fcpx to youtube help

to start I'm very new to the program and all the different features, but I'm looking forward to learning.
I did some test videos with my go pro in 1080p and uploaded to fcpx and they look wonderful. i have researched all over the internet for the best way to export video and upload to youtube but everything i try seems to come up short. i have tried many different export options in fcpx and compressor, but when uploaded to youtube the quality is no where near what it is in fcpx or iPhoto.

i would love to know the best technique for exporting/compressing for youtube that will retain the quality. if anyone can help or send me a link that would be wonderful.

thanks in advanced for all the help,
erik

FCP X has a direct Youtube export setting, but I personally prefer to export to a file, do a final inspection then upload it. I sometimes must send the same file via other methods so this gives me a disk copy.

In my experience the fastest way to export with good quality for web distribution is:

(1) Select project or (optionally) the portion of timeline to export. A good way to select a portion of the timeline is CMD-2 (select Timeline), then R command, and drag across the desired region.
(2) Press Share button at bottom right side of FCP X screen
(3) Select Master File->Settings, then:

Format: Computer
Video codec: H.264 Faster Encode
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720

(4) After export is done examine the file, then upload it to Youtube.

For HD material the exported quality should be very good and the Youtube quality should be visually almost that good.

Re 1080p vs 720p, export time on my 2013 iMac is about 21% faster for 720p and the file is about 60% of the 1080p file size. On many mobile devices up to tablet size it's hard to see the difference but Youtube automatically produces multiple resolution playback options so unless I'm in a real hurry I use 1080p.

Erik,

It has been my experience that once you upload to YouTube it takes a while for YT to
"Process" the file. I'd almost tell you to wait a day or so and then see how it looks. Also don't forget to set your video settings on the YT video (little gear thing) to your desired viewing resolution. Higher if your system can handle it.

My workflow has been to export master file, bring that into Compressor and just use stock YT preset. I then upload manually via the YT uploader.

Hope this helps.

Jonathan

But then if you have 1080p in FCPX, and you use the preset in Compressor, that compresses it down to 720p and you lose the 1080p.

Jerry.

You are correct about Compressor transcoding back to 720p. I had not done much YouTube uploading prior to this thread, however I did wonder about this myself so I started this thread:

www.fcp.co/forum/4-final-cut-pro-x-fcpx/...-to-youtube-question

Forum member DGWvideo was really helpful and posted his settings for 1080 playback in YT. I've been using those, or something very similar.

Jonathan

Jonathan Levin wrote: Erik,

It has been my experience that once you upload to YouTube it takes a while for YT to
"Process" the file.

Not to sound like I'm bragging, but I do believe this depends on where you rank within YouTube with views and subscribers. When I upload, most of my videos are done processing with 10 to 15 minutes at 1080p and between 15~20 minutes in length...

I just export ProRes and upload that QT file to YT and Vimeo, no issues.

I used to upload to YouTube directly from FCPX; however, there is a 2Gb limit, while the YouTube's own website uploader has a limit of like 160Gb's.
If you do anything above 1280x720, it's going to be over the 2Gb limit that FCPX has unless you compress it, but then you lose the benefit of it being HD.

I created a custom export setting for YouTube inside of Compressor that I can use in FCPX. (Custom settings are seen in FCPX by the way).
I went to YouTube's help page to get the best settings: support.google.com/youtube/topic/2888648?hl=en

In Compressor I have a preset called "YouTube Exact," which is an MPEG-4. Under the General Tab, make sure "Optimize for Network Use" is checked. Under the video tab, I have H.264 profile to High, Entropy mode set to CABAC, Date rate set to 8,250kbs, Multi-pass checked, Allow Frame Reordering checked, Under Quality I have Best on bother Resize filter and retiming -- This setting doesn't change the file size, but can change the quality of the video. I have audio set to 48kHz instead of 44.1...and set the data rate to the full 320kbps.

This makes a good quality video on YouTube; however it does render slower, but the upload and processing time is faster since this is what YouTube does when it's processing. So even if you upload a huge ProRes 422 file to YouTube, it compresses it, making the video process for a long time.

If you render this in Compressor you can add a command to tell it to upload to YouTube upon completion. I bet it has a 2Gb limit like FCPX does though. I haven't tried it. I just upload from the website.

Jonathan, I think you're right.
My videos take no more than 30 minutes to upload and process all the frame sizes.
I upload a 30 minute 1920x1080 video at least once a week.

Make sure you have authorized your account. That will allow you to do more than 15 minutes and may affect your processing time a well.

Where are you getting this 2 GB limit from? There is a 15 minute limit for unverified YT accounts.

I get a 2Gb limit inside of FCPX, not when I upload on YouTube's website. Does no one else get this limit?

What do you actually see? I get a warning if I exceed 15 minutes. If you're under 15 minutes it's not 2 GB anyway. I have no idea what a verified YouTube account is or how to get one.

support.google.com/youtube/answer/71673?hl=en&rd=1

Thanks for that. Unfortunately YT verification is not working. Will not call or text my phone. Man I hate crappy software, especially web software, which has zero excuse.

I had it call my office phone.
I live in US, so maybe that's an issue?

I work on projects where I will often post up to 30 files to YouTube in a day to a web site that houses hundreds of videos. They range in length from 2-7 minutes or so. I always export off the timeline because it saves me a lot of time and I don't have all those files on my hard drive that I will probably never use again. It's very easy to regenerate new ones. I export at 720p.

What's the advantage of exporting the file and then going through Compressor if you're not going to use it for something other than YouTube? Is the quality of the compression actually any worse via FCPX? Also, I find YouTube 720p plays fine on my lap top and I've had no complaints from clients. Also, would going with 1080p add that much resolution for playback on most computers and if so, is there a disadvantage to going with 1080p? Do some computers still struggle with 1080p playback? Some of my clients (trust me) don't know about changing playback resolution and will just give up when it stutters.

thx

I use Compressor only to create a custom settings file, then add that to Destinations and Share to that directly from the Timeline. It's nothing fancy, mainly just increasing the data rate. I think a lot of people view YouTube full screen. In that scenario 1080p will look better than 720p. I have my Vimeo set to show full size rather than full screen, but to my knowledge YT does not offer that, simply a small, medium, and full screen option.