Uploading 101 with Professor Compressor

This week in Howcast’s ‘Modern 101 for emerging digital filmmakers’ we’re pleased to welcome guest lecturer, Professor Compressor. Professor Compressor is one of the most revered thinkers in web video and is renowned for his ability to compress and upload videos using the proper codecs, in the correct aspect ratios, and at the precise data rate, so that they look, as he would say, ‘wunderful!’ Professor Compressor comes to us through the magic of video all the way from an Indian archipelago via Eastern Russia to share his expertise on uploading great-looking web video.



Thank you for watching Professor Compressor’s compression video! Here you can find all the pertinent notes from today’s lecture:

What is a codec?
A codec is the format in which you compress your video. It could be a variety of different formats, but the most modern, powerful, and commonly used codecs are H.264 and MPEG-4.

Why H.264 and MP4 (MPEG-4)?
H.264 and MP4 are wunderful codecs! They allow you to have a tremendous quality video at a fraction of the file size. Lets look at a theoretical example:

You’ve finished editing and have made a beautiful 1920x1080 master file. But it is in the Apple Pro Res format, and is over 2GB. This file won’t work for the web. The video codec is too large and the file size is too big. Inevitably you will end up with a low quality video, because the master file is not designed and optimized for the web.

Take that file and transcode it into an H.264. Since web players are designed to work seamlessly with H.264, you won’t have to worry about choppy or corrupted playback. And H.264 encodes your video in such a way that you won’t see a noticeable drop in image quality. What you will see is your 2GB master file shrink to less than 500MB -- perfect for the web!

Help, my footage looks stretched or squished and there are black bars bordering the footage!
This is a common problem that results from uploading an incorrect frame size. When uploading, you need to make sure the video is in the correct frame size for the player. This could be a variety of different frame sizes, varying from SD to HD, so check your website’s FAQ on uploading for instructions. The most common frame sizes are: 640x360, 640x480, 720x480, 1280x720, and 1920x1080.

This problem could also result from an incorrect Pixel Aspect Ratio. Pixel Aspect Ratio (or PAR) can be a little confusing, but the simple way to think of it is that this setting tells your program what aspect ratio to encode your video, at the pixel level. It determines how the digital information is presented and viewed onscreen. I recommend square pixels for HD, PAL for PAL, and NTSC for NTSC, though this can vary.. The best option is to play around with this setting when exporting until you get your video looking pristine.

Help, my video looks muddy and detail is lost. My text looks almost pixelated and the video is generally very low quality.
Low image quality is usually due to a low data rate when exporting your video. When exporting your video, you’re given many options; one of these is data rate. Setting the data rate to automatic will usually result in the best image. It is also highly recommended to do a multi-pass encode. It will take longer than a single-pass encode, but it will result in a much smoother video with higher image quality.

Well, that was a lot of information! Digest it, experiment, and start uploading those WUNDERFUL videos!

Nardeep Khurmi, Howcast’s Post Production Specialist (a.k.a Professor Compressor) recently watched "Pygmy Jerboa".

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YouTube Summer School, Session 5: Biology

Have you ever wondered what makes a queen bee the queen? Or perhaps pondered the process of photosynthesis? We have too (nerd alert...again) and we’re glad that we’re not the only ones! In fact, a few of our university partners have helped us find the answers to our biology questions and a variety of other topics on YouTube EDU. Take some time to scan this week’s playlist to learn more about your immune system, the Alaskan ecosystem and biofuels.



While we've got our thinking caps on, see if you can answer the questions below. If you know the answers, please leave them in the comments below (note: comments are moderated due to spam):

1) Worker bees and queen bees start life with the exact same genome, so what external factor distinguishes the queen bee from all others?
2) Dartmouth guest lecturer Terry Chapin has published nine books and over 300 papers that have been cited more than 27,000 times. What musical instrument does he play?
3) Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station tracks white sharks off the coast of California near what islands?

Finally, answers to last week’s quiz, on math:

1. Where did Terrence Tao learn the numbers and letters that enabled him to start teaching his peers at age two? Sesame Street
2. Based on probalistic aggregation studies, Gettysburg College would be able to withstand an attack of how many robots? 252
3. Cornell math professor Allen Knutson holds a world record in what? Juggling

Mandy Albanese, Communications Associate, recently watched “Stanford Tracks White Sharks.”

