Unmuting YouTube

I muted YouTube the other day and could not unmute it. I thought maybe I needed to fix a setting on my soundcard.

I rebooted my computer and I even went into my sound card via Control Panel. All to no avail.

Finally, I decided to listen to sound on another website and sound was working perfectly. OK, I thought to myself. This is a YouTube problem.

Finally, I realized that that upright bar that I had moved to the left on YouTube was the volume control. Silly me! I had the volume turned all the way off.

As of this writing, the volume control is to the right side of the mute/unmute button. In addition to unmuting, I needed to slide the volume control slider to the right.

Such a simple solution!

The lesson? When trying to solve a problem, explore simple possibilities first. So often in life, the answers to our problems are simple!

Ed Abbott

Choosing theBest Standard Size For Your YouTube Video

What is the best standard size for your YouTube video?
It depends. It all depends on what you care about.

This article says that a standard sized video on
YouTube is 320 X 240 pixels:

YouTube Video Formats

I don't think the article is current as of this
writing (September 9, 2011). I've written about
the current recommendation for video screen sizes
here:

Choosing the Best
YouTube Video Size

YouTube currently seems to have 2 recommendations
for video sizes. For videos that have a 4:3 aspect
ratio, YouTube recommends one thing. For videos
with a 16:9 aspect ratio, YouTube recommends something
else.

Here's the current recommendation as of this writing
(September 9, 2011):

• Upload a 4:3 video
  at its original aspect ratio (640x480 recommended)
• Upload a 16:9 video
  at its original aspect ratio (1280x720 recommended)

Here's the article where YouTube makes these
recommendations:

Optimizing your video uploads

As you read the above article, you'll note that the
big emphasis is on uploading your video in its original
format, whatever that is. In other words, you cannot
improve on the original. Hence the plea for
Originals, Please!.

What is the best standard size for a YouTube video?
Ideally it is whatever size the original video was
shot in. In other words, Originals, Please!

However, not all videos are shot with a video camera.
Some videos are created from scratch using computer
software.

For example, you might be a musician who has written
some music you'd like to place on YouTube. Furthermore,
you might want to have a slide show of still photos you've
taken accompany the music. What is the best video size
in this case? The answer to this question is much
more complex.

Currently, in September 2011, you have 5 basic sizes to
choose from:

• 240p
• 360p
• 480p
• 720p
• 1080p

Here's a video that makes use of all 5 sizes:

Big Buck Bunny (1080p HD)

Here's my theory as to why these sizes exist.

The basic video sizes that we used for TV are:

• 480p
• 720p
• 1080p

Ed Abbott

Choosing the BestYouTube Video Size

What size video should you choose for YouTube?
What is the best video format? I'm trying to
figure this out myself.

Currently YouTube recommends 1280x720 as the
video resolution when choosing a 16:9 aspect
ratio:

Optimizing Your Video Uploads

I'm focused on a 16:9 aspect ratio as this
seems to be YouTube's recommended aspect
ratio. This is understandable given that
modern camcorders, modern TVs, and modern
computer monitors have a 16:9 aspect ratio.

The whole world seems to be consolidating
around a 16:9 aspect ratio. Given this
fact, the only other choice to make is what
video resolution you will choose. 1280 X 720
seems to be good enough for now.

Actually, it is a little more complicated
than that. The best resolution is the best
resolution that you can afford. In my case,
however, I have an older and smaller computer
monitor. Therefore, I think I'll go with
YouTube's suggested 1280 X 720 video resolution.

This will make it easy for me to create
videos and view them at full resolution at the
same time. How can I be sure of what I'm
creating if I cannot view the video at full
resolution?

1280 X 720 is the maximum resolution my
monitor will support and it will be sufficient
for most people who view my videos. I think
I'll go with 1280 X 720 video resolution.

Ed Abbott

How to Embed aYoutube Video Into a Webpage

Here are the steps to embed a YouTube
Video into a webpage:

1. Go to the YouTube Home Page
2. Look for the search box
3. Search on something that will
   uniquely identify the video
4. You will likely be given several
   choices of video to look at. Click
   on the one you are looking for.
5. Once the video comes up, look
   for the word embed underneath
   the video
6. Click on embed
7. Look for the highlighted code
   that appears after you click embed
8. Copy the code by holding down the
   control key and hitting the letter c
   at the same time. If you hold down both
   keys simultaneiously, you have a key combination
   commonly known as a control-c.
9. Use the control-c to copy the
   embedded code
10. Paste the embedded code into your web
    page using a control-v

How you copy and paste may differ from
the steps given above. A copy and paste
on a Windows computer is control-c (copy)
followed by a control-v (paste).

Putting the embedded video into a webpage
is another topic that is really not covered
by these steps. In other words, you need
to know a little bit about altering web
pages to follow these steps.

Where can you place your embedded YouTube
videos? Place it anywhere you can place HTML.
Embedded YouTube videos go where HTML goes.

There are so many different possibilities
including regular web pages, bulletin boards,
and social networking web pages. However, all
these possibilities need to have one thing
in common in order to embed a YouTube video.
All these possibilities need to allow you to
write your own HTML.

YouTube embedded code is HTML. If you
are not allowed to embed HTML into a webpage,
you will not be allowed to embed a YouTube
video.

Ed Abbott

Converting MP3 to YouTube

 
This is a new blog. Currently,
I'm learning how to add MP3 audio
to a YouTube video.

Actually, I'm learning more than
this. I'm learning how to create
my first YouTube video.

I own some MP3 files that I've created.
I want to make these audio files play
on YouTube. That's my goal. In addition,
I want a single frame of video to show.

Here are my two goals:

1. An MP3 that can be converted to
   YouTube so that clicking Play
   plays an audio file.
2. A single photograph (still photo)
   that shows while the audio plays.

As you can see, my goal is a very simple
one. Here's something I've found which
may help:

FFmpeg

This is command-line software that converts
between video formats. This sounds like
something that might do the trick.

I'll write more as I learn more. I've
started a new blog to teach myself more
about FFMpeg:

Understanding FFmpeg Documentation

Ed Abbott