YouTube 720x480

RLee wrote on 5/5/2009, 2:23 PM
I just purchased Vegas Platinum 9, and I'm looking to upload HQ (not HD) videos to youtube. What is the best format/settings for this? My video camera outputs a vob at 720x480@29.97fps native, and from the other topics I've read it sounds like I should try using the AVC mp4 format to render?
What should my settings be for this, as far as target bitrate, aspect ratio, interlace mode, etc? I read an earlier article that gave this link: http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/11/09/exporting-with-vegas-for-vimeo-hd/
Should I use the info in there but just use 720x480 instead of 1280x720, or do I need to change other settings as well?
Thanks

Comments

Ivan Lietaert wrote on 5/6/2009, 4:17 AM
Go for wmv, the 720p template. That will do just fine.
Stasoid wrote on 5/6/2009, 10:33 PM
Depends on what your original aspect ratio is. If it's widescreen 16:9 then Youtube recommends 640x360. Bitrate up to 2.5Mbs. No matter what codec you use - Youtube will recompress your video into its own format.
I would probably encode with the most efficient available - AVC mp4.
Expect some quality loss once it's posted, anyways.
RLee wrote on 5/6/2009, 11:59 PM
Thanks for the recommendations. I tried an mp4 at 3mbs, which came out nice, and using the wmv template, one at 3mbs and one at 4mbs. For all renders I kept the native 720x480 res... should I be changing that to 640x480 or other, or does it matter? The wmv template had a few options that weren't clear to me, like CBR vs. VBR (not sure if youtube cares about constant vs. variable bitrates), but I chose CBR so I could set the bitrate.

Still not sure what bitrate should be... you mentioned that it should be 2.5mbs max, but I've seen other posters saying 3mbs or even 5 mbs? It's a bit confusing with all the settings for quality, then setting bitrate on top of that... ie, if I set "best", then set a low bitrate, seems like the dominant factor would be the target bitrate... I just want as much clarity as possible without causing stutter for people trying to view it on youtube.