Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Questions about uploading video to YouTube

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-06-2008, 09:41 PM:

I know at least a few fellow Film Tech forum participants have uploaded videos to YouTube from time to time. I'm looking for some useful advice on how to get the best, most reliable results.

Question: since all the videos posted on YouTube are played in Flash Video format, does YouTube automatically re-encode and resize the video clips themselves? Or are you supposed to save things a certain way?

I was under the impression YouTube automatically resized and re-encoded all clips. But I tried uploading an old yet funny piece of video I shot and it's taking their servers a long time to process it and make it available for others to view. I uploaded the clip in full MiniDV quality rather than firing up my copy of FlashCS3 Professional and doing something there. Did I make a mistake? Do I need to delete the huge, original file and upload the same clip saved in a much smaller Flash Video file? Does it need to be resized on my computer?

Anyway...thoughts?

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 04-06-2008, 09:56 PM:

I don't upload to youtube, but this website has some tips:

Link

The main point is:

quote: That Web Site
... according to the people at YouTube, if you really want your stuff to look good, they recommended saving and uploading your video as a MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format at 320x240 resolution with MP3 audio.

They also recommend 320x240 resolution (half screen size), MP3 audio and a 30 frames per second frame rate.

Also, as you are limited to a maximum 100-megabyte (Mb) file size and maximum a 10 minute length, a 1 minute 100 Mb file will look better then a 10 minute 100 Mb file. The more raw data you can send to YouTube, the better the flash compression process should be. If you are trying to impress and show off your video shooting and editing chops, you might want to cut your 6 minute video short into three pieces and send then as three standalone 100 Mb files of two minutes each, rather than as one six minute 100 Mb file.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-06-2008, 10:00 PM:

I think the video size limit you can upload for a single clip is somewhere around 1 or 2 GB. The 100MB limit is long gone. It is not unusual to take a long time for Youtube to process. Remember, they are running Windows ME and using CPUs with MMX technology. While that may sound really powerful, just keep in mind that there are millions of other videos being processed at the same time, so not even MMX technology can keep up. The bigger your file, the longer it will take to process. Give it at least an hour.

Yes, Youtube does re-encode and resize everything you send it. They say that they keep it in the original resolution, but I'm pretty sure that's BS. There is a way to watch a less compressed higher quality version, but the resolution is still the same, just less compression. It takes Youtube a long time after your original video is posted before the higher quality one becomes available.

[ 04-14-2008, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: Joe Redifer ]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-06-2008, 10:13 PM:

That makes sense. The MiniDV quality clip I uploaded was about 65MB in size. I guess I just need to be patient and wait for it to be posted in the usual manner.

The site did give me embedding code for the video. But if I go to it right now it tries to download the full sized file. That's where I was wondering if I may have made a mistake. I'll just wait and see what happens.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-06-2008, 11:20 PM:

I've noticed that for some movies, YouTube does keep the a high resolution version on hand. Here's a Harold and Maude trailer as an example.

The YouTube page containing the low res flash video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHekCJdQUHE

The actual .flv source (right click, save as, then append file extension to flv):
.flv version

The original resolution movie, recompresed as mp4 (again, right click, save as, append file extension to .mp4):
.mp4 version

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-07-2008, 12:01 AM:

Mike, that FLV is 320x239, below Youtube's normal 320x240.

Posted by Rick Hunter (Member # 1606) on 04-07-2008, 12:35 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
While that may sound really powerful, just keep in mind that there are millions of other videos being processed at the same time, so not even MMX technology can keep up

I heard that there is 8 minutes of material being uploaded every second.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-07-2008, 01:09 AM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
The MiniDV quality clip I uploaded was about 65MB in size.

Was your entire clip only 15 seconds long?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-07-2008, 02:55 AM:

16 seconds. Nice, short clip.

Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 04-07-2008, 03:09 AM:

Dude, why even post that?? Unless its porn then go right ahead.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-07-2008, 07:32 AM:

16 second porn? Is that just the "money shot?"

