Exporting video standards?

I have been doing a paper weekly newsletter for years and am now trying to convert over to a video newsletter.

I've using my Mac and the built in iMovie software which has been pretty painless so far. I have Final Cut Pro on the shelf, but I really can't take the time to learn that right now. I've invested 2 weeks so far getting my studio (dining room) set up, lighting, scripting, formats I want to use, investigating for pay options, etc., etc.

I ran into issues with cameras as the computer camera wasn't really a high enough quality and I couldn't find any usb microphones other than desktop versions which weren't sensitive enough for me to be able to record from 6-8 feet away. The iPhone looked good, but the sound wasn't any better so I ended up using my Digital SLR - that worked great and sound quality was much better! Who'd a thunk it?

Now it's time to export this 8 minute video and I'm not sure what format to export it in so that the most people can view it. The idea right now is that it will be placed on my web page and I'll send links to it.

It automatically sends it out in a M4V file which wants to run thru iTunes. This is exported in about 20 minutes and is 62 mb in a mobile size which seems to be about the size I'd like it to view in. But I don't like having to go thru iTunes. I can make my Macs automatically open it in Quicktime so that's not a problem for me, but what about PCs? Do they have an acceptable way to view them?

I am currently exporting it in a quicktime format. I don't know how big that will be but it takes about 4 times longer to export the file.

Does anyone out there have any sage words of wisdom for me that will allow me to be able to upload this video this evening?

Upload HD to youtube and embed on your website. Most people have codecs to play M4V (h.264) on their computers already wether they use iTunes or not, it depends on file associations. Any video player can play it as long as there is a codec for it on your computer.

Oh good M4V is WAY smaller than QT. QT was 275 mb vs. 68 mb. I am now trying a .3gp export which shows to be much smaller and is for cellular. I have no idea how that will work on a computer.

I had thought about using youtube, but the one time I tried to embed, it wouldn't. All I got was the code showing so obviously I was doing something wrong. I also could never get the YouTube or FB logos to show up.

I haven't worked on my website in over 3 years so I am very week. Because there were so many CHANGES happening in the mortgage market, I stopped working on it until I could HOPE they would slow down. Now I have to go back and I find I've forgotten a lot because I haven't done it in so long.

I have to call GoDaddy to get their help to get it all my secret info so I can up load it so maybe they can tell me how to YouTube it.

FYI .3gp was crappy! Not only was it super small (I was hoping it would be iPhone size) but the quality was so bad it made me wonder why I'd gone to all the work.

no no...

you need to start with the big file first. 3gp is a container of MP4 standardised for super low rez mobile communication.

I don't know how Mac describes exporting video terms, but you need to export the project into a standard resolution MP4 profile of some kind.

What resolution did your DSLR shoot video in?

I'll have to look it up to see. Here tis 640 x 480 30fps The camera says it has an effective pixel rating of 6.3 megapixels.

I wasn't going to use the 3gp file I just wanted to see what I got when I exported that way.

When I exported in mv4 I was given the option of size. It appears that the mobile size (480 x 360) is large enough and there's no need for the 640 x 480 size.

The m4v files, while large are much smaller than the quicktime file and while there is a little loss in the quality of some of the text generated as a pic (title) that's the only thing I can see that's noticeable.

I was just trying to be sure I had an output format that was as compatible as I could make it.

ok, you tube has shifted most of their internal standards to an mp4 multi-stream profile

basically you can upload the highest quality you can to youtube and they can automatically "step down" to lower resolutions so you dont have to do anything.

The problem is that m4v is a proprietary Mac spinoff that is SOMETIMES compatible with mp4 part10. The best thing to do is to actually export an MP4 contained file.

go ahead and leave it 640x480, export an MP4 if you can, and upload that, eve if it is big (because its really not all that big in bytes, honestly)

Well that's supposing that I use YouTube, which I might have to, but I've been thinking I'd prefer to host it myself. Are you guys sure I want to use YouTube and embed it?

it simplifies so much; bandwidth on your own host, player compatibility, inline function vs downloading...

your stated objective was to make sure PC guys can see it. the only other way I can think of to match the ubiquity is to produce a DVD... and thats a whole nother ball of wax.

If you upload to YouTube, then YouTube will take care of all the hard stuff. It'll show on phones, on computers of multiple flavors, whatever.

Never use QT! GAH I hate when people do that! +1 for Youtube, or Vimeo for HD.

I recommend H.264 w/ MP3 audio as the "most standard" right now.

Keith wrote: If you upload to YouTube, then YouTube will take care of all the hard stuff. It'll show on phones, on computers of multiple flavors, whatever.

^^ This. ^^

We tried hosting videos (and still do, to some extent) but have had many more views going through YouTube. It's easier, takes less time, costs nothing, and makes your content much more visible to the rest of the world.

YouTube is the 3rd most-visited site on the internet. If you learn to play with the tags and networking features available on YouTube, you may find your videos traffic comes more from people poking around YouTube than from direct traffic generated by your site/newsletter.

