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Here's what Apple has to say about Quicktime H264 Codec -
QuickTime 7 features a state-of-the-art video codec called H.264, which delivers stunning quality at remarkably low data rates. Ratified as part of the MPEG-4 standard, this ultra-efficient technology gives you excellent results across a broad range of bandwidths, from 3G for mobile devices to iChat AV for video conferencing to HD for broadcast and DVD. The "HD for Broadcast" is the part that rang my bells - considering I'm now shooting on a CanonHV20 HDV camera.

Massive Quality, Minimal Files
H.264 uses the latest innovations in video compression technology to provide incredible video quality from the smallest amount of video data. This means you see crisp, clear video in much smaller files, saving you bandwidth and storage costs over previous generations of video codecs. H.264 delivers the same quality as MPEG-2 at a third to half the data rate and up to four times the frame size of MPEG-4 Part 2 at the same data rate. H.264 is truly a sight to behold. Well yes its good. But so is Sorenson Video 3.

Scalable from 3G to HD and Beyond
H.264 achieves the best-ever compression efficiency for a broad range of applications, such as broadcast, DVD, video conferencing, video-on-demand, streaming and multimedia messaging. And true to its advanced design, H.264 delivers excellent quality across a wide operating range, from 3G to HD and everything in between. Whether you need high-quality video for your mobile phone, iChat, Internet, broadcast or satellite delivery, H.264 provides exceptional performance at impressively low data rates.

With H.264, an Apple Cinema HD Display and an Intel-based Mac, you can turn your home office into a home theater, complete with gorgeous HD playback. Yes, they're right - it looks stunning full-screen on my Apple iMac G5.

The New Industry Standard
Here's where it gets interesting - Already ratified as part of the MPEG-4 standard — MPEG-4 Part 10 — and the ITU-T’s latest video-conferencing standard, H.264 is now mandatory for the HD-DVD and Blu-ray specifications (the two formats for high-definition DVDs) and ratified in the latest versions of the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasters) and 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standards. Numerous broadcast, cable, videoconferencing and consumer electronics companies consider H.264 the video codec of choice for their new products and services. This adoption by a wide variety of open standards means that any company in the world can create devices — mobile phones, set-top boxes, DVD players and more — that will work seamlessly with QuickTime 7.

Built into QuickTime 7
Because H.264 is now an integral part of the QuickTime 7 architecture in Tiger, QuickTime-based applications — including iChat AV, Final Cut Pro HD and a litany of third-party applications — can take full advantage of this incredible new video codec.

Then they go into details on what Quicktime 7 and H264 can achieve. This bit was interesting -
Flexible block sizes in motion estimation for more efficient encoding of complicated motion in areas of fine detail. I think what there's saying is that video is getting better at capturing motion. But in my limited experience (see my test footage elsewhere on this site) if you're shooting in Auto you still can't wave the camera around or do a fast pan or the image is going to deteriorate - I guess you need to use a Higher Shutter Speed - overriding the Auto setting and having the capture select the aperture - I haven't tried it yet.

1. Set Quality to "Best".

2. Set rate control to 1-pass Constant Bit Rate (CBR). So no Variable Bit Rate, no Multipass. Apparently YouTube transcoders prefer CBR.

3. Set key frames to every 30 frames or less. The more key frames the more information your video will have. YouTube transcoders love keyframes. You can set key frames every 15 frames if you have motion shots (car races and the like) but the file size can go ballistic.

4. Set data rate to 1000 kbps or more, depending on the running length of your video. 2000 kbps is probably enough for a 3 minute short.

5. Set Size to 320×240 (aspect ration 4:3). YouTube prefer this size. YouTube is now automatically letterboxing anything shot in widescreen 16:9 ratio - that's why you see black space top and bottom on some vids.

6. Set frame rate to 30 fps. Again - that's what YouTube recommends.

7. Set audio compression to MP3 or AAC: 44.1 KHz, 64 kbps, 16 bits, monophonic. I hate choosing Mono instead of Stereo but its wasted on YouTube and computer speakers anyway.

8. De-interlace the sucker - especially if it's high motion. Otherwise it can look terrible.

9. Use filters to lighten/darken your video and an image sharpening filter if you have to.

These compression settings are the best compromise between keeping the video smaller than the mandatory YouTube 100MB Upload Limit and keeping it true to your original video quality. There's going to be image loss unfortunately. YouTube Flash compression wasn't giving very good results unlike some other smaller video-sharing sites. But lately (maybe since they did the deal with Apple iPhone? they've been using the H264 Codec and I've noticed the quality is a lot better.

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