Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11475
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Please tell what is your primary way to watch published movies. If you use several methods, vote for the most commonly used one, and mention which is which in the post.
Also, please tell why you're using that method, and why you don't use other methods.
For streams, specify if you use the tasvideos embedded player option, watch directly on the hosting site, or download and watch locally.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
I primarily watch in-browser using YouTube (via link from the publication page direct to the YouTube video page) for two reasons:
1) I'm usually just interested in what the run looks like.
2) It doesn't require downloading a file.
My secondary method is 'Movie file in Emulator' when I'm specifically interested in the input side of how some strategy was performed.
My primary is Movie file in Emulator and secondary MP4 compatibility.
I have a very limited internet and I can't watch in YouTube and less if 360p or higher.
Thank god movie files are very small sized.
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11475
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Cyorter wrote:
My primary is Movie file in Emulator and secondary MP4 compatibility.
I have a very limited internet and I can't watch in YouTube and less if 360p or higher.
Thank god movie files are very small sized.
And you don't download the standard definition files either, right? Just watch in the browser?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
My primary is Movie file in Emulator and secondary MP4 compatibility.
I have a very limited internet and I can't watch in YouTube and less if 360p or higher.
Thank god movie files are very small sized.
And you don't download the standard definition files either, right? Just watch in the browser?
Rare cases, if I can't watch from the beginning in the emulator (either a desync in the title screen or an issue), I download it and if I really liked it to make worth watching it for second time, I have no need to load it again in the browser.
If it desyncs in a part... before the end for example, I open the MP4 Compatibility and forward to the part desynced in the emulator.
So it depends.
1: Watch in emulator via movie file.
2: Open MP4 and forward to desynced part.
3: Download MP4 for use internet once and watch the times I want (based in how much I liked the movie)... or for watch later.
I really prefer to watch them on YouTube due to it being in the best quality, and plus it’s convient to pull up on my phone.
The only times I use the other methods is if there are no available youtube stream (that aren’t WebNations).
I also like watching encodes made in 60fps, so I would also use the downloadables if the youtube encode itself isnt in 60.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't
12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!"
Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet
MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish
[Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person
MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol
Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11475
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Cyorter wrote:
3: Download MP4 for use internet once and watch the times I want (based in how much I liked the movie)... or for watch later.
Why not download the MKV? It has better quality.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
3: Download MP4 for use internet once and watch the times I want (based in how much I liked the movie)... or for watch later.
Why not download the MKV? It has better quality.
Before answering, I recognize MKV and MP4 are similar in size and I appreciate your effort to make encodes at the smallest size you can.
I don't know... I'm used to play the encodes in the MPEG-4 container, and don't know exactly how are both encoded (codec and settings). Matroska is good (I use it sometimes) but I don't know how well will be played, also as the only thing I have to play most encodings is my PC... I in rare cases play the movies in a Wii and being like a Cinema... (to not get easily bored and variate, Idk xD).
I don't care quality, I just want to watch, but if you suggest it, I can download Matroska encodes when watching in my PC :D
YT on YT. I don't have the files required to play back any input file locally. Insofar as downloading the files, it's just never really been something I think about- I often only watch a TAS once so it ends up being the same regardless.
I practically never watch published tases.
I can recall occasionally downloading an mkv if I didn’t want to run a movie in an unfamiliar emulator , like for comparisons in Dega movies .
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1941
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I'm almost exclusively watching the Youtube stream on Youtube. I only download the input files if there is something I need to see how it was done, usually as reference when I'm TASing the game, or to have a movie file to fast forward in order to get a save later in the game.
I never ever download any MKV/MP4 files.
I originally downloaded MP4 when I first came to the site (2010, maybe?) due to not being very familiar with MKV and not understanding the differences beyond file size. Eventually, I did a comparison and looked into the differences (most notably, differences in chroma and scaling), and I've never used the MP4 option again. I've also never used in-site streaming, it's always been externally via Youtube, or by downloading one of the encodes.
For the past 5-6 years, I typically make my own quick dumps and watch them, occasionally watching in emulator if it's a short run or if I want to investigate a particular segment more thoroughly. This happened because there was typically no "best" encode available in my eyes.
