720x480 & 680x480 (YouTube Help)

[UrbanHerm]

Tools: Digital 8 camera (Sony DCR-TRV340); Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0
Objective: Shoot some "How-To" Vids for YouTube
Problem: Cam shoots at 720x480, YouTube squeezes to 640x480; also, I apparently have no idea what I'm doing

Is there some way that I can "convert" my videos to 640x480 from 720x480? I assume that if it's possible, then I'd have to shoot for 640x480? How would I do *that*? Somehow set up visual cues to show the desired shot width?

I know this is probably not much information, but I'd appreciate any help whatsoever. If it helps, this is the information on the AVIs obtained from a Right Click > Properties on the file:

Image
Width 720 pixels
Height 480 pixels

Audio
Duration x:xx:xx
Bit Rate 1024kbps
Audio Sample Size 16 bit
Audio Format PCM

Video
Frame rate 29 frames/second

And a screen grab from Premiere Elements about a clip:



I hope I provided enough relevant information. Thanks!

~Dan

[Baldrick]

Doesn't youtube squeeze to 320x240? I haven't seen any 640x480 youtube video.

[UrbanHerm]

Doesn't youtube squeeze to 320x240? I haven't seen any 640x480 youtube video.

My apologies; yes, 320x240 (but I assumed it was best to work at double the size for better "quality").

[Baldrick]

You can work with 720x480 and also upload it without any problems. If you want higher quality then I would use something else than youtube.

[UrbanHerm]

You can work with 720x480 and also upload it without any problems. If you want higher quality then I would use something else than youtube.

It's not the actual quality I'm concerned about so much as it is maintaining the aspect ratio.

[manono]

And you're going to make "How To" video tutorials for YouTube? I hope the subject isn't about making videos for YouTube.

Just resize to some 1.33:1 aspect ratio, like 640x480 or 320x240. Technically you should crop 8 pixels from both the right and left sides before resizing to 320x240, but given the quality of YouTube videos that's the least of your problems. I assume your AVI is DV AVI and has a DAR of 4:3, and your finished videos will be 1:1.

[UrbanHerm]

And you're going to make "How To" video tutorials for YouTube? I hope the subject isn't about making videos for YouTube.

Clever! How about I am going to make some "How-To" videos to put on YouTube?

Just resize to some 1.33:1 aspect ratio, like 640x480 or 320x240. Technically you should crop 8 pixels from both the right and left sides before resizing to 320x240, but given the quality of YouTube videos that's the least of your problems. I assume your AVI is DV AVI and has a DAR of 4:3, and your finished videos will be 1:1.

I'll give the cropping a shot to see if it makes any noticeable difference. Thanks for the response.