

[ViciouZ]

I'm fairly sure most of this is default in Handbrake anyway, but here are the official recommendations in comparison, seeing as everyone seems to be pulling specs from random sources.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en&ref_topic=2888648

[Ace]

Most of it is default, a few tiny tweaks here and there that people seem to like for faster moving things.

[SuperMAn]

Thanks for the tips Ace and Viciouz.

I was trying to follow the suggested encoding settings from the link Viciouz posted for the videos I've been doing.  I wasn't familiar with handbrake though so I didn't know about the advanced tab.   There were a couple things that I had wrong in my past videos. I'm uploading another video right now with everything exactly as Youtube/Google suggests.  We will see how it goes....  This one was recorded and encoded in 1080p30.

Also I just learned that Youtube doesn't even support 60fps videos any more..  So I'm not going to bother recording or encoding in 60FPS just to have Youtube reduce it.  In a way this is kind of a good thing because the reduction in file size will also reduce the time it takes to upload.

I might try out Ace's suggestions if this current setup produces the same results.



Also:  Anyone know of some good traffic shaping software other than netlimiter.  Netlimiter causing tons of BSODs on my machine.  I'd like to be able to upload during the day without causing too much of an impact on my network.






Edit:  New video is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwxM7k3eq_8

Quality is still basically the same =/.

[xrichardx]

The main question is: Does the encoded video that you upload look better on your machine (before YouTube processes it)? If it does, then there is not much you can do about it.

What you could still try is using a constant rate factor (CRF) instead of a constant bitrate (CBR). This way, the encoding program should be able to set much higher bitrates at frames where it's needed (e.g. when turning around and then stopping the camera movement --> picture needs to have a high quality because the humand eye now has time to really see the picture) and a lower bitrate when it's not needed (while turning around as the human eye won't be able to see and analyze it).
For me, your video looks like there is a too low bitrate in scenes after much movement so the picture becomes pixelated. A short info about CRF techinque can be found here: http://slhck.info/articles/crf
When I upload videos to YouTube, I often use the x264 encoder with a CRF of 16 or 18. (which then equals H.264 in MP4 container) This way, it for sure does not become as pixelated as your videos. I'll send you a PM with a video that was uploaded this way and IMO looks much better.

[SuperMAn]

My past videos have been with CRF enabled and set to the default of 20.  I just uploaded a couple 10 second test videos.  One with the normal setting of 20, and one at 16.

20:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq51Sf-JlH8

16:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVCZWm8q47g


There doesn't seem to be much of a difference.  The video is still pretty blocky when everything is moving around quickly.

I will also upload one later today that is set to 50000 kbps as per Youtube's suggestions here:  https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?rd=1

[ViciouZ]

DP2 is just challenging as an encoding problem, because it's very fast motion, and all the (default) textures are basically coloured noise at that speed. There is probably no way to do it well at whatever rates youtube uses for their encoder.

[SuperMAn]

DP2 is just challenging as an encoding problem, because it's very fast motion, and all the (default) textures are basically coloured noise at that speed. There is probably no way to do it well at whatever rates youtube uses for their encoder.

Yeah... Just a bit frustrating that Youtube's encoding produces such low quality.  It can't be that much of a challenge to encode since I get almost perfect quality when doing it locally.  Youtube probably compresses the file to about 1/4 of the original, if not more.