Forum Archive Home -> User guides -> Youtube Upload, increase quality/control (HQ hack obsolete)
| Youtube Upload, increase quality/control (HQ hack obsolete) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 14 20:22 | ||||||||||||||||||
| The HQ hack of changing file durations to cheat youtube no longer works.
NOR can you still upload flv files with a total bitrate under 350k, and bypass re-encoding. all gone, but default youtube is better than what it used to be As a result of this: http://forum.videohelp.com/topic333660.html The facts: at the moment you can upload an FLV1 Flash clip to youtube and have it pass under the radar unconverted. Please note this applies to FLV1 only, VP6 will not work and will be reconverted. This saves a lot of time during upload, because you're uploading a lot smaller files. Saves suprises, as you know what you're getting before upload, and you get control over your content. The restriction (besides standard youtube duration restriction) is that your .flv has to have a total bitrate under 350kbps, as reported by Mediainfo 
[s:f27ec1e020]And you can cheat :)[/s:f27ec1e020] I'll show you how. I think I tend to choose the hard way, and I don't write guides, so i'll try and outline my process and see how it turns out. Tools: Mediainfo Mplayer/Mencoder http://tirnanog.fate.jp/mirror/mplayer/ or FFmpeg http://esby.free.fr/CelticDruid/mirror/ffmpeg/ Hex editor (vdub has one under 'tools') 7zip http://www.7-zip.org/ (to extract from archives) Optional Avisynth DGMPGDec (for mpeg1/2 sources) Audio extractor, encoder. (Mplayer, FFmpeg can do) Avanti (ffmpeg gui) http://forum.videohelp.com/topic343287.html Begin by puting, mencoder / ffmpeg and your source video in a working folder. Step 1 (optional) AudioVisual prep. Depending on what source you have and what you're attempting to do, you may or may not want to go through this prep, and use avisynth. I use avisynth for everything. resize, crop, sharpen, blur, framerate alteration... whatever. Install avisynth if you haven't already. read up on it. http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page Get your audio to uncompressed .wav FFmpeg would be fine for 2 channel audio, for multichannel you'd need external downmixing
probably better to just use mplayer, straight to 2 channel
Many tools, many ways... Basically you want to resize your material to 4/3. (Youtube display) If it's 4/3 already it's dead simple. If it's wide, you have to letterbox. This is not a resizing guide. Read DJRumpy's guide for a better understanding of such things: http://forum.videohelp.com/topic174200.html You may also wish to reduce framerate, and do other filtering in avisynth. So, you have your source. If it's Mpeg1/2, index with DgIndex (read the documentation) Open a text file with notepad and write your script, something like this:
Save with the avs extension, say "300.avs", in the folder containing your source video and ffmpeg. The above was 2.35:1, and I preferred to chop the sides rather than pad top/bottom. I use a sharp resizer, because that's what I like. (Although i used bilinear in most of my testing) I dropped the framerate to get more mileage from the bitrate. I opted for a resolution the size of the standard youtube display. You can do anything you like! Step 2 Encode Continuation for step 1...
Remember, there's a 350kbps total bitrate limit. If you don't wish to cheat and change the duration info of your file, you have to stay under that limit. If not, you have the 10 min youtube limitation. In which case your file can be up to ~27MB (If you're going to use ffmpeg, you might consider using a nice gui like Avanti http://forum.videohelp.com/topic336318.html there's a flash template ready for easy configuration) note: audio samplerate must be 44100, 22050 or 11025. you can of course change samplerate before you get to the encoder. Skipped step 1... You can use mencoder to simplify the process. Mencoder has powerful filters and is capable of many things, so if you just want to get on with encoding you can probably just feed your source to mencoder and go.
More complex would be say working with an elementary mpeg2 file telecined, and an external audio file:
You can of course do 2 pass encoding, and use more mencoder filters, but i'd be using avisynth if i wanted to tamper. Step 3 [s:f27ec1e020]Cheat[/s:f27ec1e020] (Obsolete) You cheat by changing the reported duration info in the flv header. Actual duration doesn't change. Open your flv in a hex editor. I used HEXcellent. ( http://www.torry.net/pages.php?id=1176 ) Look for "duration" you're looking for the block of 16 numbers after '40' 
starting from the left you have the first value, we'll call it 'a'. That signifies 2*2^a seconds, so "5000 0000 0000 0000" is 2*2^5=64 seconds. The second value, say 'b', is b/16*(2*2^a). The third value is sixteenths of the second value and so on... "82C0 0000 0000 0000" is 10 mins, our limit. Although up to 11 min has been successfully tested: "84A0 0000 0000 0000" (A is 10, B=11, C=12, D=13, E=14, F=15) See appendix for useful hex values. So say we have this file: 
open it in the hex editor, change the values, either using a calculator and 'reason', or just keep trying upping the duration bit by bit. 
