Making videos for youtube?

[jw custom 56]

So i decided to make a video of some ArmA 2 gameplay. I use Fraps for recording.

I tried a few video conversion/compression(Windows Movie Maker, WinAvi) tools but the results are horrible :eek:

I've seen some really nice videos on these forums and would like to get similar results :)

Which tools do you use before uploading to youtube or similar place?

[fincuan 0]

Hah, you'll probably get as many different answers as there are people making vids. :)

I use Linux for everything except gaming nowadays, but with Windows I used all or one of these. Any single one of them is more than enough for the compression and simple post-processing part:

• Avidemux
  
• VirtualDub
  
• More advanced, but MUCH more versatile:
  Megui with Avisynth
  

On Linux side it's just CinelerraSV for editing and post-processing and FFMpeg(with WinFF as the gui) for encoding to the "publishing" format. If you're going to work with videos a lot but don't want to pay fortunes for your programs then Linux is the way to go. Lots of quality programs for free. For example the above mentioned Cinelerra is afaik used by quite a few professionals, and besides that there are several "consumer level" options such as KDEnlive, Kino and Lives. All of these are more comprehensive than anything you can get for free or for cheap for Windows.

edit: Also check this before proceeding: Youtube: Optimising your video uploads

Edited October 19, 2009 by Fincuan

[-RIP- Luhgnut 10]

So i decided to make a video of some ArmA 2 gameplay. I use Fraps for recording.

I tried a few video conversion/compression(Windows Movie Maker, WinAvi) tools but the results are horrible :eek:

I've seen some really nice videos on these forums and would like to get similar results :)

Which tools do you use before uploading to youtube or similar place?

I use Xfire's in game video capture (Although the newest FRAPS is now supposed to work. Released couple days ago.)

And Windows Movie Maker for Windows 7. That's all.

[Hans Ludwig 0]

If you have the money and have a passion for making great videos this is the program for you.

http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/

As the guy stated above me, Virtual Dub is a godsend. That program is pretty damn good and even lets you crop out certain parts of the movie.

I have heard, but will treat it like a rumor, from some people that use Camtasia that they are working on a newer version so you can record live games.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

I use Windows Movie Maker for Windows XP with these plugin's that will allow you to output your Movie Maker files in HD WMV format! ;)

The resolutions available in the package are:

• * 1280x720
  
• * 1440x1080
  
• * 1920x1080
  
• * 960x720
  

my youtube channel, for reference

http://www.youtube.com/bigtires79

Edited October 20, 2009 by [DirTyDeeDs]-Ziggy-

[jw custom 56]

Thanks for your replies.

So i now made another video using the codecs suggested by ziggy. Yet again i managed to make a video that looks decent compared to the raw recording from Fraps.

Raw recording from fraps = 2.86 GB

Compressed by Windows Movie Maker WMV-HD-1280x720 = 250 MB

On my computer the compressed file looks decent and i'm satisfied with it, but when it's uploaded to youtube it looks like crap :(

Here's the uploaded video:

Where's the HQ button?

Does it re-encode the file upon uploading?

How do you guys keep decent quality?

*EDIT*

Weird now the "HD" appeared on the uploaded video, guess it takes a little time before the video is 100% processed by youtube. Anyways it looks better now :p

I am still interested in hints to improve quality :)

Edited October 20, 2009 by JW Custom

[fincuan 0]

That quality looks ok to me, but if you want better just go overboard with the bitrate when encoding for Youtube only. Youtube has a 1gb/file limit, so in that sense there's no need to be shy. That is huge for a 10-minute video which is the max they allow. Something like 5000kb/s for the video and 160kb/s for audio should be good for HD content, because YT will scale it down in quality anyway.

edit: Watched that vid again, and the audio sounds a little low-quality. What kind of bitrate did you use?

Edited October 20, 2009 by Fincuan

[jw custom 56]

Youtube has a 1gb/file limit, so in that sense there's no need to be shy.

2 GB limit :)

edit: Watched that vid again, and the audio sounds a little low-quality. What kind of bitrate did you use?

Thats Fraps ruining it, it's the voices that gets messed up. I'm using "Use Windows input" if i use "Detect best sound input" it's even worse!

[fincuan 0]

Oh it's that big now? Then no reason AT ALL to be shy(except for the upload time maybe) :)

edit: Yes, souned like the audio broke up at certain points. You might want to take a look at your sound-card's settings and see what kind of sampling rate is used when recording. I have good experiences with using 48 kHz with Arma and Arma2.

edit2: 44.1 kHz works well too. Ultimately it's down to which works best for you and where you'll want to publish(YT recommends 44.1), aka trial and error :)

Edited October 20, 2009 by Fincuan

[space 10]

The way to get the best quality with a small file size, and ease of use, is this method (Ignore the resolutions he sets - youtube is back to 1280 x 720 I think) :

Youll need:

Fraps (For original recording)

Sony Vegas (For effects and resizing)

Ajax Easy h264 (For encoding)

The file you upload will be the correct size and format so it means that it wont be re encoded.

