Vimeo upload, source is 720 x 480, 29.970i

[Norris Combs]

The only template that is 720 x 480 is Main Concept MPEG-2, DVD Architect NTSC Video Stream, but the resulting file is VIDEO_TS, with a bunch of VOB files inside. I couldn't upload those files to Vimeo. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,

[Juris Lielpeteris]

Compression Guidelines on Vimeo
You can create custom template for vimeo.

[Norris Combs]

Thanks Juris, I did read through that. But, the chart doesn't show any 720 x 480. Does that mean I'll need to downgrade my 720 x 480 video to 640 x 480?

[Juris Lielpeteris]

Yes, because internet video always use square pixels, vimeo otherwise can incorrectly set aspect ratio.

[Gerald Webb]

Another way,
If you convert your video to square pixels you end up with approx 872x 480, depending on the quality of your footage you may be better off to drop it into a 1280x 720 project (upscaling it).
This will at least give you a HD version when you upload it.
I do this all the time with PAL footage, 720x576 into square pixels = 1050x576, then to 1280x720. Not that much of a stretch.
You can clean and sharpen it a bit and results are pretty good. see pic.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

Another way,
If you convert your video to square pixels you end up with approx 872x 480, depending on the quality of your footage you may be better off to drop it into a 1280x 720 project (upscaling it).
This will at least give you a HD version when you upload it.
I do this all the time with PAL footage, 720x576 into square pixels = 1050x576, then to 1280x720. Not that much of a stretch.
You can clean and sharpen it a bit and results are pretty good. see pic.

Though Gerald's advice is solid, the details need a little modification for NTSC, especially if you've not worked through this math before.

If your standard def is wide-screen 16:9, then 854x480 is an excellent square-pixel format that slightly scales up the horizontal resolution so as to preserve the full vertical resolution.

If your standard def is full-screen 4:3, 640x480 square pixels preserves full vertical resolution at a slight reduction in horizontal resolution. Or, to scale up the vertical and preserve existing horizontal rez, 720x540 square pixels.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, square pixels, aka. PAR=1.0, is always a good idea for online distribution. It's become a best practice because although the widescreen or anamorphic flag is recognized by some encoders for some codecs some of the time, square pixels are recognized by all encoders and players for all codecs all of the time.

Vimeo's SD/HD switch works with standard HD video resolutions, 1280x720 works... but e.g. 854x480 will transcode at Vimeo to 854x480 only. If you up-scale the same clip to 1280x720 and upload, you'll end up with good-looking HD as well as available SD, after Vimeo's transcoding.

[Gerald Webb]

Thanks Seth,
Im just a PAL man, lol.
Principle is good though, Widescreen SD to 720p is achievable.

[Norris Combs]

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

If your standard def is full-screen 4:3, 640x480 square pixels preserves full vertical resolution at a slight reduction in horizontal resolution. Or, to scale up the vertical and preserve existing horizontal rez, 720x540 square pixels.

Please help a noob here.
Yes, my footage is full screen (4:3) 720 x 480. So do I want to render it to 640 x 480 (preserving vertical resolution), or do I want 720 x 540 (preserving horizontal resolution)?
Thanks,

[Juris Lielpeteris]

Vimeo recomends

4:3 aspect ratio 640 x 480 px

Size of real online 4:3 clips is also 640 x 480 px

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Norris Combs

...So do I want to render it to 640 x 480 (preserving vertical resolution), or do I want 720 x 540 (preserving horizontal resolution)?

Either.

Sorry there isn't a clear answer on this; now we're getting to the point of very small differences. There's certainly nothing wrong with 640x480, though on paper 720x540 is better. Whether it will look appreciably better depends on the footage.

In my experience Vimeo will take all sorts of oddball sizes, but only 1280x720 and 1920x1080 get transcoded to multiple sizes for playback. I've wondered about pillarboxing 4:3 material to 16:9 for Vimeo to take advantage of that, but never got around to trying it.

Do remember to select "best" in the custom settings for Vegas rendering when changing resolutions.

OTOH, when working in 16:9 SD, 854x480 is *much* better than 640x360 when converting to square pixels.