Report this article HD Video Support & Levelling

Watch videos uploaded to ModDB in full HD glory (well sorta...) and level-up to level 70 like in WoW by being active on the site is the latest news from the ModDB crew

Posted by INtense! on Jun 10th, 2008 digg this super bookmark


Web videos rock, they really do - who wants to download a clip and then watch it, I don't - I'm about as patient as a monkey with a banana in its mouth. But the quickness of web videos (generally) comes at a price... quality. One only has to spend a few minutes watching pixels the size of a small city on YouTube and other sites to realize we still have a long way to go before web video is as refreshing as a cold beer (warm for the crazy poms) on a Friday night and as satisfying as pwning your friends.

Mod DB video quality just jumped up a notch (still a long way off perfect and NOT HD) - because we now use the H.264 codec (used to encode HD video) instead of the dated H.263 codec (used by Youtube and others). Check out the comparision below if you don't believe me (if you cannot see the second video, make sure you have upgraded to the latest Flash Player):

OLD H.263 Quality


New H.264 Quality


Same Videos Side-by-Side (H.263 & H.264)


Over the coming weeks all videos will be encoded into H.264 format and we will continue to push the quality up as bandwidth becomes more plentiful.

The next change is the removal of the karma system (because it simply didn't work) and its replacement with a new levelling system. The leveling system discussed here works much like it does in WoW and other games. Grind er stay active on the site, contribute tutorials, reviews, videos, news etc and you will gain activity points. Post crap and you will LOSE activity points. As you gain activity points your level goes up. Simple! Each level has a custom random title which has something to do with the site, mods and game development. You can view your level in your profile which you can access by clicking your username in the top left corner (see my profile). A demo image is provided below:

Levelling on ModDB
Comments
kinesis916
kinesis916 Jun 10 2008, 1:06pm says:

Oh yes. That video stuff is cool. I can't wait for the new range of higher quality movies to watch.

And who you calling crazy poms. Everyone knows a cold beer is best.

+3 votes     reply to comment
jacksonj04
jacksonj04 Jun 10 2008, 1:18pm says:

Awesome new videos :D

Like the levelling as well, very RPG.

+1 vote     reply to comment
DJ-Ready
DJ-Ready Jun 10 2008, 1:28pm says:

I never got how the karma system worked anyways ... this seems to be much nicer :)

and yay for h.264

+1 vote     reply to comment
Henley
Henley Jun 10 2008, 1:47pm says:

yay for scotty making the videos nicer :D

+1 vote     reply to comment
INtense!
INtense! Jun 10 2008, 1:48pm says:

damn the videos are sooo much sexier - hopefully youtube will upgrade soon, the only issue with H.264 is that only 60% of people are running the latest flash player ATM which is needed for these videos

+1 vote     reply to comment
DaveTheFreak
DaveTheFreak Jun 10 2008, 2:03pm says:

The video quality is definitely much better, now I don't always have to upload a trailer twice (uploading the video and downloading the high quality one). Then the leveling system, the best thing you could do was to remove the carma. It cannot be that a developer have a negative carma and a lot of activity points, so the new system is perfect.

+1 vote     reply to comment
INtense!
INtense! Jun 10 2008, 2:11pm replied:

I'm considering adding an option to "download" the video - not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing, it would definately save uploading content twice.

+1 vote     reply to comment
raxiv
raxiv Jun 10 2008, 2:03pm says:

yeah, HD stream videos are a great asset to anyone related to modding. Kudos!

+1 vote     reply to comment
wiredgear
wiredgear Jun 10 2008, 2:12pm says:

awesome job! Loving the lvling system ^_^

+1 vote     reply to comment
limagic
limagic Jun 10 2008, 2:20pm says:

Yeah Great work on the new features :D

+1 vote     reply to comment
lackoo
lackoo Jun 10 2008, 2:39pm says:

Updated the Flash Player,but h.264 still not working for me. :(

+1 vote     reply to comment
INtense!
INtense! Jun 10 2008, 2:50pm replied:

It can be confusing sometimes, make sure you open / close your browser and you are running v9.0.64 or greater Kb.adobe.com

+1 vote     reply to comment
Greg
Greg Jun 10 2008, 3:12pm replied:

Actually, it is imperative you should be running Adobe Flash Player version 9.0.124.0. Anything earlier than this and there are major security holes / vulnerabilities.

+1 vote     reply to comment
drhead
drhead Jun 10 2008, 4:38pm says:

Awesome shit!

love the leveling system!

