Coldstreams Online Video

Download YouTube Videos as MP4 Files.

The above is the new official way from Google/YouTube. Its in test mode now but accessible by following those instructions.

If you use Firefox, there are also many plug-ins available that can enable you to download .FLV and .MP4 video files from YouTube.

Recently, YouTube’s HD videos are downloadable as MP4 video files but only in non-HD modes suitable for use on an iPod. If you want the HD versions, you need to download the .FLV file and then probably convert to MP4.

To download the FLV files, use Download Helper. A type YouTube video will show several alternative downloads for the currently playing video.

One blogger, Rishabh Singla, attempted to determine what the different types mean and came up with the following table:

1. Basic / Normal: FLV; 718 KB; 1x; Low
2. HQ18: MP4; 1.4 MB; 2x; Medium
3. HQ22: MP4; 4.5 MB; 6.4x; Very high
4. HQ35: FLV; 2.7 MB; 3.9x; High
5. HQ37: Container?; Size?; Factor?; Super

However, since the new Download feature has been added to YouTube, I do not believe that HQ44 is consistently an HD “very high” quality video, as shown. Some times it is, but sometimes, the FLV file option is much better.

When the FLV file is better, I download the FLV and either play it with VLC – or, I convert it to MP4. If you are using Windows, look for the free FLV to Zune file converter. If you play with the various options, you can do a very nice conversion to 1280×720 MP4 format. (I need to update this post later – I can not seem to find which FLV to Zune converter I have and where I got it from. Meanwhile, here is a different free converter – I have not tested.)

Video News » Blog Archive » YouTube Adds Automatic Subtitles.

The new feature can automatically generate on-screen captions, which is very useful and valuable to those who are hearing impaired. The system can even translate to other languages.

As the narrator in the linked video notes,  “sometimes the automatic captions are pretty good”

Seriously – this is a fantastic new feature. Good job, YouTube!

HD videos uploaded in 1920 x 1080/p will – probably – be transcoded by Youtube into 1080p videos. This represents an upgrade from Youtube’s 1280 x 720p maximum HD resolution.  (“Probably” because Youtube says not all videos will be converted just yet.)

The 1080p videos, however, are useless for most computer displays as few have 1920 x 1080 sized displays. The main advantage, probably, is that in a near future world, we will be watching streaming videos over the Internet – on our real HDTVs, arriving via a set top box.

Worse, you’ll need a very fast processor to watch the new 1080/p HD videos. I can’t watch them on a 3.2 Ghz Windows OS computer – and I can watch them on my quad core Mac Pro only if I wait for the video to download entirely, first. The problem is the video stutters badly as the processor cannot keep up with the Flash video decoding.

Recommendation: Upload the HD video but don’t select the HD option during play back.  It looks like the new “normal” is 1280 x 720 – so you don’t need to select HD.

uploading Failed upload aborted – YouTube Help.

Just an FYI – this is happening to me, also. It has been impossible to upload videos to YouTube the past couple of days. Actually, I can upload short videos, say 30 seconds long – YouTube gives an error but processes the video anyway. Longer videos, such as 5 minutes, always fail. I suspect this is due to YouTube’s new 1080p upgrade not working.

Nothing changed on my end – or for the many others experiencing this problem. Today is Saturday, November 21, 2009 for reference.

There is a work around, apparently: Use the multi-video or bulk video upload option. This does work for me and others.

As you may know, YouTube now supports both HQ (high quality) and HD (high definition) videos.

To create an HQ video, you need to upload a video file encoded at a rate of at least 1.5 Mbps.

To create an HD video, you need to upload an HD video file encoded at a rate of at least 2.0 Mbps.

YouTube recommends transcoding your HD video to 1280×720 prior to upload. This does work and produces a good quality HD conversion.

But here’s a little secret that I verified with some tests – don’t use 1280×720. Instead, transcode your video to 1920 x 1080. This produces the best YouTube HD video quality if you encode with sufficient bits.

Here is a video I shot in HDV (1440 x 1080/24p) – and after editing, transcoded to 1920 x 1080 / 24p H.264 at 5 mbps. The resulting huge file was then uploaded to YouTube. Watch it in “HD” and “Fullscreen”. Looks pretty sharp, heh?

(Sorry about the long zoom camera shake at the beginning – I was also dealing with someone else’s medical emergency as I tried to keep my mind focused on shooting this.)

Another trick for online use, if your camera supports it, is to shoot at 24p – that is 24 frames per second, progressive mode. There are three advantages to do this:

1. You avoid the interlace jaggies by shooting in progressive mode
2. You have fewer frames/second to process on your computer when re-encoding in to h.264 for upload, so this step is 20% faster
3. There appears to be a slight improvement in image quality.  While h.264 does interframe compression across a group of frames, there is a slight advantage in having fewer frames for a given data rate – so your encoding quality is a little bit better.

The following video uses YouTube’s annotation features to create a clickable, interactive media – basically a simple game. As you click, it resets to a different video – also with interaction to continue the theme.

This is very clever – if you are seeking new ideas for online video – this will stimulate your imagination!

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW6dxcvWo4w&annotation_id=annotation_266591&feature=iv

YouTube – Microsoft Songsmith Commercial.

But the weirdest thing is that the notebook computer used for a prop throughout the video – is an Apple Macbook Pro (plastered with stickers to sort of cover it up). It is true that you could install Windows Vista on the Macbook Pro hardware, but, uh, is this what you want for your Microsoft ad?

Google Axes Dodgeball, Jaiku, Video and More.

Google Video was one of the first video upload sites I had used (besides my own servers) as it permitted unlimited length videos versus YouTube’s 10 minute limitation.