This is a guide for getting high quality material from your Avid timeline, into MPEG Streamclip and then finally on to YouTube so that you can make use of their "Watch In High Quality" feature.

Take the time to pause the guide and read each of the slides/stills prior to the video section as they do contain relevant information.

Addendum/Update (27-11-08):

Widescreen YouTube?

YouTube have recently introduced a 16:9 video player on their pages. This has brought a couple of pros and cons.

The main advantage is that native 16:9 material (640x360 / 854x480 etc...) now looks much better without letterboxing. Also, 16:9 material in 720p can now be uploaded and accessed as stated below.

The big disadvantage is that the "Watch in High Quality" link which worked brilliantly in the old 4:3 player, doesn't look all that great in the new 640x360 frame.

Videos uploaded in appropriate 640x360, 854x480, or 1024x576 sizes are compressed by YouTube down to 480x270 (which was fine in their old 480x360 player) and then resized during playback to fit the new 16:9 640x360 frame. This resizing process now blurs all encodes.

The only exception to this rule is if you upload 720p material 1280x720 with a good bitrate of around 5000Kb/s. If you upload this sort of file, you'll be able to access SUPER-CRISP 720p material by appending the video's URL link with &fmt=22.

Addendum/Update (25-11-08):

H264 vs MPEG4 Compressors & 720P HD?

You can safely use EITHER the Apple MPEG4 or H264 compressors to ensure the best possible visual quality you can manage (Adding now that you need to DE-SELECT B-Frames if using H264 compression).

It appears, as of 25-11-08 that YouTube now use a default 16:9 video player. This new player is a 640x360 size, so make sure any 16:9 material meets this resolution. 4:3 material retains its ratio but will pillarbox (and in some cases, letter box slightly below).

For adventurous types, you can upload 720p HD material and YouTube will recompress a 720p version (though not make it visually available by default as yet - you have to paste &fmt=22 into the video's URL).

Should you wish to "future proof" any HD material on YouTube, use these settings:

Compressor: H264 - Select Multipass & De-select B-Frames
Frame Size: 1280x720 (Better downscaling ON if sourcing from 1080i or 1080p footage)
Bitrate: Between 4000 & 6000Kb/s should work. (I've yet to confirm anything other than 5000Kb/s which I have tested.)

Uploading 720p suitable material direct to YouTube will ensure that any and all versions they currently create, will successfully be made, whilst preserving material for any future YouTube 720p default playback.

The Guide:

If the community video embedding feature is not working, you won't see the tutorial here. You will instead have to visit the dedicated Videos section to view it.

You can also find the guide (split into two parts) on YouTube in *cough* High Quality - here.

You can also see examples of standard HQ YouTube material embedded in a personal web page - here.

You can also view a 720p HD YouTube video embedded in another personal web page - here.

Great information in the tutorial and it looked good too.

Thanks

Cheers

Please do post back here and let me know if the steps have helped you with your own YouTube videos. Provide some YT links if you can to the stuff you upload.

720p Update:

Okay, here it is. Further proof that this guide will need redone, and that YouTube make 720P versions of suitable clips.

Here is the full-length feature: Elephants Dream (CC license, courtesy: Blender Foundation). It was uploaded as 720p material, and all subsequent versions have been created:

Default (LQ/HQ H263 FLV): http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p27cLysfqYc
HQ H264 AAC Stereo: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p27cLysfqYc&fmt=18
720P HD AAC Stereo:  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p27cLysfqYc&fmt=22

Watch each in fullscreen to see what the difference in quality is like.

(Or, if your monitor is wide enough, view it here, embedded in a test page I made.)

Thanks for the great guide!  I have one question---  in your addendum, you say to DE-SELECT B-Frames, is that for 720p only?

greendog:

Thanks for the great guide!  I have one question---  in your addendum, you say to DE-SELECT B-Frames, is that for 720p only?

Thanks for the reply. The de-selection of the B-Frames option applies to any video you intend to compress with the Apple H264 compressor.

I did several tests both with and without B-Frames (Known also as Frame Reordering) and found de-selecting it caused the least amount of problems with YouTube.

If you have the time, only select the Multipass option.

thanks so much:)

i'm trying it now

Guide to uploading high quality video?

Am I missing something? I just created a transport stream, change the extension to mpg from m2t and then upload in full 1080 HD. You-tube then gives you the option to watch a regular version or you can click the "watch in HD" tag if you have a fast broadband connection.

Seems to work fine.

Admittedly I have only uploaded a 3 min vid of my son on his 1st skiing holiday but was amazed at the quality on what is effectively full bandwith HDV.

The link if you wish to see are
 
In HD!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5lk-zzeNOZ0

Although I should say that the 1st 20 secs or so is old footage from a camera phone!!!!

Ignore the filming (I was chasing him on skis) and the editing (It was knocked up quickly to show his friends)

I am interested in compression if you could get similar quality but on a slower connection.

Ian