MFC's "higher" video quality

[AmberCutie]

They have the encoding bitrate set way to low hence the breakup on movement
1.5mbits is not enough it should be 2.5 or upwards minimum

This from the wiki

'''Low Resolution''': For very old computers or very slow internet connections. No mobile feed. (Tech details 320x240 @ variable up to 1Mbps. Sorenson codec.)

*'''HD Video''': Our brand new video system for faster computers and connections. Your live feed will get shown on the [[MyFreeCams Mobile]] site for iOS

and Android devices.
+ *'''High Resolution''': For medium computers or medium internet connections. Mobile feed. (Tech details: 320x240 @ 1Mbps. H.264 codec.)
+ *'''Higher Resolution''': For fast computers and fast internet connections. Mobile feed. (Tech details: 800x600 @ 1.5Mbps. H.264 codec.)

They've edited the wiki to include the current 3 options (as well as rename "HD" to High and Higher resolution.)

Video Options

• Low Resolution: For very old computers or very slow internet connections. No mobile feed. (Tech details 320x240 @ variable up to 1Mbps. Sorenson codec.)
• High Resolution: For medium computers or medium internet connections. Mobile feed. (Tech details: 320x240 @ 1Mbps. H.264 codec.)
• Higher Resolution: For fast computers and fast internet connections. Mobile feed. (Tech details: 800x600 @ 1.5Mbps. H.264 codec.)

If your computer is not powerful enough to handle the encoding of Higher resolution video, or if your internet connection is not fast enough to support the Higher bitrate, then you will have a choppy video feed and we recommend trying a lower setting.

 

[VeronicaChaos]

I dunno if I'd like the look of widescreen vid on MFC.

I think widescreen is beautiful, but I feel like the chat box takes up so much space that it's not really feasible. They'd have to completely change the layout to work with it.

Also I'm bias and all my shows are on 4:3 and it would be so much work to change them XD

Edit: I used to stream in widescreen with the bars. It was useful for putting text up without it getting in the way, but could also be distracting. Without the ability to add text overlay (i.e. MFC adds the black bars for you) I would never have bothered.

 

[Magnolia]

Okay, I gave it a go today.

Pros:

• It's nice to have a higher resolution without having to use Firefox and the CB trick and it saves me time when getting ready.
• Works well on Chrome and doesn't eat up my CPU.
• The quality is fairly crisp (for 800x600 at least) and I had no issues with movement pixelation.

Cons:

• It's just not HD and my regs and I can really tell the difference.
• Sometimes half of my screen disappears for extended periods of time! The bottom half just... doesn't show up? :/
• The lag between the feed and my chat was pretty bad compared to normally. At some points it was around 20 seconds. That's HORRIBLE for MFC and what I'm trying to do.
• For the first time in forever I had sound issues. Kept getting that "demon voice" glitch on mobile. This never ever happens to me.

For the record, I have high-speed internet (~80 down, 20 up) and was on a high-powered PC. Honestly, I'm probably only going to use this when I'm streaming on my laptop, I've just had a lot less issues using the CB trick and then I can stream in real HD. I still think it's a great thing and a step in the right direction! But as always, there are some kinks to work out. Just my honest review.

 

[Pandora Luxe]

Ok. I tried it tonight and had horrible results. I don't know if MFC was just acting up or what. I have 25 mb down and 5 mb up. I am using an Acer Aspire E 15 with 4 GB Ram, AMD Quad Core Processor, and built in hd webcam. I tried the "Higher resolution" and lagged so hard with any movement I made so I went back to "High resolution" and was lagging super hard which has never happened before. I went to "normal resolution" and it was better but still not perfect. Since the update my stream has lagged more than it has ever before, I know I'm still new and have only broadcast a few times so maybe it was an off day but I hope it isn't a problem from their update.