And you get this: 
Now legal! Step 4 Upload (don't use the uploader mentioned in the thread, this may result in a youtube re-encode, upload at youtube directly) and you end up with something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34tQi8HIpsA where i upped things just a bit. 448x336 keeping 400k, audio at 48k, dropping frames to 20fps original duration 1m48sec, changed to 2m23sec I also put up a sample pushing things to the max. (Not that i recommend you do so) Took a 1280x720 sample and cropped to 960x720. It was an avc mkv with 5.1 aac (shooting myself in the foot a bit) with roughly a total bitrate of 1300k and i encoded 2 mins, to flv (1500k) with 192k audio. Got about 25MB. Changed duration in header to 10 mins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoVkD2k4byM As a note I think one should aim at getting acceptable quality with a total bitrate below 500k. Having 'heavy' videos that aren't streamable is not the point of the guide. But basically you have the freedom to do what you please. The whole process has the benefit of flexibility. You have a great amount of control this way. gl appendix Hex values 4E00 (the rest zeroes) = 1 min 5E00 = 2 min 6680 = 3 min 6E00 = 4 min 72C0 = 5 min 7680 = 6 min 7A40 = 7 min 7E00 = 8 min 80E0 = 9 min 82C0 = 10 min 849F = 10:59 min 84A0 = 11 min | ||||||||||||||||||
| manono posted 2007 Sep 14 20:57 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Helluva guide, 45tripp, for someone that says he doesn't write guides. I'm sure it'll be much appreciated. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cornucopia posted 2007 Sep 14 23:43 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp, that is probably the best quality video I've ever seen on Youtube! :D
Way to go! Still not quite clear about the hex values for the time fields, but I can play with it... And, is it just the standard h.263Sorenson codec that is allowed for video? Also noticed you said early on to use 11/22/44kHz, but then you ended up using 48k--so you can cheat there too? Scott | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 15 05:36 | ||||||||||||||||||
Thanks manono.
Yes flv1 only. vp6 gets re-encoded. no I couldn't have used 48khz. It's an flv container limitation. Where you can also cheat is framerate. A youtube re-encode won't let you keep anything above 30fps. this way you can keep say 40fps | ||||||||||||||||||
| slacker posted 2007 Sep 15 10:26 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Very nice!
However, with Flash 9.0 none of this will be necessary. | ||||||||||||||||||
| mgh posted 2007 Sep 15 12:49 | ||||||||||||||||||
| :salut: superb guide. thanks. | ||||||||||||||||||
| mgh posted 2007 Sep 16 12:10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Works beautifully. Uploaded a video 400x300, actual total kbps 518. Original video 5mins 25 secs, header changed to 8mins 31 secs. Funny thing though, after downloading the video from you tube
and checking with mediainfo, the header again shows 5 mins 25 secs. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Sep 20 18:46 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hi, can anyone recommend a Gui for the tools mentioned here? i tried the free riva flv encoder but results at 450kb are not as good as the video in the tutorial
thanks | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 21 04:57 | ||||||||||||||||||
| i looked at winff, and it seems to use the command almost verbatim.
you may want to edit the preset to remove framerate,scaling options. you could also ask Chris K to add a preset for Avanti. http://forum.videohelp.com/topic336318.html With mencoder the easiest would probably be simple mencoder shell gui (smsg) don't really know what else. winff is ready to go though gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Sep 21 05:50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| so far i tried:
Riva flv encoder but macroblocks were visible a bit to much even at 500 bitrate at 320.240 AutoFF refused to open avs files and avi(dv) files http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=129697 Avanti needs a profile for flv Automen, nice tool that at the same bitrate of the others prouced by far the better quality, not as any blocks. http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1018336 will try winff, thanks for your suggestions | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 21 06:52 | ||||||||||||||||||
It's coming. Hadn't noticed Autoff. looks promising. I don't like the way you have to have mediainfo and what not in the same folder as Automen, plus it's not configurable. slight hinderance as it may be, it's stopped me from trying it so far. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Sep 22 05:25 | ||||||||||||||||||
| hi i tried several programs and using a dv video as source i cant get the video quality as your 300 trailer at 400k at 448.336 resolution.
i need to use 500k+bitrate for the blocks to disappear Any tips? Thanks
That was the one that i had best results, no bitrate configuration, had to play with the final size and checking with mediainfo each one to see the bitrate used | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 22 09:49 | ||||||||||||||||||
| My video is not block free.
Tried DV and can confirm, it looks like shit.
there are many ideas in the thread. could drop resolution, framerate, maybe crop. I butchered framerate, dropping almost 20% of the frames. could probably attempt using some filtering. Nothing better than what you've already done though: Raise bitrate!!
