Our HQ new stream hits beta

BlimBlim
Sunday, March 2, 2014 | 6:50 PM
22 comments

Gamersyde PC PS4 Xbox One Wii U

It's with a lot of pleasure that I've just updated the site with our brand new high quality stream (still in beta) finally visible. It should now be available on all videos from the last 7 days, and of course on all our future ones too. More informations inside!

Even though we will keep making sure our downloads are top notch quality, it was more than necessary to finally have a stream that's good enough for our ambitions. Up until now we voluntarily limited the resolution to 960x540 at 30 or 60 fps depending on the source video, but our new stream goes up to 1080p at 60 fps, assuming your computer/console or tablet can handle it of course!

This new stream will require *a lot* of bandwidth, and will be supported by ads to pay for the bills as soon as it gets out of beta. The current stream will still be available and working as it does today in terms of ads, but the new one will simply not work if you have any kind of ad blocking enabled. We are thinking about some kind of premium membership system that would disable all ads on the site in exchange for a financial contribution, more on that later on.

Still right now, no ads to be seen so we count on you guys to give this as good a test as possible and give your feedback on this news, or in the bugs forum (make sure you mention what computer or system you are using, and the browser used too!). As mentioned before, 1080p60 resolutions requires quite a powerful system, so we are not really interested in feedback over that resolution. An interesting point though is that the Xbox One with IE seems to be able to handle this resolution without breaking a sweat, but it's not (yet, at least) the case with the PS4. Your feedback on the WiiU would be appreciated!

For the moment the streams, just like the downloads, are hosted in France. So performance outside of Europe could be hit or miss, so let us know about that. If this beta goes well, we will definitely have another server in North America too.

BlimBlim

Commented on 2014-03-02 18:57:18

Quite a few weeks of work went into that, but I'm quite happy with the result so far. It's a complete rewrite of the whole encoding/uploading tool chain that was basically the same since the xboxyde days, so it's a lot of changes, but good ones :)
We are aware of the seek bar issue when changing resolution, no need to tell us about that one :)

In reply to

Gorgul

Commented on 2014-03-02 19:08:07

Very Good Work with the HTML5 player,Flash@1080@60fps need's 60% CPU Power with my AMDX6@3.5Ghz,HTML5 15%.(Chrome 33,Win 8.1)

Trebby

Commented on 2014-03-02 19:40:23

Everything works fine except 1080p at 60FPS using HTML5. It works good for like 3-4 seconds, after that it is just not vieuweable. I tried the Flash version and that works like a charm though.

Stats:
i5 2500k (3.30GHZ)
8GB ram
W7 64-bit
HD6950
Chrome 33.0.1750.117 m

jmd749

Commented on 2014-03-02 20:21:25

1080p 60fps HTML5 works like a charm on my PC. My CPU usage is 2%. My GPU(15-20% playback usage) does all of the work. :)

Specs:
i7-960 4GHz
18GB ram
W7 64 bit
780GTX Ti
128GB SSD primary + 3TB HDD for games
4TB(USB 3.0 storage) + 2TB(USB 3.0 storage)

EDIT: When I tried flash 1080p 60fps my GPU usage increased to 45% and my CPU usage to 20% and the image quality was awful, very pixelated. I should mention my primary monitor is a Samsung 27" S27B970D 2560 x 1440 resolution. I also game on a 46" 1080p monitor as well.

King_Grunt

Commented on 2014-03-02 22:02:22

@jmd749
We really needed to know your whole PC for this test....

Stream works great btw, HTML 5 ftw.

nostradamus

Commented on 2014-03-03 00:08:37

these magnificent videos... i'm wet.

asdfg

Commented on 2014-03-03 00:37:00

Glorious work, awesome!

masteratt

Commented on 2014-03-03 05:12:00

Absolutely fantastic stuff. You guys are so ahead of everyone far as video content delivery it's unbelievable.

Will heavily consider a 'premium' price to access your site (depending how 'smart' the business plan is). Good work like this should get its dues.

Thanks again guys, fantastic stuff.

michaelbas

Commented on 2014-03-03 11:19:44

standards to the highest level!
Great Stuff

digi_matrix

Commented on 2014-03-03 12:25:36

I would gladly pay to maintain this site as I've been coming to this place day in day out for the last decade. I've stopped using Adblock a year ago because many sites I like rely on ad support (except already have a premium subscription with Giant Bomb).