 

[VeronicaChaos]

I wonder how important having a dedicated graphics card is for this? I've got a 1 gb one (I need to upgrade, >_>), I'm wondering if that's why it went smoothly for me.

Here are my comp stats:
Intel i5 dual core processor
1 GB Gigabyte NVIDEA GeForce graphics card
12 GB RAM
Logitech c920e
Hardwired, 20 up/80 down
Chrome Web Broadcaster

 

[nzhere]

yeah I can stream in wide screen right now if I wanted to, anyone can. It would just have black bars and I don't want black bars

The mfc interface should scale, once they accept the 16:9 aspect video in, I just tried it on my 24 inch screen display set at 1920x1080 resolution. Browser set in maximum size, there is plenty of screen space. MFC doesn't have to show the video feed @ 100% full input size. That's what the resize bar is for.

the zoom is now actually useful on higher resolution feeds . In testing this , I went way way to far in viewing Jaylyn's butthole

What would be cool is if when the member double clicked the video to go full screen, if there was the ability to put the room text as an semi transparent overlay minus emotes. Perhaps by Pressing C or T when in fullscreen.

 

[nzhere]

I just found this, it looks like some using logitechs may have a problem depending on driver being used

https://forums.logitech.com/t5/Webcams/Logitech-C920-C-absolutely-no-H264-support/td-p/1239402

another thing to lookout for flash hardware acceleration support should be enabled
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/891337

 

[schlmoe]

The mfc interface should scale, once they accept the 16:9 aspect video in, I just tried it on my 24 inch screen display set at 1920x1080 resolution. Browser set in maximum size, there is plenty of screen space. MFC doesn't have to show the video feed @ 100% full input size. That's what the resize bar is for.

the zoom is now actually useful on higher resolution feeds . In testing this , I went way way to far in viewing Jaylyn's butthole

What would be cool is if when the member double clicked the video to go full screen, if there was the ability to put the room text as an semi transparent overlay minus emotes. Perhaps by Pressing C or T when in fullscreen.

Get 2 monitors. Go full screen video on one, "hide video" on the other

 

[AnimeAnnie]

I gave it a try last night, and the consensus from my room was that it was a noticeable difference in picture quality. I asked if anyone was noticing lag, sound troubles or anything, and no one seemed to have any problems with my stream. (though I have noticed that people don't tend to speak up if they are having issues!) I did forget to open my feed in another window though, so I'll do that tonight to see if I can notice any issues myself. I broadcast through manycam set to 800x600, and the one thing I did notice a great improvement in was when I put text up on the screen through manycam, it was noticeably less pixelated and garbled in the broadcast on MFC, which previously was so bad I stopped using the text feature!

 

[nzhere]

Just my thoughts they need clarify all the non hd hd

The supported new modes should be (most should be familiar with these as its what you see on youtube's settings)

240p
360p
480p
576p
720p HD

and they should be indicated by a logo bottom right of the avatar

Those on the old 4:3 aspect should get a similar logo which says "Low" "med" "high"

 

[nzhere]

Its not been mentioned as to what Kbit the audio is , on the new setting?

 

[AmberCutie]

I did notice a great improvement in was when I put text up on the screen through manycam, it was noticeably less pixelated and garbled in the broadcast on MFC, which previously was so bad I stopped using the text feature!

Oh gosh yes I am so happy people can actually read my text on the screen now! I struggled with that before.

 

[AmberCutie]

Thank you to the models who have posted their specs and feedback! As for the rest, all of this "they should do this" and "they should do that" is getting a little tiresome, so hopefully going forward in this thread we can focus on more helpful feedback.

 

[yummybrownfox]

No splitcamming software
Windows 10 Home
Toshiba Satellite S55t-C i7-6500U
Google Chrome 52.0.2743.82 m
Logitech HD C920 webcam

 

[dilligaf0]

Oh gosh yes I am so happy people can actually read my text on the screen now! I struggled with that before.

We could read it, we were just too distracted.

