Newbie Let's Player | Questions

The Witch

The Witch

I myself am strange and unusual
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So, I originally bought the PS4 port of FF7 for the sole purpose of uploading my own walkthrough and stuff. I later found out that it only uploads 15 minutes per video and to make matters worse uploading from PS4 to youtube downgrades it to 720p. Nobody wants to watch an ugly LP of an ancient game :lew: Especially since I want to make gifs of certain scenes that no players ever have footage of (and I've watched a lot, even enduring Cloti playthroughs just to see if certain moments go how I would play them).

I was wondering if anyone has any advice for someone that's never ever done anything like this before? My goal isn't to make money from youtube or something, but to just provide a high quality LP to my blog followers because they've been asking me to do one for ages. I am flirting with the idea of audio, so if you have any advice for that too, that would be great.

please help this old lady out :damon:
 
The rule of thumb when it comes to YouTube videos is keep them between 10 to 15 min, so the 15 min record time is okay.

There are other devices that you can purchase that will record your game play externally but they can get real expensive.

My suggestion to you is to stream video via PS4 and record it to your system, but keep your stream short so you do not have to edit. Then upload it to YouTube. The 720p will be okay. Most videos are about that anyways and the lower quality helps with buffering.

By knowing what task you want to accomplish before hand and sticking to that plan will help keep your video short. You do not want to turn it into a talk show, because you will lose your viewers attention and will not get a subscribers or even likes. Subscribers and likes are very important when it comes to YouTube. The more likes you get the more your video will appear in searches and play lists. The number of subscribers helps out with advertising. The more subscribers you have the more advertisements you get and more money you make. (which is not your goal, but still a valuable option)

Will not hurt to make a little money off YouTube for your time, use Google ads to set up an account so when people view your videos they will get an ad at the beginning and you will get paid a little change. I know you are not looking for it, but if it is there, why not use it.
 
Here are is a little bit of advice I have from my own vault:

1) Keep your own personality (if you choose to add voice)
2) Don't dabble and also label your episode's accordingly
3) Keep it around 8-10 minutes

I personally find it a little hard to navigate through 10+ minutes of media at times. I don't care how interesting the person is. The reason being is because the person can be a little long winded if they are going for that amount of time. Honestly I think the best fit is for those that are down to earth folks and keep persisting through the game. If let's plays become to focused on the person behind it, it can undo the focus of the game being planned. I get people like Jack Septic Eye and Markiplier have a large following, but they also put in lots of flare in their games and keep focused on it. For other videos that are not game-centric, they take time to talk to their viewers.
 
By the 15 minutes of video, do you mean the 15 minutes recorded by the PS4? Or that only 15 minutes are kept in the transfer to YouTube?


The PS4 only records 15 minutes of retroactive gameplay at a time by default, but it can be increased to an hour in the settings.

If you choose when to start recording manually (I think my double pressing the share button, or holding it - I forget which one) then that makes it easier.
 
Okay... thanks everyone.
jmsdvs, nah. I'm really not expecting to reach anyone outside of my 1000+ followers on tumblr so I'm not expecting to gain followers or money by doing this. My only objective is to give my followers what they've been wanting for quite some time. :lew: Also, advertising would be a waste of time because the follower count just would not be there. I'd rather have my videos be less annoying since ads bother so many. :lew: But thank you for that advice, if I ever change my mind that will be very helpful.

For video length, my goal is 25-30 minutes. Otherwise my channel would be flooded with videos and I was worried that would discourage people from watching. But I will keep this in mind because you guys know what you're doing so I'll do it 15 minutes first and if followers want longer, I'll stretch it out.

As for devices, I was looking at the elgato game capture but I think I may need some updates for my PC before that will be usable. But if you have any cheap (not hundreds of dollars per one item) suggestions that could connect my PS4 to my PC that would be awesome.

And yeah, I've already made notes from my playthrough what I want to say at certain areas. No scripts or anything, but cliff notes and such to make sure I don't waste time.
Shu

Thanks, man! I do plan on keeping the "me" in the video. I've gained a lot of followers because of my personality and I don't plan on hiding that :lew:
Dionysos Well, when I last tried to upload a video straight from the PS4 to my youtube account, I just remember it saying that it could only be 15 minutes long and then it just stopped recording? But I'll see if it allows me to change it to an hour. But the biggest reason I don't want to use the PS4 upload option is because 720p doesn't look as polished as 1080:

720
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1080

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Like I said, this is for my blog/website and my followers have been requesting this because there aren't any "pretty" 1080 uploads of the game and I'd hate to waste my time on such a detailed walkthrough just to regret that I did it all in 720 :lew:
 
Daredevil A few points from my end, I'm still learning this stuff too- I recently started streaming here and there! Currently [strike]ROASTING[/strike] play FF XIII. :lew:

* Sadly, a capture card is going to be 100% necessary for 1080p, so unless you want to start off in 720 and progress up, you'll need to make getting one of those your priority before anything else.

