Les,

First, I am NOT a YouTube expert! and yes, YouTube does a LOT of compression so the video that is shown looses a lot from the original you send up. They ARE getting better! The first time I sent up video the size (I think the max was something around 2 Meg, NOT Gig *yks) made it almost impossible to view. Now you can upload bigger files.

I have not put up any YouTube promos of our DVDs because I worry about people viewing it there and thinking our videos are that poor a quality! :(

If you are using slides, you can most likely output a High Deff file (like 720 or even 1080). That should produce a MUCH better image on YouTube. If you shoot video at standard Deff, you can NOT just spit out a HD file, but for stills, they are already HD so it should not be a problem. I think yours would do very well!

For text on the screen, I try to keep it small, that is fewer words! If trying to put out more than a few words, I try to break it up over a few screens. I also try to use shadowing or outlining behind each letter with a contrasting color. It works very well and does not detract from the beautiful background, but makes the letter stand out.

But hay, you did a VERY NICE job.

Most people don't understand that it's a lot harder than it looks.

Greg