The best site for game footage keeps on getting better!

userxyz

Commented on 2014-03-03 13:36:57 In reply to BlimBlim

Posted by BlimBlim

but it's not (yet, at least) the case with the PS4.

That's probably because your x264 encoding settings are bad.

Why bad? Because you have not limited the H.264 Level on your encodes.

The reference frames are at 6 in the 1080p60 encode for example, which makes it H.264 Level 5.0 instead of the much more supported H.264 Level 4.2.

Also, you have not limited the bitrate on your encodes, which can result in high bitrate peaks, which can make decoders choke.

So, you might just want to do the following:

Limit the 720p60 and 1080p30 encodes to H.264 Level 4.1 via --level 4.1.

Limit the 1080p60 encode to H.264 Level 4.2 via --level 4.2.

This will limit the reference frames acordingly automatically (unless you have specified them separately, which is not advisable, as presets should rather be used instead).

Also, limit the bitrate via (values baed on the bitrate you have choosen for your encodes):

--vbv bufsize 4500 --vbv-maxrate 4500 (for 720p60)
--vbv bufsize 6000 --vbv-maxrate 6000 (for 1080p30)
--vbv bufsize 8500 --vbv-maxrate 8500 (for 1080p60)

For more info about VBV, see for example:

http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Encoding_Su...

And last, but not least:

You are currently using average bitrate mode (ABR) on your encodes.

You probably will get better quality and smaller file size by using constant rate factor mode (CRF) instead.

[quote=BlimBlim]but it's not (yet, at least) the case with the PS4.[/quote]

That's probably because your x264 encoding settings are bad.

Why bad? Because you have not limited the H.264 Level on your encodes.

The reference frames are at 6 in the 1080p60 encode for example, which makes it H.264 Level 5.0 instead of the much more supported H.264 Level 4.2.

Also, you have not limited the bitrate on your encodes, which can result in high bitrate peaks, which can make decoders choke.

So, you might just want to do the following:

Limit the 720p60 and 1080p30 encodes to H.264 Level 4.1 via --level 4.1.

Limit the 1080p60 encode to H.264 Level 4.2 via --level 4.2.

This will limit the reference frames acordingly automatically (unless you have specified them separately, which is not advisable, as presets should rather be used instead).

Also, limit the bitrate via (values baed on the bitrate you have choosen for your encodes):

--vbv bufsize 4500 --vbv-maxrate 4500 (for 720p60)
--vbv bufsize 6000 --vbv-maxrate 6000 (for 1080p30)
--vbv bufsize 8500 --vbv-maxrate 8500 (for 1080p60)

For more info about VBV, see for example:

http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Encoding_Suggestions#VBV_Encoding

And last, but not least:

You are currently using average bitrate mode (ABR) on your encodes.

You probably will get better quality and smaller file size by using constant rate factor mode (CRF) instead.

Commented on 2014-03-03 14:32:13

I'll take a look at that.

amerakindesi

Commented on 2014-03-03 15:07:04

Thanks guys, on my iphone 5 the videos run super smooth/sharp as hell. You guys are always the best!

jeenyus

Commented on 2014-03-03 16:07:05

Awesome quality, dunno why HTML5 loses 60fps in fullscreen, but Flash is OK.
Stunning stuff, thanks!

SlicRic

Commented on 2014-03-03 17:52:01

1080/60-stream, the best thing since sliced bread! thank you GS for being awesome

MrFred

Commented on 2014-03-03 19:22:48

Long time fan, first(?) time poster here. 1080/60-stream working perfectly on my macbook :)! Plants vs Zombies looks great btw. Thanks for you hard work!

EDIT: Actually, in HTML5 mode, you cannot skip ahead in videos without making it unplayable ( at least in my computer). Just a heads up.

Commented on 2014-03-04 01:00:01 In reply to BlimBlim

Excellent.

To make it a little easier for you, here are some x264 command line suggestions for all five stream formats:

For 540p30:
--level 3.1 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 2000 --vbv-maxrate 2000

For 540p60:
--level 3.2 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 3000 --vbv-maxrate 3000

For 720p60:
--level 3.2 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 4500 --vbv-maxrate 4500

For 1080p30:
--level 4.0 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 6000 --vbv-maxrate 6000

For 1080p60:
--level 4.2 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 8500 --vbv-maxrate 8500

Please note that, when doing the previous post, i was in a hurry and seem to have forgotten the dash between vbv and bufsize when writing "vbv-bufsize". This time the dash is in there.