* Audio wise, I recommend a separate headphone/ mic setup. Having bought a gaming headset recently(primarily for the stream), I very much regret it. I love my headset, don't get me wrong, but I would buy a dedicated mic if I could go back- I probably will do that in future, in fact. You can find Mic's and such for sub-50 dollars. If you're really stuck, a very cheap logitek headset worked out for me for the first few streams I did; the viewers here on FFF could hear me fine.

* DEFINITELY be wary of "LEET GAMER" headsets or anything; they have silly markup for branding and usually don't offer the same quality.

* You're definitely going to want to use different audio channels for game and voice too. You don't want the game audio to bleed into any of the recording of the game. An alternative suggestion would be to record gameplay, and then layer your voice over instead of on the fly since you mentioned recording rather than streaming. This is a moot point if you want to stream too. :lew:

* What's your workspace like? Can you fit this stuff there?

* Think about your surroundings too; how quiet is the area? Will you disturb your friends/family/roommates if you need to record yourself talking?
 
Paddy McGee I like the fact you brought up the environment, this is a very important aspect, along side the gear.
Daredevil I would suggest sound proofing material (eventually) to help with echo and background noise. You wanted a crisp and clear recording so this will help. Also look at this video because it will give you an idea for a setup. I understand you are using a PS4, so tweek it as need be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2QjZsMzDYA&t=1300s
 
720p will probably work just fine for FFVII, though the big problems you'll run into are twofold.

A. Not only is the base PS4 locked to 720p capture, but it's also recording at a fairly low bitrate. That's fine for mostly static scenes, but battles and such are likely to have a lot of artifacting.

B. Uploading at a higher resolution/bitrate on YouTube actually improves the quality of lower resolution settings. So if you did upload them at 1080p, even 720p would look better because it's re-encoded with more information intact.

Since you're not terribly concerned with growing a massive audience to make money from, I don't think the length of the video matters. And from lots of experience both making videos of wildly varying lengths, and hanging around other really experienced creators, the old "length has to be exactly this!" adage is a farce anyway. The length of the video doesn't matter near as much as the way it's presented. Different styles of content are better suited to different lengths. Hour+ let's play videos can work just fine, if it's designed to be that sort of video; the key is just being able to maintain the attention of your audience. Nobody wants to watch a GameGrumps let's play or something for a straight hour, because it's not designed to be long. But they're fine watching something more like an Extra Play video for an hour. And if your audience already exists and already wants to see you play the game, they'll be fairly accommodating. If you're worried, just as 'em what they want.

I wouldn't advise streaming and then recording/uploading the stream, if that was in the cards. Streaming destroys the video quality on top of the somewhat strict limits you're already expecting to face with recording from your console and such. If you did want to go for 1080p (which again, probably isn't a big deal for FFVII) or you wanted to get high quality 720p, you should definitely look into getting an old Elgato GameCapture HD. Since several iterations of the much newer HD60 are out (and since FFVII runs at 30fps, so you don't need an HD60), you could probably get a GameCapture HD for like $80. As long as you have a PC/Laptop from like 2012 or later, you should be able to capture at 1080p just fine.

As Paddy said, you can get workable mics for under $50. The key is that the less expensive the mic, usually the easier it is to clip the audio (get so loud that it 'statics'), and it usually requires more post-recording work to make it sound great. But Audacity can work wonders even with terrible mics, as long as your initial recording is good. And it can also be used to record your voiceover separately (while playing), so that -again as Paddy said- the audio doesn't bleed. Which obviously also means it's probably best if you either turn your TV way down when capturing, or use headphones. Your biggest issue audio-wise will likely be reverb if your space is fairly open and empty. There are several ways to deal with this including just pinning thick blankets to nearby walls, recording near a corner, making a small recording box for the mic to sit in, etc. Those are the cheap/easy solutions anyway. And you might want to spend a few extra bucks getting a pop filter too. It makes all the difference for preventing clipping.
 
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I'd like to contradict what people have said here about keeping vids to 10-15 minutes. It depends entirely on the genre. e.g. An RPG needs longer episodes. You ain't getting anywhere per upload unless you go a bit longer. A rhythm game, on the other hand, is more suited to 5-10 minute episodes. Or whatever you really feel like.

Just do you.

Be creative and don't limit yourself by fussy people's expectations. It'll ruin the fun for you completely.
 
