Which is the best codec for Youtube Videos?

Hi,

Recently I have started using Youtube videos and I have a video blog.

I am wondering Which is the best format for youtube videos in terms of codec, resolution, compression and audio settings. My videos are good in my pc but when I upload them to youtube the quality is blurred..

Let me know if any of you know the best method for youtube videos.

Thanks

 

actually - none.

youtube uses the most ghetto, horrible quality there is for video.

(horrific encoding that will destroy anything you upload)

I've uploaded full resolution avi files using the uploader and guess what? when youtube got done with them they looked like everything else - terrible.

honestly, if you want your video to look good, don't post it on youtube.

 

exactly, YT's transcoding bites serious ass...they use a RATHER antiquated codec.

H.264 is where it's at. I host my time lapse videos on SmugMug now just for that reason.

so in my dealings, YT is the worst (but you can find sites that tell you how to encode your videos "optimally" for YT

MetaCafe (or even MySpace) is quite a lot better than YT. I also found this one site, Clipmoon that seemed to be the best of the lot but the bandwisth is quite high/buffering is quite slow as they don't compress the file much if any.

 

Log into your youtube account, scroll down to you see your account list, click on video playback quality, then set to "I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it's available." then save settings.

To ensure your videos will be available in high quality, you should make them progressive, I use WMV, 640x480 between 1500kbps and 2000kbps, The 9 videos I have uploaded so far when using those settings, have all been available in high quality playback.

Hope that helps

Cheers
James

 

Try uploading the videos on Stage6 (DivX) or Veoh, these are probably 2 of the highest quality (in videos) around.
- Veoh
- DivX ~ I can't actually find the link for the user generated website

 

you can convert them with imtoo

 

Sadly, Stage6 was shut down a few months ago.

 

huh, I didn't even know you could change a setting like that but the default says "Choose my video quality dynamically based on the current connection speed." so shouldn't it choose higher Q if the speed is good enough?

 

Thanks for those replied.

Now I am using blip.tv to upload my videos and post it on my video blog. It works simply fine. The best thing with blip.tv is that you can convert your videos on your own to .flv format then upload as a .flv file and they don't do any rendering work. They are just playing the file which was uploaded.

At least, this is good because we can see the real output of the video before uploading.

If anyone has information about good alternatives to Youtube, please post them here.

 

you would think so. but No.
I noticed that sometimes I would get the "watch in high quality" option. and going back to watch the same vid again I wouldn't get it.. Being dynamic, is a bit unreliable imo, with congestion, computer updates downloading in the background.. etc.. best to set it, and always get HQ when available

Cheers
James

 

good to know!!
I'd rather wait for it to buffer than suffer through the horrible blocky videos that usually show up!

 

When filming the video, the frame rate should be at 30fps, not 15fps. 15fps (frames per second) is going to make the video grainy when its encoded by youtube. If you can see pixels in the video while watching it on your computer, its really go to be bad on youtube.

Try to film the video in 640X480, 30fps and upload it as that. If you upload the video at 320X240, the quality is going to be reduced because youtube is going to resize the video, stretch it and make it fit into the window.

Become a youtube partner. Normal youtube members are limited to 10 minutes and/or 100 meg videos. Youtube partners are limited to 1024 MB (1 gig) and something like 1 hour and 20 minutes in one video.

When youtube encodes the video, the end result is largely based on quality of the video that is uploaded. By becoming a youtube partner you can upload high quality videos that normal members can not and they can be 10X - 12X the length of what a normal youtube member can upload.

And yes, I am a youtube partner - http://www.youtube.com/user/survivalistboards I have a total of 292 videos on youtube. Over the past year and a half I have tried just about everything I can to improve the quality of my videos. The only thing I found is to upload a high quality 640x480 or high resolution 320X240 filmed at 30fps. My video camera films in AVI at 1 gig for every 10 minutes of video. So I convert the videos to mpeg, this reduces the size by maybe 3/4 or about 1 minute of video for every 10 megs. Sometimes I upload the videos in 320X240, sometimes in 640X480. By going with the 320X240 at 30fps a 5 minute video is going to be around 50 megs. If the video was uploaded in 640X480 it would be about twice that.

