I need help, not sure I am in the right place. at DVinfo.net

Holly McMillan · March 16th, 2010, 03:13 PM

I'm thinking I'm in way over my head here, but I have tried so hard to find answers to my questions and no one seems to be able to help.

I have a Sony AVCHD Handycam. I find it user friendly - I like almost everything about it. When I upload the videos onto my laptop, they upload into the software that came with the camcorder (Picture Motion Browser) and they are in AVCHD 1080i format. They look great.

I wanted to be able to upload some videos to my blog, Facebook, and be able to share them via email. The easiest thing I found to do was: convert them to WMV files and upload them to youtube. When I view the WMV files, they look great. But once viewed in youtube, they are blurry.

When I am converting them, the size is 640x480 (the largest option) and standard quality (1000 kbps - the best option).

I am just frustrated because I feel like this camcorder is over my head. I love using it, but I have no clue what to do with AVCHD videos.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Peter Manojlovic · March 16th, 2010, 05:08 PM

Hey Holly.....

Welcome to the forums...
I played with this software the other day...I'm glad you enjoy it...

As far as YouTube goes, sometimes you can view your uploaded videos, but since it hasn't finished totally compressing, you're probably viewing a "Draft" copy of the video...Therefore, quality won't be as good, until it's totally completed.
It can take a while..
Also, 1080i is an interlaced format, and should be deinterlaced or shot progressively (1080p)..Se if you've got this available in your camera, i'd suggest you use it...I had assumed that AVCHD was always progressive..
Oh well...

Good luck!!!

J. Stephen McDonald · April 19th, 2010, 06:21 PM

The best way to share HD videos by E-Mail, is to send a link to them on a hosting website that allows downloads of the full-quality version you uploaded. I use Vimeo for this. If your friends simply subscribe to a free account there, they will have downloading privileges. The hosting website you're using, as well as the others, heavily compress the videos, when they're played back directly on the website. They typically use just 1.7 Mbps or less for this. If you upload them to the website at 8 Mbps or 12 Mbps, that's what people will be able to see, when they are downloaded.

Tom Gull · April 19th, 2010, 07:05 PM

The camcorder isn't over your head, it has just been difficult to upload to YouTube and other sites by taking HD-quality AVCHD clips and trying to convert them to other formats.

Around November of last year, YouTube started supporting 1080p uploads (1920 x 1080 pixels "progressive"). Your camcorder is creating 1080i files as you noted - 1920 x 1080 "interlaced". I had been using Corel's VideoStudio to convert my 1080i files to 720p format, giving up some resolution in the process. As it turns out, that also introduced some de-interlacing artifacts as the software translated interlaced footage into progressive (two half-frames into one full frame).

The good news is that YouTube quietly started supporting direct uploads of 1080i clips somewhere after November. I have been able to upload 1080i clips directly to YouTube with a maximum file size of about 120-150 GB. Somewhere in there, YouTube begins to fail to do the uploads or succeeds but then can't process the video properly. Up until that somewhat flexible limit, though, you can tell YouTube to upload a 1080i clip right out of its Picture Motion Browser folder - no conversion is needed.

Above the apparent size limit, I've bagged trying to convert to lesser resolutions and use the Corel software to convert the clips to its "MPEG-4 HD" format. These also upload to YouTube successfully, and right up to the size and time limits YouTube imposes.

Other editors presumably have formats that keep the 1920 x 1080 resolution and will upload to YouTube successfully. Each editor's choices will be a little different. I can only vouch for the two things I described above that both work.

Once these clips are uploaded, YouTube produces four variants of each clip - at 1080p, 720p, 480p and 360p. They also provide a URL that you can paste into other webpages or emails or the like, taking users direct to that video clip in YouTube.

Hopefully this will help. Things have gotten much simpler than before with YouTube accepting some 1080i clips directly. I also wouldn't be surprised if they start processing larger clips at some point with no fanfare.

Ron Evans · April 19th, 2010, 09:01 PM

The easiest way is to use the Sony Motion Browser software that came with the camera, that you already use to log and archive the video. Under "manipulate" there is an option to upload to Youtube and many others. There are options to convert to WMV etc also under this heading. Its not something I do so cannot comment on how good it is or how fast.
The current version I am using is 4.2.10.15030

Ron Evans

Tom Gull · April 20th, 2010, 08:40 AM

The PMB YouTube upload basically just invokes YouTube and gives you a pointer to the file to copy and paste into the YouTube "upload" edit field. Again, the size of the file will make a difference here. 120-150MB or less seems to upload and process reliably. Above that, YouTube sometimes has issues. Hopefully they will resolve that but there probably won't be any news flash about it, it will just slide into place quietly.

