Author Topic: Uploading to YouTube : HD or HQ? (Read 13889 times)

Generalguy · « **on:** July 12, 2009, 10:06:21 PM »

How do you think Touhou gameplay videos should be uploaded to YouTube? I always upload in HQ personnally (I don't know how to upload in HD). I don't see much of a difference really. Sure, HD has a better resolution, but it takes like three hours to load.

I'm interested in knowing how you record too. My sound card doesn't have Stereo Mixer, so it won't record any sound coming out of my speakers (I could use a cable to link the sound input and output together, so I can use the microphone program, but meh), so I have to use Virtual Audio Cable, and I can't know if it records properly until I play it back. I use HyperCam for the video. Xvid Codec with a bitrate of 2000 (this makes A LOT of difference). Finally, I record at 20 FPS instead of 10 FPS (it won't let me go higher), otherwise it's not smooth at all.

Here's an example of how it comes out. Royal Flare and Philosopher's Stone are a bit blurry, but otherwise I think the quality is good enough. It's watchable in standard quality too (as in "it doesn't look like shit").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RptrJClKcs

Drake · « **Reply #1 on:** July 12, 2009, 10:23:55 PM »

I record at 60 fps, lossless 640x480 because Fraps doesn't go any higher.
Then I string all the files together using VirtualDub (Fraps splits every minute to conserve data).
Then I plug it into MeGUI, resizing to HD with a bitrate of 5000.

And you get this.

Better beautiful than choppy.

lmagus · « **Reply #2 on:** July 12, 2009, 10:28:42 PM »

just out of curiusity, what is TAS?

Tool Assisted... something?

that run was amazing.

Generalguy · « **Reply #3 on:** July 12, 2009, 10:38:58 PM »

Quote from: Drake on July 12, 2009, 10:23:55 PM

I record at 60 fps, lossless 640x480 because Fraps doesn't go any higher.

I can't use Fraps. On my computer, the FPS changes all the time (it's often around 10), it can't record sound worth a damn, it stops recording all the time and the files are way too big.

But I could try setting the bitrate to 5000. I'm not anywhere close to 1 GB anyway, and my computer should be good enough to avoid slowdown.

Drake · « **Reply #4 on:** July 12, 2009, 10:45:49 PM »

Quote from: lmagus on July 12, 2009, 10:28:42 PM

just out of curiusity, what is TAS?

Tool Assisted Speedrun, but in Touhou's case Tool Assisted Slowdown, I guess.

LiteYear · « **Reply #5 on:** July 13, 2009, 12:01:58 AM »

Well, Youtube recently upgraded their HQ format, so the difference between HQ and HD now isn't as much as it previously was.

As far as I can tell, there really isn't much point in increasing the bitrate though. Youtube will automatically reduce it to 2000 (HD), 900 (new HQ), or 512 (old HQ), so having a much higher bitrate than those doesn't really have an effect.

Yoslime · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2009, 10:52:34 AM »

Quote from: Generalguy on July 12, 2009, 10:06:21 PM

I don't see much of a difference really. Sure, HD has a better resolution, but it takes like three hours to load.

Whoa, really? Um, I thought it was vital to deliver the video in higher quality as possible as I could, but I need to consider it if you took hours to download...

bjw · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2009, 10:56:25 AM »

Quote from: Yoslime on July 13, 2009, 10:52:34 AM

Quote from: Generalguy on July 12, 2009, 10:06:21 PM
I don't see much of a difference really. Sure, HD has a better resolution, but it takes like three hours to load.

Whoa, really? Um, I thought it was vital to deliver the video in higher quality as possible as I could, but I need to consider it if you took hours to download...

Three hours is a gigantic overstatement (unless you are on 56k or something). It really isn't that bad, and if you're a college kid with awesome internet, minutes will download in just seconds >_>

And as for HD vs. HQ, as long as it isn't low quality, I'm happy

(HD, of course, is better if you're looking at the future)

Generalguy · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2009, 04:52:02 PM »

Quote from: bjw on July 13, 2009, 10:56:25 AM

Quote from: Yoslime on July 13, 2009, 10:52:34 AM
Quote from: Generalguy on July 12, 2009, 10:06:21 PM
I don't see much of a difference really. Sure, HD has a better resolution, but it takes like three hours to load.

Whoa, really? Um, I thought it was vital to deliver the video in higher quality as possible as I could, but I need to consider it if you took hours to download...

Three hours is a gigantic overstatement (unless you are on 56k or something). It really isn't that bad, and if you're a college kid with awesome internet, minutes will download in just seconds >_>

Maybe I should have added :V, or that "This is a fucking joke" emoticon I found somewhere. But it DID take around 90 minutes to load an HD video a few times (I don't know what's up with my internet. Sometimes it has HUGE slowdown). I have DSL or something like that.

