Youtube videos pixelated every 5 seconds

[Warcraft3]

I was doing more tests and i have 2 problems:

-When the video it's uploaded to Youtube i get a less contrasted image, but the video encoded (with ffmpeg using that code) has the same contrast as the original...

Not sure if this is issue - are you intend to lower or keep the same contrast as in source?
.

I want to keep the same colors/contrast have the original video.


The video was recorded with Fraps software, how can i know the color space of the original video ?


I'll try the codes you've shared, thanks.

[pandy]

I want to keep the same colors/contrast have the original video.


The video was recorded with Fraps software, how can i know the color space of the original video ?


I'll try the codes you've shared, thanks.

Well as there is no very easy way to check color space (but usually only two are used i.e. 601 and 709) then i would suggest empirical method - just try both and verify result.
Quantization range i.e. your "contrast/brightness" - i would go for Avisynth with this avisynth script (however it can be used as input for ffmpeg so ffplay will work with this script fine:

src="Crysis.avi_YT.mp4"

V=FFVideoSource(src, cache = true, cachefile = src + ".ffindex", fpsnum = -1, fpsden = 1, threads = -1, seekmode = 1)
#A=FFAudioSource(src, cache = true, cachefile = src + ".ffindex")
#AudioDub(V,A).KillAudio()
V
ColorYUV (analyze=true)

btw - it look like luminance is somewhere between 5 and 244 - it is not full and also not limited quantization range (somewhere in between)- perhaps you should consider to tweak YCbCr values to fully use one of possible - not sure how GPU create 3D with respect to full/limited quantization range (i mean is there some protection against clamping or they trying to provide some safe range to avoid clip and saturation issues).

[Warcraft3]

@SET x264opts="deblock=2,3:bframes=2:bitrate=19000:vbv-maxrate=25000:vbv-bufsize=31250:colorprim=bt709:transfer=bt709:colormatrix=bt709:fullrange=on:level=5.1:keyint=151:keyint_min=150:scenecut=-1:nal-hrd=vbr:force-cfr=1:qpmin=4:cabac=1:nr=500:threads=auto:no-psnr:no-ssim"
@ffmpeg -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%*1.5 -i %1 -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune fastdecode -profile:v high -x264opts %x264opts% -x264-params %x264opts% -vf "xbr=4,scale=iw/2:-2:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither,colormatrix=bt601:bt709,format='pix_fmts=yuv420p'" -movflags faststart -y -f mp4 %1_YTaa.mp4
@pause

Alternatively/additionally this may help:
https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#scale-1

I would try to do something like this:

scale=iw/2:-2:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither:in_range='mpeg/tv':out_range='jpeg/full/pc':in_color_matrix=bt601:out_color_matrix=bt709

Modify syntax as this is just example.

Same problem, different colors and contrast.

If your wish is to use a different color space for h.264 then x264 VUI need to be also modified - replace 709 by bt470bg i.e. colorprim=bt470bg:transfer=bt470bg:colormatrix=bt4 70bg , side to this you may wish to disable VUI signalization for full quantization range - currently this is: fullrange=on where it can be: fullrange=off for 16-235 luma sample values and 16 - 240 chroma sample values.

I'll try this...


I've found some info, maybe helps...
https://trac.ffmpeg.org/ticket/1636



I usually render my videos with x264 VFW through Sony Vegas, can i use these ffmpeg there ?

[Warcraft3]

Another question, with this code for example, what should i remove in order not to upscale the video (just for testing):

@SET x264opts="deblock=2,3:bframes=2:bitrate=19000:vbv-maxrate=25000:vbv-bufsize=31250:colorprim=bt709:transfer=bt709:colormatrix=bt709:fullrange=on:level=5.1:keyint=151:keyint_min=150:scenecut=-1:nal-hrd=vbr:force-cfr=1:qpmin=4:cabac=1:nr=500:threads=auto:no-psnr:no-ssim"
@ffmpeg -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%*1.5 -i %1 -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune fastdecode -profile:v high -x264opts %x264opts% -x264-params %x264opts% -vf "xbr=4,scale=iw/2:-2:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither,colormatrix=bt601:bt709,format='pix_fmts=yuv420p'" -movflags faststart -y -f mp4 %1_YTaa.mp4
@pause

EDIT:

Encoded videos from FFMPEG and played with Media Player Classic:

Encoded using 407 color space: wrong color space, same contrast
Encoded using 709 color space: SAME color space and contrast as the original.

