Encoding Video for You Tube
FCE
The most reliable (or at least the simplest) method I've found, so far, to encode video footage for You Tube is to use Final Cut Express from the outset as the video editing software. Once the edit is complete use the export function to make an mpeg4 file. Assuming your whole project has used FCE at the correct aspect ratio for your footage from the outset*1 there really shouldn't be any problem using one of the default settings.
Size Matters
Please remember that You Tube stipulates a maximum file size of 100MB and a length of 10 minutes (unless you have a Director account – which we do). *.AVI, .MOV, and .MPG are the accepted file formats. They recommend MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format at 320x240 resolution with MP3 audio, at 30 frames per second however PAL (the better quality video format used by most of the rest of the planet) has a native frame resolution of 25fps – which is what your camera will be shooting and the FCE project should be set to. 25fps files look absolutely fine on You Tube.
*1Here's the weird bit... Sometimes when exporting an mpeg4 file from FCE at 25fps there's a distinct pulsating look to the output video file (when played from the desktop) whereas I've seen the same original file exported at 30fps looking fine. This needs further investigation as I've never cut a whole video for the museum service using FCE. I suspect there are some glitches when exporting footage from Adobe Premiere then importing them to FCE. I've got a hunch that the keyframes setting is fairly likely to be the cause. I'll need to swipe another newish Mac to find out though.
VideoLAN
Should you be one of the many unfortunates without a Mac or Final Cut Express then standard 4:3 transcoding using VideoLAN/VLC media player is quick and relatively straightforward and once you've adjusted the advanced settings 16:9 is too*2. Full instructions and workflows are available on the videoLAN site but basically, once you've exported your video file from whichever piece of editing software you've been using or loaded on a video file from somewhere else:
- Open the VLCmedia player
- From the file drop-down menu select wizard
- Check the transcode/save to file box and hit the next button.
- When the Input Stream screen appears select the file you wish to transcode then Next
- Check the transcode video box and choose your codec and bitrate from the drop-down menus. (Try mpeg-4 video with a bitrate of 768 to start with.) Most of the time you're best to leave the audio alone for mpeg-4s. Click Next
- For the encapsulation format choose MP4 – assuming the box isn't greyed out which it probably will be if you've chosen to transcode the audio. Click Next.
- Now choose a name and folder – best to stick to one with lowercase letters and no spaces. For Windows you'll save yourself some headscratching later if you add *.mp4 or *.mpeg4 to the file name. Click Finish, sit back, grow a beard.
AutoGK
Option two proves slightly more tricky but is just as rewarding – you'll be using Auto Gordian Knot (aka AutoGK). It also seems to work slightly better (but much slower) than VLCmediaplayer when transcoding and compressing anamorphic/16:9 video files. The biggest pain in the neck is that it wants to work from DVD files so you'll need to make a DVD of your video cut (although I have a suspicion I'm being a bit dense here... ) Ah yes I am! It'll work from *.avi files, thank you Equal Exchange's It's Our Coffee Espresso Beans!
Step 1. Open AutoGK and Locate your input file – either a VOB from a DVD's VideoTS folder (which can be on either hdd or DVD) or an avi. Now set the desired output path and name
Step 2. Normally leave the audio track as is.
Step 3. When selecting the output file size everything is fairly self explanatory. I normally go for the custom size of around 25-50MB for a 5 minute video (I reckon if you get a smallish file that you're happy with the quality of then YouTube will have to compress it less for the general puiblic – could be wrong though). Update: I rarely bother with this setting now as setting the width to 320 alone seems to make the video small enough for us especially with our director account.
Step 4. Click advanced settings as it's here that you'll ensure the video is the correct size for You Tube (320x240). Basically, set a fixed width of 320 and the aspect ratio'll sort the height – you tube letterboxes it anyway (I think). I leave the output audio at auto although I'm sure a constant bit rate mp3 of 48kbps would suffice without sounding too horrible. For the codec I use XviD as it's open source unlike DivX. Leave the subtitles blank unless you've got them (I'm not talking normal titles within the video file).
Step 5. Now we're finally ready to click Add Job (you can repeat the process above for mulitple files) and then Start – now grow another beard.
Just before you get too confident please check the video is still acceptable and check your audio is still in sync. Auto GK (whether it's the encoding to Xvid or DivX I'm not sure) does not like cross fades up or down from black at the beginning or end of a video and both seem to start audio from the first non black frame. Boo!
Oddly enough, or perhaps not, You Tube itself also has trouble with crossfades at the beginning of videos even when the fades include titles. You'll just have to keep this in mind then suck it and see. Probably best to keep your video private until you've tested it. Recut and re-upload if it's no good, test again and finally make public. Double Boo! Don't despair - I've sussed a work around for this too - it'll follow soon.
Further thoughts: All encoding seems to work much faster if listening to online radio stations like Bazooka Radio, Octaneradio, Devilone or even Luxuriamusic but that might just work for me...