Paddy McGee Yeah, I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that i will need a capture card to do this correctly. Which is okay because it'll be worth it. My mother has some logitek headsets around from her work could you show me some of your audio examples using it?

Thanks for the info about two different audio channels. I believe that elgato capture I was looking at provides a game audio and then mic audio separately, so that's good to know that's actually useful.

As for my "area" I'm not worried about all of that, it'll be fine. :ryan:
ZaXo Ken'Ichi

720 will def not work for me. I'm into graphics and the difference between 1080 and 720 for FFVII is so easy to spot for me. It's not nearly as smooth or polished looking, and that's what I want for my LP. That's cool you mentioned the elgato game capture option because that's what I was looking at already, specifically this one (amazon link). I wasn't sure if my PC could handle it though (the guy gives system requirements but I'm clueless about this stuff). I was also looking at this AVerMedia capture because it's so low in price. Just not sure which one is better...

By the way, just in case it matters, here's the PC I'm currently using and I'm having troubles with it just opening GIMP and spotify at the same time:

CPU: i3 3240 @ 3.4ghz (Ivy Bridge)
GPU: GT 710
RAM: 8GB
PSU: EVGA 500w
MOBO: Generic HP (HP Pro3500 Series)

( has a ram limit and the motherboard can't be modified )


And here's another system that I could switch to if needed:

System 2:
CPU: i3 3240 @ 3.4ghz (Ivy Bridge)
GPU: GT 710
RAM: 16gb
MOBO: MSI Z68A-G43
PSU: EVGA 500w

( I can upgrade the CPU to i5-2500k (budget $60-90) )


Are either of these viable for better game capture with elgato or any other device?


And thank you for the audio suggestions. I'd like to do audio but I wouldn't see the point if my voice comes out crackly or whatever and just overall irritating because of whatever reason. I do use audacity so I'm glad that can help me out, too. The only mic I currently have is a extra work mic my mother gave me from her work and I'm pretty sure it's a logitek headset.
Sprout, I agree, man! That's why I hoped for an hour in length for an FFVII LP. Any shorter and there's practically no story advancement :lew:


Thanks for all the help guys, it really means a lot. I've been looking for a fun healthy hobby to do and I think doing a LP will really brighten my mood.
 
Daredevil said:
And thank you for the audio suggestions. I'd like to do audio but I wouldn't see the point if my voice comes out crackly or whatever and just overall irritating because of whatever reason. I do use audacity so I'm glad that can help me out, too. The only mic I currently have is a extra work mic my mother gave me from her work and I'm pretty sure it's a logitek headset.
@Sprout, I agree, man! That's why I hoped for an hour in length for an FFVII LP. Any shorter and there's practically no story advancement :lew:


Thanks for all the help guys, it really means a lot. I've been looking for a fun healthy hobby to do and I think doing a LP will really brighten my mood.
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Ah, you use audacity? A good tool within that is something called "Noise Removal". You pick a bit of blank space in your comms, select noise removal under the Effect tab, then once the loading is done (there might not be any), select the whole track and noise removal again. It removes some roughness. If there's too much static etc though, it'll make your voice sound like a robot. You can play around with it a bit though :). Sorry if you know all this already lol.

As for a healthy hobby, I 100% agree that this is it! I became much more sociable once I started making LPs...it helped me to come out of my shell at least a little. It also perks you up when you see that you've made something you consider worthwhile :lew:.
 
Sprout said:
Ah, you use audacity? A good tool within that is something called "Noise Removal". You pick a bit of blank space in your comms, select noise removal under the Effect tab, then once the loading is done (there might not be any), select the whole track and noise removal again. It removes some roughness. If there's too much static etc though, it'll make your voice sound like a robot. You can play around with it a bit though :). Sorry if you know all this already lol.

As for a healthy hobby, I 100% agree that this is it! I became much more sociable once I started making LPs...it helped me to come out of my shell at least a little. It also perks you up when you see that you've made something you consider worthwhile :lew:.
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I use it for cutting audio and changing tracks for my YT uploads so my videos won't get removed, but other than that, I've never done any of that. So thank you! :lew:
 
Your PC should be just fine with any of those configurations. Mine is less powerful and captures at the maximum bitrate in 1080p just fine. Though if you're having trouble even just having Gimp and Spotify open simultaneously, either one of your components might be malfunctioning, you have tons of programs bogging it down that open on startup, you've got viruses, or you need to defragment your harddrive/ maybe blast and reinstall your OS. That configuration shouldn't be having that much trouble.

