Hey Jon, did you ever find a way to get your HDV videos looking better on Youtube? I have the exact same problem as you, still. And just like you, I've searched this forum and others, read every post, googled my pants off, and sent a boat load of HDV clips up there in all sorts of different formats and settings. I've even downloaded special compression settings for Compressor which were specifically made for Youtube by some web video genius. Nothing doing - they all look terrible.

Have you ever seen anything on Youtube that does not look terrible?

That's good. I like that comment ; )

When I say terrible though, I mean compared to the crap that's already up there. For some reason it seems that the higher quality HDV content looks worse than SD. For me at least.. and possibly Jon

no way no how
 

No, I found no way to get anything I've done to look "good" on uTube. Seems one must serve ones own flv's if you want quality. Otherwise your at the mercy of whatever crazy compression these video server people think up. I can just see it, some project manager who knows nothing about anything saying....
"No goddamnit, it must work with dialup!"
Jon

I hear you Jon, but what pisses me off is that I DO find videos on Youtube that look far better than what I can get up there when the video comes from HDV. That's the part that I especially don't get. I have seen vids up there that look decent. Even some that come from this forum. So somebody knows something that I don't - which is pretty much the way my days go all the time. SOS...

Depends on the content...
 

I think the main difference is movement within the video.
Here is a video that "moves" on uTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK8HNVYPIhE
Here is the same video on my server:
http://www.fotgfilms.com/video/woof.html
BTW this was shot SDDV
Now, here is a slower paced video shot in HD
uTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bst3nmQVqE
My server:
http://www.fotgfilms.com/video/holidays.html

So maybe with just the right content and lucky duck transcoding someone might get a video to look ok on uTube. But I bet if I sent them this, they couldn't get it to look good, no matter what they tried....
uTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd-NfNhWgY4
my server:
http://www.fotgfilms.com/video/agogo.html

Ok, enough of my shameless self promotion, but I think you'll get the idea.
Jon

Eric, did you try my suggestion?

Here's two samples that used the settings I suggested:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=74j5WzW-6j4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQyha30nm6k

And Chris's videos pretty much support my post above...locked camera, not too much motion. The dance part turned out really good btw. My Happy Holidays video came out fine and is 720p to 320x240@ 24fps (letter box). What leaves me scratching my head tho, why the hell do we need to upload 100mb+ files when a final files size using mpeg4 can be 20mb or less. Makes no sense, and is a huge waste of time. I'm sticking with my project manager story, it's the only logic I can find in this whole mess.
Jon

PS if you have Compressor, looks like Chris has the answer!

I'll upload something with some camera movement and lots of motion shortly to see how that goes.

Also, you don't need Compressor to do the conversion. I've just been using Quicktime Pro to compress my files.

Chris, how do you check to see what size your export video will be? I never knew you could do that. Man would knowing this have saved me time in the past...

As far as I know - you can't.

Let us know how it goes Chris.
Thanks,
Jon

I guess I misunderstood your instructions then "Check to see if you're export is under 300MB." Too bad, that would be one cool trick!

I'm trying your settings now. I'll let you know how this works out. Thanks for offering the extra help. I feel like I'm back in 9th grade algebra with a tutor again...

Chris,

No kidding. I just followed your process to a "T". You're a genius. COMPLETELY different results.

Aside from everything else I have tried, I almost gave slamming my head in the doorway a go. Now, no need.

Thank you very much Chris.

Here's something with a lot of motion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03RljmnUv8E

It doesn't look nearly as good as a "static camera shoot", but it's still watchable. The main thing that looks "bad" is the transitions/dissolves - they really stand out.