Help with optimal settings for Youtube using Videostudio

brian996 · Post by **brian996** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:01 am

Here is my project properties:

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Upper Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 16:9
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 9100 kbps)
Audio data rate: 448 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 3/2(L,C,R,SL,SR)

I have tried saving a variety of ways but when put on youtube it seems to get a murky cloudy look that is not detailed. Using the create video under the share tab, what should I save the project as for the best settings on youtube?

My video clips are MP2 format by default.

Thanks alot for any help,

I have spent so much time trying to figure this out.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:48 am

Your project properties are about the highest quality possible for DVD-compatible mpeg-2 (indeed, some DVD players may not be able to play a disc using those settings...) But suffice it to say that you are starting out at the top quality end of the range.

Given that at its very best, YouTube video is a good deal less than average quality IMHO, and more usually appalling, I think you are just seeing very starkly the enormous degradation in video quality which has to occur when you recode your original video to meet their size and format requirements. It's one of the reasons I have never considered posting anything on YouTube and indeed, I will only watch others' contributions on it under duress!

But I will be most interested to hear suggestions on how to convert video which will have at least reasonable quality on YouTube...

Post by **Ron P.** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:50 pm

I have posted some examples on YouTube, and was rather disgusted by the results. In fact I went through a series of test outputs trying to find a decent output. I finally gave up after rendering a file to Hi-Def, uploading that to Youtube to find that quality no better. However I did not start with a Hi-Def video, just the standard definition.

My Test Runs:

My thoughts on those rare clips that are watchable on YouTube, Veoh, or Google, are that the original video has to be high-def to start with, or shot with some of the more expensive camcorders, using 3-chip censors. Following that, they probably used a very small GOP (group of pictures) settings, adjusting the Motion-PEL search to fit the video to be displayed.

I know they provide the recommended format, frame sizes ect., but the encoders they use are terrible. It makes no sense to recommend uploading highly compressed formats like WMV or DivX, just to have it re-encoded to FLV, which is yet a very highly compressed format, it just allows the video to be streamed. WMV and DivX both can be streamed with out any conversion to Flash video (FLV).