I've been messing around with exporting settings for about a week now.

I need settings that will look great on YouTube,

and settings that look amazing in HD on Vimeo.com

Can anybody save me?

-Mike Gauthier

Can't help with YouTube, but Vimeo has the settings listed in their help/FAQ section.

As I recall it's h.264, 500 mbps, keyframes every 30, deinterlace for progressive output. You can do either 24 or 30 fps. I'm a bit fuzzy on the audio bit it's aac at either 160 or 192.

I've used their recommended settings for a bunch of videos and I think they work well. You can see for yourself by looking here:
White Mountains in HD on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/whitemountains)
Oxford Plains Speedway Channel in HD on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/oxfordplains)

Since the ultimate "look" is very subjective, others may have settings that they like better.

You tube videos should be exported as an Mpeg II at 720X480. Get this, when uploaded to you tube in Mpeg II, it will also include an option to view the video at a higher resolution.
Not pic below under video playhead.


Check out this video of Mine.

YouTube - Men's Fraternity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4vRQAg7148)