[maddogx 13]

I can recommend VirtualDub and AviSynth as free software for editing Fraps videos, and Audacity for editing audio. VirtualDub is excellent for cutting Fraps videos "quick n dirty" and saving them to a format with better compression like DivX. You can also do things like change the framerate, crop and resize the video, use an alternate audio track etc. There are a bunch of other video effects, but nothing too fancy.

AviSynth comes with a scripting language and a truck load of functions, giving you full control over what you want to do with your video. On the downside, you need to have a basic grasp of programming and video topics (framerate conversions, audio/video synching, color models etc.). Once you've created an AviSynth script you can actually open it in VirtualDub as if it were a video file - all source video is accessed and processed on the fly. When you're satisfied with the result, you can simple save the output video into a format of your choice.

[jw custom 56]

The way to get the best quality with a small file size, and ease of use, is this method (Ignore the resolutions he sets - youtube is back to 1280 x 720 I think) :

Youll need:

Fraps (For original recording)

Sony Vegas (For effects and resizing)

Ajax Easy h264 (For encoding)

The file you upload will be the correct size and format so it means that it wont be re encoded.

Thanks for the info i'll deffinitely look into that :cool:

I can recommend VirtualDub and AviSynth as free software for editing Fraps videos, and Audacity for editing audio. VirtualDub is excellent for cutting Fraps videos "quick n dirty" and saving them to a format with better compression like DivX. You can also do things like change the framerate, crop and resize the video, use an alternate audio track etc. There are a bunch of other video effects, but nothing too fancy.

AviSynth comes with a scripting language and a truck load of functions, giving you full control over what you want to do with your video. On the downside, you need to have a basic grasp of programming and video topics (framerate conversions, audio/video synching, color models etc.). Once you've created an AviSynth script you can actually open it in VirtualDub as if it were a video file - all source video is accessed and processed on the fly. When you're satisfied with the result, you can simple save the output video into a format of your choice.

Thanks for the input. I'm into programming but my video/sound/graphic knowledge is somewhat on the noobie level :p

I'll give VirtualDub a go :)

Edited October 20, 2009 by JW Custom

[SaBrE_UK 0]

I thought the following video looks great, I wonder what he did.

nV5fxH2OdFU&hd=1

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

have you tried 'what I hear' for the sound record setting? works well for me as long as I am not on ventrilo and have ppl talk to me :D

[jw custom 56]

-Ziggy-;1468540']have you tried 'what I hear' for the sound record setting? works well for me as long as I am not on ventrilo and have ppl talk to me :D

I don't have that option, are you reffering to Fraps?

[Madus_Maximus 0]

-Ziggy-;1468540']have you tried 'what I hear' for the sound record setting? works well for me as long as I am not on ventrilo and have ppl talk to me :D

Stereo Mix? It records what goes through the sound card, I'm assuming that's what you mean. There's another name for it too that I can't remember right now off the top of my head.

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

Thats Fraps ruining it, it's the voices that gets messed up. I'm using "Use Windows input" if i use "Detect best sound input" it's even worse!

pardon what I thought was 'What you hear' was actually 'Detect best sound input'

I spoke before I looked, I thought I knew what I was talking about :lecture:

Mine is recording through the sound card.

Edited October 21, 2009 by [DirTyDeeDs]-Ziggy-

[jw custom 56]

To sum my experience with this video stuff up:

The programs i tried to record ingame footage with:

Recording:

Fraps - Very easy to use and gives a decent result

Xfire - Never got it working, wouldn't detects ArmA 2. Tried all said in the xfire thread without getting it working.

WeGame - My ingame control got locked when using this and the very first time starting it i got a BSOD.

ZD Soft Screen Recorder - The results was horrible :eek:

Compressing:

Windows Movie Maker - Very easy to use and with the plugins recommended by [DirTyDeeDs]-Ziggy- -> http://www.bauer-power.net/2009/04/create-hd-videos-in-windows-movie-maker.html the results are very nice.

VirtualDub - I tried it a bit but wasn't too impressed with the result aimed for youtube, probably me not knowing what i was doing. For people knowing a thing or two about video/audio this is probably very nice :)

Easy h.264 - Indeed very easy to use, but again i was more happy with the result from Windows Movie Maker. This program also crashed whenever i tried to compress videos with any setting over medium.

So in the end i found Fraps and Windows Movie Maker +HD plugins the best solution for me and my simple need to record and preparing videos for youtube.