Can anyone help me improve my technical production value on the cheap?

N

Noah Gervais

New Member
Hey fellas,
For the past six months, I've been making long-form video game analysis videos. I have a zero-dollar budget, however, and I've been using a seven year old radioshack desk mike, Windows Movie Maker 7, and FRAPS to do them-- resulting in less than satisfactory production values. FRAPS is fine, but I haven't been able to get WMM to render resolutions better than 720x480-- then when I upload to youtube, it looks even worse. People have been very patient about it, but I would like a better picture quality for upcoming videos. Can you guys give me some advice? A couple things I'd find most helpful:
1) A recommendation for new editing software, keeping in mind I work in food service and have very, very little to spend. Or help me get better results from WMM. 2) A cheap desk mic recommendation. I would strongly prefer a desk mic over a headset, but don't know how to critically evaluate one from another. 3) Resolution and formatting advice. I don't fully understand why my videos have these blank spaces at the edge of the screen after the video is processed, for example.
I've been completely winging it this whole time, and I feel like I've done pretty well considering, but I can certainly see room for improvement.
 
It depends on your budget. Adobe Premiere is the top notch thing around right now for editing.

Blue Yeti is not cheap but is amazing. Turtle beach headsets are great for gaming commentary.

Resolution: 720p - I use the elgato, in 720 and the video below was only about 150MB.
 
I'd like much larger resolutions than 720p, though, ideally I'd like 1440x900. Something big and crisp. I don't need any effects or the like, I just need something for, say, sixty bucks or less that'll give me a desktop-size resolution. Or is that not possible, is there some kind of max resolution for cheap software?
 
Noah Gervais said:
I'd like much larger resolutions than 720p, though, ideally I'd like 1440x900. Something big and crisp. I don't need any effects or the like, I just need something for, say, sixty bucks or less that'll give me a desktop-size resolution. Or is that not possible, is there some kind of max resolution for cheap software?
Click to expand...


Ah. With most screen capture and screen recording software, it's tough to record in such a format. YouTube doesn't allow for higher than 1080p anyway so save your disk space and record in 1080 instead.
 
Gotcha. And any software will do that? Also, what's the deal with the black bars at the edges of the screen after my video is processed? Never understood that. And Windows Movie Maker has a lot of trouble blending footage resolutions from FRAPS (in widescreen) and my camcorder (in 4:3 .avi), is any software specifically well suited for that? Or is it more "Once you stop using free software, you won't have these problems". It would be helpful in answering my questions if you saw like 10 seconds of what my videos look like-- they're not that blurry after WMM finishes them, then they get way worse after uploading.
 
For free editing, VirtualDub or Lightworks, If you want to spend a bit for editing then Sony Vegas is very decent.
For sound, A Blue Snowball sounds pretty much exactly the same as a blue yeti but is a lot cheaper.
For the blank edges, you must be rendering or recording at the wrong resolution.
 
Noah Gervais said:
Hey fellas,
For the past six months, I've been making long-form video game analysis videos. I have a zero-dollar budget, however, and I've been using a seven year old radioshack desk mike, Windows Movie Maker 7, and FRAPS to do them-- resulting in less than satisfactory production values. FRAPS is fine, but I haven't been able to get WMM to render resolutions better than 720x480-- then when I upload to youtube, it looks even worse. People have been very patient about it, but I would like a better picture quality for upcoming videos. Can you guys give me some advice? A couple things I'd find most helpful:
1) A recommendation for new editing software, keeping in mind I work in food service and have very, very little to spend. Or help me get better results from WMM. 2) A cheap desk mic recommendation. I would strongly prefer a desk mic over a headset, but don't know how to critically evaluate one from another. 3) Resolution and formatting advice. I don't fully understand why my videos have these blank spaces at the edge of the screen after the video is processed, for example.
I've been completely winging it this whole time, and I feel like I've done pretty well considering, but I can certainly see room for improvement.
Click to expand...

For the video editing software, I suggest SmartPixel Producer, since you already had fraps, it might cost you $15.9, it is easy to use with 720P HD resolution. For the desk mic, I suggest you think about Logitech brand, it is a famous Taiwan OEM mainly manufacture keyboard, mouse and mic etc.. As for the blank spaces, I guess the software issue, just take a look at Smartpixel and have a try, it never happened to me.
 
Your bars are an import/export issue. I'd recommend running all your footage through MPEG Streamclip (Free and easily googled) to make certain it matches. I recommend converting it to MPEG4/H.264.

I'm not familiar with Windows Movie Maker 7, but you'll want to find a way to export to the same as well. If you post a screencap of your export settings, someone here can help you further. :)
 
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