Upload a ProRes 422 file to YouTube?

Has anyone ever done this? I typically go: Share: Export Media..., and then go to Compressor and save it as a x264 .mp4 file to upload for Youtube and/or my own websites.

But, I have a FCPX exported 1.5 GB song (not too big) I could upload to Youtube if it's not a problem at their end. This way, one less generation loss and one less step for me in Compressor. No matter what I do, they gonna re-compress it anyway.

Here's the Youtube Advanced Specifications -
http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&guide=1728585&topic=1...
They don't mention ProRes or even the .mov extension. (They do mention .mov files here, but as H.264- http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1297408 )

Thanks,
Dave

[Steve Connor] "I don't usually use compressor separately, I've created a compressor preset for YouTube, as opposed to the one that's in there, and I normally export straight from the FCPX timeline with "export using compressor settings""

I'm still on version 4 for Compressor, so it doesn't work directly from FCPX. But, as I said, I'm just being a bit lazy and wondering if there would be a quality benefit. It's quick to open Compressor and use one of my presets.

If I don't hear from someone that's tried this, I'll do a test upload, see if they accept it, and then post back here.

Thanks,
Dave

I use the Compressor setting for Youtube and Vimeo that produces a 720 p (mp4) video sharing setup. Since the higher resolution (1080p) typically stutter on playback even a fast internet connection. I edit in the H.264 straight out of the camera (Canon XA10) and so there is only one conversion going into Youtube.

I just did an upload test and like Tony, Youtube had no problem accepting it. Here's the specs:

Test upload of FCPX direct export as ProRes 422. Original file: Size- 1.5GB, Data Rate- 68.4mbps, 720p, 29.97, 3:05 minutes. Upload time with 6 minutes processing: 84 minutes total (Broadband connection: 26mb down, 3 mb up- I just checked at Speedtest.net).

The biggest problem I see with the ProRes 422 and large file size, as pointed out by Claude, is that you need a fast broadband connection to get it to play without stuttering. When the video started to play, I hit "Pause" and let it pre-load a bit. Then, I could even watch at 720p HD full screen and it was reasonably smooth. This is on my Early 2011 MBP i7 running 10.6.8 with 8GB RAM.

Here's the video if you want to see:







By the way, the video is a ScreenFlow capture of the iTunes Visualizer that I took into FCP X and added the intro and outro titles. I didn't bother to use a proxy file (will next time though), so I did need to render a few times to get it to play reasonably smoothly while editing.

Dave

If you submit 1080p to Youtube they use some "HD" format that doesn't seem to stream well. I have a download speed of about 24 Mb/s but it still stops and starts. Maybe it is their flash conversion, who knows. That is why I upload at 720 p. Few viewers including myself, will wait just to get a little more gloss in the playback. If I make an mp4 file and use it on my 2012 27" iMac it looks great and plays fine.

[Bret Williams] "I think uploading a 1.5 gig file just to have YouTube compress it to a 69MB file is a bit overkill."
I agree completely. I just ran the test as requested, I didn't come to any conclusions. Later that night, I exported a x264 file from Compressor which ended up being about 200mb (5000k data rate based on Youtube specs) and it was fine. Full screen via QT7, it doesn't look quite as nice as the original FCPX export when viewing the "smoke" effect from the visualizer (more pixelating), but it's fine for Youtube.

Typically for uploading to my websites, I use the x264 encoder sized 640x360 at a total data rate of about 600k. They do fine at full screen for the intended purpose.
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The ad looks great! I take it you did it in FCP X? I have read here and elsewhere that Youtube sometimes has problems with 1080p. Certainly no issues with your clip. I typically shoot 1080p, but work in a 720p timeline to take advantage of pan and zoom, and thus export at 720p. As an aside, I really enjoy peaking at the work that you guys do. It's always interesting and sometimes gives me ideas. (At some point, I'll start a new thread to ask if the pros that post here can add some links to their work.)

[Bret Williams] "You can simply grab it from the YouTube html5 stream (or the flash if you're viewing the stream in flash - I don't recommend) with mpeg stream clip."
I used to use Safari for video capture, but I recently started using a FireFox add-on called FlashGot. It works great.

Thanks,
Dave

[Bret Williams] "Why would the YouTube version stutter?"
I get this all the time with higher quality videos at Youtube and especially at Vimeo. It could be my i7 MPB, but I doubt it. It might just be busy servers and Internet traffic. When there is something I really want to watch without stuttering or something I may want to replay portions of (like The MacBreak Studio stuff), I download it and it ends up being a much more pleasant experience.

[Bret Williams] "Good tune."
Thanks, I appreciate that.

Dave