+1 vote     reply to comment
stenchy
stenchy Jun 10 2008, 4:42pm says:

Hmm, y'know what's weird? Henley and Scott are ranked 1st and 2nd on the site, yet I am level 30. Aussie favoritism? I THINK SO!!!!

+1 vote     reply to comment
Terminal58
Terminal58 Jun 10 2008, 5:16pm says:

It's a step up but it's still not Vimeo quality.

+2 votes     reply to comment
Noesis_Interactive
Noesis_Interactive Jun 10 2008, 5:53pm says:

Nice one guys! The updated video quality is great and will be really beneficial to us.

The leveling system seems like a sneaky way to make people contribute and hang out on ModDB.....but......we all want to level up no matter what the goal is, so time to start uploading (for days at a time if need be, ha ha)!!

Good work!

+2 votes     reply to comment
Mr_Cyberpunk
Mr_Cyberpunk Jun 10 2008, 6:29pm says: Online

Nice video updates, runs way smoother and looks better too.

+1 vote     reply to comment
NemesisRaptor
NemesisRaptor Jun 10 2008, 6:57pm says:

The videos are really good, and levelling in ModDB is like RPG

+1 vote     reply to comment
dar_
dar_ Jun 10 2008, 9:34pm says:

Man, sure feels spotty here. With a side of game. If you know what I mean.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Herr_Alien
Herr_Alien Jun 10 2008, 10:31pm says:

Hmm, bummer, some of my older videos for AvP2Fortress now look like oil paintings (the oldest one, the sentry placement, for example). You can't realy see anything out of them. What's your opinion, should I simply upload them again?

+1 vote     reply to comment
Henley
Henley Jun 10 2008, 11:03pm replied:

maybe time to make your videos using the h.246 codec

+1 vote     reply to comment
INtense!
INtense! Jun 10 2008, 11:26pm replied:

i'm not sure what has happened to your vids. They must be encoded in a format not conducive to encoding. I suggest you update them.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Herr_Alien
Herr_Alien Jun 11 2008, 12:48am replied:

Ok, got it.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Scurvy_Lobster
Scurvy_Lobster Jun 11 2008, 4:00am replied:

My latest video is also corrupted for some seconds. Will check up on the older ones too.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Scurvy_Lobster
Scurvy_Lobster Jun 11 2008, 4:29am replied:

Nope, re-uploading didn't fix it. It's a standard 640x480 WMV video so I guess that is not an ideal format.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Herr_Alien
Herr_Alien Jun 11 2008, 6:29am replied:

I don't think it's the format. Per release, I usually upload 2 -3 videos, all encoded in the same way. Some of them do get the 'oil paint' job, while others (from the same release date) don't.
There is something to it, I just can't figure out a cause for it.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Scurvy_Lobster
Scurvy_Lobster Jun 11 2008, 7:42am replied:

I have made a MPEG2 version of my corrupted video now. Will try uploading it to see if that works.

+1 vote     reply to comment
INtense!
INtense! Jun 11 2008, 7:44am replied:

I've noticed a few videos get some weird errors, send me the link to some crazy looking videos - and I will tweak my encoding settings so that it no longer happens.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Scurvy_Lobster
Scurvy_Lobster Jun 11 2008, 8:00am replied:

I've send you a a pm with a link to my video.

+1 vote     reply to comment
xxghostkillxx
xxghostkillxx Jun 10 2008, 10:42pm says:

Video quality is highly noticeable, I love the new update!

+1 vote     reply to comment
mflux
mflux Jun 11 2008, 12:11am says:

woot :) good stuff!

+1 vote     reply to comment
CaptainSource
CaptainSource Jun 11 2008, 12:28am says:

Yeah, it looks a lot better than the earlier version. Will upload the other vids of the mod...

+1 vote     reply to comment
Twitwi
Twitwi Jun 11 2008, 4:28am says:

I got a very big screen and it would be cool if i could run the HD ModDB tv on a Widescreen (16:10 - 1680:1050) in "Full screen"

+1 vote     reply to comment
Deathy
Deathy Jun 11 2008, 5:39am says:

Very nice!

btw, there is support for "HQ"-Videos on Youtube already..
If the video supports it, then there is a link beneath the video (Watch in High Quality).

+1 vote     reply to comment
Soviet_Deso
Soviet_Deso Jun 11 2008, 7:54am says:

Nicely done guys, video quality is much better and the point system is cool too

+1 vote     reply to comment
Squeebo
Squeebo Jun 11 2008, 11:21am says:

Nice videos, and yeah... I never really understood the "Karma" thing;leveling is better, if you ask me.

+1 vote     reply to comment
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