tedious! | ||||||||||||||||||
| mgh posted 2007 Sep 23 09:48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| using winff, the final combined bitrate is shown in the dos window accurate to 0.1 kbps. You need not use media info. | ||||||||||||||||||
| mikejf posted 2007 Sep 24 18:31 | ||||||||||||||||||
| You can use higher bit rates with method below, but time limit around 2:00-2:45 minutes only. Here is a vid at YT I made using 960 Kbps, Frame rate=15. Source was vhs in SP mode from cable TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHl-AUQNe0c This method uses Total Video Converter v3.10. Avi source vid file must be in 640x480 size. For a 2 minute vid wth 1000 bit rate use these settings: type:FLV Video Audio:44100/320 Codec:auto Frame Rate: 15 (custom, enter no less then 15 but can be higher if you lower bit rate) Bit Rate: 1000 (1000 for 2 minutes which YT calcs each 1000 as 4 minutes, or if vid is 1 minute you can use 2000 brate, which YT calcs as 8 minutes) Activate high quality settings: checkmark Video Resize: Original, 4:3 MUST use TVC v3.10, not 3.11. The trick is to use the highest bit rate and not have YT recode. A 2:30 minute video might work with 15 frame rate, at 860 bit rate. If YT recodes, try again with lower bit rate. At 15 frame rate a 1000 bit rate seems to = 4 minutes on TY. I have not tried editing the header with hex editor to try and post longer vids, it may work. The vid posted above was made with TVC, and oddly MediaInfo reports zero frame rate of .flv file: General File size:20.8 MiB General StreamSize: 274 Bytes Codec: Sorenson H263 Video#0 Frame rate of 0:000. (don't know why it reports zero, it was made at 15) Video#0 Bit rate: 960 Kbps Video#0 StreamSize:15.6 MiB | ||||||||||||||||||
| lordsmurf posted 2007 Sep 24 18:46 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Good job. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 25 09:54 | ||||||||||||||||||
| mikejf,
goyomora posted his method in the thread. and it helped directing me towards my method. Mine is superior. a. no crap payware b. i.e better encodes c. no stupidly high audio bitrates. d. any resolution you like, above 640x480 too e. A 2:30 minute video might work with 15 frame rate, at 860 bit rate. If YT recodes, try again with lower bit rate. I already know what works before uploading. f. ..... g. .... In essence, complete control try it. gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| mikejf posted 2007 Sep 25 13:09 | ||||||||||||||||||
Excellent, I will try it. But is your method limited to under 350 bit rate? Also, can they play up to 3-5 minutes, or even up to 10 miuntes in the hq mode? Mikejf | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 25 17:31 | ||||||||||||||||||
:) No. A reported total bit rate under 350k File duration is altered to cheat. If you follow the guide you'll see how it works. The limit is the youtube 10min mark. So if you want to upload 5 mins, the best you can do is double reported duration, hence doubling max total bitrate to ~700k gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| trevmar posted 2007 Sep 29 10:18 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Excellent tutorial. I used 'SUPER' for the encoding, it produced excellent 345-347 KBps videos, and YouTube was happy to pass them through unscathed. I used the default webpage uploader.
However, there are now three native resolutions used by YouTube 448 x 336 for the old format pages 480 x 360 for the new Beta YouTube pages 424 x 318 is the default embedded resolution in the HTML it offers So, what is the best resolution to encode a video so that it will display best in all three modes? Is there any mathematical whiz that can point out a resolution which scales cleanly to all these modes ? One problem is that 360 is not divisible by 16, which means it can't be encoded, I think. Sigh... Maybe I made an error... | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 29 14:52 | ||||||||||||||||||
| They're all 4:3,
so you want to be in 4:3 too. 320x240 is fine. if you want to up the rez, you have to up the bitrate too, else you'll litter your material with artifacts. gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| trevmar posted 2007 Sep 29 14:57 | ||||||||||||||||||
| I am sorry. I should have been more clear in my question. My point is that there is significant advantage from being in the native display resolution, so that scaling is not required on playback. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Sep 29 16:29 | ||||||||||||||||||
Doesn't change my answer much.
You can. It's just more efficient having mod16 encodes, and hence preferable.
You seem to be answering yourself. Pick the resolution you're most likely to be displayed in then. You could do that, or you could just go to the highest rez so you're always downscaled, or to the mod16 rez closest to the highest rez, or the mod16 rez of the existing choices. Try... My choice? 448x336 gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| anyonecancopy posted 2007 Oct 06 16:21 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dear 45Tripp,
I tried virtually every type of encoding software, including the TVC Goyomora Method and other methods.. AND BE FAR , The BEST Method is yours.. In My YouTube Channel (anyonecancopy), I started off with regular YouTube encoding while then graduating from Regular to The "Goyomora" Technique, to finally Your High End Encoding Method.....Its easy and Free :) Now all My newer videos ARE of Very High Quality, I have even received Honors from YT :) I appreciate Your wonderful tutorial here. PS: I am a Female, so If I can do it, anyone can :) Alexa | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 06 16:56 | ||||||||||||||||||
| You are welcome | ||||||||||||||||||
| Timmychuck posted 2007 Oct 06 19:37 | ||||||||||||||||||
| I just use TVC way. Work very well for me.
I uploaded a That 70's show clip | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 13 04:50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Amazing but much too daunting for a geezer like me. I downloaded TVC and I'm getting the worst blocking. What are your settings, Timmychuck? I'd love to able to get this kind of quality by I couldn't swing this guide, must be my brain or lack thereof. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 13 12:22 | ||||||||||||||||||
| yes, tvc is crap.
it's not so difficult. try again. be specific about where you get stuck. gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 13 17:12 | ||||||||||||||||||
| try avanti, 45stripp kindly made a profile for it (thanks). From all that i tried it it was the one that gave me the best results even when "respecting" the 350 bitrate rule. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 13 18:16 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Well, I d/l avanti and have no idea what it is for or what to do with it. I don't think there's anything you could do to improve my I.Q. It's obviously a great guide judging by the comments here, it's just completely beyond my comprehension from Step 1. I do appreciate your response. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 14 05:19 | ||||||||||||||||||
This is how i setup avanti, i wont have to trick youtube since the bitrate is kept under 350.
 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 14 06:48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| So it's an encoder, OK. Well, I just encoded an .mpg file but I can't encode an .avi file. How do I do that? Also, what's that in the 'User VIDEO Options' box?
By the way, in the original guide in this thread, I was able to use the hex editor to edit .flv files that I encoded using TVC and Adobe Elements. How do I get an .avi file loaded into avanti? Thanks! | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 14 07:38 | ||||||||||||||||||
| no need to convert the mpg file into avi, just open the "folder" icon next to the "1" in red in the picture above, select the mpg file and avanti will acept and convert it. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 14 08:39 | ||||||||||||||||||
I know that more info is needed to help me so here it is. I HAVE to be doing something wrong.