Regardless of what you do, one of the most important factors is frame rate - 30fps, not 15fps.

 

good info...the stretching is key - I wonder why nearly all the tutorials tell you otherwise though, to use the smaller size...maybe to keep the file size small.

who or what records @ 15fps though...seems like a very strange rate for sure!

why doesn't YT just use a better codec!

 

There are a lot of point and shoot digital cameras on the market that film at 15fps. They are usually the economy models or the lower end of the digital camera market.

 

yeah come to think of it a guy who comments on my blog, "Sire" - he has one that does it @ 15fps and I was like W,T, blank would you use that for!

I have a cheap Canon digi, 30fps @ 640x480 time lapse, AND 60fps @ 320x240

CANON FTW!!!!

 

292 videos... You are a busy man

I had a look at a few of your videos, and noticed that some are available in high quality and some are not..
This one is not available in high quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO2bwAPYg2A
Added July 19, 2008

Have you found a Resolution/bitrate combination that will give you high quality every time?.. I also noticed your videos sound is very crackly.. almost like the volume is up to loud in your video editor.

Like I said earlier I make mine 640x480 and use WMV format (because it is a progressive format), at 25 frames per sec (PAL land ) and the last 9 videos I have uploaded, all have the high quality playback option.. I actually deleted and replaced my videos so they would be in HQ.. here is one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBd6tSRNPps

I also set my audio to peak around -9db in the editor, to try and minimize that crackly sound.

Cheers
James

 

well I'm screwed as far as quality goes right out of the box b/c I use time-lapse video!

but I tell you the truth H.264 >>> anything else as far as transcoding.



sweet vid james! looks like a fun subject to shoot for sure too!

 

That video has a bitrate of 1952kbps, 320X240 and I think its 30fps. The camera is a Nikon coolpix L18. Its a lower end camera and its being returned back to the store. The uploaded video is 17. megs and was in WMV format. The video was edited with windows movie maker.

So far a canon SD750 has given the best resolution when the video was uploaded at 640X480. But the canon had certain features were I could not use it. It has a lithium battery and I need something with AA batteries.


Another example - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlDJRUp0J04

That video was filmed in AVI format 640X480 at 30fps. Windows movie maker was used to edit and convert the video to 320X240 in wmv format, the bitrate is 2288kbps and the base video that was uploaded is 48.2 megs.


Now compare that video to this one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcJNZ0IesG8 I think this video was filmed at 15fps. The camera is a sony ws-5 that finally gave out. This video was uploaded in may of 2007, in mpg format and was 85.2 megs big. For some reason, mpg format does not show the bitrate in the properties. This video was filmed just a month after I started making videos for youtube, so its not very "professional" like.


The 30fps video is a lot more clear then the 15fps video. What I have yet to understand, why does windows movie maker change the bitrate?

 

Yeah, I agree, there is a big difference between the 15fps and the 30fps.. I think if you kept your videos at the 640x480 resolution, instead of resizing them to 320x240, they would have a better chance of getting the HQ available option on youtube... 2288kbps is more than enough, I think 1500kbps for the video and 128 for the audio is fine...

I have not played with Movie maker in years so I am not sure what you mean by change the bitrate.. If Movie maker has an option to set the bitrate to constant bit rate (CBR), I would pick that. with a variable bitrate (VBR) the bitrate will change throughout the video, and will not go above the maximum or under the minimum bitrate you set. but a constant bit rate will be just that.. constant.

Yep.. H.264 rocks!
I heard a few years ago that Youtube would support playback of it.. dunno what happened there..
I think VP6 is pretty close and VP7 is meant to be better than H.264, but pretty pricey.
Cheers

BTW checked your blog.. and I must say, Them Canon shift lens's look like a lot of fun.. I would love to put one on to my XL2 camcorder and have a play!

James.

 

I must be behind on the lingo then, I am not aware of the VP's 6 or 7!

Thanks for checking it out, yeah they are pretty cool. I've only been out one day to use it yet though! BZ!!

Good question, I bet someone must make things like that for camcorders. "Lens Babies" are a cheaper alternative to what I have for photography. They allow you to bend the lens certain ways, get some cool effects.

-------------------

You guys are going to be jealous of my new one, check it http://www.timsdd.com/?p=61