I haven't used any AVerMedia stuff, so I can't comment on that. Some of their products require power overhead because they don't process the video in real time for you, some don't. Some are supposed to be well made, others aren't. I use an Elgato Gamecapture HD, and it's great. Which I should also point out that your link to the Elgato on YouTube, and the Amazon link are for two different products; the Gamecapture HD, and the HD60. The one in the video should be much cheaper because it's actually this older model here: https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Capture-PlayStation-Definition-Recorder/dp/B00840353W

That's what you're looking for. Not sure why I can't find one with a price, but it'll likely be the cheaper option unless their extra ports for capturing older consoles make them more valuable. The HD60 will require a better PC if you plan on capturing anything at 60fps (not sure how much better), and an adapter (or something like a Framemeister) for capturing any console older than the 360. Worth noting if you plan on doing so in the future.
 
ZaXo Ken'Ichi said:
Your PC should be just fine with any of those configurations. Mine is less powerful and captures at the maximum bitrate in 1080p just fine. Though if you're having trouble even just having Gimp and Spotify open simultaneously, either one of your components might be malfunctioning, you have tons of programs bogging it down that open on startup, you've got viruses, or you need to defragment your harddrive/ maybe blast and reinstall your OS. That configuration shouldn't be having that much trouble.

I haven't used any AVerMedia stuff, so I can't comment on that. Some of their products require power overhead because they don't process the video in real time for you, some don't. Some are supposed to be well made, others aren't. I use an Elgato Gamecapture HD, and it's great. Which I should also point out that your link to the Elgato on YouTube, and the Amazon link are for two different products; the Gamecapture HD, and the HD60. The one in the video should be much cheaper because it's actually this older model here: https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Capture-PlayStation-Definition-Recorder/dp/B00840353W

That's what you're looking for. Not sure why I can't find one with a price, but it'll likely be the cheaper option unless their extra ports for capturing older consoles make them more valuable. The HD60 will require a better PC if you plan on capturing anything at 60fps (not sure how much better), and an adapter (or something like a Framemeister) for capturing any console older than the 360. Worth noting if you plan on doing so in the future.
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Dude, you're a god-send! Thank you. I'll try and check those problems out and see if I can fix it myself then.

I just looked up that older model and its price is nearly $300, the cheaper version is the top which is why I was thinking of getting that version
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Not sure why an older model is so expensive? :hmmm:

I guess the older model is what I need though since the other one needs a better PC to actually use. I do actually plan on doing LP for FF7R, too (when it gets released, I mean) BTW
 
I agree with Sprout about the length. Not everything can be 5-10 minute episodes. When I did my LP(which I need to get back to I know) the game that I was playing had some long chapters so if I did 5-10 minute episodes it'd take me 3+ episodes just to finish each chapter and that's if I milked it to 10 minutes and went as quickly as I could so in order to actually feel like you're progressing in each episode it's best to just play for a longer amount of time for RPGs. A good general idea for you is to probably stop your episodes after each save point or save point right after a boss battle or a major cutscene.
 
The HD60 might not need too much more powerful of a rig if you only capture at 30fps (there's a checkbox that toggles between the two). You might be fine as is. If I had one, I'd try it, but for me that toggle does nothing, lol.

As for why the older one is more expensive, the only thing I can think of is those extra ports. I can capture with Composite, Component, DVI, and HDMI using mine... maybe even coaxial. The HD60 can only do HDMI without an adapter, though I don't think the adapter is expensive. Maybe the adapter just sucks, which would mean the best way to capture from other sources using it would be a Framemeister, which last time I checked were $350 on their own.

EDIT: Here are the system requirements for maxing out resolution, bitrate, and fps on both Elgato's. I provide those for the Gamecapture HD as well just as a reference for approximately what the HD60 may require if you drop the fps to 30.

Gamecapture HD: https://help.elgato.com/customer/portal/articles/1020255-elgato-game-capture-hd-system-requirements

HD60: https://help.elgato.com/customer/po...gato-game-capture-hd60-s-system-requirements-

My current computer has an I7 from 2011, which I'm assuming is older than yours. And my other (which could only do 720p) had an ANCIENT Core2Duo.
 
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Honalassiel said:
:lew:

That's awesome! Thank you. Which kind do you have? That's a pretty good mic!
@ZaXo Ken'Ichi Thank you for that info, man!




Thanks for all the help guys! I appreciate it.
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I did this with my gaming headset; my logitek headset is out of commission after my nephew stamped on it. The microphone on my headset(https://www.amazon.com/HyperX-Gaming-Headset-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B00SAYCXWG) is known for actually being a little subpar compared to other headsets in its range, let alone compared to a dedicated mic. I got them because they're comfy, the boom is removable and they have a dedicated sound card for 7.1 sound- which isn't important here. :lew:
 
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