Click here for an .mpg clip of this file. Click here for the avanti .flv file that I uploaded to youtube. Click here for the youtube clip I uploaded from the avanti file. Click here for the TVC .flv file that I uploaded to youtube. Click here for the youtube clip I uploaded from the TVC file. (This clip was exported from Adobe Premiere Elements as an .mpg file because I wanted to tweak the color and contrast). The original file is 16:9. I entered '345' in the bit rate box in Avanti but the encoded file said it was '487' before I ran it through HexEdit. Please let me know if you need anymore info. I appreciate any help that anybody is willing to offer. I hope that I am at least on the right track. :oops: | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 14 09:10 | ||||||||||||||||||
i havent tampered my flv files, if you look at my fisrt pic youll se ive put 294 for video and 48 for audio as bitrares. 294+48= 342. i ended up with a bitrate of 348. if you follow my values ypu wont have to "hexefy" your flv. what is the problem you're facing? if you want 128k for audio youll have to reduce you video bitrate a lot...... loosing quality | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 14 09:19 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ok, I see. I don't think that accounts for the quality of my youtube upload, does it? As I understand it, can't I maintain the higher audio bitrate if I hexedit, therefore losing nothing?
My reason for the post is that compared to the other youtube uploads in this thread, mine looks like crap. Is that as good as I'm going to get considering my source? Thanks for the reply. :) | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 14 11:12 | ||||||||||||||||||
| My 2 cents:
Not everyone has a fast internet connection, your source file has a duration of 30 seconds and the file you uploaded to youtube "weighs" 12 megs, to us on 512k connection is a nighmare to watch it because it takes so much time to load. i understand that you want people to see the audio quality but 12 megs for a 30 second clip. If you entend to share your videos remember that. your video(hexefied)30sec=12megs ---> http://youtube.com/watch?v=p-KmpeNmulk my(yours, 350k)) video 30sec= 1.27megs ----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-hJbu3MkZo by the way i think your video on youtube looks great. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 14 11:23 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ooopos, i think you gave the wrong link for the mpg because the one i downloaded has only 30 seconds duration | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 14 12:37 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Click here for what I have now after more experimenting. Now I'd like to learn more about 45tripp's method. I'd like to undertstand what is going on in Steps 1 and 2. Does it work in conjunction with avanti?
Sorry your connection is slow, but I think most people that watch videos online have a high speed connection. Thanks for the help - I couldn't have gotten this far with out you! (I honestly think this is as good as it is going to get). :D | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 14 13:35 | ||||||||||||||||||
i disagree and WORLDWIDE STATS confirms it, at 350k (youtube bitrate limit, wonder why?) the video goes smoothly without hickups. the video looks good, but it freezes for a few seconds every 3 seconds.(net speed) No need to thanks thats what the forum is for Steps 1 and 2 are for people that like to use ffmpeg (the engine behind avanti) with commnad lines (Dos "alike"), Avanti is a program made for users that dont like to use command lines(me), youll get same quality with either method as long the settings are the same. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 14 16:29 | ||||||||||||||||||
| See!
You managed just fine.
Of course avanti can encode avis... can't really tell what you are doing wrong without more info. "user video/audio options" is essentially access to the commandline.
cutting it rather fine. I remember 342k being the max combined audiovisual elementary bitrate. I think I had one fail as it hit the 350k when muxed.
That's the point. Control! Here audio has priority... You should be willing to sacrifice video.
Your source does not help. Fine detail, in the focus area. Already got ringing... Not as compressible as you'd like. That's what filtering is for. You can filter to make your source more compressible. Which is the answer to the DV question, i think, Ricardo asked. DV can be ugly, noisy, shaky... not nicely compressible. Also a lot you can do when in control of the camera... That shirt is not helping. Your clip didn't look like crap. The worst thing about it was the messed up aspect ratio. It sounds good too. I owe you a dollar!
Step 2 is encoding. You've done that just fine. Step 1 is the more complex part. (noted optional and advanced) Source prep. Inverse telecine, de-interlacing, and so on... You have a progressive clip, so that was one less worry. You could benefit from some filtering though. Yes it works fine with Avanti. Avanti is set up to work harmoniously with avisynth. btw Ricardo do you not have avisynth installed? I noticed the red warning in avanti about the ffmpeg/avisynth combo not found. That's not a problem anymore, so I assume you don't have avisynth installed or have a filter in the plugins folder you shouldn't. if there's a problem, report in the thread to Chris.
Untrue. I'm with Ricardo. I'm sure you know your target audience better than we do though. Anyway, filtering is an art, or fine game... and you have to decide when it's worthwile and how much time the source deserves... I just played with a few simple things. noise reduction and blur. i liked the way you went with colouring, but thought it heavy. dropped framerate all the way to 20fps. No heavy motion here. Can easily half the framerate I'd say. encoded with the same settings you first posted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVZiFDF0m_A gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 14 19:33 | ||||||||||||||||||
Thanks for taking the time to answer my post, 45tripp. I got the .avi to work after all, BUT, I tweaked the color and contrast in APE and exported the file as .mpg. I've always enjoyed a saturated picture, personal preference I suppose.
I would like to learn more about this. Are there other guides that can teach me how to use this feature?
I've tried to go lower than 700 kbps but the picture is blocked. That's why my final file is 19.5 mb.
