Youtube Upload, increase quality/control (HQ hack obsolete)

[frifox]

why dont you use MeGUI for motion video? its fully automatic and produces the best quality. if you still dont want to use MeGUI, here is are the commands it uses to encode files so you can then scripti-fy the process if you wish


first, create "source.avs" AviSynth file (modify source_video_file and fps accordingly):

DirectShowSource("source_video_file.mp4", fps = 29.97).LanczosResize(1280,720).ConvertToYV12().SSRC(44100)

then, encode video to H264 using x264:

x264 --pass 1 --bitrate 1500 --stats ".stats" --ref 5 --mixed-refs --bframes 16 --b-pyramid --weightb --direct auto --deblock -2:-1 --trellis 1 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --me umh --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output NUL "source.avs"

x264 --pass 2 --bitrate 1500 --stats ".stats" --ref 5 --mixed-refs --bframes 16 --b-pyramid --weightb --direct auto --deblock -2:-1 --trellis 1 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --me umh --threads auto --thread-input --progress --no-psnr --no-ssim --output "source.mp4" "source.avs"

then, decode audio using ffmpeg / encode to aac using neroAacEncoder:

ffmpeg -i source.avs -vn -acodec pcm_s16le source.wav

neroaacenc -ignorelength -q .7 -if source.wav -of source.aac

finally, mux video+audio streams into final mp4:

ffmpeg -i source.aac -acodec copy -i source.mp4 -vcodec copy output.mp4

and as far as static picture+audio type videos, the process is very different. open up my script (tinyurl.com/cczp5u) in notepad and see how i do it

[Golgota]

ouhh.. thank you so much fri. U help me much.. i'll starting doing the script right now. Oh yaa, the MeGui, i did use it, but unfortunately, just dont know how the setting for the x264 goes. Maybe u could share with me fri.. i owe u big time..

[themaster1]

Did someone find a way to not get the videos re encoded each time ?

[djspaceport]

Hello guys,
anyone knows minimal required resolution/framerate/audio format/bitrate for a video to generate the fmt=22 version?

[frifox]

as far as i know if you upload x264/aac in MKV file the only restrictions is it has to be at least 720 pixels high (and 1280px wide preferably). no bitrate restriction as far i as know. as for framerate, i uploaded 23fps and it got HD (didnt try anything lower)

[Chemikilla]

Is it still possible to avoid youtube recompression?
Recently found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR0UkTiKxmc&fmt=18
I downloaded it and it's h264, mp4, 480x324 but I've uploaded a file with those settings and youtube just destroys the quality. Any ideas?

[manono]

The video at your link had been reencoded. Why would you think differently?

Is it still possible to avoid youtube recompression?

No. And your best bet for widescreen videos these days is to take advantage of their widescreen player and upload videos with resolutions of 640x360 or greater, together with a decently high bitrate.

[tworegon]

Interesting new tweek available from the youtube people. I just fixed a whole bunch of my older videos that lost the stereo without going to the &fmt=18 version. This DOES work on videos already uploaded.

Hey guys,

New options for Uploaders!


In our Team's continued effort to give you ultimate control over how
your videos are presented, uploaders can now tweak (modify) the
appearance of their video when played on YouTube or in an embedded
player. Just insert any of the hint tags below into the tags field of
your video when you're uploading it, and you'll be able to format the
video to the following specifications:

Tag: yt:quality=high
(default to a high quality stream, depending on availability)

Tag: yt:crop=16:9
(zooms in on the 16:9 area, removes windowboxing)


Tag: yttretch=16:9
(fixes anamorphic content by scaling to 16:9)


Tag: yttretch=4:3
(fixes 720x480 content that is the wrong aspect ratio by scaling to
4:3)


Thought this info would be useful Happy uploading!


~ Liz

http://help.youtube.com/group/youtube-howto/browse_thread/thread/08a9062509a070a0#

.

[dzvero007]

Hi guys, I'm new here. Is it normal that my video has 114 Kbps, 44.1 Khz and stereo audio by default ? When watched at high quality, it has 134 Kbps audio.
A long time ago, it was only 64 Kbps and mono...

