Youtube Video Font Help... Please.

by WillR
22 replies
I've been testing some various Powerpoint videos that I've recorded using Camtasia, and when I export the video as a .mp4, the video looks perfect when played on a self hosted video player on my site.

When I upload the video to Youtube however, the font looks all blurry. Whether it be black font on white background or white font on black background. The audio and images in the video are all still fine, it only appears to be the text that gets distorted. The font I have been using is myriad pro.

Any ideas? Am I missing something here?
#font #video #youtube
  • Profile picture of the author Doug Slaton
    Could try a different font, different point size or a different output format.

    You might try Avi and let YouTube work it's magic and maybe get a better end result.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Yeah I thought that would be the case. Time to play around with some different settings I think. I just like mp4 because it gives the best quality/file size ratio. AVI's tend to be quite large.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    MP4 file = 14MB

    AVI version of the same video = 820MB

    Crazy!
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    • Profile picture of the author biosclan
      If you are using smooth as a setting in photoshop try crisp.

      Also what aspect ratio are you capturing in?
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      • Profile picture of the author WillR
        Originally Posted by biosclan View Post

        If you are using smooth as a setting in photoshop try crisp. Also what aspect ratio are you capturing in?
        I'm not using Photoshop for the slides. I am creating the slides in Powerpoint just using regular text. As I say, the text is perfect in the mp4 file. It is when I then upload that file to youtube that the blurriness of text occurs.

        I am capturing the video at 640x480, importing it into Camtasia at 640x480, and exporting it from Camtasia at 640x480. I would of thought that should be ok?
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  • Profile picture of the author Rsberg
    Im not a video guru by any stretch of the imagination so keep that in mind...

    I know in Camtasia there is a YouTube selection when you go through the production stage. Is that the same as MP4? The reason I ask is that I recently did one and I think I remember seeing both choices, so I am thinking maybe they are different some how.
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    • Profile picture of the author WillR
      Originally Posted by Rsberg View Post

      I know in Camtasia there is a YouTube selection when you go through the production stage. Is that the same as MP4? The reason I ask is that I recently did one and I think I remember seeing both choices, so I am thinking maybe they are different some how.
      Thanks for the idea but I have tried that option as well just incase, but no luck. The Youtube options does also give you .mp4 videos however I use custom setting to give the video a better quality - and it is good quality. Just not on youtube!

      I am exporting the video with the following settings:

      640 x 480
      MPEG-4 video (MP4) movie file
      Frame Rate: Automatic
      Key frame rate: 5
      Playback controls: None
      Pause at start: Disabled
      Bitrate Mode: Quality Mode
      Video Quality: 100 %
      Audio Bitrate: 128 kbps
      Audio Format: AAC
      Watermark: Disabled
      HTML: Disabled
      Table of Contents: Disabled

      Ahhhhhhhh!
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  • Profile picture of the author paul wolfe
    Try exporting your video as if it were an HD format. What's happening is YouTube is compressing your in the conversion process (I think they convert to .flv files) and that's why your text is getting blurry.

    Also you could try increasing the font size on your original slides.

    Experiment a little - a combination of those tweaks should get you home and dry.
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    • Profile picture of the author WillR
      Originally Posted by paul wolfe View Post

      Try exporting your video as if it were an HD format. What's happening is YouTube is compressing your in the conversion process (I think they convert to .flv files) and that's why your text is getting blurry.
      What are HD settings? What type of file?

      The text is already fairly large. It's definitely due to the conversion process I know. If youtube convert to flv should I maybe try uploading it to youtube as an flv?

      Bloddy youtube (Google). Why do they insist on making everything so hard!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Baker
    You want to make your presentation size 1280x720, also known as HD resolution.
    Signature

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    • Profile picture of the author WillR
      Originally Posted by mikescos View Post

      You want to make your presentation size 1280x720, also known as HD resolution.
      But I don't want a wide screen video for the purposes I am using them. And then I would have to reformat all the slides because there is going to be a lot more space on either side of all the text, etc inside the presentation.

      There must be an easier solution.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    So I tried exporting the video as a flv instead, and the text is much clearer. The file size is also a lot bigger and now the audio is not as good...
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  • Profile picture of the author Rsberg
    Will,

    Bare with me here I am by no means an expert in Camtasia, which is why I had to call in to their CS when I had this issue. The CS Rep told me for all Powerpoint type presentations where there is a lot of text that you can make this better with 2 different approaches:

    1. Be sure to check the size of your recording in the preview window of the editor. In the upper left hand corner you will see that small black drop down and I think the choices are - Shink to fit, 100% Scale and Project settings. It should read 100% scale. This can cause an issue when posting to YouTube depending on how large an area you recorded. I found that when I recorded mine at anything over 640X480 it got really blurry (like yours did), now I know yours was 640X480 but you can still try this and see what happens. So, check to see it says 100% Scale and if not change it, when it says Shrink to fit that is one of the reasons it gets blurry (acccording to the CS Rep).

    2. If you recorded the video initially in a larger size when you first go to produce the video be sure to select "custom" from the drop down box on the first page of the Production Wizard. This will allow you to select the MP4/FLV/SWF - Flash output. If it was set to that by default then thats fine but mine wasnt and it made all the difference in the world.

    What finally worked for mine when I uploaded was going with #1 above and I also re-recorded it in a smaller size too. My initial recording was over 640X480 and when I dropped the recording size smaller and made sure to have 100% Scale showing then the final video on YouTube turned out great.