I don't know what ringing is, sorry. :oops: I would love to learn more about filtering. Is that what I would use avisynth for? Is there a good guide for that? I shot the video so if you could suggest anything that I should be doing on that end I could try that. I just grabbed a shirt, I agree! :lol:
I'm wondering how hard this would be to learn how to do. I'm really willing to tweak these clips. I can't expect or ask you to go into that in this thread but if you could point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful.
Time to do some guide hunting.
I don't and I am wrong. Thanks to both of you for bringing this to my attention!
Damn, that looks great! It looks better than my 20mb file. I'll bet you kept the size down too. I would like to know how you did that but I'm not sure you'd want to go into that. Maybe point me towards some guides? I'm willing to spend as much time as it takes, so time and effort are not an issue for me. I tried dropping my framerate in avanti and it didn't do anything to the size of the file. I know that there's a lot to digest in my reply, but your guide is so great it really pumped me up. As far as "no thanks" being necessary, ricardo, anytime that somebody sacrafices some of their time to help me, thanks are certainly in order. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 15 03:51 | ||||||||||||||||||
i get that warning when i try to open avs files, i have avisynth 2.57 installed. I noticed a new version up will test and see if the same error pops up. Than Edit: That error still shows up, will report it. Thanks | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 15 10:51 | ||||||||||||||||||
No need to use ape for tweaking colour. exporting to mpg sounds unhealthy.
no, not really. read the ffmpeg manual. Soopafresh linked to a how to yesterday http://forum.videohelp.com/topic338564.html
Ringing is trailing noise around a moving object. Yes avisynth. Essential tool. Start using it, there's no going back. http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page#New_to_AviSynth_-_start_here which also links to this: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/index.html a good read. There's the doom9 forum where developers of filters hang, and people churn out scripts that take days to run. If you're pumped, visit and start reading. It's good to find a specific task and start reading about it, and how other people deal with it. The speakers are heavy on detail that doesn't interest us. Mostly the shirt though that I find objectional :)
Well it's really blurred, but compared to the alternative, yes it does look good. Your 700k has more detail but still retains some ugly artifacts. I used the settings you first posted. 345k video, 128k audio. Pushing to 500k, maybe a bit high for easy dreamy streaming.
I can tell you exactly. My only concern is people blindly using what I crudely cooked for anything.
Of course I'd always use dgindex, and load with mpeg2source(), was just too bored to bother this time. (fft3dgpu() is an external filter)
Never used ffmpeg for framerate change. Can't comment on it. As you see I used avisynth.
Does one need the devil to seal such deals? I don't have editing skills though. gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 16 15:13 | ||||||||||||||||||
| That is A LOT to digest - thanks! I have a lot of reading to do! :D | ||||||||||||||||||
| Habboi posted 2007 Oct 17 11:06 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hello there I am very glad I found this little guide. I wanted to improve the quality of my videos and managed to find this via Google.
Anyway I just wanted to say I've followed your guide and at first found it a bit hard to understand but a fresh mind helped. Anyway I wanted to explain what I did as I have some questions in a minute. Basically I recorded a game via FRAPS which saves the video as an uncompressed .avi...Now with my set of videos I add a small title intro using Sony Vegas 7.0. I first experimented and found that saving to AVI meant that the video would not be converted to FLV by MPlayer. So I tried a WMV and that worked. Only problem I've found is it doesn't convert any video unless I add to the command line: -lavfopts i_certify_that_my_video_stream_does_not_use_b_frames As it complains it cant initialise the Muxer. So adding that in it converts my 336x488 WMV video into an FLV file. Now I changed the audio to 48k and raised the bitrate from 400 to 1000. This was my first try as I now realise it affects the netload. Anyway using HEXCELLENT (German Version since that is all I could find) I edited the duration and thus the bitrate lowered to 345... I uploaded it to youtube and got the following results: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJjPlak9rbc As you can see it is pretty good and I am happy with that. A 1 minute and I think 43 seconds video that was changed to 3:34 isn't bad. Anyway that was just a test and from the feedback it seems changing it to 1000 wasn't a good idea. So here are my questions: Basically since 1000 isn't a good idea since my 'real' videos will be much longer. Possible 10 mins + so what is a good suggested bitrate? I want a really good quality set of videos and I am not too concerned with audio quality...I suppose I should go back to 44k instead of 48. Also should I therefore cut the videos up to preserve quality? Like Part 1 Part 2 kinda thing? I assume that the longer a video is. The more you have to edit it with HEX the worse the quality gets? Forgive me I'm not a big video editor technical kinda guy. And lastly can you suggest anything else...Perhaps why I have to add that command line or why it refuses to convert my AVI to FLV...Just to give you an idea the AVI is around 1 gig uncompressed so that could be why? Oh also do you think Youtube will catch on and remove the videos that use this? Thanks for reading. I look forward to a reply. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 17 16:30 | ||||||||||||||||||
Your mencoder copy is outdated. get mplayer from here http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer-win32.php
why not? errors? try again with newer version. very long intro btw.
wmv is fine. it was an option when forced into 2 step encodes
http://www.torry.net/pages.php?id=1176
Probably not. try again around the 500k mark
I've used 32k
if you want quality, then yes you'll have to split them up. if you want to upload 10+ mins then quality will obviously suffer. you'll have to shorten duration with hexcellent and will have to use a lower bitrate. (kill audio?)
No gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Habboi posted 2007 Oct 17 19:04 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alright thanks for the reply. Following your advice and using the updated programs I am pretty happy. Although at 500 Kbit it still looks horrible. I'm experimenting to see if everyone is happy with 750 Kbit...Funny thing is with 1000 Kbit the video worked fine for me and I even re-downloaded it after removing saved data and there was no lag. But with 750 I got 2 instances where it paused for a bit...
Thanks anyway. I'll come back if I have any more questions. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cornucopia posted 2007 Oct 17 21:44 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Habboi, a shooter cap like that doesn't have lots of motion, or lots of fine/random detail, or lots of color depth. So...
You could preprocess your clip with Virtualdub (etc) making an intermediate lossless file that is 10/12/15/20fps (instead of 30), smoothed more, and 8/10/12/15/16bits of color depth (instead of 24). Subsequent processiing would make MUCH better use of the FLV's compression bitbudget--even with reduced overall bitrate--and without much noticeable difference in final/perceptible quality. This process can be extrapolated even further (w/ judicious editing, tweaking audio more, etc--basically "VBR"-style optimizing without actual VBR encoding). Scott | ||||||||||||||||||
| Biggiesized posted 2007 Oct 17 23:21 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp,
I figured out the whole hex editing thing for duration, but I can't for the life of me understand how the frame rate values work. Could you expain how to derive proper values for them? I have a video for instance that was 59.94 FPS and I have no idea how you account for that. Also, is it theoretically possible to (assuming I don't want to mess up the video timeline metadata) to edit the reported bitrates for video and audio so they appear under a combined 350 Kb/s? I know changing the duration averages them out lower, but I hate having a messed up timeline like the TVC method. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Biggiesized posted 2007 Oct 18 01:49 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nevermind I figured out the hex value for 30 FPS (reported):
3E followed by fourteen zeros. I'd still like an answer to the other part of my question, though. Thanks. | ||||||||||||||||||
| mgh posted 2007 Oct 18 04:31 | ||||||||||||||||||
| You tube corrects the time info in the file available for download/streaming while processing to change some header information :lol: The time reported on download page at you tube is your "hexed" value.
Using command line as suggested by 45tripp using WinFF (2 pass), you get acceptable videos with most sources without "hexing" @320x240-310kbps video-32 kbps 11025 kHz audio at 25 fps @352x264-with audio and video settings as above at 20 fps They are not free of blockiness, but when it occurs, it is mostly in the background and not so noticeable. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 18 17:42 | ||||||||||||||||||
what ever for?
The thought crossed my mind. I've not found anything. Probably not, but if you get anywhere, let me know.
neither here nor there. duration is fixed after metadata injection, but upload has already bypassed re-encode and at youtube playback, you still get misreported duration. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Guiboche posted 2007 Oct 18 20:09 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Well, I've tried EVERYTHING to get this to work. No luck.
At first, I couldn't figure out the command line encoder. But, I just copied your source right outta this window. And did the exact same settings. I also used the same uploader. YouTube keeps re-encoding the vid. Here's what MediaInfo reports: 
It says it's below 350k, but YouTube still re-encodes the vid. Oh well... :cry: | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 18 21:54 | ||||||||||||||||||
| "It says it's below 350k, but YouTube still re-encodes the vid.
Oh well... " How do you know that? Don't you need to be 320x240 in order to not be re-encoded? | ||||||||||||||||||
| Guiboche posted 2007 Oct 18 22:08 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Well the creator of this guide uploaded both 448x336 and 920x720 videos. Neither were re-encoded. As stated on the first post of this thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34tQi8HIpsA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoVkD2k4byM | ||||||||||||||||||
| Revan89 posted 2007 Oct 18 22:11 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Thanks soo much 45tripp,
Your method is the greatest. I tryed with Riva, SUPER and Moyea's converters, but your way can't be beaten. It took a lot of time to figure out some parts, mostly because I've never had use mencoder before, and Avisynth was kind of overwhelming. After a lot of trail an error, the way I used to convert my video was by opening de Command Promt and writing:
As you can see, I changed some things, starting by the bitrate, from 400 to 600, to the audio bitrate, if its that... cause Iam not sure. I had to struggle a lot with the resolution of my video, as it had a very rare aspect ratio (5:4), with a resolution of 720x576. The original encoders of this video made some letterboxing on it, and removing it was a pain. After testing various "solutions", I opted for Vdubmod, wich opened my source video from wich I cutted the letterbox and added some filters to improve quality. I saved it as an RGB, cause frameserver to mencoder didn't worked for me. The I used the above code in command promt, and FINITO, here are my results: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY80r8FbahU (My source video was kind of old, so the quality isn't outstanding, but Iam extremely happy with the results) THANKS AGAIN. Edit: Sorry, I forgot to ask you how can I change the framerate (fps) of the video?? If you could add that line of code to the one above, that would be GREAT. THANKS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Captain Satellite posted 2007 Oct 18 22:56 | ||||||||||||||||||
Thanks. I thought they would be re-encoded if they weren't. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Guiboche posted 2007 Oct 18 23:03 | ||||||||||||||||||
Well, I just tried Revan89's commandline. Didn't change anything accept the location of the filenames. Still no dice. And I've used HEXcellent to give the file a 10 minute mark. With a said rate of 107k. Way below 350k. Youtube still re-encoded it.