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YouTube Summer School, Session 4: History

While we enjoy looking ahead and thinking big, we also take to heart the famous quote from George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." That’s why for this week’s session of YouTube Summer School, we’re taking some time to review the past, to help us better understand the people, events and decisions that have shaped our times. Here's a playlist of important history lessons from top institutions:



And while we're in a scholarly mode, let’s look at last week's session on math and test your knowledge. If you know the answers to the quiz questions below, please leave them in the comments below (please note comments are moderated due to spam):

1. Where did Terrence Tao learn the numbers and letters that enabled him to start teaching his peers at age two?
2. Based on probalistic aggregation studies, Gettysburg College would be able to withstand an attack of how many robots?
3. Cornell math professor Allen Knutson holds a world record in what?

Finally, answers to last week's quiz, on art:

1) What color house did Frida Kahlo grow up in? Blue
2) Malaquias Montoya, professor of Chicano studies and art history at the University of California in Davis, is known for what item of unique clothing? His hat
3) The African art exhibit in the Valparaiso University Brauer Museum is from what century? Late 19th and early 20th centuries

Mandy Albanese, Communications Associate, recently watched “The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe.”

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YouTube Summer School, Session 1: Matter & Motion

School’s out for summer, but around here we’re (nerd alert) still pretty excited about numbers, facts and learning in general. And it looks like we’re not alone. More than half a million people are now subscribed to YouTube EDU channels, and since October 2009 we’ve seen a 77% jump in channels and an 89% jump in videos on the educational platform.

While summer often provides a welcome respite for students, we know that some are looking for ways to keep their brains active over the break. If you want to keep those math formulas fresh and foreign languages top-of-mind, this could be the stuff that gives you a leg up on the non-YouTubers in your class come the fall. Since we want nothing more than to help you rule the world, we are creating playlists, by topic, of the videos you might want to watch to get ahead of the curve. Each week, we’ll post a new playlist to the blog and the YouTube channel. Think of it as a mini virtual summer school, but without the research papers and early-morning start times.

First up, class, we’re focusing on physics, the study of matter and its motion through space and time. This playlist has everything from Einstein’s general theory of relativity to physics of football:



Next week, we’ll feature must-see videos about art. And throughout our little summer school, do let us know if or how EDU has made an impact on your life, whether in school or achieving your dreams overall. Please leave a comment below (but note: comments are moderated due to spam). We’d love to hear about your experiences in online education.

Class dismissed!

Mandy Albanese, Communications Associate, recently watched “Bicycle Wheel Gyroscope.”

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Submit questions for YouTube user's interview with James Cameron

If you've got a question for the director of Avatar, now's your chance to ask it. The famous director is opening himself up to the YouTube community, allowing our own DaveyBoyz to interview him based on the questions you submit via the Official Avatar Channel on YouTube.

Questions will be organized into the following categories — the environment, technology, the military-industrial complex, vision of the future, and imagining a society — and you'll have until 11:59 p.m. ET on March 21 to submit and vote on them. DaveyBoyz, who already has experience talking to the cast at the film's London premiere, will pose the 10 most popular questions to the director in an exclusive interview in L.A. on March 23. The interview will be uploaded to YouTube during the week of April 19, so stay tuned to see how it went.

Nate Weinstein, Entertainment Marketing Associate, just watched "Acting for the Camera."

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The Internet in America: A YouTube Interview with the FCC

If you're reading this, then you're probably on the Internet -- via your laptop, your mobile phone or other handheld device, or maybe even through your television. But in 2010, millions of Americans still do not have access to the wealth of information made available on the Web. Even though the Internet was invented in the U.S. over 20 years ago, many Americans lag behind in both access to the Internet and speed of connections, which is why the Federal Communications Commission (or the FCC, the federal agency that oversees the U.S. communications industry) is launching its much-anticipated National Broadband Plan next Tuesday, to lay out its strategy for connecting all Americans to fast, affordable high-speed Internet.

