Why do the videos on Rand Paul's youtube channel look like crap?

[jct74]

This is not what a youtube video is supposed to look like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGtIu6_hrD4



This is what it is supposed to look like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rZRB32DF28




Why can't Rand's office figure out how to upload a youtube video properly? Just about every interview on Rand's channel is like this, with the reduced image size, big black borders in the viewable area, and low quality crappy resolution. Rand is a 2016 Republican frontrunner whose interviews probably get watched more than any other member of congress... he is a supposed master of social media who even has a snapchat account... but his staff hasn't noticed or doesn't care that his youtube videos are done completely wrong and look terrible?

Does anyone else agree this is a problem that should be fixed?

 

[green73]

Hot topics pls.

 

[Crashland]

Yes I think this needs to be addressed

 

[jct74]

Here is another comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-4vBMrhi-Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3APhQ2Gg-U




Also in full screen mode notice the difference in resolution.

http://i.imgur.com/m4zsHpO.png

http://i.imgur.com/nI2P74J.png

 

[ctiger2]

They're using Govt approved rendering software.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Does anyone else agree this is a problem that should be fixed?

Yes.

Of course, unlike most folks, I'd tend to think that fixing the problem would be to give the task to someone a little more thorough. Speaking only for myself, I have very, very little patience with incompetent people who are considered to be "thinkers" or "doers".

 

[Mr.NoSmile]

And he would have won the Iowa primary if he hadn't uploaded that ONE video in 360p instead of 1080p. Curses.

 

[CPUd]

Maybe Rand is uploading them himself.

 

[Natural Citizen]

And he would have won the Iowa primary if he hadn't uploaded that ONE video in 360p instead of 1080p. Curses.

I know that it seems like a mediocre kind of thing but presentation is very important. Remember when Kennedy won versus Nixon? Kennedy looked brilliant in black and white. He took the time to pay attention to the little things with regard to knowing how to visually present himself with what they were working with. Or, to be clear, the people whose job it was to think about and apply those things took the time to pay attention.

 

[jct74]

I've already contacted Rand's office about this multiple times and they refuse to do anything about it, so I'm hoping if I make a thread about it here the right person will see it and get it taken care of. I'm sure some people from Rand's office or closely connected to his office visit this forum on a regular basis.

What really pissed me today is they uploaded that half-hour special on Rand's medical work in Guatemala which was pretty cool but it has the same problem as all his other youtube interviews. Which sucks because I'm sure people would like to watch it in full size/resolution, and also clips from that show will likely be used in future moneybomb/promotional videos.


edit: maybe his staff could re-upload the MSNBC special if they see this thread, that would be really nice.

 

[Natural Citizen]

I've already contacted Rand's office about this multiple times and they refuse to do anything about it, so I'm hoping if I make a thread about it here the right person will see it and get it taken care of. I'm sure some people from Rand's office or closely connected to his office visit this forum on a regular basis.

What really pissed me today is they uploaded that half-hour special on Rand's medical work in Guatemala which was pretty cool but it has the same problem as all his other youtube interviews. Which sucks because I'm sure people would like to watch it in full size/resolution, and also clips from that show will likely be used in future moneybomb/promotional videos.

I wonder if it may have anything to do with copyright permissions. Perhaps use of corporate resources (FOX, MSNBC, CNN and whatnot) is granted for political use in low quality or something. Silly, I know, but that is what we've become since corporate takeover of political processes. Including things like this.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

Would like to see some HD videos on his channel.

 

[jct74]

There is a term for what the problem is here BTW. it is called "windowboxing" and it is caused by using the wrong aspect ratio setting. It doesn't have anything to with what resolution is being used, although one of the effects of it is to cause a decrease in resolution, along with a decrease in image size.

No matter what resolution is chosen youtube will automatically blow up the video image to fit the viewable area, but not if you choose the wrong aspect ratio. It is a really easy fix.

 

[jct74]

I wonder if it may have anything to do with copyright permissions. Perhaps use of corporate resources (FOX, MSNBC, CNN and whatnot) is granted for political use in low quality or something. Silly, I know, but that is what we've become since corporate takeover of political processes. Including things like this.

