Youtube Arma3 videos are always blurry now.

[BL1P 35]

I am trying to gather information on why all my recent uploads to youtube of Arma3 gameplay are very blurry compared to previously.

I think its Youtube's compression system that has altered but want to check its not something I am doing differently or Arma is doing.

Previously I would Generally record in lossles .avi using either Fraps, or Dxtory as the screen capture device then Edit and Render out using After Effects then Adobe media encoder using h.264 to .mp4

This previously produced very good quality Youtube videos. Now it produces total crap when uploaded.

Because this all of a sudden produced crap blurry grass and details I tried numerous other capture devices and render/compression apps and settings.

All to no avail. The videos would look great until placed on youtube then they look crap.

Nothing I do, can produce a video that when placed on youtube isn't total crap when running around in grass for example.

Does anyone have some black magic voodoo to get none blurry HD videos onto youtube recently ?

Edited October 14, 2014 by BL1P

[Fluit 13]

Come to think of it, this happened after the "sharpen" effect was added to the game.

I always have this setting between 150 and 200 and also suffer from the same problem as you do (blurry grass on youtube).

[Kerc Kasha 102]

Have you waited awhile after uploading the video? Usually youtube says its video is done 'processing' well before it actually is, and as a result only allows for the lowest resolution video

[Greenfist 1863]

Come to think of it, this happened after the "sharpen" effect was added to the game.

I always have this setting between 150 and 200 and also suffer from the same problem as you do (blurry grass on youtube).

In theory at least, that might be the cause.

Sharpening adds details/noise to the image, so Youtube needs to do more compressing to get to a certain level of bitrate.

It's the same thing with jpegs; save an image as jpg at a certain level of compression. Then apply a couple of sharpen filters to it and save again. The file size increases.

You could try is with Arma recordings too. Capture a minute in some lossy format with sharpening and then the same without it. I bet the file size will be much smaller.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Greenfist

[BL1P 35]

Its a good suggestion I will record a tester with sharpen off. does anyone know what the sharpen level should be to be same as before the sharpen was introduced ?

OK ran the test with sharpen at 100 and then again at 0.

here is a linkywinky

Recorded at 1280x720.

Edited in AE and rendered out at lossless AVI settings.

Then Encoded in Media encoder with :-

1280x720 - 30fps - progressive - VBR - 1 pass - target 10Mbs - Max 12Mbs - AAC - 320kbs - 48kHz - stereo.

I see no difference between Sharpen 100 and Sharpen 0 in respect to the final youtube compression quality.

Edited October 15, 2014 by BL1P

[Greenfist 1863]

If you used highish FXAA, the sharpening was at 100. SMAA had none.

[BL1P 35]

If you used highish FXAA, the sharpening was at 100. SMAA had none.

You can see all my settings in the video.

Do you think i had something set wrong ? as in anything you think might help me when uploading to youtube.

Edited October 15, 2014 by BL1P

[Greenfist 1863]

Oh, that's horrible. There will always be artifacting in game videos because of the high level of detail but that's just way too much.

Sorry, I've no idea how to help. All I know is that YT has limits for bitrate, so a highly detailed video will be compressed to crap. But why did it work better before..? :confused:

[BL1P 35]

Oh, that's horrible. There will always be artifacting in game videos because of the high level of detail but that's just way too much.

Sorry, I've no idea how to help. All I know is that YT has limits for bitrate, so a highly detailed video will be compressed to crap. But why did it work better before..? :confused:

Yer thats where I am atm, why did it work fine before using exactly the same methods ?

Really frustrating I presume youtube altered the compression system they use.

Its so annoying I cant upload gameplay videos to youtube now though.

Thanks for helping though Greenfist.

[BL1P 35]

Update :-

After watching alot of youtube ArmA3 videos by most of the top uploaders on youtube.

This problem is present on all videos uploaded to youtube of ArmA3.

Less obvious when using 3rd person camera mode but still present.

[CaptainObvious 95]

Once again Youtube has probably f'd up their compression algorithms.

[Harzach 2518]

I'm not sure of the details, but I think Dslyecxi's workaround involves upscaling the video before uploading. In his case, from 1200p to 1600p (or what YouTube sees as 1080p to 1440p).

[goomer 10]

In his case, from 1200p to 1600p (or what YouTube sees as 1080p to 1440p).

Dsly is upscaling the recorded material to 1440p, not 1600p. He's still playing at 1200p.

[Harzach 2518]

Dsly is upscaling the recorded material to 1440p, not 1600p. He's still playing at 1200p.

YT doesn't recognize 16:10 ratios, so a 1600p upload is described as 1440p. Also, if he were uploading 1440p videos, viewers with 16:9 displays would not see black bars on the sides of the video when in full screen. And what makes you think he isn't playing at his native resolution?

Edited October 23, 2014 by Harzach

[Dwarden 1125]

FXAA with value of 1 in arma3.cfg (equals 100 in UI) was default before ... the sharpen filter wasn't before available for SMAA and no PPAA ... now it is

[BL1P 35]

FXAA with value of 1 in arma3.cfg (equals 100 in UI) was default before ... the sharpen filter wasn't before available for SMAA and no PPAA ... now it is

Thanks Nice info does any of it alter how videos end up looking on YouTube ?

---------- Post added at 09:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 PM ----------

Dsly is upscaling the recorded material to 1440p, not 1600p. He's still playing at 1200p.

Even so his videos when he records in first person with movement have the same problem (less than when at 1080) but they still have the same blurry problem when moving in first person.

BUT a lot of his videos are static cameras especially the Guides. Or slow moving cameras not gameplay first person movement recorded.

Note : before he comes and rants :)

I like his videos.

Edited October 23, 2014 by BL1P

[Ace22 10]

Has anyone solved preventing the grass from going blurry?

From the test with the sharpen filter posted it looked like it didn't make a difference. With now being able to upload at 60fps and 20mil kbps rates to Youtube, It's still not helping with the blurring grass.

[twangydave 7]

I've got blurred grass in my latest videos, not found a fix yet.