What format should I start with when making a YouTube vid?

whatagem · Post by **whatagem** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:41 pm

I'm experimenting with uploading videos to YouTube in a good quality (so far all my uploads look like garbage!)

I use VS 11.5plus

When I transfer information from a DVD to my computer--what is the best format to transfer in? What format should I use to send to VS?
(i'd been previously using avi but I seem to lose a lot of quality there)

What is the absolute best format to save the finished VS project in when intending to upload to YouTube?
I tried mpeg4 on one & it came out so-so. Better than some of my previous uploads. I also read the thread on DivX but I cannot save as DivX--it is not available as a format to save as. I converted to DivX & video still looks so-so quality)

Thanks!

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:20 pm

When I transfer information from a DVD to my computer--what is the best format to transfer in? What format should I use to send to VS?

If you're source is DVD compatible MPEG-2 then that is what you should stick with for your transfer. Recoding it to whatever flavor of avi will affect the quality. So start with MPEG-2.

What is the absolute best format to save the finished VS project in when intending to upload to YouTube?

You find out, let us all know..

YouTube is notorious for having about the worst FLV encoder. Some time back I tried to find the "best" quality and uploaded several, from WMV, to DivX and FLV. I still can not say for certain which is best. You see when you encode (render) a video file, it gets changed from the source, even if is slightly. Then while uploading to a host like YouTube, it is re-encoded, and it appears to (me anyway) differ with each upload. I'm guessing that the route and hops taken over the internet has somewhat of an affect on this too..

Here's the tests I've ran:

That's just a few, there's a few more there, just look for the videos from vidoman362. Click on the More from vidoman362 located to the right.

whatagem · Post by **whatagem** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 2:40 pm

I read somewhere around here that it was best to upload in a file saved as mpeg4

i practiced with a home movie & seemed to lose less quality than with a previous test. I mostly make little music videos and it seems based on what I've seen that live action looks the worse compared to animation.

I'm toying with an idea for an animated vid & I'd like your opinion on the best format to save it as before I upload to YouTube.

This is a bad example of mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v4AmtkTrPw
because of how the vid was made in the first place (before we owned a PC). But I have seen some that look absolutely crisp! My nephew showed me a video made from clips of a video game & it looked as though it came straight off the Playstation! I was blown away. I want to achieve that--or at least close to it

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:50 pm

Are the source video clips in your project MPEG-2? If so then by rendering to another format before uploading to YouTube, will result in a loss of quality, then another loss when YouTube recodes it to FLV.

You must start with the highest possible quality source clips. DV, uncompressed AVI are some the higher Standard Definition quality codecs. With the advent of High-Def, those are much higher quality, however they can be a royal pain to edit, and re-render.

Some of those crisp clips on YouTube are not made by inexpensive programs or encoders. The higher-end programs will have much better codecs to work with. If you use hardware encoders (which costs thousands of dollars) you can really produce some very brilliant video clips.

The only thing that I can tell you is, I've tried the YouTube recommended format, and found it was not any better then using any of the the others (WMV, DivX, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4).

The bitrate used in your rendered video has an impact on the quality, and file size. The higher the bitrate the better the quality, the larger the file size. The lower the bitrate, the less the quality and the smaller the file sizes.

Now to confuse things a little more, depending on your source, the higher bitrates will not add to the quality. For example if your source is from a VCR tape, then having a bitrate larger then 4000kps just adds overhead (file size), and no increase in quality is noticeable. However if your source is digital then keeping the highest bitrate will allow for better quality when you create your video file. This will in turn allow for better quality when your file is uploaded and recoded.

Now if your source clips have a combination of fast movement and static or stills, then try using a VBR (variable bitrate), with 2-Pass encoding, when you create your video file. With 2-Pass Encoding, VS will analyze your project for these fast and slow/no motion parts on the first past. Then compute the best bitrates for them. On the second pass VS will then render your video file using a variable or average bitrate. The Faster parts need a higher bitrate, where the slower or still parts use the smaller bitrates.

So if you're video clip is not of a higher quality to start with, you can not make it better. Like the saying goes... "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear"...

I know that may not be the specific answer you're after, like use this format, but it is just not that simple.

Clevo · Post by **Clevo** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:10 pm

I have found I get better results if I upload as wmv 640 by 480 at 30fps....it's geared for NTSC I feel and I agree that youtube flv encoder is not favourable or conducive to high quality but hey...it's OK. It really depends on what you have filmed.

whatagem · Post by **whatagem** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:36 pm

I think I understand. Of course, I am sure I'll have to re-read everything 7 times HA HA

OK...suppose I rip some clips from a DVD. How do I do what you said:

try using a VBR (variable bitrate), with 2-Pass encoding, when you create your video file. With 2-Pass Encoding, VS will analyze your project for these fast and slow/no motion parts on the first past. Then compute the best bitrates for them. On the second pass VS will then render your video file using a variable or average bitrate. The Faster parts need a higher bitrate, where the slower or still parts use the smaller bitrates.

Can I simple send the clips to a program or do I do this while ripping? Or is it in VS? (sorta confused & brain is feeling full, forgive me!)

I have Magic DVD Ripper, Cucusoft (for burning & merging) Nero version 7 (hate it) and several codecs I DL'd a while back--I don't even know what I have

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:18 pm

OK, I would never suggest using DivX/XviD, the compression is too simply too extensive. I have used WMV 320x240 as an intermediate format and the results were not too bad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBYogs9g7f0 (raw DV video, warts and all) but, today, I would convert directly from the DV timeline to FLV with much better (and faster) results http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2tRRgYQN6g

Accolades · Post by **Accolades** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:10 pm

Not sure what version of VS the original question is related to but the ones I have done to You Tube so far have been FLV (Flash)

These were done using VS X2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz9x8ZHcQqE

I have also uploaded the demo files to VEHO using the templates created by other users and available here.

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:15 pm

The OP is using VS11.5+, which does not have the ability to render to FLV..

Accolades · Post by **Accolades** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:18 pm

VEOH seems to give a better quality and faster upload.

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v161731758z7N64CF

This was created using sj's templates.

Post by **VikingAnimations** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:43 pm

Wee note to Accolades - and everyone else, for that matter...

When posting a link, please make sure there are no spaces at the end - a blank space right between the end of the link and the "[ / u r l ]" prevents the post from opening and returns an error.

Thanks!

Devil · Post by **Devil** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:22 pm

I've now put in a sample direct DV AVI to YouTube using VS X2 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh3Phabtb4k

The quality is reasonable.