Posting Xbox One Game Play to YouTube
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If you have mad gaming skills, you might want to share some of your gaming accomplishments with your friends – or with the world. Although Xbox One makes it easy to compare achievements with your Xbox friends, there is no obvious way to share a recording of your actual game play. You can make a recording as you conquer a game and then post that recording to YouTube for the world to see.
Recording a Game
The first step in posting a game video to YouTube is to record the video that you want to post. There are two main methods for recording videos of your game play. Both methods are based around using the Xbox One’s Game DVR, but the method that you need to use depends on your intended recording duration.
If you need to make only a short video, simply say “Xbox Record That.” When you do, Kinect instructs the Xbox One to make a 30-second recording of your game play. It is worth noting, however, that sometimes a second or two might be shaved from the recording. Some of my test clips, for example, were only 28 seconds.
The other method that you can use involves establishing manual control over the Game DVR. This method is appropriate for making recordings that are more than 30 seconds in length. The Game DVR supports recordings of up to 5 minutes in duration, but you can stitch together up to five clips, making for a theoretical maximum recording length of 25 minutes.
If you want to make a video that is longer than 25 minutes, you can always create as many 5-minute clips as you want and then use PC-based video editing software to stitch together a nearly unlimited number of clips. Later, I will show you how to retrieve your video clips from a PC.
To use the Game DVR, you need to snap it to the screen alongside the game that you are playing. You can find the Game DVR by going to My Games and Apps | Game DVR.
When the Game DVR opens, select the Start New Clip option. When you are ready to begin recording, click Begin Recording. After your recording is complete, choose the End Clip Now option.
When you end the clip, Game DVR will ask you how much video you want to keep. You can choose to keep the last 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes, or 5 minutes.
Necessary Apps
So far you have recorded a game clip, but some more work is necessary before you can post it on YouTube. The next thing that you are going to need to do is to install a couple apps onto your Xbox One console. You need the SkyDrive app and the Upload Studio app. Both are freely available in the app store.
Using Upload Studio
After the Upload Studio and SkyDrive apps are installed, you can use Upload Studio to edit and export your clips. When Upload Studio opens, choose the Upload option and then click the option to start editing. You will now be prompted to choose an editing template. Your choices include
- Just Trim – Choose this option if you need to edit a single clip.
- Picture in Picture – This option requires two clips.
- Bookend – The book End option is used if you need to stitch together three clips.
- Multi Clip – The multi Clip option lets you stitch together five clips.
Regardless of the template that you choose, there are a couple things that you can do during the editing process. One option is to record a voice over. You can use this option to narrate your video.
Another option is to choose a skin. Skins add a short introduction to your clip and present it within a decorative frame. For example, the pop art skin makes your clip appear as a part of a comic book. A couple of other skins that are worth checking out are Arcade and Horror.
When you complete the editing process, click Finish. You will now be taken to a screen that asks you to provide a name for your clip. You can also tag your clip using one of the built-in tags. Some of the available tags include Epic Moment, Epic Fail, Review, Help & Tips, Walkthrough, and Funny. Of course, tagging your clip is optional.
When you are done naming and optionally tagging your video clip, click Upload. The Upload screen gives you two different choices: Upload or Upload and Save to SkyDrive. Because the goal is to get your clip on YouTube, choose the Upload and Save to SkyDrive option.
Upon making your choice, Xbox One will take a few minutes to render the clip and to upload it. The exact length of time that will be required varies depending on the length of the clip and the speed of your Internet connection.
Uploading Your Video to YouTube
The last part of the process is a lot easier if you do it from a PC rather than directly from the Xbox One console. With that said, open up your web browser and go to skydrive.live.com. After logging into your SkyDrive account, make sure that the Files option is selected and then click Videos. Next, click Xbox Game DVR. You should now see the video clip that you just created.
Right-click the video clip, and choose the Download option from the shortcut menu. When prompted, save the video clip to your PC. In case you are wondering, the video will be in MP4 format, which is a standard video format that is supported by most modern video players.
When the download completes, you are finally ready to put the video on YouTube. Simply log into your YouTube account, click Upload, and then drag your video file to the upload area.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are quite a few steps involved in capturing, editing, and uploading game videos. Even so, with a bit of work, you can share your finest gaming moments (or most epic fails) with the world.
As you probably noticed, your editing options through the Xbox One console are a bit limited. If you find that you need more creative control, I recommend exporting each clip individually using Upload Studio’s Just Trim theme (and no skin) and then using a PC-based video editor to do all your editing.