youtube.com – 1080p

youtube-hdWow, youtube.com is publishing video in 1080p resolution. They moved to 720p not that long ago and the results must have convinced them to take a leadership position in online video publishing.

What does this mean to you?

That depends on many things – not the least of which is your intended audience.

Mostly it means that you can upload high quality video knowing that it will be available for anyone with the bandwidth and equipment to view it.

Yes, you need to click the HD button, watch full screen and you’ll need at least a 1920 by 1280 monitor – along with a solid broad band connection. My internet connection can play 720p video online sometimes and sometimes it stutters and dies. But that’s not just my connection, it’s all the parts of the pipeline between me and the server along with demand on the web.

If nothing else, this makes uploading 720p video a smart idea for everything possible. Though I still use 480×270 H.264 MP4 files for video embedded directly into a client’s web page. There’s just not enough room on the page for a full HD image and usually the video is supporting the message on rest of the page.

While youtube.com disclaimers the move, saying they may remove the capability, it’s hard to keep the on the farm after they’ve seen Paris. What do you think – have you uploaded HD video to youtube.com or another provider? Will you start uploading 1080p?

-a-

Tagged as: video, youtube.com

  • The Wallbanger

    There’s no need for this class of resolution at the time being. 1080p eliminates almost all of your audience viewing from laptops, either by lacking the screen resolution or processing power. Buffering time on these videos also harkens back to the days of dial-up.

    Stick with 720p until broadband speeds and hardware requirements are up to the task.

  • http://rfymarketing.com adriel

    I agree completely.

    I just posted a 640 x 360 MP4 video on a decent server and a few people are having trouble with it playing smoothly. So, even 720p is out of the “real” world for some people.

    I know there are some programs that truly benefit from 1080p but most of my work doesn’t require that much resolution. Still, I know that we continue to eat up as much resolution and bandwidth as is available so that day will be coming.

    -a-

  • Rick Idak

    hi all
    In defence of youtube going to 1080p.I think it was agood idea.The comments of peoples computers being to slow,therefore it should be standard res is ridiculous.I mean should the networks have halted color transmission till everyone bought color sets.Or HD transmissions till were all got them, no.I uploaded 2 x1080p videos and the direct response I got with the quality was very nice.
    (Emo’s Doritos Ad) &(Niflheim Pre Sale Trailer).

  • http://rfymarketing.com adriel

    Yep, Rick, I agree. This industry is all about continual improvement and streaming HD is one step in the right direction. Most online video sites provide multiple quality levels so the visitor can choose what works for them. If you’ve got the bandwidth and computing power why wouldn’t you choose the best quality?

    Right now I’m working on how to make video easily available to mobile phone visitors. I’m seeing a lot more traffic from phones and added a switch so people can view this blog easily on a phone. But the video player I use is Flash and that doesn’t work on smart phones. It’s the same kind of issue as streaming HD and I’m sure it will be solved soon.

    -a-

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