[Placio74]

Hi guys, I'm new here. Is it normal that my video has 114 Kbps, 44.1 Khz and stereo audio by default ?

Yes (if 'format 34' is available).

A long time ago, it was only 64 Kbps and mono...

Default format on YT was changed several months ago (also default HQ too).

Now...
- default = 'format 34' (if not available, then old 'format 5')
- HQ = 'format 35' (if not available, then old 'format 18')

[kkol123]

hi i'm new here

i recently found this video,as you can see the video is uploaded in great quality,even without adding &fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhAMGEGJrzo

the only con is the time is wrong,but i dont care
anyone know how to upload video like this?
if this was talked,can anyone refer the page to me so that i do not need to review all the pages?
thanks!

[manono]

It looks to me like they just added a bunch of black frames at the end which effectively allowed them to triple the bitrate for the active video. It's a fairly easy way to beat YouTube encoding with its usual 500 average bitrate. Here's what the bitrate looks like, as spread over the entire video. You'll notice that the right 2/3 or so uses almost no bits. That blip at 5:15 is a place where some video comes back for a few seconds. Go and have a look.



If I wanted to do something like that, I'd use AviSynth's BlankClip command to add as much black as needed after the video.

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/BlankClip

[Golgota]

manono, how bout my video? this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_GxmGrb8K0

does this method still work nowadays? Thanks.

[manono]

does this method still work nowadays? Thanks.

I don't know as I've never tried.

[Kudnutz]

Do you guy's think this is good?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfvdVRrM90Y

[frifox]

It looks to me like they just added a bunch of black frames at the end which effectively allowed them to triple the bitrate for the active video.

cant believe youtube still falls for this trick...
anyways, here is my quick experiment, using 5:37 video (~50% of the 11:00 time limit):

Original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOituXPvKi8
Extended: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsgKUWLuRsw

HQ-35 video's average bitrate was brought up from ~1200Kbps to ~2370Kbps,
and HD-22 video's average bitrate went from ~2200Kbps to ~3850Kbps.

does it worth it? usually not... youtube caps the bandwidth which makes the extended videos glitch during playback ruining the overall viewing experience. in the end, youtube's default 1200Kbps for 854x480 video and 2250Kbps for 1280x720 video using x264 isnt bad at all... though a higher bitrate for that video above would be good since its literally saturated with motion :P

[kkol123]

thanks everyone

[Unagi]

Hey, uh, I've been seeing some weird things when it comes to high motion videos I've uploaded to YouTube. It seems to cut back on the framerate. Is that normal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qscJIuFbZvE
(Have to go in about 1 minute to see the high motion parts)

I've been poking around at the other formats that have been mentioned in this topic and "fmt=18" seems to fix the frame rate problem, but at a severe cost to quality. Am I missing out on something, here?

I'm not sure if it really matters, but the original uploaded video is an MPEG-2 at a bitrate of approx 6000.

[manono]

It plays smoothly for me. Maybe their servers were stressed when you were checking. Try it at different times of the day. I have that problem sometimes with mine as well. To make sure, download it and play it on your computer. If it plays smoothly you'll know they didn't drop frames when reencoding it.

[Unagi]

Yeah, I was considering that may be the case, but I've seen this before and it's the exact same issue with all my high speed videos (the rest are "private" while I'm looking into this problem) no matter the time of day and I've tested it on separate computers and browsers.

Not to question your eye, but a good demonstration of the frame rate problem can be found just after 1:20 in the video, after starting the 2nd lap. While going through the loop, check out the white lights right next to the wall. In the "non fmt=18" version (High or regular quality, I didn't notice any change between the two, oddly) the rate the lights flash by fluctuates and at times the light "stays in place" since the frames displayed don't catch the moments in between.

Watching that same segment in "fmt=18" the rate the lights flash by is at a constant rate which is frame inclusive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qscJIuFbZvE - For the video YouTube normally displays
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qscJIuFbZvE&fmt=18 - For the lower quality, correct frame rate (at least as far as I've experienced)

Is it really just me? Yes, I downloaded the video and it displays correctly. Even the .mp4 version. I'm just curious as to why the streaming version does not. Do you need a REALLY powerful PC? That sounds a little silly...

[manono]

Not to question your eye...

