ATR,
Thank you for your reply.
I have not contacted YouTube regarding my observation.
However, I have gone back to established channels that I follow on a regular basis, and I've discovered that they too have the 5 sec blur at 480p.
Two of them I almost missed because they have graphics introductions.
I presume there's a very specific reason the intros are 5-6 seconds.
It's much harder to notice the blur on a graphic :-)
Looks like I'll be creating a simple graphic intro for my commercial work.
My goal was to really nail the export settings for clarity at 480p, and I'm happy with the results.
Any suggestions on what I've posted as my OUTPUT?
The only thing I don't understand is the bitrate.
One post I read suggested 13 -15 and the other 20-23 (?)
I'll have to see what the T5i's capabilities are, but it seems the lower settings are working.
I would just like to understand what it means rather than just get it right arbitrarily.
Thanks again,
-Vito