Oh well. Time to give up...... | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 19 02:38 | ||||||||||||||||||
no. neither do you have framerate restrictions for that matter either
You can't frameserve to mencoder with vdub. you can put avisynth in between though. vdub -> avisynth-> mencoder I never change framerate in mencoder, but the switch is -ofps
Looks fine. upload the flv, i'd like to try. | ||||||||||||||||||
| mgh posted 2007 Oct 19 05:42 | ||||||||||||||||||
| the duration is misreported at you tube, but if you download the video and check with mediainfo, the duration is correct. That is why it plays normally. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Revan89 posted 2007 Oct 19 12:48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Here is a video I just uploaded where you can apreciate the quality a little better. I think I used a bitrate of 800kbps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf2MjxPXr8Y By the way, thanks 45tripp for the fps change command. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Habboi posted 2007 Oct 19 14:37 | ||||||||||||||||||
| I have a new question. Basically does the speed of your internet affect whether a video with 800Kbit would lag? Because I can play a 1000 Kbit video with ease and yet others are saying it freezes aka the netdownload is too much. So I assume then that they need a fast speed to play the vids with no pauses? | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 19 17:37 | ||||||||||||||||||
yes a 1000kbit bitrate video wouldnt freeze because to freeze it needs to move a litlle first :) here it just loadsssssssssssss | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 19 18:14 | ||||||||||||||||||
I know, it just happens to be immaterial
of course! once the stream has loaded (pause and wait for it), there are no lags | ||||||||||||||||||
| Habboi posted 2007 Oct 19 19:30 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Heh that isn't what I meant sorry. From the feedback I have got even on a full load people have said it freezes at the same point each time. As if their GFX card wasn't good enough or something...Perhaps that is it?
I mean I get the same effect playing a 2 gig 640x480 vid on VLC Player so I assume these people are playing the 1000Kbit on a low end PC... Am I right? | ||||||||||||||||||
| Guiboche posted 2007 Oct 19 22:36 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Thanks to 45tripp I got it working! :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OfQwq3gaLI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkHtFwExyOI | ||||||||||||||||||
| Revan89 posted 2007 Oct 19 22:42 | ||||||||||||||||||
You are right. Iam from Chile, and many of my friends computers arent very good... mostly somo 4 year P4 with 256mb of RAM and no video card. Connection speed doesnt mean anything once the video is loaded. Greetings | ||||||||||||||||||
| Habboi posted 2007 Oct 20 05:59 | ||||||||||||||||||
| So then your 600 Kbit vids have lagged for them? Maybe not continuous but at certain points the video just stops...I assume? | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 20 06:14 | ||||||||||||||||||
the video doesnt play after its loaded, it is streamed, played back as it is loaded. internet connection does matter! | ||||||||||||||||||
| Habboi posted 2007 Oct 20 07:39 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alright someone professional here tell me straight. What defines whether a video will pause for some and not for others? The higher the Bitrate...The more it happens so is it internet speed or the power of your PC?
It's strange because I keep saying I can play a 1000 Kbit fine with no lag or pauses. But then others complain...This seems to happen outside of where I live as all my friends (UK) say it plays fine...Does that have any relevance? | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 20 08:23 | ||||||||||||||||||
the internet speed no doubt, no need to get "professional help"., i lived in the uk for 7 years and the adsl penetration in the country is very high, you got all those cable companies, the country cable structure was very well planned mate. example: http://www.cable.co.uk/compare/regions/broadband-providers.html?s ... &y=0&=Find take a look at the speeds and the companies, not every country got that if people have a very slow pc chance is it wont be able to handle a fast net connection to begin with.... | ||||||||||||||||||
| Habboi posted 2007 Oct 20 13:42 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Thank you that was very clear and precise. I think I have everything I need to know now. Until next time. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 20 17:14 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Guiboche had problems due to using the uploader mentioned in the thread.
I've edited the guide to reflect this. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Revan89 posted 2007 Oct 22 22:53 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Youtube has been updated, and with the update, the resolutions have increased too. Now the encoding should use de 480x360 resolution. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ricardouk posted 2007 Oct 23 15:16 | ||||||||||||||||||
| can you provide a link?
i still see 320x240 as official: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55745 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Revan89 posted 2007 Oct 24 17:26 | ||||||||||||||||||
As you can see by the new design layaout of youtube, the beta has gone official. Besides that, Some videos I uploaded 5 days ago, with the 448x336 resolution matched perfectly to the player's screen, now they have a black space when I press the "original resolution" button. Check it if you want to: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vf2MjxPXr8Y The embedded resolution its the same, by the way. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Revan89 posted 2007 Oct 25 18:31 | ||||||||||||||||||
| I have just uploaded a video with the 480x360 resolution.... just watch as it fits perfectly to the screen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwgVADWeNkw | ||||||||||||||||||
| wiseant posted 2007 Oct 25 23:44 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Yo Revan89,
I just downloaded your youtube video - www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwgVADWeNkw How the heck did you get a bitrate of 760+? Did you do any "hex" edits or is this the new youtube that accepts 480x360? Also, I noted that online youtube indicates a duration of 10 minutes when the actual duration is 4:19 at 24 fps! Also, just wondering if you know how to get h264 (x264) video and/or aac (mp4) audio into a flv container - I tried ffmpeg and it indicated that the flv codec did not accept aac (mp4) audio TIA | ||||||||||||||||||
| Biggiesized posted 2007 Oct 26 00:51 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Anybody know why YouTube is re-encoding my video?
