Fraps/Vegas

[Rich46yo]

My style is this. I record in game using AH film. Then after i use fraps to make AVIs. Then its into Vegas for editing and recompression into WMV for streaming.

Thing is somewheres along the line my video quality goes bad. Ive tried about everything, every setting in both Fraps and Vegas . I was wondering if anyone uses the same software/procedure and what compression settings you use. For the most part i think the problem is in compressing to WMV and then to host. When I post my video to an on-line stream hoster it goes bad.But Vegas has a great compressor on-board and the finished quality wasnt up to spec even when I tried MPEG-4.

Ive tried recording in Fraps at 60 fps, full size, best WMV quality in Vegas but i still dont have my video looking as good as i want. Heres an example on yu-tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FpD3xfnq-8

Ive seen far better AH video on-line. Any suggestions anyone? Thank you.

[Krusty]

Is that how it looks when you're editing it and playing it back inside vegas? Or is that only how it looks after you export it?

[Rich46yo]

Is that how it looks when you're editing it and playing it back inside vegas? Or is that only how it looks after you export it?

Both. The recompression process degrades the video. Which is strange cause Ive never had that problem before.

Mind you when i build a DVD the MPEG compression will always affect your video. Most of all when you do long form editing like i do, 'weddings", and you need to fit a whole lot of MPEG on a disc. Overall however the conversion of DV to MPEG-2 comes off pretty clean, even my low light scenes. This is new to me then. Ive never had this compression issue before.

I would say the upload to a streaming server degrades the video the most. For instance after my compression to WMV I can still see the distance icon while after the upload I cant. Ive tried different hosting services but it doesnt seem to matter.

[Krusty]

Most of the time my FRAPs files (which I import to edit) are decent quality, depending on the size of the screen at the time I record.

I would guess first-off that it's some of your export settings, but if it's fraps to begin with, I dunno what to say. Check for a more recent version of FRAPs? Might have better quality with new code improvements.

[VonMessa]

Fraps just put out an update not too long ago.....

A few days if I'm not mistaken

[Fulmar]

http://www.derstuhl.com/downloads/Title_Sequence1_test4a.zip

A test title sequence I did a few months back for a movie that has once again gone to the back burner.  I use Fraps and Vegas to create this.  I do not run AH Film Viewer in 'Full Screen Mode' when recording.  I just maximize the window of AH Film Viewer on my desktop (set at 1680x1050).  It yields a Fraps video recorded resolution of 1352x762.

My project settings for Sony Vegas are "Width: 1352   Height: 762."  Frame rate 29.970 (NTSC).  Full resolution rendering quality = Best.  Motion Blur type = Gaussian.

Exporting/Render As Settings: WMV9 Codec
Video Rendering Quality: Best
Audio: Depends on project, 160 to 192 kbps usually CBR
Quality %: 90%

Yields a a 970i HD video.  Not quite 1080i/p.  It's important to remember that Youtube will downgrade the quality of your movies.  Mainly when I do/did movies I will offer a youtube quality version and a full quality download version.  There are good Steaming HD video sites out there but they're bombarded with copyright problems with their hosted videos.  So a lot of times these sites don't stick around as long as Youtube has been there.

[Strip]

Kermit would be a really good person to comment on this....

[BMathis]

Kermit would be a really good person to comment on this....

Yep.  It could be your rendering process that needs tweaking...  That's how I got my later films in better quality .wmv

[Rich46yo]

Thanks Fulmar. Exactly the language I wanted to hear. It sounds a lot like the settings Ive used, "even went full screen in Fraps". I'll try tweaking more tho I dont think its going to help.

When it comes to streaming video I guess you get what you pay for.

[kculon]

If Vegas will export mov, or quicktime, you can use QT Pro to produce some nice looking stuff.
I use After Effects and export best quality mov. Then I use the adobe video encoder and output f4v files for my website.
I do pro video so I have all these tools. even if I didn't I would use QT pro for my encoding for the web. It's the best right now imho.
~kc

[Kermit de frog]

I do all my work with 852x480@24fps (my personal preference)
I record at 1360x768, then use Vegas to edit footage and output to 852x480.

Here are my settings:
I set fraps to custom fps of 24 and "Full-size" (Resolution depends on the source of recording)


In Vegas, go to File, then Properties:  I use a custom resolution and frame rate, again @ 24fps


When I perform the "Render As" option under File in Vegas, here are my custom settings:


I use CBR 2-pass for BEST image results.  This is a constant bit rate, so the image file is determined by duration and Mega-bits per second setting.  I set it for 2.5Mbps, but this number is just my personal preference based on final image size, fps, resolution, whether video has lots of fast moving images and finally my personal opinion on final output.  Play with this number to determine image quality and file size.  The higher the number, the bigger the file and better the image quality.  The 2-pass option is better than single pass, but takes twice as long to render.  2-pass will improve your image quality tremendously without the need to further increase bit rate/file size.

Youtube and other video hosting sites can reduce image quality significantly if you do not upload in the specified resolution/fps/filesize parameters.  It has to do with their encoding software.  Each time you encode your work, image quality will be reduced.

[Rich46yo]

First off thanks for the replies.

Again I understand encoding, tho most of my content is for DVD. I tried 2 pass CBRs, 2 pass VBRs, tried 2.50bps, tried different output FRs, pretty much tried everything. Actually kermit, come to think of it, I dont think I tried forcing 24 fps in Fraps and then encoding at film 24 FR in Vegas. Ive never done both.

I'll try that. Thanks.

[Rich46yo]

Well Kermit I tried a slice using your settings pipeline. Maybe a tad better but still no-where like Ive seen some videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-wTA2kusUw

This one honestly has me stumped.

[Kermit de frog]

When does your video first go bad(poor quality)?

a)after fraps (play fraps footage with Windows Media Player to check)
b)after vegas converts to wmv
c)after you upload to "youtube"

[Fulmar]

The quality you're getting with youtube there is pretty good actually.