    I hope I explained that correctly...if not or I confused you more then try giving their CS a call:

    TechSmith is located in Okemos, Michigan, USA
    Eastern Daylight Saving Time Zone
    Local time: 2:09:22 AM 12/4/2010

    Business Hours
    8:00am-7:00pm EST, Monday-Friday Mailing Address
    TechSmith Corporation
    2405 Woodlake Drive
    Okemos, MI 48864-5910 USA

    Phone: +1.517.381.2300 Toll Free: 800.517.3001 (U.S. & Canada only)
    Fax: +1.517.913.6121
    Sales: + 1.517.381.5901 Toll Free: 888.750.0685 (U.S. & Canada only)

    Hope that helped!
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    • Profile picture of the author WillR
      Originally Posted by Rsberg View Post

      Will,

      Bare with me here I am by no means an expert in Camtasia, which is why I had to call in to their CS when I had this issue. The CS Rep told me for all Powerpoint type presentations where there is a lot of text that you can make this better with 2 different approaches:

      1. Be sure to check the size of your recording in the preview window of the editor. In the upper left hand corner you will see that small black drop down and I think the choices are - Shink to fit, 100% Scale and Project settings. It should read 100% scale. This can cause an issue when posting to YouTube depending on how large an area you recorded. I found that when I recorded mine at anything over 640X480 it got really blurry (like yours did), now I know yours was 640X480 but you can still try this and see what happens. So, check to see it says 100% Scale and if not change it, when it says Shrink to fit that is one of the reasons it gets blurry (acccording to the CS Rep).

      2. If you recorded the video initially in a larger size when you first go to produce the video be sure to select "custom" from the drop down box on the first page of the Production Wizard. This will allow you to select the MP4/FLV/SWF - Flash output. If it was set to that by default then thats fine but mine wasnt and it made all the difference in the world.

      What finally worked for mine when I uploaded was going with #1 above and I also re-recorded it in a smaller size too. My initial recording was over 640X480 and when I dropped the recording size smaller and made sure to have 100% Scale showing then the final video on YouTube turned out great.

      I hope I explained that correctly...if not or I confused you more then try giving their CS a call:

      TechSmith is located in Okemos, Michigan, USA
      Eastern Daylight Saving Time Zone
      Local time: 2:09:22 AM 12/4/2010

      Business Hours
      8:00am-7:00pm EST, Monday-Friday Mailing Address
      TechSmith Corporation
      2405 Woodlake Drive
      Okemos, MI 48864-5910 USA

      Phone: +1.517.381.2300 Toll Free: 800.517.3001 (U.S. & Canada only)
      Fax: +1.517.913.6121
      Sales: + 1.517.381.5901 Toll Free: 888.750.0685 (U.S. & Canada only)

      Hope that helped!
      That's awesome, thanks so much for the help. I will give it a try. Now that you come to mention it, in powerpoint I set the resolution to 640x480. When I record the powerpoint using the Camtasia plugin, the powerpoint presentation plays on the whole screen, which is obviously larger than 640x480.

      How do you record the powerpoint in Camtasia. Do you record the whole screen. I'm not sure there is any other way to do it?

      Thanks again for all your help with this.
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      • Profile picture of the author Rsberg
        Originally Posted by WillR View Post

        How do you record the powerpoint in Camtasia. Do you record the whole screen. I'm not sure there is any other way to do it?
        You do have to record the screen but you can adjust the size of the screen or recorded area. The way I did it (after a few failed attempts) was to open Powerpoint and Camtasia at the same time, click "Record the screen" and when that pops up you can adjust the size of the area to be recorded where it says "dimensions" in the upper left hand corner of the record box.

        I set mine to 448X336 and then ajusted my recording are (the Powerpoint) by simply clicking one of the corners and then dragging it down to the size to fit the Camtasia target area.

        After that I was good to go.

        Hope I explained that correctly....good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    I just tried all those options but it doesn't seem to be making a difference. I just don't understand it.

    The mp4 file is fine and looks perfect by itself, it's when it is uploaded to youtube that the problem occurs. The only thing I can think of is when I record the powerpoint on the full screen it goes wider than it should be but I just tried recording the way you said and it still doesn't work.

    Can I ask you a couple of questions...

    1. What font are you using? i'm using Myriad pro. And are you using bold at all or just regular?
    2. What settings are you using to export the file from Camtasia.

    Sorry for the hassle but I do appreciate it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rsberg
    No problem at all...no worries.

    You tried shrinking the size of the area to be recorded and still had a problem? Wow...that along with #1 in my previous post did the trick for me.

    I am using some bold print mixed with regular and it looks just fine on YouTube.

    Honestly, when I export it from camtasia I jsut save it as the MP4 to a folder on my desktop and upload to YouTube...no problems after that.

    Sorry couldnt be more help on that second one...told you im not a video/camtasia techie, LOL

    Still dont know why shrinking the recording area didnt work for you...that one puzzles me. Once that area is smaller it should be good to go since thats what the original recording size is it should translate to the final production.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Are you able to pm me a link of a powerpoint you've put on youtube so i can check it out? Only if you have one...?
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  • Profile picture of the author Rsberg
    Will,

    Click the box in my sig area, there is a video there I put up yesterday (actually the one that the CS Rep helped me figure out). The screen capture looks fuzzy but when you play the video it looks just fine.

    Robert
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Robert,

    Nice, yeah that font is much better than mine. Anyway, I really appreciate your help, were still a few things I picked up out of that. The only way I have managed to get better quality text is to output the video as an flv rather than a mp4. The text is a lot clearer, the downside is the file size is double what the mp4 was.

    Anyway, I'll just put up with that at the moment. Thanks again man!
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  • Profile picture of the author Rsberg
    No problem....glad I could help some, even if it wasn't the exact fix you needed.

    Hope you can get yours figured out to work best for you!

    Robert
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