Same videos uploaded to Youtube:

Encoded using 407 color space: less contrast (less)
Encoded using 709 color space: less contrast (less)

When 407 and 709 are uploaded to Youtube they have the same (wrong) contrast.
The 407/709 colors on Youtube are the same, i can't see if they are the same as the original video because the image has less contrast but it seems they are the same.

So now i need to fix the contrast...

[pandy]

Should work now OK - un-rem "encode" line for YT file, rem line for "test", currently script is configured for "test".

@SET x264opts="deblock=2,3:bframes=2:bitrate=19000:vbv-maxrate=25000:vbv-bufsize=31250:colorprim=bt709:transfer=bt709:colormatrix=bt709:fullrange=off:level=5.1:keyint=151:keyint_min=150:scenecut=-1:nal-hrd=vbr:force-cfr=1:qpmin=4:cabac=1:nr=500:threads=auto:no-psnr:no-ssim"
@rem this one is for encode
@rem ffmpeg -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%*1.5 -i %1 -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune fastdecode -profile:v high -x264opts %x264opts% -x264-params %x264opts% -vf "xbr=4,scale=3840:2160:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither:in_range='jpeg/full/pc':out_range='mpeg/tv':in_color_matrix=bt601:out_color_matrix=bt709,format='pix_fmts=yuv420p'" -movflags faststart -y -f mp4 %1_YTaa.mp4
@rem this on is for test
@ffmpeg -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%*1.5 -i %1 -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune fastdecode -profile:v high -x264opts %x264opts% -x264-params %x264opts% -vf "scale=1920:1080:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither:in_range='jpeg/full/pc':out_range='mpeg/tv':in_color_matrix=bt601:out_color_matrix=bt709,format='pix_fmts=yuv420p'" -movflags faststart -y -f mp4 %1_YTaa.mp4
@pause

Vegas and ffmpeg - not sure - not using Vegas at all - sorry.

[jagabo]

When 407 and 709 are uploaded to Youtube they have the same (wrong) contrast.

Download the videos from Youtube and play them locally. I think you'll find the contrast is fine.

[Warcraft3]

When 407 and 709 are uploaded to Youtube they have the same (wrong) contrast.

Download the videos from Youtube and play them locally. I think you'll find the contrast is fine.

I check the contrast from the downloaded videos.

If your wish is to use a different color space for h.264 then x264 VUI need to be also modified - replace 709 by bt470bg i.e. colorprim=bt470bg:transfer=bt470bg:colormatrix=bt4 70bg , side to this you may wish to disable VUI signalization for full quantization range - currently this is: fullrange=on where it can be: fullrange=off for 16-235 luma sample values and 16 - 240 chroma sample values.

This worked !

Same contrast and colours when it's upload to Youtube !

@SET x264opts="deblock=2,3:bframes=2:bitrate=19000:vbv-maxrate=25000:vbv-bufsize=31250:colorprim=bt709:transfer=bt709:colormatrix=bt709:fullrange=off:level=5.1:keyint=151:keyint_min=150:scenecut=-1:nal-hrd=vbr:force-cfr=1:qpmin=4:cabac=1:nr=500:threads=auto:no-psnr:no-ssim"
@ffmpeg -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%*1.5 -i %1 -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune fastdecode -profile:v high -x264opts %x264opts% -x264-params %x264opts% -vf "xbr=4,scale=iw/2:-2:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither,colormatrix=bt601:bt709,format='pix_fmts=yuv420p'" -movflags faststart -y -f mp4 %1_YTaa.mp4
@pause

[sebastiansds]

Guys, i found a solution and made a tutorial / demonstration about this specific problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djHKe-7WxXA

[pandy]

Guys, i found a solution and made a tutorial / demonstration about this specific problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djHKe-7WxXA

Fix audio in your movie - currently it is barely audible - use dynamic compression + removing background noise + adjust level.

If i understood - you selecting VP9 but uploading movie with H.264 codec - are you able explain why ?

[sebastiansds]

@pandy

Fix audio in your movie - currently it is barely audible - use dynamic compression + removing background noise + adjust level.

If i understood - you selecting VP9 but uploading movie with H.264 codec - are you able explain why ?

I am aware of audio problem in that video. That's because yesterday when I recorded the video, it was a lot of noise coming from outside my house and Audacity's Noise reduction didnt exactly reduced it enough, so I saw myself forced into lowering the volume of the mic track (sorry about that).

About using the x264, well that because I am not an expert in the field and I just use what I've seen in tutorials. I use NVENC (Shadow Play) for recording or DxTory (Lagarith codec) but for rendering, I only know how to work with h264. If you can show me a tutorial about using VP9 for rendering, I would be very grateful.

