I generally upload mpeg2 files with a video resolution of 720X576. My video camera isn't HD so there's no point in using HD formats for me.

A typical 3 - 4 minute video will upload in about 10 mins or even less.

Doing a quick check, my videos are about 50 - 100 MB. I imagine given the format you are using, yours are very much larger, possibly in the GB range hence the long upload times.

I think the videos get degraded in the conversion by You Tube (purely an impression) so I'm not sure it's worth uploading HD, though You Tube do let you specify whether or not your video is HD.

I've noticed that the videos on Vimeo seem to be of better visual quality than those on You Tube so if you have a camera that can give high quality, Vimeo may be worth investigating.