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predec
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Has the VP9 quality decreased?

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I am using Stadia in 4K on CCU and Chrome and had always a fantastic experience. But since last month the quality of the stream has decreased a lot. It looks more blurry and I can see a lot more artifacts, especially around characters.

Lately I have read about similar experiences on other forums and wanted to pick out one interesting thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/stx7s5/h264_is_outstanding_is_vp9_the_reason_of_all_evil/

After reading that I have also tried to switch on H264 and guess what, it looks good again! Less blurry and no frequently artifacts out of nowhere. I remember that VP9 was always much better than H264 but something has changed. The bad, I cannot use H264 on CCU and I cannot play in 4k.

So here is the question: Was there any update of the VP9 codec which was never tested with Stadia? Can this be the reason of the quality loss which gets not only reported by me?

Just to Add at this point: I am using ethernet, have high speed internet, the ping is low and the connection status is always on green.

2 Kudos
Best Response
predec
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Hello @RXShorty

according to another thread on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/svgumj/blurry_games/

this was a know issue and the Stadia team did a rollback yesterday of some changes they did in the last month. Now it looks crisp again, night and day for me! Time to enjoy some games.

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1 Kudo
7 Replies
RXShorty
Platinum Stadia Guide
Platinum Stadia Guide

Hi @predec 

Great question which I am not able to answer.
But just want to let you know I don't have any issues with VP9 on my laptop or Google TV.
Both just to play just fine.

You are correct about the VP9 looks better than H264 (normally).
The CCU does support 4K but your TV doesn't? 

1 Kudo
predec
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Hello @RXShorty

good to hear that you do not have any problems, but a lot of people have. Maybe its regional (I live in Germany) or you are just lucky that you are not that sensitive about picture issues.

There was another post on reddit about this behavior with the VP9 codec:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/sv0uge/the_vp9_experience_as_of_late_ccwgtv_4ktv/

At the end of the video you can see clearly how it's getting fuzzy at the edges when moving. And this was not there before. The picture was always clear and gave me the feeling to play locally. But now it just looks bad and reminds me every second that the game is just streamed which makes playing on Stadia less enjoyable.

To your question, yes my TV supports 4K.

0 Kudos
RXShorty
Platinum Stadia Guide
Platinum Stadia Guide

Hi @predec 

So I went gaming last night and did a check (I am not a real graphics intense guy :face_with_tongue: ) and played Riders Republic. 
When doing fast tricks there is some kind of motion blur to the character now... I know this wasn't the case before and played about 100+ hours.

I guess VP9 is different now... I am from the Netherlands so not to far away from your region.
Let me check with the other Guides to see if they noticed the same. :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:

0 Kudos
Amoker
Founder
Founder

I just got in CP2077 again recently and it looks really bad on VP9. I remember that Stadia announced a new codec a year ago or something. Does someone remember?

1 Kudo
RXShorty
Platinum Stadia Guide
Platinum Stadia Guide

Hi @predec and @Amoker 

Yes it looked way better. Could you please check again to see if the quality has improved?
I tested it right now and it looks way better. On my laptop and on my Google TV. :slightly_smiling_face:
So it seems to be fixed for me right now. :hugging_face:

0 Kudos
predec
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Hello @RXShorty

according to another thread on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/svgumj/blurry_games/

this was a know issue and the Stadia team did a rollback yesterday of some changes they did in the last month. Now it looks crisp again, night and day for me! Time to enjoy some games.

1 Kudo
Borussia
Silver Stadia Guide
Silver Stadia Guide

Just read that thread (no idea why I haven't seen it earlier) and quickly want to thank you for posting.

I was investigating possible issues with my connection the last few days as I experienced sudden pixelation during gameplay, too.

Good to see that the problem is fixed.

0 Kudos