floods in Iowa City

[Benjamin Hill]

Footage of the recent watery madness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8eperGDNZ4

[Chris Stratton]

Hi
Thank you! Nice shooting and titling!.. I'm curious - what for a tripod do you use?

Were these shot in DV or HDV? I'm also curious about your rendering protocols?

Not that you needed it, but would you recommend some sort of rain gear?

All the best to you out there. The work crews looked fantastic. It's so nice to see people pulling together for a common need.

Chris

[Benjamin Hill]

I used the legendary Velbon Videomate 607, available for about $69.95 at B&H. Some of the first few shots were handheld.

We actually have nice big Vinten tripods in my production group, but I do so much one-man-banding that I keep scaling down all my gear...

Shot in HDV. Down-res'd in-camera for capture in FCP, rendered out a QuickTime mp4 for YouTube upload.

Finding YouTube a lot more handy these days, with the high quality option.

I have a KATA rain cover but I haven't used it yet.

[Charlie Durand]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Hill

I used the legendary Velbon Videomate 607, available for about $69.95 at B&H. Some of the first few shots were handheld.

We actually have nice big Vinten tripods in my production group, but I do so much one-man-banding that I keep scaling down all my gear...

Shot in HDV. Down-res'd in-camera for capture in FCP, rendered out a QuickTime mp4 for YouTube upload.

Finding YouTube a lot more handy these days, with the high quality option.

I have a KATA rain cover but I haven't used it yet.

What is this high quality option you mention?

[Benjamin Hill]

Take a video like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrVy_eB7b0I

Note under the "Views" count, it has a link for "watch in high quality". Press the link and, lo and behold, a higher quality version plays.

This option is only available if the uploaded source file is of at least a certain resolution; but it makes YouTube that much more useful for videographers and filmmakers.

[Carlos Rodriguez]

my video gets over 10,000 hits in a week and i still don't get a higher quality viewing option... the standard viewing doesn't look all that bad, and actually loads really quick. what encode settings are you guys using? I use .mp4 320x240 15fps de-interlaced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-11iWENW1iU

[Benjamin Hill]

Originally Posted by Carlos Rodriguez

my video gets over 10,000 hits in a week and i still don't get a higher quality viewing option... the standard viewing doesn't look all that bad, and actually loads really quick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-11iWENW1iU

I don't think it has anything to do with how many hits or views you are getting...like I said, the source file has to be of a certain resolution in order for YouTube to give you the option. If you can keep the file size under 100MB try the biggest size and best frame rate you can get away with.

[Charlie Durand]

Can you share your output settings? I don't see that option for any of my videos either.

What resolution are you making your videos before you send them to YouTube?

[Carlos Rodriguez]

on a website....

"YouTube recommends to use these settings when you upload videos: MPEG4 format, 640x480 resolution, MP3 audio and 30 frames per second."

here's more...

Flash Settings(flv settings): 30fps, 640x480 (you can try 320x240), 9000K(9M) video bitrate, *100 video quality, 128 stereo 44k audio bitrate, .flv format, key frame every 3 seconds, buffer size 3 seconds.

[Oren Arieli]

Great footage, hope things dry out soon.

[Charlie Durand]

Originally Posted by Carlos Rodriguez

on a website....

"YouTube recommends to use these settings when you upload videos: MPEG4 format, 640x480 resolution, MP3 audio and 30 frames per second."

here's more...

Flash Settings(flv settings): 30fps, 640x480 (you can try 320x240), 9000K(9M) video bitrate, *100 video quality, 128 stereo 44k audio bitrate, .flv format, key frame every 3 seconds, buffer size 3 seconds.

I've tried what YouTube recommends. I don't get the high resolution option. We'll see what the original poster uses.

[Benjamin Hill]

Originally Posted by Charlie Durand

I've tried what YouTube recommends. I don't get the high resolution option. We'll see what the original poster uses.

I just upload the highest quality file I can get away with. Since YouTube displays videos at what looks to be 480x360, uploading a source file of 320x240 is guaranteed to be upscaled; and that's in addition to any hit your video's resolution will take when they re-encode.

So I create them as large as I can, under the 100MB upload limit, and that seems to work. I think the flood video was at least 640x480. I use either the mp4 or H264 codec and AAC audio. Pretty straightforward.

[Carlos Rodriguez]

i just tried one at 640x480, no hq option...

[Benjamin Hill]

The HQ option takes like a day after the original upload to show up. Don't ask me why.

640x480 was a guess- I can't remember what the actual size was. Experiment and you'll figure something out.

PS- I don't work for YouTube, and claim no authority regarding best practices. Best of luck