Steam Community :: Video :: Quality Test - H.264/AVC Game Recording with the x264 AVC Codec (HD Samples from Four Game Sources)

Quality Test - H.264/AVC Game Recording with the x264 AVC Codec (HD Samples from Four Game Sources)

Award

Title

Description

Click the Gear icon and watch in 'Original' (now '1440p')

In an earlier post about game recording with H.264/AVC (MPEG-4 Part 10) at the blog ( http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/05/game-recording-with-mpeg-4-using.html ), I went somewhat in-depth about concepts and considerations for the various settings and why you might want to use them or leave them as they are - with a concentration on settings geared towards Speed of recording (less lag/choppiness). With plans to make a "short version" of why you might want to use some settings over others (and setting recommendations) in the near future, for now, enjoy this short sampling of some game recordings done with H.264/AVC - this time with the goal of increased Quality in mind as well - showcased using four different games and presented in 2K Resolution (2048x1152p)... Clicking the Gear icon in YouTube's player and choosing 'Original', while still Youtube-recompressed, is the closest to the original upload in viewing quality (YouTube's player now says 1440p as the option)

Recorded games:
Battlefield 3 (Grand Bazaar), Planetside 2 (48+ Players Per Side in a BioLab territory, Night), Hitman: Absolution ('Run For Your Life, Shangri-La'), Grand Theft Auto 4 (Broker area, Night)
These games were selected because I felt they created a good 'obstacle course' for this codec Test, with light and dark areas, large panning/movement areas and hard edges to deal with, either from on-screen text or finely detailed textures [all Texture Filtering was turned Off in the Videocard Control Panel settings] (they were also all relatively demanding games, showing then, the low performance hit of this codec, with these settings)

Recording codec:
H.264/AVC configured with the x264 Video For Windows Unofficial (Black Logo) interface

Recording settings:
CRF18, NoPartitions, Fast P-Skip, 1 Reference Frame, Diamond ME, ME Range 4, Subpixel ME 1, GOP 1, NoWeightedP-Frames, No B Frames, Deblocking Filter (Strength 1), Non-Interlaced, No CABAC, DCT Decimation, No Trellis, Deadzone (11,21), Flat Matrix, MaxBitrate 50000k (Buffer 5000k), Threads 4, all other settings left as Default/Off

Recording compression:
Originally recorded @ 50000kbps, H.264/AVC format @ HD Resolution (1920x1080p)
Compressed @ 25000kbps for smaller upload to YouTube, WMV format @ 2k Resolution (2048x1152p), in attempt to keep detail/compensate for YT recompression

[The 'analog pause' effect wasn't added to accentuate any specific action going on at the time, it was more to showcase the detail maintained at that time/frame, when recording with the h.264/AVC codec]

At a max bitrate of 50000k (a high quality Blu-Ray movie bitrate), the original recorded output takes up about 375MB per minute of recording. For an hour of gameplay, that's less than 25GB (including uncompressed audio (uncompressed to be more compatible with video editing apps and use less CPU resources while recording)). Maintaining good quality - although quality is relative, mind you - that is still about one-tenth the filesize of a FRAPS1 codec recording or a YUV or Lagarith codec recording. Chalk it all up to a powerful codec that has the ability to not only compress more where it can (without over-compression in dark/flat or low-motion areas - with the right settings), but also compensates for its' own compression via Deblocking and other built-in techniques.

"No more blocky/blurry gameplay videos!"™ **
**not really trademarked, but it's my new mantra since figuring out how to upload clearer videos to YT

For further analysis and details of this Quality Test, including settings used for the test itself, see the main article for this video at the blog, here:
http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/07/quality-test-h264avc-game-recording-2k.html

For more detailed coverage of the settings used when recording with h.264/AVC [in an article that focuses more on speed of recording, reducing 'lag'], where to download the codec/interface and how to start using it in Dxtory, Bandicam and MSI's Afterburner, see this earlier post here at the blog:
http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.ca/2013/05/game-recording-with-mpeg-4-using.html

Enjoy and Have Fun Recording with H.264/AVC

See You In The Games!

Save Cancel

6	Unique Visitors
0	Current Favorites