http://www.sendspace.com/file/azpmff That's the source file I'm using. There was no reason to hex edit anything since FPS were under 30 and the A/V bit rate was under 350 kb/s. YouTube is re-encoding it (it doesn't look too much worse than my master) and shitting on the audio (the re-sampling of my already 22 KHz sampled audio sounds god awful combined with the mono sound). thx.flv | ||||||||||||||||||
| Revan89 posted 2007 Oct 26 09:03 | ||||||||||||||||||
How did you uploaded the video to youtube?? If you used a third party program, thats yours problem. You have to upload videos thru the site for this system to work. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 26 18:37 | ||||||||||||||||||
look to your audio. probably the wrong side of standard. I changed audio (upped bitrate, consequentially hexed) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgXraovJsjQ
read the guide
Of course he did. what's changed to 480x360 is the display size
you don't http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flash_Player:9:Update:H.264 gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Biggiesized posted 2007 Oct 26 20:50 | ||||||||||||||||||
What do you mean I have the wrong side of standard? I've been using LAME encoded MP3 stereo audio @ 22 KHz and ~48 kb/s ABR for all of my videos. I've never had a problem with any of them. I see you fixed this, but my question is why would you need to hex edit it at all? You can check out any of my other well encoded videos (I have some that are several months old--they weren't encoded in mencoder so ignore them) and you'll see they use the same specs and uploaded without an issue. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Biggiesized posted 2007 Oct 27 03:16 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Okay I tried to remaster it with CBR audio @ 48 kb/s instead of ABR (because then it might not hit 48 kb/s on average--mine was actually around 44 kb/s).
It still didn't work when I uploaded it to YouTube. It's like something has changed with them. I've never had to hex a video that met all of YouTube's hidden requirements in the past. Why do you suppose this is happening? I also fixed the AR ratio of the video. I had it mis-set at 2:1 when it should have been 2.35:1 (an error in anamorphic encoding on my part). thx_widescreen.flv | ||||||||||||||||||
| Revan89 posted 2007 Oct 27 19:13 | ||||||||||||||||||
Encoding the video with Mencoder. I have "mencoder.exe" in my "C:" drive. Then I put the video I want to convert in my C: drive and I applied this code in Command Line (Start->All Programs->Accesories->Command Line) with subtle changes, depending on the video. (You have to put the name of your video in the code line)
Where its says "vbitrate", the number next to it is where you can asign the bitrate of your videos.
The only hex edits that I used were to change the video's duration. The 480x360 resolution can be achieved just by evading youtube's encoder. As simple as that. So, use the Hex Edit trick to change the duration of the video, as it is explained in this tutorial, and create an .flv file with an apparent bitrate of 350kbps or less. Thats all. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 28 15:12 | ||||||||||||||||||
no you can't check any of your videos. my luck being what it is, I had to go through 3 to finally get one like you describe. next time link specifically. my estimation is it's non standard. i'm no expert. take it for what it is. I have pinpointed audio as the problem though. should be enough. the files you mention aren't the same. if only for the reason that they pass and the 'thx' fails. you've not provided any info, so i could barely guess, and i'm not in the mood to test in any case. it could be different serttings, it could be the source, it could be a specific encoder vs another, it could be a specific version of a single encoder vs another version.... you'll have to test it out.
well obviously it's not meeting requirements. I have no idea at this moment why.
because like I said, i increased the audio bitrate. specifically i used ffmpeg to pass the video untouched, and re-encode the audio to 64k leaving it stereo and at 22050. the higher total bitrate meant i had to hex. gl | ||||||||||||||||||
| frifox posted 2007 Oct 29 01:19 | ||||||||||||||||||
| lol i just had to register to post this :)
i hex edited the 480x360 flv and changed duration from 25 minutes to 10 minutes! uploaded original, youtube rejected it. uploaded hexed flv, youtube didnt bother with it and the video went live! :lol: i know that the original flv's bitrate has to be much lower than the 340Kbps limit, but thats not a problem for me since i typically upload music tracks with static background pic as a vid (1FPS)... DEMO LINK: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZTvtF5njjWQ | ||||||||||||||||||
| 45tripp posted 2007 Oct 29 11:17 | ||||||||||||||||||
| I never doubted it,
but it was untested. thanks for testing. btw 10:32? i wonder if that means you can go to 10:59... I didn't put the 10 min limitation to the test either. | ||||||||||||||||||
| frifox posted 2007 Oct 29 13:11 | ||||||||||||||||||
| i believe by saying "10 minute limit" they meant "everything below 11", aka 10:59 and below etc...
btw, i tried downloading the youtube video and download speed is around 135KBps to 160KBps. at some times it glitched down to 100KBps but not below it, so if using 100KBps as the lowest common denominator can we conclude that its safe to upload 800Kbps video and have it NOT glitch when watching? oh and also a question. could you fake both the flv duration AND bitrate? | ||||||||||||||||||
| Biggiesized posted 2007 Oct 29 21:34 | ||||||||||||||||||
| I'm not sure what happened with my last few video attempts, but my latest works just fine. :)
Check it out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xYxc7QUpx00 You might find it familiar... :P | ||||||||||||||||||
| sdsumike619 posted 2007 Oct 30 02:30 | ||||||||||||||||||
| What is the best source file to start out with? I have expensive NLE at my disposal so I can pretty much create anything from the timeline. Also, I am having one heck of a tough time understand the hex code and how it corresponds to minutes, seconds. How do you know what duration to set it t |