Also, in the previous post i advised to use H.264 Level 4.1 for 720p60 and 1080p30. But, on a second thought, and considering the low bitrates you are using for the 720p60 and 1080p30 streams, the H.264 level can be limited even further, i.e. level 3.2 for 720p60 and level 4.0 for 1080p30. The x264 command lines mentioned in this post are representing that.

Regarding preset: As you probably know, you can choose the preset according to your preference. Slower presets will result in slower encoding time but better quality per bit ratio and faster presets will result in faster encoding time but worse quality per bit ratio. I would suggest to use at least preset "slow" though. The available presets are mentioned on the following page for example:

http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings#pr...

Regarding CRF: You can choose the CRF according to your preference as well. The lower the CRF, the higher the quality and vice versa. So, --crf 16 results in higher quality than --crf 20 for example. I would suggest to use --crf 16.

Regarding the bitrate limits (the --vbv-bufsize and --vbv-maxrate options): Those are all based on the bitrates you are currently using for encoding your streams.

Oh, and:

Your downloadable MP4 HD files are encoded with the latest x264 version, thanks to MeGUIs auto-update functionality.

However, your streams are currently being encoded with an old version of x264.

I would suggest to update x264 to the latest release version and keep it up to date.

[quote=BlimBlim]I'll take a look at that.[/quote]
Excellent.

To make it a little easier for you, here are some x264 command line suggestions for all five stream formats:

For 540p30:
--level 3.1 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 2000 --vbv-maxrate 2000

For 540p60:
--level 3.2 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 3000 --vbv-maxrate 3000

For 720p60:
--level 3.2 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 4500 --vbv-maxrate 4500

For 1080p30:
--level 4.0 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 6000 --vbv-maxrate 6000

For 1080p60:
--level 4.2 --preset slow --crf 16 --vbv-bufsize 8500 --vbv-maxrate 8500

Please note that, when doing the previous post, i was in a hurry and seem to have forgotten the dash between vbv and bufsize when writing "vbv-bufsize". This time the dash is in there.

Also, in the previous post i advised to use H.264 Level 4.1 for 720p60 and 1080p30. But, on a second thought, and considering the low bitrates you are using for the 720p60 and 1080p30 streams, the H.264 level can be limited even further, i.e. level 3.2 for 720p60 and level 4.0 for 1080p30. The x264 command lines mentioned in this post are representing that.

Regarding preset: As you probably know, you can choose the preset according to your preference. Slower presets will result in slower encoding time but better quality per bit ratio and faster presets will result in faster encoding time but worse quality per bit ratio. I would suggest to use at least preset "slow" though. The available presets are mentioned on the following page for example:

http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings#preset

Regarding CRF: You can choose the CRF according to your preference as well. The lower the CRF, the higher the quality and vice versa. So, --crf 16 results in higher quality than --crf 20 for example. I would suggest to use --crf 16.

Regarding the bitrate limits (the --vbv-bufsize and --vbv-maxrate options): Those are all based on the bitrates you are currently using for encoding your streams.

Oh, and:

Your downloadable MP4 HD files are encoded with the latest x264 version, thanks to MeGUIs auto-update functionality.

However, your streams are currently being encoded with an old version of x264.

I would suggest to update x264 to the latest release version and keep it up to date.

Moonwalker

Commented on 2014-03-04 01:36:59

Works great. The one before this didnt work at all in my browser of choice, which is IE 11 Metro.

huanbeidl

Commented on 2014-03-04 18:10:20

Works perfect!.....Finally good quality;).....Hope you never change that;)

Executioner_UK

Commented on 2014-03-04 22:23:51

Anyone tried these streams on Xbx1 I.E browser? I just watched the Titanfall 1080p, 60fps launch trailer and was blown away at the ease at which it ran it!
PS4 on the other hand threw a pissy and went into judder vision.
If you guys ever launch a premium service, im in! Thanks for the effort you put in :)

Commented on 2014-03-05 19:29:45 In reply to Executioner_UK

Posted by Executioner_UK

You keep banging on about the juddering PS4 rendition, we get it, give yourself a pat on the back for owning an xbone, it's the one thing it renders better than the PS4 for the moment. All it needs is a simple update. sheesh...