Over the past week I have been struggling mightily trying to figure out online video. Specifically, how to best format the video and present it on a page. I used to have this figured out, but then YouTube changed things and I've been shooting in HD and things just don't work anymore.
Here's the deal...the video presented here is a series of stills, but the same thing happens when I use HD video and edit in Final Cut. These images were thrown into FotoMagico and exported as HD QuickTime, H.264, 720p. It's 16:9 aspect ratio and the video looks pretty good when played in the QuickTime player from my hard drive. But when uploaded to YouTube it's never the same. First, they re-encode. That always messes with the quality. But the aspect ratio has me completely baffled. If you look at the video here the aspect ratio is correct. But if you grab the embed code, the YouTube player letterboxes it even though it's 16:9. Why? If I change the dimensions in the embed code, as I did here it still doesn't work. The video still gets letterboxed.
I just uploaded the same video to Facebook and it looks WAY better:
Here's another wrinkle: I can take that same video, put it on one of my own servers and it does the same thing. I can use the JW Player or I can just download and play it in Firefox and the aspect ratio is pooched. BUT, if I download and play the video locally, it is fine. It has me perplexed something fierce.
But it's the holidays, so merry Christmas to you and yours! If someone happens upon this and knows the answer, please share. It would make my New Year that much better!
Here's the deal...the video presented here is a series of stills, but the same thing happens when I use HD video and edit in Final Cut. These images were thrown into FotoMagico and exported as HD QuickTime, H.264, 720p. It's 16:9 aspect ratio and the video looks pretty good when played in the QuickTime player from my hard drive. But when uploaded to YouTube it's never the same. First, they re-encode. That always messes with the quality. But the aspect ratio has me completely baffled. If you look at the video here the aspect ratio is correct. But if you grab the embed code, the YouTube player letterboxes it even though it's 16:9. Why? If I change the dimensions in the embed code, as I did here it still doesn't work. The video still gets letterboxed.
I just uploaded the same video to Facebook and it looks WAY better:
Here's another wrinkle: I can take that same video, put it on one of my own servers and it does the same thing. I can use the JW Player or I can just download and play it in Firefox and the aspect ratio is pooched. BUT, if I download and play the video locally, it is fine. It has me perplexed something fierce.
But it's the holidays, so merry Christmas to you and yours! If someone happens upon this and knows the answer, please share. It would make my New Year that much better!
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