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YouTube + High Quality H.264 = junky video?
I wonder if anyone could give me a reason why I am experiencing a particular problem. I have been compressing a video for YouTube. I haven’t posted a video on there in some time but I noticed that they changed the file size limits. I figured “oh thats great” I have a preset built in Squeeze that I have used in the past for the best possible uploads to YouTube. I decided to scrap that given the new file limit and other file type changes. I built a new preset that I figured would give my 6:30 video the best quality for the upload. I tried it and it looked like junk once uploaded. I changed it a couple of times always thinking that I could go with a higher bit rate and large file size now that I can. Yet I still had marginal results. Thinking about the problem I though well maybe when YouTube is compressing it to flash that I am giving them too much information even though they say that they can take it. I lowered the bit rate substantially and to my surprise I ended up with a decent looking video after the upload. I still used Main Concept h.264 with the same key frame settings, the same 640 x 480 aspect… I just changed the bit rate. Can anyone illuminate why when presented with a larger, higher quality file YouTube’s compression to flash made the video worse? I am not a compression guru by any means, but it still just didn’t make sense.
David
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5 Replies
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It’s hard to make a judgment without seeing a link.
YouTube now has a High Quality and a Standard Quality setting for playback. Did you make sure you enabled High Quality playback when you viewed the results on YouTube?
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Thanks for the reply. I have my account settings set to always view the high quality. Unfortunately there is no video to link to at this point. I had to delete the final upload to make some changes. I just wondered if anyone had experienced the same or knew anything about it.
David
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I did a few tests some weeks back in just this area. All my encodes were H264 .mov from XDCAM EX HD source.
I found that 480×270 at 3000kbps looked horrible and only showed as standard quality
640×360 at 5000kbps look very good at high quality. Going to larger frame size or higher data rate had no significant improvement in quality. -
I’m pretty sure youtube chooses who and what has high quality playback. If you notice their “partners” always have high quality playback where normal videos do not… I could be wrong.
Also there is a way to upload video above the 100mb limit. From what i read you download their uploader (PC only)then you can add 1 gig files. Check the help for more info (i’m at work)
hope this helps!
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[Alan Williams] “I’m pretty sure youtube chooses who and what has high quality playback”
Not really anymore. Give them a good encode and the viewer has the choice between standard and high quality viewing. I can’t remember the threshold offhand but it’s simply meeting a spec. They don’t choose.
[Alan Williams] ” From what i read you download their uploader (PC only)then you can add 1 gig files.”
Works on Mac too. I download their utility which is called “Google Updater” in my Apps folder and it includes YouTube Uploader 1.0.23
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