That's OK, go ahead and question it. At first you said at the one minute mark. This isn't really my kind of video (no offense intended) so I checked around the one minute mark and found everything playing smoothly. Now you say 1:20, so I checked around that. I'm watching the dashed lines and they seem to go by smoothly. I'm on my wife's 1.8GHz Core Duo computer, hardly the latest and greatest.

Maybe someone else will come along and comment.

[seven_deuce offsuit]

How long does it take to get the HQ option? I usually get it immediately, but this time it's not showing up. I encoded as Lossless Huffyuv AVI with PCM Stereo at a resolution of 640x360. Shouldn't that meet the requirement? Or do I have to wait a little longer?

I'm still able to download the high quality H.264 version, but youtube hasn't given me the option to view it on its player.

[hlim103]

Do you guy's think this is good?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfvdVRrM90Y

I've been lurking around for a bit, but that post made me register to say:

HOW ON EARTH, did that youtuber do that? Is it a premium account? Or is it a certain kind of settings. I want to upload mine like that.

My next inquiry if someone would be so kind to help me:

1) I have a 4:3 aspect ratio vid. My desire is to have the best Quality possible
-Do I letterbox it to 16:9?
-I don't have any preference over HQ or HD but would like the best Quality/Loading Speed Ratio. Would HQ in 4:3 still be okay? or should I always go 16:9 even if I am wanting HQ?
-I loaded up a video before (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goyou4A6k2s ~ .avi;640x480;9833kbps;29.97fps), but it just comes back when downloaded as a .mp4 (480x360;539kbps;29.947fps). Why did the resolution change even tho i uploaded the recommended (YT's) 640x480?
2) Which do you recommend? Saving with .flv extension for forced HD? Or just getting the resolution right and punching through with high bitrate for the HD?
3) Is there a way to use that "tag codes" (yt:quality=high) to make a video quality hi but still have the same sized default display size as the normal format one, but with better quality (like forced fmt=18 but with tag scripts?).

Sorry for the long request. Thanks ahead of time.

[minidv2dvd]

i haven't tried any at 4:3 but to get an HD link the video vertical size has to be 720 or bigger and the video needs to be progressive. 16/9 that would be 1280x720p, but try one as 4:3 - 960x720p and see what happens. the bitrate should be 5000+kbps. if it doesn't work to get the HD link then pillarbox it with black sidebars to 1280x720p.

may as well go for the best available - encode to h264/mp4 with aac audio. handbrake or mediacoder are decent tools to use with x264.

can't help with 3

[zoobie]

HOW ON EARTH, did that youtuber do that?

oh god...

[Lassar]

How do you make sure that YouTube does not deInterlace your progresive video ?

[Koppel]

A lot of time has passed and youtube has changed. What is the latest best possible format to upload to youtube?
x264 vfw is not developed anymore.

Would be nice to render directly out of Premiere/After Effects/Sony Vegas into that best possible format.

[brassplyer]

A lot of time has passed and youtube has changed. What is the latest best possible format to upload to youtube?
x264 vfw is not developed anymore.

That might be true but for purposes of YouTube I believe it's more than good enough. Their overall default has improved quite a bit, but on the other hand it's never going to look like your HI-Def TV. Unless someone can point to clear evidence that there's something better, I'd just go with whatever their guidelines say.

[creamyhorror]

A lot of time has passed and youtube has changed. What is the latest best possible format to upload to youtube?
x264 vfw is not developed anymore.

Development of x264vfw was restarted 1.5 months ago, so the latest and greatest x264 core is available through VfW. It's been tested for compatibility with certain applications only - VirtualDub, After Effects, Premiere Pro 6.5 - don't know if it's compatible with others, but you can try it.

It also requires a bit of manual configuration to make use of decent settings (e.g. b-frames) and may fail if output format is not set to MKV/MP4 via "-o [fullpath]\whatever.mkv". (Ugh, lousy VfW.)

Get it here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/

[Koppel]

Tried it... exported a 640x360 resolution video from After Effects.

x264 lossless encoding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbuidteSQyA
h.264 MOV file with best quality settings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUcgzW4wEls

As you can see, Youtube messed up the x264 encoded file and somehow can't read it right.