Unedited 4K vs 720P video - Why does 720P look so much better?

[TriadAerial]

I've had my P3P for a few weeks now and I just can't understand why all the videos above 720P look so awful. I get all kinds of lines and artifacts unless I film with 720P. My preference has been 720P/60FPS which gives decent results. But shouldn't it look better at 1080P, 2.7K and 4K? I've attached 2 videos and they are both taken straight from the SD Card and untouched. Filming the exact same scene, one on 4K Vivid 3840x2160 and the other on 720P Vivid 1280x720. I like the "Vivid" setting as it adds a lot of color and saturation. Without it everything looks so washed out and I'm not good with post editing yet. I have tried every frame rate, resolution and other setting I can think of and it always comes down to 720P giving me the best result. I'm hoping someone can shed some light here why I have to use the lowest quality setting to achieve a good looking video.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Drone Master]

Perhaps your device and or computer can not handle the higher frame rates.
Have you tried 1080P at 30FPS?

 

[tcope]

Nothing attached/linked.

 

[Drone Master]

Nothing attached/linked.

you will have to upload a clip to You Tube or Vimeo, then link it here.

 

[TriadAerial]

I had some videos to attach but they're in MOV format and apparently that's not accepted. I've loaded them into Filmora and am exporting as MP4 and will send shortly. My plan was to show everyone the untouched videos but putting them in YouTube would obviously edit the quality and what I'm doing now will probably also affect it. Stand by!


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[TriadAerial]

Ok I've put together a short clip showing both 4K and 720P and uploaded to youtube.

But here's the thing.. when watching these videos originally straight from the SD Card on my computer, the 4K videos looked awful which was my whole complaint while 720P looked pretty good. After putting them in Filmora and exporting them out as 1920x1080 MP4 files, I'm shocked now that the 4K video looks much better. And after uploading to YouTube, I'm shocked again because the 4K looks even slightly better now.

I'd love for everyone to take a look at this clip and let me know what you think looks better. The 4K still has a few little wavy lines or something... 720P not quite as sharp but looks better I think. What else can I do here? Not sure what I should even be filming in and exporting in at this point I'm so confused.

Help!

 

[Drone Master]

Ok I've put together a short clip showing both 4K and 720P and uploaded to youtube.

But here's the thing.. when watching these videos originally straight from the SD Card on my computer, the 4K videos looked awful which was my whole complaint while 720P looked pretty good. After putting them in Filmora and exporting them out as 1920x1080 MP4 files, I'm shocked now that the 4K video looks much better. And after uploading to YouTube, I'm shocked again because the 4K looks even slightly better now.

I'd love for everyone to take a look at this clip and let me know what you think looks better. The 4K still has a few little wavy lines or something... 720P not quite as sharp but looks better I think. What else can I do here? Not sure what I should even be filming in and exporting in at this point I'm so confused.

Help!

As stated above, looks to be in reference to processing power of your computer.
I would suggest setting your camera to record at 1080P at 30 or 48 FPS and use the MP4 format.
Let us know if that makes it better. Good luck.

 

[TriadAerial]

As stated above, looks to be in reference to processing power of your computer.
I would suggest setting your camera to record at 1080P at 30 or 48 FPS and use the MP4 format.
Let us know if that makes it better. Good luck.

I should also mention that last week I filmed a house at 1080P and the Moire effect was so bad I couldn't use the video at all. Nothing would remove it. Went back and refilmed it at 720P and it looked great and little to no Moire effect. I'm actually a computer technician and just changed my computer over to an I7 processor with 16GB RAM. Not using any 4K monitors or anything close but still I just wish I knew how others were seeing these videos or if it's just me.

 

[Drone Master]

I should also mention that last week I filmed a house at 1080P and the Moire effect was so bad I couldn't use the video at all. Nothing would remove it. Went back and refilmed it at 720P and it looked great and little to no Moire effect. I'm actually a computer technician and just changed my computer over to an I7 processor with 16GB RAM. Not using any 4K monitors or anything close but still I just wish I knew how others were seeing these videos or if it's just me.

