The game is in 1080p and I recorded in 1280x720p. the codec was H.264 CUDA VBR, the video was uploaded raw as a WMV file. (Quality loss is most noticeable at 0:15)
http://youtu.be/luLO21kkBJY

I tried rendering the video in movie maker in hopes it would improve, the quality actually got slightly worse (the video was outputted as an mp4 file)
http://youtu.be/LQwGZA0EDBo

I also tried recording using H.264 NVENC (I have a gtx 780) but the quality was still horrible on youtube http://youtu.be/WZ__0gNeOAg

The videos look fine and perfectly crisp and sharp when I view them on my computer.
How can my videos be improved so it isn't so extremely blurry and pixelated? It's hideous, even at 720p.

try run the game in 1920 x 1080 resolution and then record in 1920 x 1080. so its 1080p, right now your videos 720p. also how many frames per second are you recording in?

I recorded in 30 fps, I'll try recording another video in 1080p

try run the game in 1920 x 1080 resolution and then record in 1920 x 1080. so its 1080p, right now your videos 720p. also how many frames per second are you recording in?

Useless suggestion.

Your video gets pixelated because of YouTube's low bitrate limits. It wouldn't exactly matter with which codec you encoded it with. If you want batter quality then try capturing or upscaling the video to higher resolution such as 2560x1440p or higher. YT's 1080p videos are limited to 6Mbps which looks horribly when there are a lot of things moving on the screen.

If you don't have resolutions above 1080 then you can use downsampling: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=509076
With most of the usual monitors you can go near 4K, like 3200x1800p.

I've seen other youtubers record and play this same game and have little quality loss, this one for example is 720p at most and has minimal loss
http://youtu.be/ktTJMCRXCBQ

try run the game in 1920 x 1080 resolution and then record in 1920 x 1080. so its 1080p, right now your videos 720p. also how many frames per second are you recording in?

Useless suggestion.

Your video gets pixelated because of YouTube's low bitrate limits. It wouldn't exactly matter with which codec you encoded it with. If you want batter quality then try capturing or upscaling the video to higher resolution such as 2560x1440p or higher. YT's 1080p videos are limited to 6Mbps which looks horribly when there are a lot of things moving on the screen.

If you don't have resolutions above 1080 then you can use downsampling: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=509076
With most of the usual monitors you can go near 4K, like 3200x1800p.

so how is there tons of gorgeus looking videos in 1080p? on youtubes advance settings page the standard for 1080p is 8000 kbps so its not limited to 6. Theres even higher bitrates for people with enterprise connections .

https://support.google.com/youtube/answ ... 1?hl=en-GB

Variable bitrate. No bit rate limit required, although we offer recommended bit rates below for reference

so how is there tons of gorgeus looking videos in 1080p? on youtubes advance settings page the standard for 1080p is 8000 kbps so its not limited to 6. Theres even higher bitrates for people with enterprise connections .

https://support.google.com/youtube/answ ... 1?hl=en-GB

Variable bitrate. No bit rate limit required, although we offer recommended bit rates below for reference

Son. I've been in YouTube business since 2008.
The average bitrate has never been above 6-7 and it's 8 if the audio streams are included.
Name me or show me any "enterprise" channel. Better yet, download their video, check the bitrate and prove me wrong.

The only reason why there are gorgeous 1080p videos is because they have low on-screen activity. As example, games with pre-rendered backgrounds will looks absolutely crystal clear.

The only reason why there are gorgeous 1080p videos is because they have low on-screen activity. As example, games with pre-rendered backgrounds will looks absolutely crystal clear.

This game definitely doesn't have low screen activity and it looks crystal clear in 1080p: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adl2aGDtBdo

I'm playing the exact same game and uploading videos of it, but my quality doesn't seem to match up to the one above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As8Tiyst55E

Here's another more extreme example that shows my quality issue. Same game, same environment this time.
Mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKgs_oCk2jY Around 28 seconds it definitely shows.
Someone Else's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSOEWm6splc I can't see any, if any, pixelation here.

I think the pixelation I'm getting is called digital noise? But aside from what it's called, there's definitely a noticeable difference in the quality of my video and the the one by Junyoop. Just to note, my videos look crystal clear on my computer both raw and rendered.

My bandicam settings are as follows:
Size: Full Size (1600x900 resolution. My native resolution)
FPS: 30
Codec: MPEG -1 with VBR enabled
Quality: 100



If I upload a raw file, it only is available in 720p (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awSGtZxZFw8) which still looks like crap compared to some 720 videos Jun has done (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NAeKKWYGQQ). I render it using windows movie maker to upscale it to 1920x1080 so it's available in 1080.

I'm thinking that one of the following is the casue of my degraded quality; My native 1600x900 resolution, the upscale in res, or the fact that I'm using WMM to do the upscale process. I've tried almost everything from changing bitrates to toying with different resolutions & I can't seem to pinpoint the problem.

I wouldn't use WMM. Use VirtualDub instead, it's free.

His:
http://imgur.com/jpEm9LZ.jpg
Yours:
http://imgur.com/R6qmbQ9.jpg

His:
http://imgur.com/mliAddO.jpg
Yours:
http://imgur.com/VGeJCPp.jpg

Even with imgur's crappy compression I can see that yours are better, but far from perfect. The Korean ones are low bitrate to begin with.
I can also blame on your usage of WMM's codec. Try using h.264 instead.

Here's a sample of my old preset (captured by BC):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kBYNQXTuu8
While it does get slightly blurry/pixelated it manages to stay sharp after the particles. It's not digital noise, those are artifacts caused by compression. The ones you compared had lower details and were more blurry, less on-screen info.

so how is there tons of gorgeus looking videos in 1080p? on youtubes advance settings page the standard for 1080p is 8000 kbps so its not limited to 6. Theres even higher bitrates for people with enterprise connections .

https://support.google.com/youtube/answ ... 1?hl=en-GB

Variable bitrate. No bit rate limit required, although we offer recommended bit rates below for reference

Son. I've been in YouTube business since 2008.
The average bitrate has never been above 6-7 and it's 8 if the audio streams are included.
Name me or show me any "enterprise" channel. Better yet, download their video, check the bitrate and prove me wrong.

The only reason why there are gorgeous 1080p videos is because they have low on-screen activity. As example, games with pre-rendered backgrounds will looks absolutely crystal clear.

I never said you was wrong btw, im new to youtube and iv read the advanced settings loads of times so i only questioned your comment , never said u was wrong . Also downloading doesnt really count,i upload a video to youtube and its 575 mb, i download it from youtube and its only 175 mb :S.