Youtube HD video quality? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 12, 2012, 11:10:07 pm
content: I don't often watch full HD video in Youtube, shoot and but upload in that format so others can if they chose. But is it my imagination, or has the display quality of the Full 1080p Youtube video dropped a lot?When I compare the H.264 file I upload to Youtube, to the actual rendered quality on Youtube's 1080p setting at full screen, the drop in quality is very remarkable. The Youtube version is very pixelated in comparison.Anyone else noticed this?Has it always been that way ad I'm mistaken or has something changed?Thoughts?Dave.

author: Zyvek
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2012, 11:12:13 pm
content: I don't think it's you. I've noticed this as well lately. Something their doing to reduce bandwidth?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 12, 2012, 11:17:06 pm
content: Quote from: Zyvek on January 12, 2012, 11:12:13 pmCould very well be!I'm upload the latest video to Vimeo to try a comparison. Not that I'd switch to Vimeo, just curious, because everyone raves about it's quality. But they of course don't have to serve up 10% of the world's Internet traffic!Dave.

author: benemorius
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2012, 11:52:06 pm
content: How does the filesize/bitrate of the original video compare to the one youtube produces?Here's what I get from youtube for the latest blog #236 in 1080:QuoteIt's been a while since I last encoded any video, but that's a pretty damn low bitrate for 1080p in h.264 unless I'm mistaken. I think it's even a little low for 720. I'm sure there are some video buffs around here who can provide better commentary than me, though.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2012, 01:25:39 am
content: Maybe host the originals on Bittorrent for those wanting full quality?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 13, 2012, 01:33:09 am
content: Quote from: benemorius on January 12, 2012, 11:52:06 pmDepends entirely if it's VBR or CBR.5Mbps fixed CBR isn't too bad for 720p, that's what used to use, and my video is mostly talking head stuff, so little movement.I upload with a Variable Bit Rate (VBR) now to get maximum quality for every frame with minimum file size.But 5Mbps CBR at 1080p would explain the quality I'm seeing. My cam shoots 1440x1080p at 12Mbps.Dave.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 13, 2012, 01:35:39 am
content: Vimeo quality is much betterBoth used the exact same VBR source material.Dave.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 13, 2012, 01:37:40 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on January 13, 2012, 01:25:39 amHow do you do that?I did it many years ago with a simple PDF file, but don't recall the details. All I remember is that it sucked all the bandwidth out of my shared server and they shut me down.Dave.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2012, 01:55:02 am
content: http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-create-a-torrent/We can have many users arrange to be "seeders" to spread the bandwidth usage.

author: Rufus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2012, 02:00:04 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 13, 2012, 01:35:39 amThe 1080p youtube video is 1080p 5.25Mb/s average bit rate.The Vimeo HD video is 720p 2.657Mb/s average bit rate.Both AVC encoding.The Vimeo one doesn't look better to me,

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2012, 02:12:21 am
content: I have an idea YouTube may dynamically vary the playback quality according to its estimate of your connection speed. If you try to play HD video and your connection is too slow even for low quality 1080p it will force a downgrade to 720p or even 480p. So two different people may experience different video quality even if both are watching the same 1080p source material, perhaps?

author: AntiProtonBoy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 13, 2012, 04:53:22 am
content: In theory, 5 Mbps is quite good for h264, but the quality depends a lot on the encoder and the encoding parameters used. I'd imagine youtube opts for the fastest encoding speed, and thus you'll see a sacrifice in quality.