MKV: The CRF here leaves the quality too low. Noticeable visual artifacts often hinder the experience significantly for me, though I do know I'm more sensitive to this than other people (the same goes for aliasing in 3D games). The other downside is that for 3D games which were rendered in higher resolutions for Youtube are typically only available in the native resolution here. The benefits here are that the game's frame rate is kept in-tact, duplicate frames are removed, the chroma's resolution isn't reduced and VFR is supported. This all makes for a reasonably good viewing experience.
MP4: This has the same CRF and 3D resolution pitfall as MKV, but with a lot less of the benefits. Duplicate frames are left in and the chroma is reduced to 4:2:0 (half vertical and half horizontal resolution, for anyone unsure). This means that colors appear smeared across pixels in 2D games where sprites are pixel-specific. The good side is definitely compatibility here, though I've never had trouble (on any device) playing the MKV encode. The labeling of these two can be a bit confusing to new users though, so perhaps something like "MKV HQ Standard" and "MP4 LQ Legacy" would be a better distinction.
Youtube: Definitely the most convenient of the options. If I want to quickly watch a run, this is where I go to. The major downside in the past was the 30fps limitation, but now that it's no longer a problem Youtube has become significantly more relevant to me. Choice of resolution and convenience are definitely the high points here. The negative side concerns that there's no "native" resolution option for 2D games (and even if there were, it would be horribly encoded, blurred via resize and chroma subsampled) and FPS limitations. A 60fps cap isn't very intrusive, but for non-standard rates in games, there's a lot of duplication or dropping of frames. As an example, for a ~70fps game that lags every second frame, the only option to avoid frame drops is 60fps, which also leads to a motion inconsistency. Though, because Youtube is using 60fps as opposed to 30fps, this is not very noticeable (and probably a negligible point).
Alright, so that was longer than I expected, sorry for submitting an essay on this one. For me, there are just pros and cons to each viewing method and so I find the best way to avoid these pitfalls is to watch in an emulator or dump the game myself. This is also the reason I try to always provided a collection of extra downloadables on my publications. It's originally based on what I personally would want to see.
Edit: I also don't use torrent here. Archive downloadables are resumeable and I prefer direct links.
I'm not as active as I once was, but I can be reached here if I should be needed.
YouTube, on the YouTube site. The YouTube embed on the site is too small, in particular for TASes of 3D games. I occasionally download MKVs if there's a TAS I think I'll want to look at again in the future, but I don't think I've ever watched a TAS in an emulator. It's just too inconvenient for me, since I don't have emulators for most systems set up and don't have copies all of the games that I want to watch TASes of, or have copies that are the wrong revision or region.
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11475
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Mitjitsu wrote:
If it's a movie I'm particular eager to see or learn how things were done I'll watch it on emulator. Otherwise I'll watch or wait for an encode.
The question is about published movies :P
Cyorter wrote:
I don't care quality, I just want to watch, but if you suggest it, I can download Matroska encodes when watching in my PC :D
Yeah, for the sake of experiment, try watching it on your usual devices and see if they handle MKV.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
If it's a movie or a game I particularily care about, I'll grab the movie file for an emulator. In most cases though, the YouTuber is my preferred viewing method, since it's the least hassle. Ever since YouTube started supporting 60fps videos, the main drawback* to the site has disappeared.
I have a habit of not ever watching embedded videos but instead always following them to the host site. The movie page is no exception.
*From a viewing standpoint, anyhow.
These days, most of the time I watch the YT video from the publication page, it's the most convenient way. Movie files require getting the right ROM version / game files and the right emulator version, which is more of a hassle.
I download the movie file if I want no compression artifacts at all. If I really care about a TAS I download the movie file and the MKV file.
This has almost nothing to do with the TAS, but... (very rarely) I download a movie file to get to a certain point in a game to play or check something.
JosJuice wrote:
The YouTube embed on the site is too small, in particular for TASes of 3D games.