After this plan is announced, you have the opportunity to interview FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, in the second of a series of in-person YouTube interviews with government leaders. (Our first, with United States President Barack Obama, took place last month.) Go to CitizenTube today to submit your video or text question via Google Moderator, and vote on your favorites; we'll bring a selection of the top-voted questions to Chairman Genachowski in our interview next Tuesday, March 16. The deadline for submission is Sunday night March 14 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

To help structure our conversation with the Chairman, we've broken the interview down into seven topics. To learn more about what the FCC is doing in each area, click on the links next to each topic below. Then submit your question on CitizenTube under one of the topic headings.

• Access and Affordability
• Mobile and Wireless
• Security and Privacy
• Digital Economy
• Internet in Schools
• Open Internet / Network Neutrality
• Others (learn more at Broadband.gov)

Access to the Internet has transformed almost every aspect of our economy and society. This is your chance to press the FCC on how the National Broadband Plan will work, and ask your questions about improving the Internet in America. We're looking forward to seeing your questions and hearing what the Chairman has to say.

Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, recently watched "The Internet in 1969".

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Curator of the Month: Boing Boing Video

UPDATE (2/17/10): Xeni wanted to add to two more videos to her picks: "Goat Rap" and "Wilkinson's Family Restaurant," both by Liam Lynch. She writes: " Liam Lynch is the one-man-band video genius behind the surreal and long-form 'Lynchland' video podcast at lynchland.net. He is a musician, puppeteer, writer, music video director, and frequently collaborates with Tenacious D. He co-created the Sifl and Olly Show (MTV), and directed Sarah Silverman's film Jesus is Magic. These two clips, uploaded by fans with his permission, give you a taste of the wacko world of 'Lynchland.' " The playlist is updated here.

+++

We're pleased to have Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing curate our homepage today. She goes deep into the Boing Boing archives to give you her personal take on the interesting, funny and sometimes out-there videos that thrive on Boing Boing and YouTube. Below is a video she made just for the occasion, as well as some insightful notes about her selections. To view the full playlist, click here.



"Boing Boing started 20 years ago as a photocopied paper 'zine for "happy mutants," who explore the world with curiosity and wonder. In 2000, Boing Boing morphed into a website, then a blog, and just a few years ago we started producing original video. We've released hundreds of episodes about everything from floating in zero gravity to deep-frying cellphones, featuring personalities from Buzz Aldrin to John Hodgman to David Byrne. Just as Boing Boing's leap from paper to web opened up new possibilities, so did the shift from text-based blogging to video. Some stories and sensations you just can't share in any other medium than video. I cruise YouTube every day for inspiration, light bursts of entertainment, or to follow up on "Oh my God, you have to see this" messages from friends. Here are a few of my favorite-d things.

1) Mardi Gras 1956: Through My Father's Lens (2010)
This episode of Boing Boing Video is a special one, featuring rare and historic film from Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1956. Artist Mar Dore stumbled on a box of slides in her family's home in Texas and inside, discovered photographs that her father took of the parades in the era of Mad Men -- that box, like a time capsule she says, opened a door into history. We worked with her to retell that story in video.

2) Peter Serafinowicz: The Boing Boing interview (2010) 
My interview with actor and comedian Peter Serafinowicz. He's starring as Paul McCartney in the Robert Zemeckis remake of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, his Mac parody ads are the stuff of viral legend, his #PSQA tweets delight mutants throughout the globe, and fans of his BBC show find much to LOL in the likes of Brian Butterfield and the robot talk show host Michael-6.

3) Swell Season (2009)
This Swell Season feature is one of the most visually beautiful episodes we've ever produced of Boing Boing Video. Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová speak with us, and perform an unreleased song for us during their current U.S. tour.

4) Flaming Bacon Lance of Death (2008)
This Boing Boing Video episode documents an experiment from PopSci columnist Theo Gray's book MAD SCIENCE. Using prosciutto and an air hose, Mr. Gray constructs a high performance thermic lance that can slice sheet metal. In this video, you'll also see a purely vegan thermic lance built from one cucumber and several dozen thin vegetable-oil coated breadsticks. If you like this, you may also enjoy "Sculpting in Solid Mercury, with Liquid Nitrogen."

5) Spamasterpiece Theater, with John Hodgman (2007-2009) 
Back in 2008, we did a series of episodes in which John Hodgman did dramatic readings of actual spam emails received by Boing Boing editors. This one's my favorite. These were so much fun to put together. Related: this sneak-attack on Hodgman in his hotel, while he was writing "Areas of My Expertise." And these fake ads for his book which were also a total blast to film with him "Part 1" and "Part 2."

