Resizing Source and Compressed Video

[ZZen]

I record video at 1280x1024.. i want to encode it with x264 in virtual dub and leave it at that resolution for archiving, but some of it ill upload to youtube.

Uploading to youtube at 1280 720 makes the video seem much more clearer, i hoped i could just resize my encoded video like direct stream copy is that possible?

I use 2 pass at 3000k, so will i have to do 2 pass 3000k again + resize on my compressed video and will this re encoding loose quality compared to just doing it from the source video.

thanks

[guns1inger]

First, I would not encode with virtualdub. Virtualdub only supports AVI output, and while you can put H264 in an AVI container, it is not supported very well and will most likely give you issues.

Secondly, you will (almost) always get better results encoding from your original source that from something that has already been heavily encoded with a lossy encoder.

I would encode from your source material to the MP4 container or MKV container using Xvid4PSP or Handbrake.

[ZZen]

handbrake doesn't support xfire files it seems, neither does avidemux. Ill try Xvid4psp it looks cool

I tested uploads to youtube re-sized from source and resized from encoded both at 2000k 2 pass with vdub almost unnoticeable difference btw quite surprising.

so there's no way to re size a encoded video without re-encoding basically

And Is mp4 mkv harder to edit with compared to avi, like cut parts and join clips?

[guns1inger]

MP4 and MKV are just containers. AVI is arguably easier, depending on the tool, but then all your editing should come first, with any resizing and re-encoding coming afterwards.