I've been using Sony Vegas Studio HD Platinum 11.0 for over a year now. I LOVE IT. But I have had one problem with it. The output video has not been quite as good as I had hoped. And when I upload to YouTube, it looks like CRAP.
YouTube's guidelines say to upload in the highest quality for the best effect. Then it gives specifics about how to export to a Quicktime .MOV file. None of the specifications match Sony Vegas.
Well! After much experimentation over the months, and after watching various video tutorials and reading through other pages, this is what I have decided is the best solution....
Save your work. SAVE NOW!
Go to Project > Render As ....
Find: "> Sony AVC/MVC (*.mp4; *.m2ts; *.avc)"
Pop open the selection submenu.
Scroll down to: HD 1920x1080-60p
Click [Customize Template...]
Click the [Project] tab.
Change "Video rendering quality:" to [Best].
Click the [Video] tab.
Notice the frame rate is "59.940 (Double NTSC)."
Frame size should be [High definition (1920x1080)].
Field order should be [None (progressive scan)].
Bit rate (bps) should be the highest [25,999,360].
Click [OK].
Make sure your folder and filename are correct at the top.
Click [Render] to begin.
The quality will be very good, but the filesize will be larger than other choices, however not nearly as big as Windows .AVI format.
If you must have a smaller file size, reduce the Bit rate setting.
YouTube will still slightly degrade the quality of your new video after you upload it -- nature of the beast, free is free. Hopefully, you have a high-speed connection because uploads can take a while with higher-quality files because they are larger.
Variable bitrate. No bitrate limit required, though we offer recommended bit rates below for reference
Color Space: 4.2.0
Frame rates
Frame rates should match the source material. For example, content shot in 24fps should be encoded and uploaded at 24fps. Content recorded at 30fps should be uploaded at 30fps. Content shot in 720p60, should be uploaded at 720p60. Content at 1080i 60, should be deinterlaced, going from 60 interlaced fields per second to 30 progressive frames per second before uploading.
Bitrates
Standard quality uploads
Type
Video Bitrate
Mono Audio Bitrate
Stereo Audio Bitrate
5.1 Audio Bitrate
1080p
8,000 kbps
128 kbps
384 kbps
512 kbps
720p
5,000 kbps
128 kbps
384 kbps
512 kbps
480p
2,500 kbps
64 kbps
128 kbps
196 kbps
360p
1,000 kbps
64 kbps
128 kbps
196 kbps
High quality uploads for creators with enterprise quality internet connections
Sometimes embedded videos from YouTube won't play in the Chrome browser but will play in other browsers, like Internet Explorer or Firefox, on the same computer.
One easy solution you might try is to clear your Chrome history cache.
To do this:
Hit the "Customize and control Google Chrome" button in the top right corner of the browser.
Choose "Settings."
A separate tab will pop open.
On the left side menu, choose "History."
Hit [Clear all browsing data...]
A new menu will pop up called "Clear browsing data."
Set "Obliterate the following items from:" to [the beginning of time.]
Check the boxes for x Clear browsing history x Empty the cache x Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data.
Hit [Clear browsing data] and wait a minute till it finishes.
YouTube is the greatest resource for amateur video publishers who want to make a few bucks, IMHO.
However, there are lots of restrictions on the content that you post. One of the main prohibitions is the use of music in your video. Even live background music can provoke Google to mute the entire audio track due to "copyright violations."
If your YouTube video's audio is muted, or your receive an unwanted copyright notice, you have a couple of options --
protest the copyright claim (I have, and they did reverse an undeserved claim by a third party).
re-cut your video with new audio, and then upload it again.
use YouTube's "Audio Swap" option.
The latter is very useful. You can rather easily find some sort of audio creation in YouTube's vast library of songs to match the theme of your video.
However, ONCE YOU USE THE AUDIO SWAP, YOU CANNOT MONETIZE. And vice versa.
YouTube says it has an agreement with the music creators to provide users with audio tracks for free. Even if you see Google ads running with on your video, you won't get any of that profit sharing -- the music creator receives it, not you.
I don't think it's unfair, although I would prefer it if YouTube would split the earnings: The video creator is providing visual content after all.
You could always make your own music, which I have. It's kind of laborious, even with Apple's Garage Band, but it's not impossible by any stretch. So, be creative and pick your poison.
An example of an "Audio Swap" that I was forced to do because some old '60s song was playing in the background. I think the music matches well, but again, I get no money for the thousands of views.