No I don't think that is it. Like I noted above the problem here is not resolution, it is aspect ratio. Also I have seen other members of congress upload interviews on their youtube channels, and none of them have this problem. Look at Bernie Sanders' channel for example, the interviews he uploads look great and nothing like Rand's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlX2NaWR9i4

 

[Natural Citizen]

No matter what resolution is chosen youtube will automatically blow up the video image to fit the viewable area, but not if you choose the wrong aspect ratio. It is a really easy fix.

Oh, yeah. That's right. I've had that problem myself when I was making my son's prospect videos for the NCAA. I had the aspect ratio wrong and it did turn out that way with the box screen. I think all I did was take it out of widescreen (16:9?) before I saved it again to 4:6 or whaterver it is.

Yep. That's it. That's what they are doing alright. Very good grasshoppa...

It is actually an easy fix. Just have to take the time to give a crap, I suppose. It's kind of trick, though, as I recall because you have to consider the aspect ratio of the raw video too before you choose the aspect ratio of the project itself when making an actual video for youtube or whatever.

It actually took me a long time to figure out that this was what I was doing wrong. There was a setting in Windows Movie Maker (which is whatr I was using) to change it.

 

[jjdoyle]

Make sure to get the intern/secretary that answers the phone, to write it down, and wait on hold until they deliver it to his media person. If they won't let you speak with them directly.

I had to contact Ron Paul 2012 about a YouTube issue, and it took three calls to the campaign office get it done. It's like they don't listen, aren't passing it on, or don't know how to use Google to research their render settings on this one. 2014. Potentially running for President? Yes, this shouldn't have to be addressed multiple times.

 

[WD-NY]

Sigh... total amature hour.

It's little things like this that make me worry that they still don't get the importance of online ...

 

[jct74]

Oh, yeah. That's right. I've had that problem myself when I was making my son's prospect videos for the NCAA. I had the aspect ratio wrong and it did turn out that way with the box screen. I think all I did was take it out of widescreen (16:9?) before I saved it again to 4:6 or whaterver it is.

Yep. That's it. That's what they are doing alright. Very good grasshoppa...

It is actually an easy fix. Just have to take the time to give a crap, I suppose. It's kind of trick, though, as I recall because you have to consider the aspect ratio of the raw video too before you choose the aspect ratio of the project itself when making an actual video for youtube or whatever.

It actually took me a long time to figure out that this was what I was doing wrong. There was a setting in Windows Movie Maker (which is whatr I was using) to change it.

Yeah the first few videos I uploaded on youtube a few years ago were squished in the horizontal direction with big black bars on the sides, like this one uploaded on Rand's channel a few weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWfR4nyGrw


After a few weeks I finally noticed there was something wrong and found the aspect ratio setting in Windows Movie Maker, fixing the problem. I still see a lot of people on youtube making the same mistake, some people that have been uploading for years they still haven't noticed there is something wrong with their videos. If nothing else this thread can serve as some education for novice youtubers reading this thread.


One other interesting thing to note is that there is a way to partially fix the problem for videos already uploaded. It will blow up the video to fit the entire viewing area... BUT it does not solve the problem of reduced resolution. All you have to do is add a special tag to the tag field of your youtube video. For example to eliminate windowboxing add the tag "yt:crop=16:9" to the tag field. More information here. So if Rand's staff wanted to put a bandaid over all the videos that have already been uploaded they could add that tag to every one. But like I said it does not solve the problem of reduced resolution which is really the bigger problem, so I hope that Rand's staff doesn't see this suggestion and just start adding this tag to all new videos uploaded without figuring out how to apply the proper aspect ratio. And I would really like for them to re-upload the MSNBC special on Rand with the correct aspect ratio applied.

 

[jct74]

Would like to see some HD videos on his channel.

That would be nice, but I would be happy with his videos just looking halfway decent. As it is now they are pretty bad, and one of the effects of this is to drive people away from Rand's channel to other channels that upload his interviews. If given the choice between a crappy video on his channel or someone else that has uploaded the same interview in better quality, I will usually choose the video with higher quality and post that videos in threads here, on the front page, and other places. It would be good to have as many views driven to Rand's official videos and channel as possible, for various reasons.

 

[CPUd]

I know people who go and spend whatever on flat panel TVs, and occasionally they will play something that is not in the correct aspect ratio. They will sit there and watch it like nothing is wrong.