bad preview quality
zr_media
11 Sep 2009 23:01
I'm not sure if this is in the right thread, but oh well...
I was looking through my uploads and I saw this animation clip:
The clip I uploaded looks way better than this. I assume it's a combination of the flash compression and the high-speed motion of the clip, but is there nothing we can do about this? If I were a customer and saw this preview, I would think the artist didn't know what he was doing and screwed up the encoding. I'm afraid that will hurt my sales of similar clips (with high motion). Another artist here site-mailed me about this same issue with his animation clip previews as well. If the potential customers don't notice the "click thumbnail for full-size still frame" (or whatever that says), they're going to skip over stuff that actually looks great. With animation being one of my specialties, I'm just worried that none of the countless hours it takes to do animation will ever pay off for me, not to mention all the research it takes to stay caught up with software and encoding technology. Anybody else have this problem?
I was looking through my uploads and I saw this animation clip:
The clip I uploaded looks way better than this. I assume it's a combination of the flash compression and the high-speed motion of the clip, but is there nothing we can do about this? If I were a customer and saw this preview, I would think the artist didn't know what he was doing and screwed up the encoding. I'm afraid that will hurt my sales of similar clips (with high motion). Another artist here site-mailed me about this same issue with his animation clip previews as well. If the potential customers don't notice the "click thumbnail for full-size still frame" (or whatever that says), they're going to skip over stuff that actually looks great. With animation being one of my specialties, I'm just worried that none of the countless hours it takes to do animation will ever pay off for me, not to mention all the research it takes to stay caught up with software and encoding technology. Anybody else have this problem?
zr_media
11 Sep 2009 23:31
...and here's another one.
Can anybody see the shooting stars in this clip? I kept them small and sharp to show off the hi-def, but what good is it if they don't show in the preview? I mean why do anything in hi-def if the shoppers won't see it that way? (if you guys can see the stars I'll shut up, lol) Seriously, any advice would be appreciated...
Can anybody see the shooting stars in this clip? I kept them small and sharp to show off the hi-def, but what good is it if they don't show in the preview? I mean why do anything in hi-def if the shoppers won't see it that way? (if you guys can see the stars I'll shut up, lol) Seriously, any advice would be appreciated...
ginclearfilm
12 Sep 2009 02:45
I see no stars....
How long have they been uploaded? Normally P5 does another better quality version after a few weeks
But I do agree that the previews could be better, especially when selling HD footage
How long have they been uploaded? Normally P5 does another better quality version after a few weeks
But I do agree that the previews could be better, especially when selling HD footage
vadervideo
12 Sep 2009 04:40
I can barely see them if I go to full screen. What was the upload date on that shooting star clip? It may just be a case of the second pass of rendering at P5 for it to clear up.
zr_media
12 Sep 2009 07:45
The shooting stars clip has been up since August 18. I'm not going to be able to sell that one at all if the preview doesn't improve somehow. It's a shame too, because it was alot of trouble to create and it looks great when viewed at full-res.
marcus
12 Sep 2009 14:19
This embedded preview used the lower quality of the two higher quality flv:s generated (ie the one for the mouseover previews). I changed the version here that is embedded in the forum to use the higher quality. This is the same version that's on the item page.
The higher quality clips are generated in 480x270 and not 450x253. I changed the resolution on the preview here in the forum to 480x270.
We will also change the resolution to be exact on other places (like the item page) but not right now.
The first one is a nightmare to encode for any contemporary encoding format. It's basically only i-frames in it (effectively). The buyer most likely understands this and he can also check the full size screen dump to see how it should look.
I can (after mentioned changes) spot the stars without going fullscreen. It is naturally a consequence of downsizing a video that really small object has a problem being visible. Being clear about this in the description and perhaps change the offset to one with a star visible so it can be seen on the full screen dump is probably the best thing to do.
Apart from doing 1920x1080-previews, I'm not really sure how to make all clips look good in all situations.
Marcus
The higher quality clips are generated in 480x270 and not 450x253. I changed the resolution on the preview here in the forum to 480x270.
We will also change the resolution to be exact on other places (like the item page) but not right now.
The first one is a nightmare to encode for any contemporary encoding format. It's basically only i-frames in it (effectively). The buyer most likely understands this and he can also check the full size screen dump to see how it should look.
I can (after mentioned changes) spot the stars without going fullscreen. It is naturally a consequence of downsizing a video that really small object has a problem being visible. Being clear about this in the description and perhaps change the offset to one with a star visible so it can be seen on the full screen dump is probably the best thing to do.
Apart from doing 1920x1080-previews, I'm not really sure how to make all clips look good in all situations.
Marcus
zr_media
12 Sep 2009 15:51
Actually the shooting stars clip looks better now, Marcus. Thanks for fixing it. I'll do the frame offset thing tonight when I have time (there are like eight different versions of the clip). As far as the "flying" clip, I just hope customers realize they can click the thumbnail for a still frame. Alot of people don't notice that detail, they're just looking at the clip preview. I know I didn't notice it for a long time myself. I guess I could mention it in the description of the animation clips that look bad in their previews. Anyway thanks again.
ZR_media
ZR_media
marcus
12 Sep 2009 17:08
You raise a good point, I'm sure not everyone knows about the full frame thing. There is a tricky balance to helpfully highlight features or just be bloody annoying like the infamous paperclip in windows office :) But we should probably make it more clear that people can see the full still frame.
Marcus
Marcus
vadervideo
12 Sep 2009 23:15
Yes, very good indeed.
stester
13 Sep 2009 00:13
Oh, oh, now I can see them, yes. I could not see them when you first posted the clip. They are quite nice :) Glad you got that straightened out :) -Sandi