First post, looking for some advice out Output Settings for action camera footage.

[Ivan Myles]

To assure the best quality you could upload a ProRes or DNxHD file. It’s overkill, but low risk. Here are high quality H.264 settings:

– In the Multiplexer tab be sure MP4 Stream Compatibility is set to Standard.
– In the Video tab select: H.264 format; Level 4.1; High Profile; 1920×1080; 30 fps (or 29.97, if appropriate); VBR, 2-Pass; 20-25 Mbps target bitrate; 40+ maximum bitrate; key frame distance 15 frames; enable Maximum Render Quality

YouTube recompresses videos at a very low bitrate, so ultimate quality also depends on the level of complexity and motion in the video.

[Rev. Jay cross]

Hey Ivan, thanks for your response. Your settings are definitely a bit better than mine in terms of quality, tho still not quite what I had hoped. Your settings helped out with some of the shadow-area artifacting, but I’m still getting lots of antialiasing on some edges. Would posting video help out at all?
The video’s that get the issue are mostly action, things like vehicle mounts, drone usage etc. Some mounts are more stable than others…I just upgraded and got a gimble to help with this issue.

I couldn’t find any action-camera specific segments of the forum, so I’m not sure if any of my problems are related to the GoPro. I’ve heard that its infinity-focus and its lense is part of the problem, but for the most part my footage is all very clear when being watched straight before editing.

I’m just learning to use Protune for my editing, but with how much information is out there, I’m having a hard time identifying where my weak-links are. (ps, I don’t have money for something like Black Magic’s yet, but someday I hope to!). So far the GoPro has been great, and its community is awesome, but I don’t get the editing/production/workflow expertise that I’ve been lurking-through here.

Thanks for your help.

The Reverend Jay, aka REV J.

[Ivan Myles]

Yes, please post a short clip. It would also be helpful if you could post the same footage from the camera (or at least a screen capture showing the same frame from the source file and exported H.264).

Are you applying any effects to the clips?

Please also list or post a screen capture of the sequence settings.

At high enough export settings there should not be a significant difference between the source footage and exported H.264. Try boosting Target/Max bitrate to 40/62.5 to see if there is any difference.

[Richard Herd]

Also follow the guidelines exactly.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en

https://vimeo.com/help/compression

However, when you upload a video in their prescribed way, they also “flip them” to formats for every possible device and browser. They will all be less than ideal.

It’s also extremely important that during production you get a proper exposure.

[Rev. Jay cross]

Thanks for the advice. Between the level of motion, the vibrations that the camera is subject to, and the compression, I may just need to say “good enough”…but I hate settling on that.

As for the upload rates; those appear a tad different than the old guidelines I had downloaded from the “For Creators” section in the YT help. I don’t have an “enterprise” speed connection, but if I read that correctly, is it saying that the “broadcast” 50/m rate is allowed? It would take me a a week to upload, but its nice to know.

Heres a still from the base footage, exported from Premiere

Here’s the 9-15/mb output of the same scene

And Here’s the same scene again, output to the suggestion Ivan had.

In each case, I see some garbage around the leading edge of the hood, where the arrow points.

If you’d like to watch the video, the scene is taken from 6:35 in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO-ynu9sjqo

I know certain things about the composition aren’t ideal, and the vibration doesn’t help…but I always get the feeling someone is “doing it better”, and I’d like to know HOW. I’d also like to start using ProTune to help with my color correction etc, and someone even suggested trying out the “Cinema” quality levels.

Thanks for your help!

The Reverend Jay, aka REV J.

[Ivan Myles]

Thank you for posting the images. Unfortunately, the results look normal/expected. The difference between the high bitrate H.264 video and the source file is probably attributed to 4:2:0 subsampling. (Was the video resized or re-positioned?) The degradation in the low bitrate file is likely due to high compression.

You could try applying the Warp Stabilizer effect to see if results improve. Also, consider re-editing some of the footage to minimize transitions between direct sunlight and shadows. Create a short test file rather than making changes to the entire video.

[Rev. Jay cross]

The video wasn’t resized that I remember; though there are a few sections that go split-screen so the Position/Scaling were modified on those particular clips.

Thanks for confirming the “to be expected” amount of degradation on the clip. The point still comes across, and the majority of those scenes still looks ok (sans those few areas which tool the brunt of the compression).

I’ve use the Warp Stabilizer before, didn’t think to use it on small vibrations like this…I’m more used to using it for the “Wobble” that aerial shots get without a gimble. I’ve also been trying something called Mercalli ProDAD, which seems to work really well, but makes HUGE files.

I don’t have formal photography training so forgive my ignorance on the exposure; are you suggesting the re-edit because of the areas in the video where the sharp dark/light switch causes the camera to sort of “blink”? I don’t know the correct term for it, but like when you get a glare of sun in your eye and have to squint to prevent your vision from being washed out.

The Reverend Jay, aka REV J.

[Ivan Myles]

I wasn’t thinking of that specifically, but it is part of what I meant. Basically, you want to minimize the level of variation in each shot so the encoder can dedicate more bitrate to image quality. Every little bit [!] counts because online streaming tends to suffer from bitrate starving.

Regarding repositioning/resizing: with 4:2:0 source footage and 4:2:0 output, if the image is moved or resized the colors get remapped and subsequently blurred. Angelo Lorenzo posted recommendations regarding image sharpening that might be helpful.