Need Help, Web Uploading Ruins My Footage

[Jenna Klingensmith]

Hello! So I'm still new to my canon gl2.. and perhaps i shouldnt be posting this question on this thread, but I figured anyone else who uses a gl2 might be able to help me.

I filmed some footage of a friends band, and he wanted it put on his myspace, and frankly.. I'm clueless when it comes to compression, or putting video on the web, I just know how to upload to video servers such as youtube, etc.

I love the quality of the footage of this camera, compared to my old 1chip panasonic.. the video, once it's uploaded to the web, looks practically the same, minus the more vivid color on the canon gl2..

So I upgraded to a new camera, invested all of this money, and my videos, once uploaded still look very unprofessional.

Here is the link to the video I uploaded to metacafe (as i found it was slightly better than youtube)

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/526372...erlying_truth/

I'd appreciate any help or advice on what to do to make it look better once it's processed to the web.

Of course you'll probably ask me this so I'll tell you, I output it to wmv probably *don't remember*, eh I'm so confused. I tried a few different types, like mpegs, and what not.. (clueless..) None of them looked any better once uploaded..

So, if anyone can tell me what software I should be using, and what settings for compression.

Also for reference, I have Premiere Pro, Vegas (but i'm not to familar with it yet), Premiere Elements, UleadVS10 and Pinnacle 10. So if anyone out there uses these and knows how to get good web video please let me know how!!!!

[Kevin Laster]

It's mostly duue to the compression each website does to make each video smaller in size to save bandwidth.

If you wanted to try and save some of the audio and video quality, compress it yourself and upload it to a lossless server, i.e. your own website with your own bandwidth you control.

[Benjamin Hill]

Sites like YouTube will apply their own compression scheme to whatever you upload them- so if you're uploading what is already a heavily compressed .wmv, and they are then compressing it again to put it up on their site, you can expect it to look pretty low-res.

The best way to combat the destructive compression of those video sites is to upload the highest quality file possible, within that site's or your own bandwidth limitations. Remember- quality in, quality out.

[Jenna Klingensmith]

If i wanted to put my video on my own website how would I do that, so it would play in wmv format for example?

[Benjamin Hill]

You can either learn about HTML, web design, etc. (if you don't already know) and simply figure it out, or have a web-savvy person do it for you. You can also do something like the "do it yourself" web hosting packages that Network Solutions has that don't require web design skills. Works for me. Good luck,

[Graham Risdon]

Hi Jenna

One key thing I noticed with your vid is that it's handheld...

I guess this is part of the overall feel, but handholding makes compression more difficult, and here's why (apologies to the technically-minded for the poetic licence!)

Without going into loads of detail, most compression uses both intra-frame and inter-frame techniques. Intra-frame is like the normal JPG compression in that it reduces detail in a frame by "averaging" pixels.

Inter-frame stores the complete picture only on a key frame (maybe once a second) and then just stores the changes in subsequent frames.

If every pixel is changing (because the cam is handheld), there won't be much inter-frame compression, so image quality suffers as the intra-frame compression is ramped up to match the bandwidth that has been set. Of course, this can be improved by inceasing the bandwidth (kBps) but many sites like YouTube limit this.

All that said (whew!) compression isn't an exact science and every clip compresses slightly differently - there's no magic fix (If anyone know one, then let me know!) but an understanding of how compression works can make the inevitable trial and error a bit more productive.

Hope this helps

[Jenna Klingensmith]

So of course using a tripod would help, but, the fact that the band members are moving, and lighting effects are going crazy, I don't think it would help much to have a tripod in that case.

It just bothers me that I've seen videos on myspace and youtube that look extremely high quality, they aren't pixelated, and the audio is good, and i just wonder how the heck do they get it on to YOUTUBE looking like that.. Because like you've said, youtube basically recompresses an already compressed video.

The quality of my video after i've compressed it into wmv format is of course, good, i just want to know how people embed wmv files to play on their websites, or myspaces..

[Kevin Laster]

I think the best way to do put it online is to buy a .Mac account and use iWeb and upload it there. I'll probably buy .Mac once Web2.0 comes out later.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Kevin,

can you use a . mac account if you are working from a pc?? just save as a mov file??