Yup, I am back again. If rendering for the web (Youtube and/or Vimeo) can the average viewer see the difference between 720 and larger rez, such as 1220, etc?

I am shooting 1080/30.

I have learned I can drastically reduce render time by rendering to 720. Which would be super convenient since i make changes/edits and re-upload for client approval.Perhaps I render as 720 during editing phase then a larger rez for final?

Without getting into Bluray, would this be the same for DVD or must I always use a higher rez?

Still boggled with all the HD resolutions...

Resolution doesn't produce better quality...
Better glass, and more bitrate will do more for quality than any frame size..

Can you clarify, what you're looking for?
You want to upload 720P images for preview, since it's faster for encoding?

What is the source size of the image/video?
Edit:
Okay, i see you're doing 1080@30P

If speed is important, why not drop it to 480P if it's just for preview? Let the customer know it's strictly for preview, and doesn't represent the final output?

In my experience, 1280x720 is a real sweet spot for HD online distribution. It looks very good on typical displays / viewing distances. I (almost) never upload 1920x1080, though that's usually what I'm shooting.

Distribution for mobile is different, but if I'm prepping for youtube or vimeo I will upload 720p and the host takes care of transcoding for mobile.

If you are talking about standard DVD video that is for set top DVD playback, for NTSC it has to be 720x480 with 1:1.2 pixel aspect ratio.

Hi Darryn,

I have a 50" Plasma set in my living room that is 720p and it looks absolutely stunning and I can't imagine how 1080p would look "better" - what is better than perfect? I've read many studies that say the average person can watch 720p and 1080p side by side and can't tell the difference. Also consider that although the 23"-24" computer monitors with 1920x1080 resolution are becoming much more common and cheaper these days, the majority of folks that I know (friends, family) that are NOT video editors do NOT have full HD displays for their computer, therefore a 1920x1080 video would be larger than their computer screen!

So to answer your question, definitely encode web content at 720p and it will look great.

Thanks

I encode and upload 1080 to vimeo and youtube. In vimeo, I leave playback at default 720p. For YouTube, viewer can pick whatever the resolution they want, or switched automatically by the YouTube player.

Jeff, you need to check out the 4K OLED displays before you say that.. I think a top notch bluray on a solid 1080p screen is insanely beautiful, but not even close to what it looks like on a 4K OLED screen. 8K is already on the drawing board too.. although that will be 5+ years out. 4K sets are hitting the market this year, way too high in price for most of us, although there are some rather impressive China sets for about $1500 or so that do 4K on a 50" screen that look very good. Cameras are just starting to hit 4K for cheap (comparatively speaking) and with 6K and 8K sensors starting to show up, it won't be long before we're pushing towards 8K TVs. Sounds crazy, but it's only a matter of time.