What is the best HD output settings from iMovie to YouTube upload?

[NJRonbo]

Trying out iMovie '09 for the first time.

I shot a 2.5 minute video (AVCHD) and with
the video output settings I selected it is taking
about 20 minutes to encode.

That is way too much time...or is it?

Based on a YouTube video I watched on editing
in iMovie '09 I set my video and audio outputs as follows...

* Export using Quicktime
* File Format: MPP4
* Video Format: H.264
* Data Rate: 8192
* Image Size: 1920x1080HD
* Frame Rate: 60

Encoding: Faster Encode
Audio Data Rate: 256kbps
Encode Quality: Best


Now where can I improve encoding time without sacrificing
a huge amount of quality in my YouTube upload? I really want
the upload to look crisp HD on YouTube.

Thanks

[rumplestiltskin]

Data rate looks kind of high but, then again, you're doing 1080HD. Your profile shows a WindowsXP machine; might want to update that so we know what you're using. Thanks.

[dizzie]

You know you can upload it directly to YouTube without iMovie? Maybe you wanted to edit it first or something, though...

iMovie/ Quicktime encodes quite slowly. You could drop the frame rate to 30fps - I don't know if YouTube even supports 60fps, but maybe it does. I would put the data rate closer to 12,000 perhaps.

You may want to try Handbrake to see if it will handle your AVCHD files. It's h.264 encoder is much faster.

[rumplestiltskin]

Try downsampling to 720p (1280x720). The quality will still be excellent but the resulting video will be easier to UL. How many people have a 1080p screen on their computer? (Well, I have a 27" iMac but I'd guess most folks are still using a somewhat smaller screen.)