Pixelated HD video

[BSing]

The original (from Nikon D5000) isn't pixelated, and the Mid-Def smugmug version seems OK, but the HD version gets pixelated after being processed by smugmug.

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/12775646_KxSSm#922125356_8YEzA-A-LB

Is there anything I can do about that? :dunno

B

[Andrew Maiman]

From the ones I've uploaded, it looks like they're compressing pretty heavily. I guess that's the tradeoff for getting the HD video feature. They look pretty good in 720, though.

[nigelbb]

You should compress the files yourself before uploading to SmugMug. This has the dual benefit of saving you a lot of time in uploading plus you know more or less what the finished product will look like as SmugMug will apply little extra compression. SmugMug delivers FullHD at about 7.2Mbps so I normally upload 8Mbps 1920x1080 videos.

[BSing]

You should compress the files yourself before uploading to SmugMug.
Actually, the vid at that particular link was compressed h.64 1280x720 before upload. The others in that gallery are straight from the cam, and they have the same problem on playback.

The 960px wide versions ("Mid-Def") play fine, but none of the 1280s seem to. :cry

Interesting: I just downloaded the actual 1280 MP4 file (http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/922125356_8YEzA-1280.mp4) and played it directly using VLC (on XP), and it looks WAY better - virtually no pixelation.

So, do the HD versions play OK for you guys in your browser? I've got the latest Flash and latest Firefox and a PC that can play HD easy peasy ;-).

When I point the browser (ff) to the direct 1280 MP4 file linked above, Quicktime plays the file in the browser window. It's not pixelated there either (but it won't go full screen and has the general QT lameness).

I'll try it in Chrome next. Done. Direct link works fine there, too. I didn't see a full screen option, though, when played directly with the browser. (Hopefully they'll add that someday). When using Chrome to view the gallery, then the lightbox version, I get a "Missing plug-in" option, with no prompts on where to go to get it. Gah! I'll deal with that later.

Is it an issue with the playback speed/quality of my firefox/flash combo? Surprising, since it seems to play other 1280 vids no problemo via flash (here, youtube, vimeo, etc). In fact, I just went and checked Smug's HD sample (http://vincentlaforet.smugmug.com/gallery/6042742_wZKiA#377930419_dgxvY-A-LB), and it plays fine. :dunno

I'm stumped. Does anyone have some recently-added 1280x720 vids of their own that I can try viewing? I'd like to see what works and what doesn't, and why.

Thanks!

B


Update: It seems to get more pixelated as seconds pass, and then bang, everything gets clear for a bit, then it degrades over seconds, then bang, clear. Something keyframe, methinks.

[BSing]

To be clear, I'm talking about the Hi-Def version, and the original was a hi-def source. I can get the smug-processed file to play correctly on my PC, but it's pretty dependent on the playback setup. Flash seems to be a common element of the environments that don't work on my system. The "About" page on the Flash player tells me "You have version 10,1,53,64 installed", and that's the latest.

More info: I tried it in Internet Explorer 8, and the lightbox version played for a while *without* becoming pixelated. But it did not play the whole way through, stopping @ the same point each time. Flash version "9,0,124,0 installed". *Cough. Don't use that one much.* Interesting the difference in playback behavior, though.

Opera 10.6 played it back pixelated. Latest flash version.

The CPU load is ~20% (max 40% peak) when the video is playing in ff, yet it still appears pixelated. I have an i5 750 @ 2.6GHz, ATI Radeon HSD4800 1GB, etc. This PC doesn't choke on much of anything compared to my old one, so I'm a bit stumped.

Of course I suspect my setup somehow, but I'm perplexed as to why most hi-defs play in flash/ff, and these don't. Example: this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fab-WjfGtGQ&hd=1) on youtube plays fine @720p, once loaded. Very slight pixelation @ 1080p, noticeable only after one has looked too long ;-). But I'd sure like to figure out why so much pixelation on my videos when played back from smug in lightbox in my browser (or full screen).

Hardware acceleration enabled in flash. Latest ATI drivers from AMD. Background software doesn't seem to make a difference, or I haven't shut down the right thing yet. Hmmm...

Anyhoo, I'll keep plugging away, but I thought I'd update my saga. Next thing to check: stats of vids that play vs those that don't. As time permits . . .

[thhowl]

By "pixelated" do you mean "over compressed" or actual huge blocky pixels ?

I notice overcompression (poor quality) in my uploaded .mts files. :-(