Well I guess I'll give YT a go. The video size and quality means I'll have to change out all my lead in and exit pics for something with larger and simpler text. That probably means I'll need more of them, but I can do that once and be done with it.

Thanks guys.

Now I've got a YouTube question.

I haven't created an account yet, but as I went to do that I noticed the list of categories of videos that was below. I saw nothing for business (mortgages) or anything remotely financial or business that I would think my videos fit. Any ideas of how to categorize my stuff?

It's an educational newsletter with a lot of how to and keeping up to date with market changes mostly for Realtors and Builders although quite a few prospective buyers subscribe to my FB page and get the paper newsletters.

Are there more categories other than those listed here? YouTube

Also what's Google got to do with YT? When I try to sign up it wants me to create a gmail account.

Google controls YouTube. When you create a Google identity (like a gmail address) you'll be able to use the same ID to control a huge collection of additional google tools, like analyitics, AdSense, Google Wallet, Google Store, YouTube, etc.

You aren't forced to use anything you don't want to, but if you start to use these other features you'll already have a verified identity that makes it easy to log in. Unfortunately, it makes it hard to control multiple brands or YouTube channels.

If you're worried about big brother, it may freak you out. I don't typically worry about big brother and it kinda freaks me out.

As far as categories, I wouldn't stress it too hard. Education is a category, and from your description it seems like the best fit. Use lots and lots of (appropriate) tags to help the search engines find it.

Google owns youtube. Sign up for youtube, and you also automatically have a gmail account, picassa account, google+ account....

IT WON'T ACCEPT ANY OF MY PASSWORDS, THEREFORE IT WON'T LET ME CREATE AN IDENTITY.

You have to use a password that you can remember. If it's too complex you can't remember it and have to write it down = security risk.

Now what if you don't have the password with you when you need it?!

I've gone through 8 different password combos of words and numbers. It seems to require that you can't make a word out of any part of the password.

I'm beginning to think I'd rather deal with storage and compatibility issues, at least they are things under MY control.

Use some l33tspeak if you must use words.

I have a 40+ character encryption key on my removable backup drives and it looks like nonsense. That level of encryption is illegal in France

carguy123 wrote: If it's too complex you can't remember it and have to write it down = security risk.

1 - pick a song (or phrase) you won't forget the lyrics to ("..Mary Had A Little Lamb...")
2 - Combine the first letters (MHALL)
3 - apply your L3e+sp34k filter (MH4LL)
4 - sing your song/say your phrase as you type

Presto. One unforgettable password.

After 15 tries I got it to accept a password. All I had to do was remove the capitalization of the first letter. So a weaker password passed muster.

Now I've got an account but it linked to my personal facebook page instead of my business facebook page. Anyone know how to change that, apparently YT doesn't.

I still love XKCD's password theory comic. ;p

carguy123 wrote: After 15 tries I got it to accept a password. All I had to do was remove the capitalization of the first letter. So a weaker password passed muster. Now I've got an account but it linked to my personal facebook page instead of my business facebook page. Anyone know how to change that, apparently YT doesn't.

You may be a little boned. I have 6 google id's to fight a similar problem; their idea of security makes changing profile permissions or ID changes awfully difficult, perhaps impossible.

You might consider creating a "google only" id for YouTube use. Be prepared to start from scratch.

madmallard wrote: I still love XKCD's password theory comic. ;p

It's true though, brute forcing a password is an all or nothing affair, you can't just guess a portion of the password at a time, you have to do it all at once, so the more characters you have the better.

Random characters really only stifle commonly used dictionary word based password attacks. It would have little to no effect on something that is brute forcing its way in by guessing every possible combination.

If a site requires a certain number of capitalized letters, special characters, or numbers, just throw them in between the words.

rubber1house2pepsi!FARTS@ is a much stronger password than some crazy unrememberable 8 character mess.

I've really been meaning to get around to strengthening my passwords but I been lazy.

I'm assuming the YouTube account linked to a google account, not a Facebook account - right? Regardless, you probably want to be logged in to the appropriate account when you create your YouTube profile. I've got one for my personal use and one for business, and all I need to do is hit "log out" then "log in" to change from one to the other. It messes up Gmail every time, but that's to be expected.

The XKCD password comic is a good one - the guy who draws that strip builds it on real knowledge.

No Keith I'm talking about a business FB account.

They wouldn't even let me have a YouTube account if I didn't create a Gmail account.

I have a business and a personal FB account. The business account was created under(?) my personal FB account. The only way I can get the YouTube to "share" with my FB account, and I'm presuming that means to give people a link to my FB page from the YT video, is share with my personal account.

When I upload a video will it automatically give me the embed code so I can put it on my webpage as I upload it?

Exactly how do you put that on your webpage. As I've said before when I've used that embed code on an email or forum I get nothing but visible code, no actual link. I've never tried it on a webpage.