The clip I uploaded has enough footage to tell the story. So many clips on YouTube show a certain piece of action but are needlessly padded with minutes of boring crap leading up to whatever happened.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-07-2008, 08:32 AM:

Stupid question: why is it that so many Youtube videos clip the opening and closing fadeins and fadeouts midway through? Is this due to idiot uploaders or is it something that Youtube does? Either way, it's annoying.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-07-2008, 09:15 AM:

I have a feeling it is the fault of the up-loaders.

The processing finished on the short video I uploaded. For some strange reason it looks a bit darker. The clip is here.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-07-2008, 10:42 AM:

How bout them fireworks?

The raw FLV file for the main YouTube page

The MP4 file YouTube keeps on hand

Right click, save as, append your file extensions appropriately.

[ 04-07-2008, 07:31 PM: Message edited by: Mike Olpin ]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-07-2008, 05:57 PM:

Bobby you forgot to resize it from 720x480 to 640x480.

Anyway, here is the higher quality version

Mike, your "get video" link doesn't download anything, and the MP4 is the same as the "high quality" link I just posted. It isn't stored in the original resolution of 720x480 like Youtube claims.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 04-07-2008, 07:32 PM:

Fixed link. YouTube moved the file.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-08-2008, 12:10 AM:

Nope. Still doesn't work.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-08-2008, 02:40 AM:

Ok here is a question for Joe (or whomever). Why are so many YouTube videos out of sync with the audio?

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 04-08-2008, 07:41 PM:

That IS annoying.. and the ones that have the video stretched - probably just like they watch their widescreen TVs at home.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-08-2008, 10:13 PM:

I imagine the sound-sync issue has to do with the fool who uploads the videos. They probably use a crappy codec that screws up when Youtube re-encodes it, or perhaps it was messed up to begin with and the uploader didn't bother to check what he was uploading in the first place. I haven't seen many "stretched" videos, but I have seen them "squished" when they should be letterboxed. I have also seen many, many videos with super quiet sound. Some of them have mega loud, distorted sound.

This is what happens when you let regular people touch video.

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 04-12-2008, 10:25 PM:

For what it's worth I have just installed AVS Video tools , it has a good simple analogue video capture program also budbled up with some other simple video tools , one being a video converter ,convert to MPEG4 3GP RM MPEG1 - 2 AVI DVD MOV SWF .

Not a free program but does not cost much.

http://www.avsmedia.com/videotools/capturewizard.aspx

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-30-2008, 06:25 PM:

I uploaded a couple of videos on You Tube last night...pretty easy, but today they come up with 'this video is no longer available'.

There's no copyright issues so looked into the FAQ on the site and obviously I'm not alone. It suggests changing the description. So I did, it worked...for about an hour. Now they won't work again and changing the description doesn't help.

Any ideas?

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

Edit: now they're working again and I haven't touched them. Does this go on a lot?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-30-2008, 06:35 PM:

Were you trying to embed the videos into a web page? Some videos won't let you, not sure why. I think it may be an option for the video owner whether his/her videos are allowed to be embedded.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-30-2008, 07:09 PM:

Lately it takes anywhere from 30 mins to almost 24 hours for an uploaded video to be fully "stable", with both the standard and HQ versions available, and with stereo audio. Be patient and see if it settles down. The standard version usually shows up fairly quickly, HQ version takes longer. Sometimes the downloads are very slow immediately after the file appears, like their servers are still dinking with it even though it seems to be available. Again, wait and it will probably settle in.

One time I had an uploaded file fail the YouTube re-encoding for the HQ version. No specific reason was given, just "failed encode" or something like that. They then deleted the standard version too, even though it had been made available earlier and was working. Don't know if that's their regular procedure.

Note that the "old" procedures you find on the 'net for tricking YT's servers by using .flv video and mp3 audio no longer seem to work. Same seems to go for "frame stuffing" to diddle with the average bitrate.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-30-2008, 07:39 PM:

No, no embedding.

It's odd, one minute it's there and the next it's 'no longer available' then the next it's there again. I haven't edited them in the meantime either.

Oh well...as you say, hopefully they will settle down.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-01-2008, 11:26 PM:

Next day...

I don't get it. Maybe YouTube are having problems. There are several videos I tried to watch today all said 'we're sorry...etc.' One of mine is working and now the other isn't again.