 

[KellyHeart]

I use ManyCam and I use the logitech 930 webcam. My fellas say the picture is great but the feed is fairly choppy. I have switched the settings in manycam but still having issues! Not quite sure where to go to resolve it.

 

[NataliaGrey]

It's really hit or miss for me. Most of the time it's totally fine, looks great, smooth, etc. It will still get that random grey bar at the bottom (I think on the member's side it shows as MFC green) every once in a while. It's pretty rare so not a big deal, but worth mentioning. I've seen it happen a few times on other models too. I do find that with the 930 I need to turn my sharpness wayyy down to avoid pixelization, but I don't think any of the other Logitechs have a sharpness setting (different than focus), so they do it automatically.

I tried to use it on the 23rd and it would only show up as a white screen, no matter what I tried. Restarting, different internet, different browser, using or not using ManyCam, everything I could think of. So I just gave up on it that day.

Today it was verrry laggy. Like 90/1500 kbps. Audio was fine. I tried all the same things and no luck. In both cases it was fine once I moved down to the middle quality setting.

Here's my stats:
Intel i7 processor
4 GB Gigabyte NVIDEA GeForce graphics card
16 GB RAM
Logitech c930e using generic Logitech software
Blue Yeti Microphone
ManyCam
70 down/30 up on wireless (it's totally stable, though, the speeds don't drop)
Chrome
Windows 8

 

[weirdbr]

It will still get that random grey bar at the bottom (I think on the member's side it shows as MFC green) every once in a while.

It actually shows as grey as well on our side; I probably should take a screenshot next time it happens. In any case, it looks like a case of the encoder losing sync or getting corrupted data: most live streaming encoders will attempt to deal with those situations by keeping around only what is known to be good and filling the rest with 'safe' data and then encoding it to avoid dropping the whole frame.

I tried to use it on the 23rd and it would only show up as a white screen, no matter what I tried. Restarting, different internet, different browser, using or not using ManyCam, everything I could think of. So I just gave up on it that day.

And from the member side, this showed up as a white screen with audio only. After some time, the video finally appeared but was extremely laggy (I'd say about a few frames every couple seconds). Putting my SRE/developer hat on without access to the broadcaster/encoder, it looks like their encoder handles audio and video as two separate streams and the video thread was lagging behind badly, which indicates a bug in the new encoder.

 

[AmberCutie]

 

[AmberCutie]

^^ Hopefully will help models use the higher settings with custom bandwidth limits, and now there are 2 options for the higher resolution (480 or 600). Try out each one and see what works, I guess!

 

[marvelb0y]

The disconnect between the members and the models is pretty funny.
Members: It's still not true HD!
Models: My computer freezes now.
I guess not many of you work in software development. You don't just use the latest and greatest technology out there. You have to consider your user base and give them a chance to catch up.

 

[Olivier314]

You don't just use the latest and greatest technology out there. You have to consider your user base and give them a chance to catch up.

Actually you do... You have users that have the newest hardware and the newest OS and they want to use all the features of it. These are people that love tech and they buy a new computer because they like doing so.

And then you have users that hate tech (or are on a budget, or restricted by where they are), and they hang on to their old hardware for dear life and are upset when you stop supporting their old computer and/or OS.

So support models and members that can do 1080p and have the hardware and internet for it and support the models and members that are still forced to use lower settings is the proper approach to things.

 

[Puffin]

It is great that MFC are progressing on this. Having seen the results that Magnolia can get with another method, I can't help thinking MFC are really missing some major advance on a technical level.

 

[Yavin4MFC]

Did a private last night with the new High Resolution enabled. Had frequent audio and video freezes, sometimes in tandem, and chat lagged significantly. For some odd reason, it got really bad everytime I plugged my headphones in, but idk what that would mean for it. Could also have just been the internet connections.

 

[weirdbr]

I guess not many of you work in software development. You don't just use the latest and greatest technology out there.

