VP9/WebM + YouTube = F-Zero GX no longer looks like utter crap

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

It's true, see for yourself - particularly starting at the 2 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLxHjixnf3c

Compare that to h.264 via flash:
https://www.youtube.com/v/BLxHjixnf3c

You can check if you're viewing VP9 via right-clicking on the video and selecting "Stats for Nerds"


Unfortunately this currently only works in Chrome and Opera via YouTube's HTML5 player, but Firefox/Pale Moon users (like myself) can download the VP9/WebM formats with the following extension:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/complete-youtube-saver/

You can then playback downloaded VP9/WebM files inside of Chrome, Firefox/Pale Moon, or Opera or via a regularly updated media player like MPC-HC or MPV (VLC currently has issues with VP9).



EDIT: Because I was asked to on the Doom9 forum, here are some screenshots. The difference is pretty obvious so you should be able guess for yourself which screenshots are which video format without me telling you. :p

Screenshots A: Image 1 ~ Image 2

Screenshots B: Image 1 ~ Image 2

[MayImilae]

Nintendo Maniac 64 Wrote:Unfortunately this currently only works in Chrome and Opera via YouTube's HTML5 player, but Firefox/Pale Moon users (like myself) can download the VP9/WebM formats with the following extension:

That won't be necessary for much longer.

[mbc07]

Moved to Delfino Plaza...

[lamedude]

New codec looks better than old one, more at 11.

[CryZENx]

in my video it looks completly garbage at 4k :/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDnta6S0F-8

[delroth]

I'm not getting VP9 on your video. Also, Shadowplay records pre-encoded video, so of course it's going to look like crap even if it was encoded in VP9. Your source material is bad.

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

YouTube currently has no 4k format in VP9, it's 1080p max.

(05-15-2014, 10:34 PM)lamedude Wrote: New codec looks better than old one, more at 11.

You'd be surprised. Since VP8 was of lesser quality than h.264 a lot of people have been doubtful about Google's claims regarding VP9 actually being better than h.264.

[MayImilae]

Codecs are complicated things. Not only do you have basics on how they work, but also the quality level and bitrates of the specific implementation of the codec that you have to deal with. Even crap codecs will look amazing if the quality and bitrate are set properly (they'll just be huge).

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

Don't forget the complexity of encoding and decoding. It may be the best codec in the world but if encoding it takes absolutely forever and decoding it flat-out requires new dedicated hardware, then good luck with that.

Interestingly enough, it's thought that HEVC may in fact have trouble with that very thing and may be one of VP9's biggest benefits (with SSSE3 optimizations VP9 only requires 50% more CPU grunt over pure-software h.264).

[MayImilae]

Nintendo Maniac 64 Wrote:It may be the best codec in the world but if encoding it takes absolutely forever and decoding it flat-out requires new dedicated hardware, then good luck with that.

Interestingly enough, it's thought that HEVC may in fact have trouble with that very thing and may be one of VP9's biggest benefits (with SSSE3 optimizations VP9 only requires 50% more CPU grunt over pure-software h.264).

Of course h.264 can be decoded by GPUs, giving it a near-zero CPU footprint. Plus h.264 is old enough that it can be GPU decoded on everything from laptops to gaming PCs to cell phones. VP9 can't do that on any system, to my knowledge anyway.