[pandy]

I am aware of audio problem in that video. That's because yesterday when I recorded the video, it was a lot of noise coming from outside my house and Audacity's Noise reduction didnt exactly reduced it enough, so I saw myself forced into lowering the volume of the mic track (sorry about that).

Noise gate? aggressive dynamic compression should help, you can reduce bandwidth (apply bandpass filter - somewhere around 200 - 5000-7000Hz)

About using the x264, well that because I am not an expert in the field and I just use what I've seen in tutorials. I use NVENC (Shadow Play) for recording or DxTory (Lagarith codec) but for rendering, I only know how to work with h264. If you can show me a tutorial about using VP9 for rendering, I would be very grateful.

Well - problem with YT is that YT will re-compress all uploaded video to H.64 and VP9 and up-loader is not able to control this at all.
As i understand you selecting VP9 as format to e played and because internal political decision YT will prefer VP9 over H.264 and higher bitrate is provided for VP9 content.
Problem with VP9 is almost lack of HW acceleration - at least VP9 HW acceleration is not as popular as HW acceleration for H264.
VP9 is quite simple and i am not expert either - if you are interested in VP9 then perhaps ffmpeg is good to start:
http://wiki.webmproject.org/ffmpeg/vp9-encoding-guide
https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/VP9

[sebastiansds]

@pandy

So lets say I encode a videp using VP9 in ffmpeg, will youtube offer it higher quality than if I was using h264 ? I noticed the lack of hardware acceleration in vp9 on YouTube, but still ... the big difference in quality makes me want to playback gameplay videos using VP9 over H264.

[pandy]

@pandy

So lets say I encode a videp using VP9 in ffmpeg, will youtube offer it higher quality than if I was using h264 ? I noticed the lack of hardware acceleration in vp9 on YouTube, but still ... the big difference in quality makes me want to playback gameplay videos using VP9 over H264.

YT will offer both video types (VP+H.264) for players - from my observation seem that YT offer VP9 with higher bitrate (to compete with H.264 and to promote VP9).
So there is small chance than VP9 can offer higher quality (higher than H.264).

This seem to be not related to upload format (so H.264 is similar to VP9) - problem we trying to solve is pumping (overloading codec) quantizer on I frames - seem that with fixed GOP size (5 seconds) YT is unable to properly encode difficult videos (such as computer graphics) where there is plenty high frequency content (additionally not sufficiently antialiased).
Dirty workaround is to repeat YT settings before uploading video and destroy video quality in a more controlled way...
Didn't analyzed YT video details but it looks like CBR type as such I frames will always suffer from quantizer pumping.
If you download video to your computer (i use 'complete youtube saver') you can compare H.264 and VP9.

[sebastiansds]

@pandy

This is a video I rendered in Sony Vegas using MainConcept template with small modifications: I used CBR 50 Mbps, 3 reference frames and deblocking filter ON. How does this look to you on youtube if you play it in VP9 codec vs H264 ?

[pandy]

@pandy

This is a video I rendered in Sony Vegas using MainConcept template with small modifications: I used CBR 50 Mbps, 3 reference frames and deblocking filter ON. How does this look to you on youtube if you play it in VP9 codec vs H264 ?

VP9 is better but not sure how video source was coded - looks like H.264 has IPB frames and VP9 version use only IP frames, side to this YT no longer is fixed GOP size - seem there is some scene change algorithm in use.

Not sure why YT use VP9 without B frames - this may explain lower quantizer fluctuations and as such less pumping effect...
Strangely bitrate fo H.264 is higher than for VP9.

Some additional details - seem that VP9 use non standard video speed and also scene detection is more sensitive - once again less pumping...

[yasinaslan16]

When 407 and 709 are uploaded to Youtube they have the same (wrong) contrast.

Download the videos from Youtube and play them locally. I think you'll find the contrast is fine.

I check the contrast from the downloaded videos.

If your wish is to use a different color space for h.264 then x264 VUI need to be also modified - replace 709 by bt470bg i.e. colorprim=bt470bg:transfer=bt470bg:colormatrix=bt4 70bg , side to this you may wish to disable VUI signalization for full quantization range - currently this is: fullrange=on where it can be: fullrange=off for 16-235 luma sample values and 16 - 240 chroma sample values.

This worked !

Same contrast and colours when it's upload to Youtube !

