Stabilised video problem

[Roy Alexander]

I'm not sure wether this is the right forum for this posting but as the video was made with CS5 premiere pro, here goes. I have stabilised one of my own shaky videos using Pro-dad Mercalli and it made the video rock steady. However when I uploaded the said video to you tube all the stabilisation fx disappeared when played back on you tube. Can anyone explain why this should happen or is it the way you tube processes the video which results in unravelling the stabilisation.

[Helen Habib]

It sounds strange that YouTube undid the stabilisation, was YouTube set to stabilise it on upload? If so, can you reverse that? Perhaps you can try another site, say, Vimeo?

[John Wiley]

I've never heard of anything like this before... my only guess that Youtube's own stabilisation has taken over and done it's own thing - though for this to happen there would need to be something that it tries to stabilise (maybe a person moving across the screen, or something like that?).

Also I know it sounds obvious, but make sure you've got all your effects switched on in Premiere before exporting, and you're uploading the correct version of the video.

[Roy Alexander]

I've uploaded 28 videos to YouTube and have never had this trouble before. Since starting this thread I have uploaded another video to YouTube with the same result. It was YouTube's idea to stabilise the videos. After uploading had been processed they said the videos were shaky and asked if I wanted them to fix it. I said yes and they went ahead and they said they had fixed it. The results were patchy and nothing like as steady as the copies I uploaded. You can see the result if you log on to youtube and select RoyfromDurham and look at the Norway video. I don't know if this has anything to do with the problem but the two videos share a common history. They were both shot many years ago on SUPER8 FILM and later copied to VHS tape. This was again copied at a later date to DV cassette tape. To upload to youtube I had to use Premiere Pro 5 to capture the DV tape to the timeline and then stabilise it before encoding it to a Mpeg copy. It was this Mpeg copy which I uploaded to YouTube. Maybe I should of stabilised the Mpeg copy instead. Perhaps the Mercalli stabiliser only works well on the original camera shots. I don't know and I'm hoping somebody else does.

[Helen Habib]

"...asked if I wanted them to fix it. I said yes and they went ahead..."

Can you reverse that? Or re-upload and do not give the okay to stabilise, because there's no need.

[Gary Huff]

You want to know why YouTube stabilized the video when it asked you if you wanted to stabilize the video and you told it "yes"? And then, for some reason, you decided not to see what would happen if you uploaded it again and select "no"? Why would you not try to the second way to see if that looked correct?

[Roy Alexander]

GARY.and HELEN. Obviously I played back the video uploaded to Youtube and saw how unsteady it was. and not stabilised as I had uploaded it before I accepted the offer from YouTube for them to fix the unsteadiness. Although the video after the fix is far from perfect it is better than you tube's display before they fixed it. It is obvious that my excellent stabilisation was removed somehow during uploading to youtube

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Roy Alexander

Obviously I played back the video uploaded to Youtube and saw how unsteady it was.

That was not obvious from your original post.

It is obvious that my excellent stabilisation was removed somehow during uploading to youtube

This is something else that is not obvious. After you rendered the video out to upload to YouTube, did you watch it? Have you verified that the file you are clicking on to upload to YouTube has your "excellent stabilization" applied to it? When you double-click on the render file that you are using to upload your video to YouTube, you are watching it on your computer and it looks good to you and very different from the video that YouTube plays back for you after the upload?

[Roy Alexander]

GARY. I'm sorry if I did not make things obvious but at 88 years of age I am liable to forget some things. However I can assure you that I checked every stage of the process including the things you have mentioned.
Thank you for your interest,it is appreciated.

[Gary Huff]

Here's the thing, Roy. What you are describing does not sound plausible. Here's why. When you stabilize video footage, it typically zooms it in, with how much it zooms in the footage being determined by how much shake it is trying to reduce. Otherwise, if it tries to "fix" the stabilization, it warps pixels and usually doesn't look very good.

So if YouTube is undoing your stabilization, then it's either zooming in on the footage again, which you don't mention, or it's unzooming the picture and returning it to its original look, which is impossible, and if the latter is what you are seeing, then you are uploading an original clip or footage that doesn't have the stabilization effect applied to it for some reason.

Now YouTube should not mess with your video at all unless you tell it to. I have uploaded hundreds of clips to YouTube and have never had an issue remotely like you describe (except and unless something was wrong with the source render). The only thing YouTube will mess with unintentionally is the contrast level, and that has to do with Legal (16-235) vs Full (0-255) luminance ranges.

Ultimately, at this point, if you want to know what is going on, you're going to need to supply the link to the YouTube video where your stabilization has been "undone" and Dropbox or equivalent service the video you directly uploaded to YouTube and post it as well.

[Roy Alexander]

Thanks to all who offered advice but as I am no nearer to finding out what happened I am just moving on and accepting the fact that it happened and I don't know why. You may be interested to know that I have now used the very same stabilised version of the two videos that I uploaded to you tube to make a DVD via Encore and the result is a rock steady image. Proves to me anyway that something happened during the uploading to You Tube. Matter closed. Thanks.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Roy Alexander

Proves to me anyway that something happened during the uploading to You Tube.

I bet what happened is that you accidentally uploaded the original clip and not your new mastered version.

[Roy Alexander]

GARY. Maybe. At my age anything could happen, although after 65 years of film and video editing I do things automatically.

[Gary Huff]

A great ancestor of mine maintained that, once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

In this case, the impossible is YouTube undoing your stabilization effect. It would be just as impossible as YouTube "undoing" a color correction effect. It is simply not possible. Therefore, the most likely explanation, no matter how improbable you may find it, is that you uploaded the original clip and not your rendered version.

Originally Posted by Roy Alexander

Proves to me anyway that something happened during the uploading to You Tube.

This is not proof of anything, and, in fact, doesn't even amount to evidence. Evidence would be providing the rendered clip and allowing third-parties to do their own YouTube upload tests. If the video became unstabilized, then it would be evidence that something is happening during the upload. The fact that you have successfully rendered DVD versions of this video means nothing more than that you rendered those versions successfully.

After 65 years of film and video production, I would hope that I both understand what is and isn't possible with video and not display a poor entitled attitude towards those who are trying to help, even if it means pointing out that the most likely scenario is that I made a simple mistake.