6) DAVID BYRNE, playing the building (2008)
Music legend David Byrne transformed an entire NYC building into a giant musical instrument. We explored that building with him in this Boing Boing TV episode, and discovered some crazy gems of urban archeology together.


7) Elephant-blogging in Benin with Xeni (2008)
It's not every day that we get to travel to remote stretches of African wilderness to tweet about baboons and videoblog elephants. But this episode documents one such day: it's an ambient exploration of the creatures rustling around in a West African wildlife preserve at dawn.

8) Through the eyes of the pueblo (Guatemala) (2008) 
This episode in our BBtv WORLD series was comprised of video shot by K'iche people in a Maya village in the highlands of Guatemala. The world they see around them, through their own eyes and in their own language. Some of what the children shot really surprised me. They caught on right away, faster even than the adults, and quickly taught each other how to record and play back video. Some of them seemed to transform into instant YouTube stars -- new alter-egos showed up out of nowhere. One boy we'd come to know as quiet and well-mannered over the course of many previous visits here shot himself throwing gang signs against the sunlight, like shadow puppets, while he walked a path that leads to a Mayan altar. Another girl who was very shy with us in person recorded video of herself making outrageous silly faces, and speaking in a boisterous, confident voice to her new handheld lens. Two related episodes you might enjoy, also shot in the pueblo in Guatemala: "How to Take a Mayan Sweat Bath" and an episode about a corn grinder the children use.

9) American Furry Part 1 & Part 2 (2008) 
This was one of our first Boing Boing TV episodes, and it's still one of my favorites. So: Furries get no respect. Usually, when you hear about people who dress up like life-sized stuffed animals, it's in the context of an unfriendly internet joke. Brooklyn-based filmmaker Marianne Shaneen spent more than two years following these people around, capturing their lives in and out of their "fursonas." She's working on a documentary film called "AMERICAN FURRY: Life, Liberty and the Fursuit of Happiness," and shared some of their stories with us here. 

10) Floating in Zero Gravity is Fun, Earthlings! (2008)
This was one the most fun I've ever had shooting a Boing Boing Video episode. With me on this Zero-G weightless flight are Intel Chairman Craig Barrett; my friend Sean Bonner from metblogs; and a bunch of science teachers from grade schools and high schools throughout the United States who were on board to conduct microgravity experiments for the kids back home. As you watch, keep an eye out for the floating lego robot, a flying pig, and the barfing guy who is totally barfing for real. What you see in this episode is what it feels like, guys, and it feels awesome.

11) Challenge Accepted, Boing Boing! "For Tax Reasons" (2007)  
Animators Matt Burnett and Ben Levin, aka For Tax Reasons, produced this animated short for Boing Boing with all the elements that make Boing Boing great: Steampunk, LARP armor, papercraft, Commodore 64s, MMORPGs, Final Fantasy, suicide cults, and meditations on bad websites.

12, 13) Man's Game & SHOES  
Liam Kyle Sullivan is a video genius. I have so many favorites, and I subscribe to his video podcast. This is one of his more recent uploads, about the manly manly game of football. Also, a classic: Ohmigod, shoes. Betch.

14) British comic genius Harry Enfield  
I think this is my favorite clip of all time: Women, Know Your Limits.

15) Eric Wareheim's channel  
Tim Heidecker is best known to many as half of the duo behind "Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job," but he's an amazing music video director. Some of his recent work is here, on his YouTube channel -- the Major Lazer stuff is insane. 

16) We love cute baby videos on Boing Boing  
I think this is one of the cutest we've seen yet, in which an award-winning British actor attempts to teach Shakespeare to a toddler.

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Ones to Watch (CES Edition): Gadget Reviewers

The Consumer Electronics Show(CES) is in full swing right now in Las Vegas, and that means that gearenthusiasts are getting their fill of the hottest devices coming to themarket. In anticipation of all this electronics buzz, the folks atphonedog created a tutorial videolast month sharing everything you need to know about being a successfulgadget reviewer on YouTube. They then asked all you budding techreviewers out there to try your hand at making gadget review videos, with the promise that a few of you would be featured on our homepage.

