I hope this is the right section to ask this question.....

Why do my videos lose so much quality when uploaded to youtube?
Someone told me there are two ways to upload there, so I looked and all I could find was a thing that said about uploading multiple video's or clips larger than 100 mb.....
So....I downloaded the youtube uploader thingy and tried and it took considerably longer to upload a considerably bigger file.......72, 947 kb........the others have been around 15, 000kb...
is that considerably bigger? I suppose not in the scheme of things...but it took a long time- and I didn't want to risk anything bigger for fear that I will sit here and sprout grey hairs waiting for it to upload!
And, after all that........ it's STILL sucky!
Grainy and even blurry in places.....not to mention things going out of sync!

I don't understand! I've seen a tonne of other youtube video's that look GREAT!

Can someone please let me in on the secret?
What am I doing wrong?
How big can the files BE using this "multiple video" upload thing and should I invest in a zimmer frame if I dare to try to upload something positively HUGE?

I am not the "bright bulb" re your topic but I can share our real and personal experience.

Yes, for videos greater than 100meg you need to break them up into smaller pieces that YouTube will accept.

Do you have any video editing software? What are you using to create your videos?

If you are using editing software, like Ulead Video Studio, once your video is finished you can select quality of video file (file type/size/resolution) to render it as. For example, I can start with avi miniDV video files, edit them and add titles or effects or transitions or whatever and then finish or "render" the program as MPEG2 for standard definition dvd creation BUT if something for YouTube I can tell the program to instead render it as a format more friendly to the internet like VCD or SVCD. VCD or SVCD - IMO - is good quality for internet posting.

SVCD format allows approx 5 minutes of video content to be less than 100meg.

If my video program was about 8 minutes long then I would have to render it as two sections of SVCD content.

Yes, bigger the file the longer it takes for the upload process to complete but it's till only a few minutes (if you have a decent broadband internet connection like DSL or Cable modem).

I am not sure what kind of quality you are looking for but I am an old guy and a 60s band I was in reunited a few years back and my bride decided to upload a couple of songs from the concert as SVCD so if you care to you can go to YouTube and select Music topic and search for mouse and the boys and you should find two selections.

IMO - for internet video and considering the concert was shot with just miniDV quality they look pretty good even at Full Screen viewing.

Finally, you can also open big video clips and make them smaller for internet upload with one of several file transcode programs. A good one is called mediacoder and it is a free download and recommended as safe and good at the kim commando website.

GoodLuck and please let me know if I can help further.
Jim

Thanks so much Jim.
I will get my more technical other half to read your post too....and we will check out your you tube videos tomorrow to have a look/see what quality they have turned out at.
It's late here now and my brain is befuddled just reading your post... All these letters.......it's like learning another language, lol!
I will get back to you and this thread later.

I had a look on youtube for your video..."I feel good" ? Looks pretty good to me!
Which one is you?

Ok........so the thing is...Youtube tells me these are the specifications for best quality uploads...

MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format
640x480 resolution (* most updated recommendation)
MP3 audio
30 frames per second

I'm using Sony vegas to render my video down but it doesn't HAVE Mpeg4 as an option. Only Mpeg 1 and 2.
Everything else ....well I have no idea what it means!

So I'm stumped.

I'm not sure about what you said either about "breaking it up" ?
It's only a three minute or so clip.
Not like a ten minute short film or anything.....

We've been converting my video's to wmv files.....Maybe this is the problem?
I asked my husband about VCD or SVCD as you mentioned but he seems to think this is even lower/poorer quality than wmv for the net?
I haven't a clue.

Compression to MPEG4 should be a simple transcode but I don't have much of a need and so am not very smart in that area.

One solution if Vegas won't support that would be to download a transcode utility and I have enjoyed using something called mediacoder. It is free and reliable and safe. Kim Kimmando recommends it on her web site in her download section and once you use it a couple of times it is very easy to operate.

I've also sent a PM to one of the sharper people at this forum to join your thread so better help that I can offer is on the way.

BTW - I was a lowly trumpet tooter in the back of the band. Since I was one of the few remaining band members with hair I grew a pony tail for the occasion but it is long gone now. The biggest surprise for us was to be able to draw a crowd of 1100 old fans to that one night - who in the world would have thought they would have remembered us after 35 years!!

Well that's fantastic...playing to a crowd that big! Never too old to make music !
We're just about to start up another band and I don't care if I'm considered an old fart of 40, lol!
It's all about having fun.....but hubbys hair is long gone too now. It's coming out of his ears instead! LOL!

Well.....tonight we've tried everything known to man I'm sure....!
Got another encoder thingy and tried the Mpeg4 format. Looks GREAT on my computer but as soon as we upload it to youtube once again it looks like.......POO !
I tell ya, I'm just about ready to have a major hissy fit here.

If you ever want a laugh go to the "help video" youtube kindly supplies on how to upload better quality video's.
It's a hoot....but I found myself shouting at the screen!
NO! this is NOT helpful! (I ticked that box!)

YouTube - TUTORIAL - How to upload SHARPER VIDEOS on YOUTUBE

Useful info on this tutorial, especailly if you have sony vegas.

Hi!
Oh I was so excited when I watched the tutorial thing....I followed all the steps but alas despite his assurances the video quality is STILL grainy.
Better sound is one noticable difference and I'm not getting that out of sync thing quite as much but the picture quality....well, maybe I'm just going to have to face the fact that what *I* can see on my rendered video's is just not what I'm going to be able to achieve on youtube.
Thanks so much though for posting the link here. As I said, I really did notice a huge difference in the audio.