Video uploading and sharing

[Schot 407]

Well after fighting to get some videos online for that little photoshop tutorial I had ended up duplicating the upload of a single gameplay video on the 3 video uploading sites mentioned in the title. This gives me the perfect opportunity to show everyone the difference in quality among those 3 sites. YouTube, Vimeo and Stage6(aka DivX). On to the comparison....

 

 

 

Our first contender is the Heavyweight. Ding! Ding! Ding! YooooouuuTube!

 

 

 

And the next contender. A surprise for most I'm sure but is as spry as can be. Ding! Ding! Ding! Viiiimeo!

 

 

 

And our 3rd and final contestant. From out of nowhere like a left hook. Ding! Ding! Ding! With its legendary coach, Divx... Stage6!!! (yah yah, ok. I've got the match rigged, haha. But check the quality)

 

 

Albeit Stage6 is still in its beta stage I still recommend it. It might be troublesome at times for now but the quality is well worth the wait in my opinion.

[myles 2]

You are so a perfectionist!

 

I would have tolerated the you tube you know, yeah yeah maybe I'm on the site too much too long.

 

Stage6 is sooooooooooo clear though om. I don't like that they auto-play the video though. It should wait for MY command.

[Schot 407]

Stage6 is sooooooooooo clear though om. I don't like that they auto-play the video though. It should wait for MY command.

 

 

lol I was actually fixing that autoplay while you were typing your post. It was the bbcode I had made for DivX that was causing the autoplay, eh heh. All bettah now.

 

Moi? Perfectionist:) Naaaaay, not me.

[Indy13 5]

Wow! Such quality. o_O

 

But there must be a catch, so what are the downsides of using stage6, apart from it being beta.

[gogoblender 3,070]

no downsides dude

weird eh?

happy uploading!

 

 

gogo

[Schot 407]

I'm kinda new to the Stage6 scene so it's hard for me to say what the downsides are but the fact that it is in its infancy is kind of a downside. The videos I uploaded for the photoshop tutorial I posted recently took about 24 hours to become available. Though the first upload to Stage6 I made, about a month ago I think, took about 15 mins. To me it just makes sense to use Stage6. I use their DivX codec religiously.

 

You are so a perfectionist!

 

I would have tolerated the you tube you know, yeah yeah maybe I'm on the site too much too long.

 

Ok ok. It's true... but hear me out! There IS a method to my madness. Somewhere...

The #1 reason that got me on too Stage6 believe it or not, (No, you don't have a choice. Yes, you simply must believe... ), was Sacred. Quite some time ago I decided to make my very first Sacred gameplay video and when I had finished recording and all that I went off looking for a place to upload my video for all to see. Naturally my first choice was YouTube. To make a long story short I ended up going with Vimeo over YouTube for quality and then finally Stage6. Not simply because I just want the best but because one of the major purposes for making my first video was so that people would be able to read the text in the Sacred gameplay video I made. I mean really! How am I going to be able to legitimately brag about the amount of damage I'm doing if people aren't able to read the damage numbers in mah video?! Both YouTube and Vimeo don't quite cut it in this case.

 

That's really what it comes down to. Will people be able to read text in my videos. It's important for all kinds of things. But mostly those damage numbers!

[DaveO 88]

Schot, I'm gathering information on my upcoming project to post old Might and Magic videos. I was curious if you believed that Stage6 is the best way to popularize these videos. My overall goal is to get as many people as possible interested in playing Might and Magic again, but was wondering if YouTube would be the best way to achieve my goal. I'm also debating on creating a MySpace page just for the sole purpose of marketing the M&M games to the younger generation. I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions.

[Schot 407]

Ah, very interesting project DaveO.

 

I would defintely suggest using the DivX codec to compress your videos and then uploading them to Stage6. If I were in your shoes I would want my videos to be crisp and clear in order to show the greatness that is Might & Magic.

 

Stage6 however is still new on the net scene so it doesn't have nearly as many people looking at it as YouTube has so there are positives and negatives to your particular goal for both. In terms of purely exposing your videos YouTube would win over Stage6 I'm pretty sure. But if you plan to put these videos on myspace and intend to depend on the exposure you get from your myspace then DivX/Stage6 is the way to go.

 

 

Did that help at all? lol

[DaveO 88]

I appreciate the comments. Now another question is how to compress the videos. I'm guessing you mean either WinZip or WinRAR, but I wanted to make sure. The project won't happen immediately, but it will begin within the next few weeks.

[Schot 407]

Misread your original post there DaveO. Whoops! I made the assumption that you would be capturing new gameplay video and so when I mentioned compression earlier I was meaning the compression of raw video data using a video codec. After reading your post again it seems you already have this part done. Is that right?

 

As for the two you mentioned, WinZip and WinRar, you would only need to compress with those if you plan to make them downloadable. Given my small experience with using zip and rar to compress files though I wouldn't suggest using them. I've tried using them in the past and found that they don't reduce file size enough to bother using it. If you plan to make a batch of videos available for download then this is a great idea of course. As for which is better? That I can't be certain of. I believe both are equally effective.

 

Ultimately, I believe, the more exposure the better. Make you videos available to as many video uploaders as possible but have them all direct people to a single "base" like your MySpace plans. It would seem to me that the videos you will present are just the "opener" to the potential excitement from your plans but I think the real charge will come from discussions generated by the videos. So maybe if you have YouTube, Stage6, Vimeo and god knows what else all directing people to a single point, myspace, that discussions will begin.

 

All of that aside. What you really need is a means for which to interact and guide readers towards your goal. Does Myspace work kind of like a forum in any way? I've never used one myself.

[DaveO 88]

I was able to capture the Might and Magic: Worlds of Xeen intro. I appreciate your comments thus far. Right now, I'm researching the most effective way to achieve my goal of getting the videos posted with as much attention as possible. I don't see much need beyond Stage6 and YouTube for posting the videos. The MySpace idea is just to attract the younger people into playing these older DOS based games.

[griffman 0]

What program are you using to record these videos and compress them? I've had several things that I've wanted to record for Sacred but never known how... it would definitely be helpful to know

[Sylph 0]

Same question as griffman here, we now know how and where to post, but now how to MAKE the vids themselvves first..?

 

Sylph

(make a guide, again, for this?)

[Therion X 19]

I have a Problem with DivX' Stage6.

It's awesome! The Quality truly rules!

I'd re-upload all my Movies there...

But I can't upload Movies, even though they all were compressed with DivX (5.2.1) Codec.

And the Support still didn't answer.

 

That sucks

[Schot 407]

Heya Therion. It can be a wee bit complicated at first. Oh yeah. One problem I used to run into was the audio compression. I've really only found one that works which is mp3 48 KBit/s, 24,000 Hz Stereo 6kb/s. I know there are other compressions that work but just haven't had time to test yet. There's much talk that Ogg works but have yet to try. Ogg being the latest and greatest. I would suggest that you try tests using a video that is very short in time for quick and easy testing. 5 seconds I would say. Also, you could try using Dr. DivX. In most cases where I got stuck Dr. DivX was able to get the job done. As for compression I use Virtual Dub. Let me know how that goes for you.

 

Mp3 settings I use are below: