16:9 to 4:3 letterbox; how?

Question

16:9 to 4:3 letterbox; how?

Hello,

I have a video project in 16:9 format that I want to post to Youtube. As they only support 4:3 aspect ratio, I have to export the video letterboxed. Here is what I do:

File/Export/Using Quicktime Conversion
I use Quicktime format, go to settings/size and change Dimensions to 640x480 as this is the preferred resolution when posting videos to youtube. I check the Preserve aspect ratio using Letterbox. In Compression type I use MPEG4 Video.
The result is squeeshed 4:3 with little bit of pillarboxing.. What am I doing wrong?

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.1), 2.16Ghz, 2gb, FCE4

Posted on Jan 13, 2008 1:56 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 13, 2008 2:13 PM in response to Community User

Tip: No matter what you do it is typically going to look crap, well at least I haven't found the magic settings that YouTube's Flash convert likes to keep the quality.

Try the MPEG-4 presets 320x240 2400bps then select aspect to letterbox which keeps the 16:9 look and feel, but still not sharp and some artefacts. Elgato presets also work but blurred and some artefacts. These both look great on the computer but again crap on YouTube because of the wacked out encoding and dimension processes going on at their end.

Here is a couple of links for reading;
- http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/youtube_compressorgary.html
- http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/07/16/help-key-how-to-optimize-your-video-for-you tube/

As you can see I am yet to be happy with YouTube's quality 😉

Message was edited by: peterjohndean

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Answer 2

limbery

Level 1

26 points

Jan 13, 2008 2:12 PM in response to peterjohndean

I too can't seem to find the magic formulae to post vids to Youtube....but someone on there must be doing something right as some of the videos look very good while others look terrible....
Len

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Answer 3

Jan 13, 2008 2:27 PM in response to peterjohndean

I know what you are talking about..
There are some videos on youtube that tell what settings to use to get good quality, but I'm not willing to go through the hassle.. I always upload my videos to stage6.divx.com too and advertise that on youtube. Superior quality.. Unfortunately uploading to youtube is a must if you want that someone is actually going to watch your videos 😀

As to my problem:
I don't see what difference the 320x240 2400bps settings would make as I have already selected the aspect ratio to letterbox. But as I said, the output isn't letterbox, but squeeshed 4:3 with pillarboxes.. Weird huh? o_O

BTW, youtube recommends 640x480 these days, the 320x240 seems to be history 😀
( http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=55745&topic=10526)

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Answer 4

Jan 13, 2008 3:31 PM in response to Community User

Until YouTube offer's a much be quality output, I will continue to look for those magic settings or look for alternative providers,

- DivX's Stage6 ( http://www.stage6.com/) doesn't allow for ACL's (access controlled lists) like YouTube so everything is public.
- Azureus HD Vids ( http://www.vuze.com/) Users can upload video either to the central server or they can share a video among a select group of friends by creating a private "trackerless" torrent.

The bane of our lives is to be always looking for something better 😉

I've tried the 640x480, and they aren't any better in quality. 😟

Message was edited by: peterjohndean

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Answer 5

Jan 14, 2008 9:10 AM in response to Community User

In prefs > Setup, choose DV-NTSC.

With your project open, select Edit > New Sequence.

Select new sequence in timeline; drag your old sequence from browser onto the new sequence in timeline. You will see your letterboxed 4:3 project in the canvas.

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Answer 6

Jan 14, 2008 10:04 AM in response to darkprints

Thank you, that made it! I still fail to see the logic in all this (checking letterboxing = pillarboxing and so on..) but at least I'm now back to business.

I have no idea how I could have solved this issue without asking help over here so thanks to you all and a big ?-mark to Apple.

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Answer 7

Jan 14, 2008 10:29 AM in response to Community User

< With your project open, select Edit > New Sequence. >
My mistake - I meant "File > New Sequence".

This problem was driving me crazy... lost a whole day trying to make it work. Finally asked here, and got the answer from (if I recall) Tom Wolsky.

Now if I could just figure out why my render files keep disappearing....

Message was edited by: darkprints

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Answer 8

Jan 14, 2008 10:32 AM in response to darkprints

Yeah, actually couldn't find prefs > Setup so I went to
Final Cut Express/Easy Setup

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Answer 9

Jan 14, 2008 10:46 AM in response to Community User

steamfox wrote:
Yeah, actually couldn't find prefs > Setup so I went to
Final Cut Express/Easy Setup

Dang. I have to remember not to post before having my morning coffee.

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