March 16th, 2010, 03:13 PM	#1
Holly McMillan Tourist Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Atlanta Posts: 1	I need help, not sure I am in the right place. I'm thinking I'm in way over my head here, but I have tried so hard to find answers to my questions and no one seems to be able to help. I have a Sony AVCHD Handycam. I find it user friendly - I like almost everything about it. When I upload the videos onto my laptop, they upload into the software that came with the camcorder (Picture Motion Browser) and they are in AVCHD 1080i format. They look great. I wanted to be able to upload some videos to my blog, Facebook, and be able to share them via email. The easiest thing I found to do was: convert them to WMV files and upload them to youtube. When I view the WMV files, they look great. But once viewed in youtube, they are blurry. When I am converting them, the size is 640x480 (the largest option) and standard quality (1000 kbps - the best option). I am just frustrated because I feel like this camcorder is over my head. I love using it, but I have no clue what to do with AVCHD videos. Thoughts or suggestions?

April 19th, 2010, 06:21 PM	#3
J. Stephen McDonald Major Player Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Eugene, Oregon Posts: 909	The best way to share HD videos by E-Mail, is to send a link to them on a hosting website that allows downloads of the full-quality version you uploaded. I use Vimeo for this. If your friends simply subscribe to a free account there, they will have downloading privileges. The hosting website you're using, as well as the others, heavily compress the videos, when they're played back directly on the website. They typically use just 1.7 Mbps or less for this. If you upload them to the website at 8 Mbps or 12 Mbps, that's what people will be able to see, when they are downloaded. __________________ Steve McDonald https://onedrive.com/?cid=229807ce52dd4fe0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22121562@N00/ http://www.vimeo.com/user458315/videos

March 16th, 2010, 05:08 PM	#2
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	Hey Holly..... Welcome to the forums... I played with this software the other day...I'm glad you enjoy it... As far as YouTube goes, sometimes you can view your uploaded videos, but since it hasn't finished totally compressing, you're probably viewing a "Draft" copy of the video...Therefore, quality won't be as good, until it's totally completed. It can take a while.. Also, 1080i is an interlaced format, and should be deinterlaced or shot progressively (1080p)..Se if you've got this available in your camera, i'd suggest you use it...I had assumed that AVCHD was always progressive.. Oh well... Good luck!!!

April 19th, 2010, 07:05 PM	#4
Tom Gull Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Rockville, Maryland Posts: 142	The camcorder isn't over your head, it has just been difficult to upload to YouTube and other sites by taking HD-quality AVCHD clips and trying to convert them to other formats. Around November of last year, YouTube started supporting 1080p uploads (1920 x 1080 pixels "progressive"). Your camcorder is creating 1080i files as you noted - 1920 x 1080 "interlaced". I had been using Corel's VideoStudio to convert my 1080i files to 720p format, giving up some resolution in the process. As it turns out, that also introduced some de-interlacing artifacts as the software translated interlaced footage into progressive (two half-frames into one full frame). The good news is that YouTube quietly started supporting direct uploads of 1080i clips somewhere after November. I have been able to upload 1080i clips directly to YouTube with a maximum file size of about 120-150 GB. Somewhere in there, YouTube begins to fail to do the uploads or succeeds but then can't process the video properly. Up until that somewhat flexible limit, though, you can tell YouTube to upload a 1080i clip right out of its Picture Motion Browser folder - no conversion is needed. Above the apparent size limit, I've bagged trying to convert to lesser resolutions and use the Corel software to convert the clips to its "MPEG-4 HD" format. These also upload to YouTube successfully, and right up to the size and time limits YouTube imposes. Other editors presumably have formats that keep the 1920 x 1080 resolution and will upload to YouTube successfully. Each editor's choices will be a little different. I can only vouch for the two things I described above that both work. Once these clips are uploaded, YouTube produces four variants of each clip - at 1080p, 720p, 480p and 360p. They also provide a URL that you can paste into other webpages or emails or the like, taking users direct to that video clip in YouTube. Hopefully this will help. Things have gotten much simpler than before with YouTube accepting some 1080i clips directly. I also wouldn't be surprised if they start processing larger clips at some point with no fanfare.

April 19th, 2010, 09:01 PM	#5
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,222	The easiest way is to use the Sony Motion Browser software that came with the camera, that you already use to log and archive the video. Under "manipulate" there is an option to upload to Youtube and many others. There are options to convert to WMV etc also under this heading. Its not something I do so cannot comment on how good it is or how fast. The current version I am using is 4.2.10.15030 Ron Evans

April 20th, 2010, 08:40 AM	#6
Tom Gull Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Rockville, Maryland Posts: 142	The PMB YouTube upload basically just invokes YouTube and gives you a pointer to the file to copy and paste into the YouTube "upload" edit field. Again, the size of the file will make a difference here. 120-150MB or less seems to upload and process reliably. Above that, YouTube sometimes has issues. Hopefully they will resolve that but there probably won't be any news flash about it, it will just slide into place quietly.