Best Bitrate for YouTube

C

ChaosNightWolf

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 26, 2003
Messages
306
(I wasn't sure where to start this thread because there is no audio/video section of [H]

What's up everyone.

I recently purchased the AVermedia Live Gamer HD capture card, and with it's recent firmware upgrade, I can record videos from my Xbox 360 at 1920x1080/30fps at a bitrate of up to 20,000 kbps.

My question is, is recording in this format completely overkill? YouTube themselves suggest recording 1080p footage 8,000 kbps, and I know if you submit a video of higher quality YouTube will just downgrade it to fit at or under 10,000 kbps.

I've heard two competing idea's when it comes to this topic. Some say give YouTube the absolute highest quality video you can give them and let them do the work. Others say that by providing a video way above YouTube's limits, quality is lost in the conversion process and you're better off trying to exactly match YouTube's specifications.

Does anyone have any experience on the topic that could give me some advice? Thanks.
 
I would agree with giving Youtube the highest possible. I've seen drastic differences between videos at the same resolution setting (720p etc). I think a lot of people upload lower bitrate videos or reencode lower bitrate at a higher bitrate and allow Youtube to display them at a higher resolution than they have the quality for.
 
bigdogchris said:
I would agree with giving Youtube the highest possible. I've seen drastic differences between videos at the same resolution setting (720p etc). I think a lot of people upload lower bitrate videos or reencode lower bitrate at a higher bitrate and allow Youtube to display them at a higher resolution than they have the quality for.
Click to expand...

Most people do this on youtube because it makes a smaller file and and takes less bandwidth and can be uploaded faster if there is a deadline. If you have a semi active channel with thousands upon thousands of subs you can easily soak your bandwidth requirements with high bit rate video so many elect for something lower so they can upload more per month depending on the popularity of their channel.

If you don't have to worry about monthly caps and fast upload speed give Youtube the best you can and your channel's viewers/subs will thank you for it.
 
Encode your videos in 6 to 8Mbps H.264 format (or 6 to 10 Mbit for a small quality boost). Multiple encoding passes will get you better quality if your encoder supports it.

Like was said above if you've got a high upstream speed go ahead and upload the 20Mbit file for the ultimate in quality. Just be prepared to tie up your connection for awhile uploading that big file.
 
I use this for encoding videos for YouTube:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?154352-How-to-encode-720P-HD-files-for-Youtube.

BEST SETTINGS TO GET YOUR VIDEO IN HD ON YOUTUBE:

  • Frame size up to 4096 x 2304
  • Less than 15 minutes
  • h.264 video codec
  • AAC Audio codec
  • .mp4 container
  • 2-pass encode
  • HIGH PROFILE @ level 5.1
  • Average bitrate as high as you can go without filesize over 2048 megabytes. I recommend a 10+ megabit per second video stream.
  • Audio Bitrates at 320Kbps and higher. Surround sound is supported, but will be downsampled to stereo at this time.
You should be able to do 27 MegaBits per second, with a 320 KilloBits per second audio track and not hit the 2048 MegaByte limit for a 10 minute film. Most hollywood Blu-Ray movies are 21 MegaBits per second average, so this is very very good quality. Keep in mind that uploading 2048 MegaBytes to Youtube will take a few hours on an American cable modem service.
Click to expand...

Changes I make for games:
- Change video size to what your source is
- Audio at 192kbps
- YouTube limits to 30FPS so you might want to encode at that.

When I last uploaded an H.264 file (last night) there was no other processing wait time by YouTube; I think it just accepted it as-is for the most part.

I was playing around and uploaded this last night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcSEEiX-O8c&hd=1

Came out pretty good.
 
Not bad. Just remember , just because you upload it in super high quality doesn't mean that's always a good thing. Many people don't have 10 meg connections even if you have or have better. Making them have to buffer the video by waiting for it to fill up so they can play it will make them less likely to have the patience to watch your video.
 
Godmachine said:
Not bad. Just remember , just because you upload it in super high quality doesn't mean that's always a good thing. Many people don't have 10 meg connections even if you have or have better. Making them have to buffer the video by waiting for it to fill up so they can play it will make them less likely to have the patience to watch your video.
Click to expand...

Doesn't YouTube create multiple versions from your stream?
When I download videos, I can usually choose from flv or mp4, 720, or 1080.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top