Joined: 4/7/2015
Posts: 331
Location: Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
I'm used to watch on Youtube for some reasons:
- I use its rate system, I give likes to TASes that I'm interested;
- I usually search for related things about the game I'm watching (TASes of other games in the series, videos about glitches being studied, similar games, speedruns, etc);
- I can watch it easily on any device I'm using;
- The video will not occupy space on my hard drive.
The only game that I actually download the movie file is, currently, Super Mario World, because I know/research the game well enough to be critic at this level, I wanna see all the details of the run.
When preservation comes to mind, I think storing video files is more versatile, since nowadays you can run these videos on any decent media player. But storing movie files seems more adequate for TASing, for its reproducibility, its lightweight, and its valious content.
Games are basically math with a visual representation of this math, that's why I make the scripts, to re-see games as math.
My things:
YouTube, GitHub, Pastebin, Twitter
I usually watch a youtube stream, either embedded in the published movie topic, or embedded on the publication page. But most of the time, for new movies, I watch the temporary encode in the workbench topic.
I did sometimes download the encode for long RPGs for easier fast-forwarding.
Back before YouTube was big, I had to use the torrent and download links to put them on my hard drive and watch them later. Nowadays YouTube is too convenient to pass up on, but I imagine the alternate encodes are great for anyone who has a particular favourite TAS, or needs something they can watch later without internet access.
(As for fastforwarding, YouTube has playback speed settings and time skip and scrubbing, so it's sufficient for that too! It even has frame advance, it's kind of nuts how good that player is as long as your internet is strong.)
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
DrD2k9 wrote:
I primarily watch in-browser using YouTube (via link from the publication page direct to the YouTube video page) for two reasons:
1) I'm usually just interested in what the run looks like.
2) It doesn't require downloading a file.
The MP4 Compatibility option can also be watched directly in the browser, and it doesn't require downloading a file.
I just fixed some bugs with it from preventing it from being seen in certain browsers, specifically some mobile devices. You might need to force refresh a movie page before the changes take effect for you.
EZGames69 wrote:
I really prefer to watch them on YouTube due to it being in the best quality, and plus it’s convenient to pull up on my phone.
YT usually uses way more space to achieve the same quality. The MP4 Compatibility option which is our Archive.org streaming option can save you phone data costs as well as possibly work better if you're in an area with poorer reception.
Also, playback via YT on some mobile browsers cannot go full screen for some reason. From the tests I've done, our MP4 Compatibility option via Archive.org always allows full screen playback.
If you didn't see the Archive.org streaming option before, force refresh a page and it should be available now.
Try Archive.org (MP4 Compatibility) streaming (from our movie pages), and let me know what you think. (Be sure to force refresh to get the latest version)
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
I really prefer to watch them on YouTube due to it being in the best quality, and plus it’s convenient to pull up on my phone.
YT usually uses way more space to achieve the same quality. The MP4 Compatibility option which is our Archive.org streaming option can save you phone data costs as well as possibly work better if you're in an area with poorer reception.
I never watch videos on phone data, only when I’m connected to wifi. Since I dont have a laptop anymore I either watch on my home desktop whenever I’m on it, or just stream on mobile with wifi.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't
12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!"
Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet
MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish
[Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person
MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol
Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
The MP4 Compatibility option can also be watched directly in the browser, and it doesn't require downloading a file.
I just fixed some bugs with it from preventing it from being seen in certain browsers, specifically some mobile devices. You might need to force refresh a movie page before the changes take effect for you.
...
Try Archive.org (MP4 Compatibility) streaming (from our movie pages), and let me know what you think. (Be sure to force refresh to get the latest version)
Thanks. I tried it on a couple publications, and it seems to work well in-browser on my laptop. I've never watched on my phone, so I can't comment on that at this point.
MP4 may now usurp YT as my preferred method of watching.
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
creaothceann wrote:
JosJuice wrote:
The YouTube embed on the site is too small, in particular for TASes of 3D games.
You can make it fullscreen.
For some reason, certain browsers don't allow YouTube embeds to go full screen. Generally mobile browsers.
Archive.org embed does not have this problem (force refresh to get latest version).
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