@SET x264opts="deblock=2,3:bframes=2:bitrate=19000:vbv-maxrate=25000:vbv-bufsize=31250:colorprim=bt709:transfer=bt709:colormatrix=bt709:fullrange=off:level=5.1:keyint=151:keyint_min=150:scenecut=-1:nal-hrd=vbr:force-cfr=1:qpmin=4:cabac=1:nr=500:threads=auto:no-psnr:no-ssim"
@ffmpeg -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%*1.5 -i %1 -c:a copy -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune fastdecode -profile:v high -x264opts %x264opts% -x264-params %x264opts% -vf "xbr=4,scale=iw/2:-2:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither,colormatrix=bt601:bt709,format='pix_fmts=yuv420p'" -movflags faststart -y -f mp4 %1_YTaa.mp4
@pause

Hi,

firstly, sorry my bad english...

Where I can use your codes? I downloaded x264vfw and paste your code to Extra command line on x264vfw. Then run VirtualDub and configure. I paste your code again. ERROR ...

[yasinaslan16]

You can try to recompress source file before uploading to YT with bellow script:

@SET xbrsize=2
@SET x264opts="level=5.1:qp=20:qpmin=4:cabac=1:threads=auto:nr=100:no-psnr:no-ssim"
@ffmpeg -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%*1.5 -i %1 -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune animation -profile:v high -x264opts %x264opts% -x264-params %x264opts% -vf "xbr=%xbrsize%,scale=iw/2:-2:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither,format='pix_fmts=yuv420p" -movflags faststart -y -f mp4 %1_YT.mp4

copy text to text file, change extenssion from txt to cmd - drag and drop your file over script icon.
ffmpeg can be downloaded on videohelp or on Zeranoe page http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ - unpack ffmpeg archive to some new folder and place script also in this folder
by changing 2 in first line (@SET xbrsize=2) to 4 you can "simulate" UHD - but first try with 2 i.e. normal HD - this script perform very crude antialiasing - encoded file can be directly uploaded to YT (don't bother with bitrate or any setting - YT will reencode your video anyway).

I downloaded ffmpeg x64 last static version but I dont know how can encode by this... Can u explain by SS ?

[pandy]

You can try to recompress source file before uploading to YT with bellow script:

@SET xbrsize=2
@SET x264opts="level=5.1:qp=20:qpmin=4:cabac=1:threads=auto:nr=100:no-psnr:no-ssim"
@ffmpeg -threads %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%*1.5 -i %1 -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune animation -profile:v high -x264opts %x264opts% -x264-params %x264opts% -vf "xbr=%xbrsize%,scale=iw/2:-2:sws_flags=spline:sws_dither=a_dither,format='pix_fmts=yuv420p" -movflags faststart -y -f mp4 %1_YT.mp4

copy text to text file, change extenssion from txt to cmd - drag and drop your file over script icon.
ffmpeg can be downloaded on videohelp or on Zeranoe page http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ - unpack ffmpeg archive to some new folder and place script also in this folder
by changing 2 in first line (@SET xbrsize=2) to 4 you can "simulate" UHD - but first try with 2 i.e. normal HD - this script perform very crude antialiasing - encoded file can be directly uploaded to YT (don't bother with bitrate or any setting - YT will reencode your video anyway).

I downloaded ffmpeg x64 last static version but I dont know how can encode by this... Can u explain by SS ?

Just copy quoted text to your script and later you can use this script as "encoder" by simple drag & drop.

[Dominik78]

I'm glad I came across this thread, I look forward to reading all the posts soon.

I've been having the exact same problem since I got a Hero 4 Black. I've been trying to get started recording motorcycle rides in 1080p60 Superview. I've seen many others use those same settings and their videos look great. So do mine in the beginning (probably because the bike isn't moving). But a little bit into the video I have the same issue where every 5 seconds the video gets intolerably blurry. It's pretty much stopped me for uploading any videos to youtube for over a year.

Hoping some of the suggestions posted here will work for me as well.

[Craig1991]

Hi guys, I don't know if this thread is still active but hopefully this helps some people. I had exactly the same horrible pixelation issue. But i stumbled upon a fix. Simply render at 1440p.

[pandy]

Before raising any concerns please download both (h.264 and VP9) codec highest possible video version, never judge YT quality inside web browser, use only locally downloaded file with trusted player (MPC-HC with LAV filters is very good one).

[Spindack]

You are referring to what is commonly referred to as "Video Definition", most famously associated with the term HD, meaning High Definition Video. You're describing a video with Low Definition. Also, the video has poor pixelation, as Craig 1991 mentioned. I suggest using the term "Definition" in your future Google Queries.