Ok, that's good. I use a IMac with 5K Retna display. It is only a month old but gives amazing results. What video card are you using in your computer?
I do see some slight waviness in the lower frame of the 4K clip, but still looks good for the most part.
BTW, is your birds firmware up to date? There were some issues a while back with the camera firmware. It was corrected in 1.8

 

[TriadAerial]

Ok, that's good. I use a IMac with 5K Retna display. It is only a month old but gives amazing results. What video card are you using in your computer?
I do see some slight waviness in the lower frame of the 4K clip, but still looks good for the most part.
BTW, is your birds firmware up to date? There were some issues a while back with the camera firmware. It was corrected in 1.8

My firmware is at 1.9.6.. I am using old HP LA1951G monitors.. nothing fancy at all. My computer's max resolution is only 1280x1024. Do you think trying to view a 4K video on this low resolution monitor is why it looks so bad for me?

My video card is a AMD Radeon HD 5450.

 

[Drone Master]

That is a possibility but I do believe that you have a good enough video card to do the job if it supports 4K.
I just wanted to mention that you can rename the file extension MOV to MP4 and it will play and can be uploaded as a MP4. No reason to convert .

 

[TriadAerial]

It wouldn't even let me upload an MP4 file either! Said file extension not supported. I was doing this on my computer via web browser. Phone app may be different but I didn't have the files on my phone.


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[Drone Master]

It wouldn't even let me upload an MP4 file either! Said file extension not supported. I was doing this on my computer via web browser. Phone app may be different but I didn't have the files on my phone.


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Interesting. What was the format after conversion? MP2?
I used to have to convert and upload as a MP2 with my PC. It was high definition and looked good.

 

[Drone Master]

Here is a quick video that I did at a local park a while back. It was done in 4K, but I had to do the conversion to MP2
in order to upload.

 

[TriadAerial]

You know what I wonder about? I hear people say they record in 4K then export it out in 1080. Is there a benefit to that versus just recording in 1080 to begin with?


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[Drone Master]

You know what I wonder about? I hear people say they record in 4K then export it out in 1080. Is there a benefit to that versus just recording in 1080 to begin with?


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I have watched full 4K videos on You Tube on several occasions. I believe it's better to convert due to file size. 4K video produces a very large file and can exceed what YT will except for upload. Those are the folks that record in 4K and realize it's file size is to massive and then convert to 1080P.
That's why I record most of the time in that resolution. It's easier to work with and saves time. Also the video is still superb enough for upload and viewing.
Watch my vid in full screen and you will see what I mean.

 

[tcope]

I'd love for everyone to take a look at this clip and let me know what you think looks better. The 4K still has a few little wavy lines or something... 720P not quite as sharp but looks better I think. What else can I do here? Not sure what I should even be filming in and exporting in at this point I'm so confused.

First, it's not 4k... at least not at this time and it's been about 4 hours. You uploaded it in 1080.

I watched it on a 4k screen and the 1080 looks much better than 720. It seems a little more pixelated but that appears to be cause you can see the leaves much better... they are not all blurred together as in the 720 part.

 

[TriadAerial]

Using Filmora I exported it out as 1080 so you're correct. I guess my video isn't really accurate then. I need to do another one.


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[Drone Master]

Using Filmora I exported it out as 1080 so you're correct. I guess my video isn't really accurate then. I need to do another one.


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I would say good luck on the next video but remember what I had mentioned in this thread By trying 1080P at 30 or 48 FPS. Set the cam to record at that res and select auto exposure. The vivid feature of the cam is only one of the many settings and features.
Look at the other settings of the cam and know what it's limitations are and what works best on your system. I say go from there.

 

[TriadAerial]

Here's the original untouched 4K video. When I watch it locally on my computer it looks very bad. Now that it's uploaded to YouTube it looks quite nice. I guess YouTube it downgrading it to 720 or something. Let me know what you think.

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