Lost Video Island

Petar · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:40 pm Post subject: Widescreen Videos

Hi Everyone, I'm pretty new to this whole video editing thing and I seem to be having a little problem with uploading my video to Youtube. It seems that whenever I upload my video it squashes it to fit into a 4:3 ratio when the original file has been made using 16:9 wide screen clips and was encoded to be played in its original form. So I was wondering how can I actually put up my video so it stays in its original wide screen form? I know this might seem like a stupid question to some of you more experienced vidders but I would really appreciate some help, thanks in advance!

Aislynn · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:03 pm Post subject:

Hey there, Petar! And no worries, there's no such thing as a stupid question. We've all had to start somewhere!

A quick question for you: what editing program are you using?

Petar · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:17 am Post subject:

Well yeah I guess everyone did have to start somewhere

Anyways I am using Windows Movie Maker on Windows Vista, I'm just getting started on making vids so this seemed like the most user friendly for a beginner like myself

When I actually created my video I made one in both DVD wide screen quality (720x576) and HD 720p (1280x720), I haven't yet tried uploading the HD version because it would take ages to upload over 200mb

_________________
FUNNIEST QUOTE EVER

Michael: "I think they're trying to figure out what to do with us."
Sawyer: "I think they're gonna eat us."

Aislynn · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:37 am Post subject:

Here's YouTube's page about optimizing your uploads and I think your HD version is the one in the ratio you're going to need.

Though I can definitely understand how you're not eager to try it out on something that large!

What you might could do is render a "test" vid in that same HD 720p (1280x720) size, something that's only, say, 10 or 20 seconds long, that wouldn't end up with such a huge file size that will take so long to upload. Then upload that to YouTube and see how it looks. That'll save you from uploading the huge one first until you're sure it's going to work.

I'm not familiar with Vista's WMM and how it renders, unfortunately, so I don't know for sure what its widescreen options are. Have you tried the DVD wide screen quality (720x576) and seen that it "sees" it as the square 4:3 ratio? Does YouTube pillarbox it (put the black bars down the sides so that the picture is a square in the middle of the player)? 720x567 sounds like a widescreen aspect to me so I wouldn't think that YouTube would automatically treat it like s 4:3 but, then again, mysterious are the ways of both YouTube and WMM, lol!

Petar · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:47 pm Post subject:

Ok so I've justed finished uploading the dvd quality widescreen version and for some reason youtube still squashes it into a 4:3 standard ratio with the black bars down the sides which really looks crappy seeing everyone looks super thin now

I also know what you mean about the black bars all around the vid leaving it sitting in the middle of the window and I've figured out that only happens when you convert widescreen clips used in your video to a 4:3 format and then upload cos I did that with a clip I made a while back and doesn't look very good at all.
I read the link you provided about optimizing uploads and I think youtube doesn't support the 720x576 format for whatever reason but it does for the proper HD 1280x720, so I think I'll just have to upload the massive file

This will be my 3rd time now trying to upload this video cos I also had a problem with the WMG copyright but luckily I've found a way around so I don't have to change the song

I think I'll just let the computer run overnight now and on the brightside at least I'll have a great quality video

I'll get back to you again when its done and thanks again for all your wonderful help!

_________________
FUNNIEST QUOTE EVER

Michael: "I think they're trying to figure out what to do with us."
Sawyer: "I think they're gonna eat us."

Petar · Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:13 pm Post subject:

I've just uploaded my first vid called hoping for a miracle and although its taken a while I can happily confirm that the 1280x720 HD version does come up as a proper widescreen video in Youtube and covers the entire window

Thanks for all your help Aislynn!
_________________
FUNNIEST QUOTE EVER

Michael: "I think they're trying to figure out what to do with us."
Sawyer: "I think they're gonna eat us."

Aislynn · Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:18 pm Post subject:

You're very welcome! I'm so glad that it worked!