I guess you don't either, because if you did, you would know that developers love shiny new things.... :hide

Joke (or not) aside - HD video is not new technology by any definition - chaturbate and other adult sites have done it for a while, non-adult sites have done it for even longer...


And back to the original topic, I finally got a screenshot of the video glitch - in this case it showed up as yellow probably because of the outfit that Natalia was wearing and where the encoding broke down.

 

[nzhere]

^^ Hopefully will help models use the higher settings with custom bandwidth limits, and now there are 2 options for the higher resolution (480 or 600). Try out each one and see what works, I guess!

Do you know at what Frame rate are they using? 30 FPS or 60? being able to choose between 15/30/60 would make a huge difference in bandwidth and performance.

Also what Kbit is the audio encoded at on the higher settings?

 

[VeronicaChaos]

Do you know at what Frame rate are they using? 30 FPS or 60? being able to choose between 15/30/60 would make a huge difference in bandwidth and performance.

Also what Kbit is the audio encoded at on the higher settings?

I'm not a serious gamer, which is usually where I hear about 60 fps, so I'm a bit ignorant on this. But tv's standard is 30 and film is 24, so why would it be necessary to go all the way up to 60?

Also, I took @marvelb0y 's comment to mean that MFC might not be willing to alienate their current models who aren't able to go HD. MFC has always been the easy to stream option. Any girl can broadcast there, without fancy equipment. In some ways, it's part of the culture and history of the website. It's allowed for multi-model events easily, public shows, and a high range of models. With higher quality, it's easy to say that models can just choose whatever they can do, but it will change the website, and put those girls at a huge disadvantage. It would really suck to have just bought a laptop for camming that suddenly isn't good enough to stream competitively on. Comparing it to twitch almost doesn't seem fair; twitch broadcasters are gamers using gaming desktops.

I'm not saying that an increase in quality shouldn't happen; it would benefit me greatly, personally, since I'm hardwired in on a desktop. Just that I understand why MFC would be reluctant to make a major and sudden change in system requirements to keep up, bandwidth costs aside.

 

[weirdbr]

But tv's standard is 30 and film is 24, so why would it be necessary to go all the way up to 60?

The main argument for those higher framerates is that they deal better with fast-paced content (sports, action sequences, etc), with the downside is that they look/feel 'weird' due to the 'soap opera' effect - we are used to 30/24 fps, so anything faster on those contexts makes our brains unhappy (until you watch enough of it to retrain your brain).

being able to choose between 15/30/60 would make a huge difference in bandwidth and performance.

Dunno if that makes sense - 15fps is essentially a fast slideshow (and members already complain about laggy-looking feeds) and 60fps would be beneficial only in very limited situations (I can imagine it being useful for models that are shall we say a bit energetic when doing shows), so you would be doubling the framerate/bandwidth required without a lot of benefit for 90% of the time spent online. I would suggest perhaps adding lower bitrate options (1mbps and 0.8mbps) and let models give that a try - the video wont look as sharp, but it might at least be smooth/lag-free.

 

[nzhere]

Well it really depends what people mean when they say laggy video and where it is occurring in the chain, at the models end or the viewers. Is it in fact dropping frames or just poor encoding of movement caused by low bitrate.

I don't know if its right but this link indicates that the older C910 Supports 60fps at 640x480, 640x360, 320x240, resolutions
https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/logitech-c920-60fps.8407/

Interesting it says it can only do 1280x720 at 15fps?

It would not hurt in the testing for them to offer a lower 15fps setting while they are fine tuning things.

Does the model broadcaster info still display the FPS?

The C910/920/930 and various other logitechs are probably used by most MFC models.

 

[HanlonShaves]

Lag aside, one of the bigger issues that seems to be cropping up on occasion is the video failing to completely load/render, resulting in...well, pretty much this.

It tends to go away after a few seconds, during which time the audio continues normally.

We call it Greyg.