Settings for YouTube

[Vince Becquiot]

Hi Anthony,

[Anthony Hartis] ” I understand that YouTube uses Flash and I know that there is a setting for YouTube in the Adobe Encoder under the H.264 setting. On another post, someone said to use the F4V compression so as to be closest to the current YouTube compression.”

Youtube does use H.264, I think they are still using the Sorenson codec. But your exports using Mainconcept’s H.264 in Premiere should be just as good for most clips.

[Anthony Hartis] “how should I prep the files in Photoshop? Use square pixels for monitor viewing, import large files into Premiere, etc.? I just want the sharpest image possible, like I see it in Photoshop. I know my files are large enough. Thanks for any advice.”

You want your original pictures to be as large as the amount of zoom you will apply in Premiere. So if you zoom in at 200%, you’ll want the files to twice the size of your frame. If your hardware allows it, you can work in a 1920×1080 sequence. If all you have are images, just go to the custom sequence tab and set a desktop sequence at 1920×1080 30p, PAR 1.

At export time, choose those same settings, and start with a bit rate of 8-10 MB/s VBR 2 pass. Check “Use Max Quality” and go to sleep or take a short vacation 🙂

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Anthony Hartis]

Thanks Vince. I’m in the process of setting up the new sequence and here’s what I’m doing. Can you see if I’m on the right track?

I’ve gone to create new sequence>clicked the HDV folder>chose HDV 1080p30>clicked the “General” tab>picked “Desktop” from Editing Mode drop-down>changed horizontal frame to 1920>changed Pixel Aspect Ratio to Square (1.0)

Is the Pixel Aspect Ratio what you refer to as PAL 1? I’m not familar with what the “PAL” acronym is and the pixel aspect ratio was the closest thing I could find that had “1” in it.

Also…in prepping in Photoshop:
Do I crop and import this (1920×1080) size to all my stills and should I use some “basic” sharpening for good measure.

I don’t mean to be so anal, but my client is, and I’ve been meaning to nail this for a while now…thanks so much!!!!

Anthony

[Anthony Hartis]

Sorry Vince. I read PAR as PAL. So I guess I did pick the right one…Square Pixles (1.0) My mind is a little cluttered right now. I think the settings are right. How should I prep size wise in Photoshop? That same resolution of 1920×1080?

THANKS!!

Anthony

[Vince Becquiot]

[Anthony Hartis] “Is the Pixel Aspect Ratio what you refer to as PAL 1? I’m not familar with what the “PAL” acronym is and the pixel aspect ratio was the closest thing I could find that had “1” in it.”

Yes, PAR 1 referred to pixel aspect ratio

[Anthony Hartis] “Do I crop and import this (1920×1080) size to all my stills and should I use some “basic” sharpening for good measure.”

Depending on the size of your original images, you may or may not need to crop. Remember, if you are going to zoom in in Premiere, you’ll want to crop to a size higher than 1920×1080. Some Raw images are huge, and Premiere may start to choke on them. I would keep them under 3000 res for good measure, but even that can slow you down quite a bit.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Anthony Hartis] “1) which is the best compression and, 2) how should I prep the files in Photoshop? Use square pixels for monitor viewing, import large files into Premiere, etc.? I just want the sharpest image possible, like I see it in Photoshop. I know my files are large enough”

In addition to what Vince said – and if your system can handle that – you could do the edit as a 4K sequence and upload it to YouTube as a 4K file that they now support. Granted, very few systems can benefit from 4K playback – most can’t display more than 1080p – yet this way, you ensure the best possible quality YouTube can handle – and YouTube will do the scaling and re-encoding for you, for 1080p and lower resolutions.

From what I’ve seen, high detail 4K videos use 25-30Mbit/s bitrates peaking at 55Mbs – so encode accordingly. Maybe do a short test edit and upload first, to gauge the quality and ease of editing.

Alex
DV411