1080 as 720 vs. 1080 resized to 720

[Steve Rhoden]

In a quick nutshell, i would recommend you record and render
your content in 1280×720, since you said its too much of an
overhead for you.
Youtube re-encodes video uploaded anyway, and 1280×720 is
still HD, So your videos will still be of decent quality on
youtube none the less.

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
https://www.facebook.com/FilmexCreativeMedia
1-876-832-4956

[Tanner Miller]

Well, that is the issue: I will always have to record in 1920×1080 as it is my monitor’s native resolution. So, the only option is the squish the video down to fit a 1280×720 frame size (aspect ratio is the same so I see no real problem doing so.)

The thing is, I am aiming for highest quality. But since the standard behavior on YouTube is to watch in 720p, I am wondering if rendering in 1280×720 would provide better quality for 720p viewing compared to 1920×1080 being viewed in 720p.

Thanks for the prompt response!
-Tanner

[Mike Kujbida]

1280 x 720 will look just fine.
I do all my shooting in 1440 x 1080 (same as 1920 x 1080 but with a different PAR), render to 1280 x 720 for YouTube and it looks good to me.
You can see several examples at https://stclaircollege.ca/healthsciences/

[Tanner Miller]

I’m sure it will look fine (yours looks just fine), but I am still curious if it will look BETTER than a 1920 x 1080 uploaded video being viewed in 720p.

I am noticing a lot of pixelation when watching my 1080p videos in 720p (mostly during times of movement.) And am wondering if this will be reduced by uploading in 720p.

Sorry if I am being unclear in exactly what I am trying to figure out.

Thanks,
Tanner

[Steve Rhoden]

YES, it will look BETTER than a 1920 x 1080 uploaded
video being viewed in 720p, and this is only because of
how youtube go about handling things. Also due to the fact
that you are noticing a lot of pixelation when watching your
1080p videos in 720p, that is due to the compression of fitting
1080p content into 720p….So again its a possibilty that leaving
out this extra process for youtube, will make things look a bit better.
Again i should make this clear, this only applies to youtube.
Hope you understand what im saying.

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
https://www.facebook.com/FilmexCreativeMedia
1-876-832-4956

[Paul Beller]

if the quality is so highly important to you wouldnt you wish to find out for yourself, just rendering a piece of 1080 and 720 and watch it on yt in 720 with your own eyes? sorry it is not the answer you might have expected but sometime people look for answers which are much closer that they think…

[Tanner Miller]

Well, I took into consideration doing this. However, me simply viewing it and trying to decide for myself whether the quality is better or not has too many variables (my monitor, connection, perspective, etc.) For this reason, I signed up to the forum and figured I could ask some skilled individuals that may know (based off of either testing on multiple platforms, or based of of their more in depth knowledge of video properties) for sure which is higher quality.

[Tanner Miller]

Thank you for this straightforward answer! I only use my videos for YouTube, so as long as the quality will in fact be better here, then that is all I care about!

Thanks again,
Tanner

[Steve Rhoden]

Well, we’ve given you our detailed response on the matter, dont know
how much clearer you want us to get.

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
https://www.facebook.com/FilmexCreativeMedia
1-876-832-4956

[Paul Beller]

if it is for the people, believe me, common people won’t see the difference. so render it either way 1080 or 720 and for your own use render it as lossless avi to keep the best possible quality:)