Also, how much time do you need to upload a HD video? It takes me around 45 minutes to upload a 150 MB file, and sometimes my internet keeps on disconnecting for like 3 seconds at a time and I have to restart the upload. It might be a problem with my network card, I'm not sure.

And why do most people seem to hate HyperCam? I like it. It's easy to record with, and it saved me when I couldn't get anything to work properly.

TEST : With my internet working normally, it took 25 minutes to load a 7 minutes HD video and 8 minutes to load a 7 minutes HQ video (which means I must wait 18 minutes and 1 minute respectively before starting the video).

Drake · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2009, 05:06:49 PM »

what the hell are you 56k or something

HyperCam is low quality and has that watermark on everything. If you're not looking for beautiful results then you could do it, but generally the standard would be something with the least amount of degradation as possible.

Ghaleon · « **Reply #10 on:** July 13, 2009, 06:38:25 PM »

wow.. I wish I had your guys luck with youtube.. My video isn't nearly the same quality, and I didn't even have it at HD, it's just HQ... It takes me like 8 hours to upload...only to get an error at 99% like...3/4 of the time.

Helepolis · « **Reply #11 on:** July 13, 2009, 08:41:26 PM »

I don't know about you but Youtube auto-accepts HD when your resolution is 1280x720.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnpZv3smFa8&feature=channel_page

Ofcourse it is not frapsed in this resolution, hence the black bars but yea. Works fine. No bitrate modifying here as I exported it with WMV9 codec at 80% quality. File size was mere 200mb or so which is for me like ~30min to upload.

Ghaleon · « **Reply #12 on:** July 13, 2009, 08:56:44 PM »

Imma try Drake's method next, I got MeGUI (never heard of it until now), and it said not to use it without getting "AVIsynth" first or else it woudln't work... I'm hoping this is why my current efforts have been buggy and whatnot. *crosses fingers*

Drake · « **Reply #13 on:** July 13, 2009, 09:01:26 PM »

Yeah, you need AviSynth to work it properly. I mean, you can still make mp4 files, but you won't be able to do any editing without AviSynth and a bunch of plugins.

Generalguy · « **Reply #14 on:** July 13, 2009, 10:03:03 PM »

Quote from: LiteYear on July 13, 2009, 12:01:58 AM

As far as I can tell, there really isn't much point in increasing the bitrate though. Youtube will automatically reduce it to 2000 (HD), 900 (new HQ), or 512 (old HQ), so having a much higher bitrate than those doesn't really have an effect.

Trust me, it's really important. YouTube barely affects my video quality for now, so it's all about how I record the game. My Phantasm run on Youtube was choppy, but that's because the original video was too. At a bitrate of 1500, the bullets can get quite blurry, and the background looks like crap. At 2000, it's much better, though the background is still only decent. I'll try recording with better bitrate. I could even put it at 10000 if I wanted before it reached 1 GB.

LiteYear · « **Reply #15 on:** July 13, 2009, 10:17:40 PM »

For me, VirtualDub works fine for my purposes, although I rarely have any editing to do (merging files is generally the extent of my editing). I encode in XviD as an AVI.

Also, it looks like YouTube will now recognize 960x720 as a HD format, so it doesn't look like you need to letterbox anymore.

Finally, here's the same video, uploaded in HQ and HD if you want to see the difference between them (although these videos are temporary; I'll probably remove them in a few days):
HQ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPDFleTc8e0
HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x97CEfooDdo

Generalguy · « **Reply #16 on:** July 13, 2009, 11:06:55 PM »

Well, everything is bigger, which makes it clearer... Honestly, I can't really find anything else.
I don't understand anything about putting stuff in HD. All I'm doing right now is disable my speakers, record with HyperCam in window mode, and cut the first and last second because I always record a bit more than necessary. I cut the video in parts too if it's too long.

Well, the amount of points I get when I collect items is easy to see, that should be enough right? Oh yeah, crappy background...

But for now I mostly have to find a way to record Mountain of Faith. It won't go over 30 FPS. I'll try rebooting or something.

Ghaleon · « **Reply #17 on:** July 14, 2009, 12:37:04 AM »

@#%@%@%&@ Why is it this video recording @#%@#% is so effing hard for me.
Working with MeGUI, seems to be going well, takes a minute to figure out how to set the bitrate and crap. Then I say start encoding. wham, error (big suprise at this point...not)

"missing aften.exe"
wtf is aften.exe.. I'm sick and tired of downloading 50 programs I've never heard of just to get 1 to work.. ghagahahg. Why is it that nobody ever seems to have to download 200 apps just to get one to work but I do.

edit:
ok so now I got it to start encoding.. hopefully it'll look good and upload without errors now.
filesize is alot smaller for me too.

As for using virtual dub for xvid.. that is one of many things I've tried which gives me errors.. dohhh.