Well, we've arrived at that moment: phonedog's selected the three new reviewers -- samkeem, modview and kbradnam-- who grace our homepage today, talking about products dear to them.(OK, kbradnam's is a spoof, but he definitely captures the passion andattention to detail required to be a tech reviewer.) Honorable mentionsgo to AlexMarckReviews, vizbug, gadgetexperts, tehkseven, techHazardVideos, akatsukigaraa, elSerg3000 and BeforeandAfterTV for submitting insightful, thorough videosreviewing phones, cameras and even an app. Of the entries, Noah from phonedog says:"I was impressed with so many of them, and it was hard to choose. Thewinners combined product know-how with eye-appealing visuals and evenhumor, making for videos that kept me watching. Thanks so much forparticipating and keep it up! You provide an important service bytelling people about products they may want to buy."

Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently favorited "Julian Smith - Techno Jeep (Original)."

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Learn How to Be a Tech Reviewer

With 40,000+ subscribers and a couple of hit videos, the folks behind the phonedog channel know a thing or two about making popular product-review videos (in their case, mobile phone reviews). In the spirit of the holidays, they've kindly agreed to share their secrets with you, to help the next generation of tech reviewers rise up on YouTube.

Ask any question you like about how to be an effective gadget reviewer by leaving a comment on -- or uploading a response video to -- this video. phonedog will review your questions and then make a tutorial video, uploaded around December 15, to help give you your start in this field. Take their advice or leave it, but definitely test it out, particularly on any hot new gadgets you or your friends receive this holiday season. We'll be featuring three of the most promising new reviewers, as selected by phonedog, on the YouTube homepage during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January.

For more details, Noah from phonedog lays it all out:



Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently favorited "The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody."

More about → Learn How to Be a Tech Reviewer

Follow the Announcement of Nobel Prizes in Real-Time on YouTube

This week, Nobel Prizes will be awarded in a variety of categories, and for the first time you can follow the proceedings live on YouTube. Through October 12, YouTube users can tune in to the Nobel Prize YouTube channel for live-streamed announcements of each prize. This marks the first time that a European event will be live-streamed via YouTube.

Missed the earlier announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine? You can view it here:



The complete schedule of awards announcements is below. Click here to watch them all, live as they unfold:

Physics
Tuesday, October 6: 11.45 a.m. CET, 09.45 a.m. GMT

Chemistry
Wednesday, October 7: 11.45 a.m. CET, 09.45 a.m. GMT

Literature
Thursday, October 8: 1.00 p.m. CET, 11.00 a.m. GMT

Peace
Friday, October 9: 11.00 a.m. CET, 09.00 a.m. GMT

Prize in Economic Sciences
Monday, October 12: 1.00 p.m. CET, 11.00 a.m. GMT

Kim Alltorp, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Nordic Region

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The 40th Anniversary of the First Moon Landing

Notice something different about the YouTube logo on the homepage today? It's been made over to honor the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's small step into the history books, with Apollo 11's landing on the moon. Four decades ago today, millions of people crowded around flickering black and white television sets -- or listened in via radio -- nervously waiting to see and hear the crew of Apollo 11 make good on President Kennedy's pledge to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, which he made on May 25, 1961. To coincide with this event, key moments from those live TV images have been partially restored by NASA and can now be seen online by billions of people around the world. And if those iconic glimpses of Apollo 11's lunar landing give you goosebumps, you'll find this classic long-form NASA documentary from the U.S. National Archives to be a real treat; experience the story of this historic mission through the eyes of the people who made it happen:



Space fans have more opportunities than ever to keep tabs on footage from the archives and present-day missions via YouTube channels like NASAtelevision, Houston's ReelNASA, and NASAexplorer out of Goddard, Maryland. If you want to get even closer to the lunar surface, take a trip with Moon in Google Earth and explore Apollo 11's landing site on the Sea of Tranquility with the same ease with which you might have used Google Earth to take a tour of your own neighborhood. (For more about Moon in Google Earth, click here for the launch announcement in the Google LatLong blog or here for the official Google blog's post.) While today's space fans impatiently await the next era of space exploration, at least we're spoiled for choice when it comes to revisiting the giant leaps that took place 40 years ago.

Posted by Mark Day, YouTube Science & Technology

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