A small question for you Denbigh. What are you producing video for?

Now, I produce video for two outlets.
1. Streaming video over the net.
2. Displaying video on my TV to show others.

My output from PD for my HD footage is HD in both cases because I chose to render to a particular format for streaming and the format is viewable on TV using a Western Digital device.
see: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/9621.page#43230

I look forward to your answer.

Dafydd

Good question. First, I have always been 'into' photography and used to have a Bolex camera on which I used always to shoot b&w. Editing was something else, but pretty straightforward. Nowadays, I tend to get roped in to take photos and recently videos at family and friends events. I always insist that there is an 'official' photographer as I can't be a guest and try to produce anything halfway decent. So my primary reason for being interested in video is quite simple and just a question of trimming some clips, bolting them together, putting some music and producing the best I can: first for a DVD (later will be BD) and also for YouTube if the event is a lot of people's interest, for example a dance evening. All I want is to produce the best for the medium I am using. YouTube, DVD and BD.

Second, I have many photos which used to be slide-shows of personal and professional interest. I have tried making slide-shows with PD6 through 8 and not been very happy with the results. Now HD is coming of age and I am taking a new interest in those slide-shows.

At bottom, I do not hope/want to make anything of public interest, just friends, family and myself. There is also the 'Everest' effect - I want to produce something of the best quality for ME!!

I am going to look carefully at your referred thread... I am sure there are many things there... but are the answers to my original question(s) there?

I think many people would find a good ref for quality switches to be helpful. i7 980x; W7 Pro; 12GB; Nvidia GTX 285; 2x300G Velociraptors in Raid 0; 2x1.5TB Barracuda in Raid 1; 2TB WD Studio Ed.II (eSATA); NEC SpectraView Reference 2690 + MultiSync EA232

Hi Denbigh -

Without suggesting that this is the answer, these are the formats and profiles I typically use:

YouTube
WMV HD Standard Quality (1280x720) - I also use a couple of custom WMV profiles with a higher bitrate.
MPEG-4 Mobile Phone - Hi-Vision CamWooo (1280x720) - produces 3G2 file - change file extension to .mp4

YouTube's advice? http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en-uk&answer=55744

DVD
MPEG-2 DVD HQ

AVCHD DVD & Blu-ray - played on BR player
AVCHD (1920X1080) - profile chosen depends on recording mode
I use this format for files produced to play on the PC or through a Media Player > HDTV

Cheers - Tony

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For the old records.... I just can add to Tonys suggestions the following:
Old 8 or Super 8: Create VCD CD’s
Old Video 8 tapes: Create VCD or Medium resolution DVD
DV Tapes: Use High resolution DVD

Hi Denbigh,
Sorry to hold off answering you immediately I wanted members to jump in and add to the post which i see has happened.

One answer is send a video to someone as an attachment or to a group of people - to whet their appetite, or just to inform, I'd use a wmv template I created, it has become a favourite of Cranston (Carsten). It is crisp, sharp, 16:9 and yet suitable for emailing.
http://seemyworldonvideo.com/pages/extras-tools.html
Membership is free and so are the extras.

Next I see you want to upload to YouTube. Tony has pointed you to the wmv 720p template which you'd need to produce to and then upload through your own YT account. Resolution is retained by YT to HD720p. You could also upload the 720p.mp4 file (extension changed from 3g2).

As you have your own website. I would suggest the following.
1. Go find a free FLV player script you can quickly embed into your website's text. Should be very easy for you to do.
2. Adjust the player to suit your video files frame size.
3. Most have sample FLV files to play which will be located to your website directory.
4. I would then select a software which creates FLV files from your video. I render my video to the 3G2 format and then convert them to FLV. I retain control of the quality by rendering to the FLV format on my computer. There is a balancing act with any streaming video - consider what the viewer expects and how they'll download.

For example, the following video was rendered to a streaming format frame size 900x510 http://seemyworldonvideo.com/view/840/ancient-little-boat/

You have control of the location of the video on your website and can inform only friends of how to view the footage. there would be no need to provide DVD's etc.

I'm sure I've missed off a lot, please ask a follow up question.

Dafydd

Don't know what came of my previous reply to your last... never mind.

I am following your refs and I am sure I will learn a lot.

Just to show you the sort of thing I would like to be able to produce a lot better see http://tinyurl.com/386h8h9

The audio stream is not what I wanted at all, but my MJQ track fell foul of the copyright which suppresses the audio, I note SONY are rather more enlightened and get a bit of free advertising when their track is recognized.

The URL above is a modernised version of a b&w slide show I did some years ago and now is a record of something completely vanished. Nikon F3 - Slide scanned Nikon 2000. Lovely skies from 35mm film but I have to live with grain. i7 980x; W7 Pro; 12GB; Nvidia GTX 285; 2x300G Velociraptors in Raid 0; 2x1.5TB Barracuda in Raid 1; 2TB WD Studio Ed.II (eSATA); NEC SpectraView Reference 2690 + MultiSync EA232