Generalguy · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2009, 12:52:59 AM »

Do you get lag watching my video? On one computer, it works perfectly, but on the other, it's full of lag spikes. I hope it's only that computer and not the video itself that did that, because it's quite a serious problem.

nintendonut888 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 14, 2009, 03:07:29 AM »

I prefer HQ to HD, because while it looks nice, my computer can't handle them (surprise surprise). 'sides, I've learned that when you make your video for HD, the video is actually worse quality on everything else, including HQ.

Drake · « **Reply #20 on:** July 14, 2009, 04:47:24 AM »

Actually that's pretty much where bitrate and compression come in. You can still have an HD video look crappy, but 720p has way more quality potential than HQ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc
to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc&fmt=18
to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc&hd=1

Generalguy · « **Reply #21 on:** July 14, 2009, 05:05:59 AM »

If I want to record MoF without a lot of lag, should I change Screen Mode or Rendering Rate if I still want decent quality?

Ghaleon · « **Reply #22 on:** July 14, 2009, 08:12:31 AM »

Quote from: Drake on July 14, 2009, 04:47:24 AM

Actually that's pretty much where bitrate and compression come in. You can still have an HD video look crappy, but 720p has way more quality potential than HQ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc
to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc&fmt=18
to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc&hd=1

sigh...my video using that program you mentioned looks great.. has a very small size... BUT HAS NO SOUND!!!! ghaghag. I've looked everywhere and I can't find anything that allows me to enable sound except for some feature where I actually append a seperate file onto the video for sound (probably for narration or something).. any idea?

Krimmydoodle · « **Reply #23 on:** July 14, 2009, 08:57:35 AM »

I believe that "separate" file you append onto sound is your original source video. You put your video into the program once for the visual, and once again for the sound.

LiteYear · « **Reply #24 on:** July 14, 2009, 09:50:35 AM »

Quote from: Generalguy on July 13, 2009, 10:03:03 PM

Trust me, it's really important. YouTube barely affects my video quality for now, so it's all about how I record the game. My Phantasm run on Youtube was choppy, but that's because the original video was too. At a bitrate of 1500, the bullets can get quite blurry, and the background looks like crap. At 2000, it's much better, though the background is still only decent. I'll try recording with better bitrate. I could even put it at 10000 if I wanted before it reached 1 GB.

Generally, I encode at 2500 if I'm doing HD, and 1200 for HQ. But, YouTube has its own compression formats, and there is no way around them for normal users. It doesn't matter if you send YouTube a video intended for HD at 2500, 5000, 10000, or even higher; YouTube's HD format will compress and display your video at 2000.

lmagus · « **Reply #25 on:** July 14, 2009, 02:16:03 PM »

HD videos play horribly in my work pc =(

Drake · « **Reply #26 on:** July 14, 2009, 07:28:24 PM »

Quote from: Ghaleon on July 14, 2009, 08:12:31 AM

Quote from: Drake on July 14, 2009, 04:47:24 AM
Actually that's pretty much where bitrate and compression come in. You can still have an HD video look crappy, but 720p has way more quality potential than HQ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc
to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc&fmt=18
to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc&hd=1

sigh...my video using that program you mentioned looks great.. has a very small size... BUT HAS NO SOUND!!!! ghaghag. I've looked everywhere and I can't find anything that allows me to enable sound except for some feature where I actually append a seperate file onto the video for sound (probably for narration or something).. any idea?

Haha, you use your original video, silly.

Ghaleon · « **Reply #27 on:** July 20, 2009, 07:02:09 PM »

Quote from: Drake on July 14, 2009, 07:28:24 PM

Quote from: Ghaleon on July 14, 2009, 08:12:31 AM
Quote from: Drake on July 14, 2009, 04:47:24 AM
Actually that's pretty much where bitrate and compression come in. You can still have an HD video look crappy, but 720p has way more quality potential than HQ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc
to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc&fmt=18
to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_N0IamxrLc&hd=1

sigh...my video using that program you mentioned looks great.. has a very small size... BUT HAS NO SOUND!!!! ghaghag. I've looked everywhere and I can't find anything that allows me to enable sound except for some feature where I actually append a seperate file onto the video for sound (probably for narration or something).. any idea?
Haha, you use your original video, silly.

No that wasn't it. I finally figured it out. there is no way to compress videos using megui without them having no sound, you're supposed to use one of the various "muxers' in the tools folder to unlock the sound in the video.

here is my result:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91UjZIWLgls
Drake's is still better, How do you set your video to HD drake? I did the 5000 bps thing, but I never did find "HD" under megui.

Drake · « **Reply #28 on:** July 20, 2009, 09:28:30 PM »

k when i have time i'll make a tutorial then

LiteYear · « **Reply #29 on:** July 20, 2009, 10:33:08 PM »

As far as I know, resolution is definitely the main factor. I know 1280x720 and 960x720 will work for HD, but there may be others. I'm pretty sure that if you don't have the right resolution, there is no chance you'll qualify for higher formats.