Pixelation on Uploads
 

Hi everyone,

I'm shooting with an XF300 so the files are MXF. Computer is Win7 64 bit. Premiere Pro CS5.5.

Original footage looks great on my screen, edits easily. Still looks and plays great on my screen after exporting using just about every setting there is.

Uploads using both Mozilla Firefox (latest version) and Internet Explorer. Uploads are smooth to YouTube and Vimeo. Both are hopelessly pixelated with Vimeo being slightly better than YT. The only thing I haven't tried is using SD instead of HD.

What am I doing wrong?

Now I'm stumped and really appreciate any thoughts and input, thanks.

Regards,
Doug.

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

We will need more info Doug. Can you please share your settings for the export?

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

Hi Chris,
Thanks for your reply.

Here's just one of dozens that I've tried, I can give more examples:
H264
1920 x 1080
Frame Rate: 29.97
Square Pixels
Profile: High
Level: 5.1 (also tried 3.1, 4.2)
VBR 2 Pass (also tried 1 pass)
Bit Rate:Target: 8 (tried lots of others)
Max: 9 (tried lots of others)

Tried rendering first on some, not on others.

Workflow:
Edit in PP.
Click File>Export>Media
Check various boxes to get settings above.
Export to hard drive.
Upload to YT or Vimeo from hard drive.

I can post a link showing the pixlelation if needed.

Regards,
Doug.

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

Yea, links to problem videos would be great.

Especially if you have one on vimeo with the settings so we can download the source file.

I won't be able to do any critical looks at the video till this afternoon. Can't watch videos at the day job.

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

Hi Doug,

Are you exporting as Progressive? Web video is never interlaced. I would simply use one of the Presets available under "H.264" in Adobe Media Encoder - there is one for YouTube HD and one for Vimeo HD, both are 720p and look very good when exporting from my 1080i sources. Just adjust the frame rate to match your footage though. 1080 may be too much for some viewers machines to play back, and many people don't even have a monitor that big so it is overkill in most cases, go with 720p.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

Hi Chris & Jeff,
Here's the Vimeo clip, didn't note the settings for this one. I updated Flash player on my video computer and switched scaling off. Both seemed to help.


Just took a completely fresh clip of a deer grazing & uploaded to YouTube. Used the standard Vimeo HD settings, but unchecked Key Frame Distance. It played fine.

Jeff: Many thanks for your post. I'm exporting progressive and appreciate your help.

Now I'm wondering if messing with a clip too many times degrades it, something like a JPEG photograph?

Regards & thanks for your thoughts, I'm very grateful.
Doug.

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

Well, 'messing' with an image is never a good idea, and like a jpeg the only damage is done when you recompress on export -- which you might have done here, as what I see is not an h.264 file at all, but rather a WMV ver. 9 one. Not only that, the data rate reported is a measly 250k -- which all by itself would cause the pixelation, but curiously the data rate is reported differently depending on when I ask it -- again, maybe a 'feature' of WMV.

I'm not entirely clear what Vimeo does to a file when you upload it, but a quick check of the ones I've uploaded reveals they are still mp4/h.264 files, just like I produced, and they are still 5000k ...

When I use the download option from your Vimeo source, I don't get anything like that.

(I see that the deer video you linked is an mp4 -- it also looks a whole lot better!)

Cheers,
GB

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

I tried to play the video this morning but it indicates it was deleted.

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

Hi everyone,
I tried to replace the Vimeo movie, it uploaded to 77% and hung there. Tried again today, but now I'm told I've exceeded my limit.

So I uploaded to YouTube with the H264 conversion, it looks pixelated.

Surfski Action at Jupiter, Florida - YouTube

Edit: Looking at Preferences>Indeterminate Media Timebase: 29.97 fps Drop-Frame. There is a choice of 29.97 Non-Drop Frame. Could this be the problem? Maybe something else in the default settings?

Regards & thanks for your thoughts,
Doug.

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

Well, I don't see pixelation on the 720p version. Some of the long zoom shots look pretty low rez -- are you using a digital zoom feature?

Drop frame and Non drop frame are just a naming convention, and have absolutely no impact at all on image quality or anything else --

Cheers,
GB

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

What I see at the 720 resolution is some macroblocking from running out of bandwidth. You need up increase the bitrate about 10% at a time and do a series of tests to see where you get the quality you want. Water is one of the most challenging things to capture with a long GOP compression method.

Re: Pixelation on Uploads
 

Thanks for your help,

Yes, I was using the tele on the long shots which will account for the low rez.

I'll up the bitrate and go from there.

Thanks again,
Regards,
Doug.