Just curious which is going to give the clearest picture.  Ive been seeing alot people saying 720p but havent tried it out myself yet.  My 1080p videos seem to have alot of artifacts and blurryness to them.

1080 at 30fps is the best setting, 720 at 60 will be in slow-motion when played back at 25 or 30 fps on your PC.

johnwarr@live.c Posted at 2015-4-5 05:50
1080 at 30fps is the best setting, 720 at 60 will be in slow-motion when played back at 25 or 30 fps ...

720/60p is what you need. 30p is far too slow a frame rate for mobile video. It will play back at the speed it was shot at and will give you less blurring on movement. It also gives you the advantage of being able to slow it down and retain detail if you wish.

Youtube will also handle 720/60p far better as it doesn't have to convert the  fields to its native format.  I am a professional videographer and shoot in 720p a lot.  I can assure you that unless you are replaying on something bigger than a 50" screen you will not see any difference in resolution. I have done many tests for clients.  Hope this helps.
Cheers!
Rod and the Cheshire cat

Helps me Rod, thanks.

Jerry

jtrjr@yahoo.com Posted at 2015-4-5 06:40
Helps me Rod, thanks.

Jerry

+1

Thanks from me too.

I completely prefer 720p 60!!!  Smooth as butter playback.  I viewed some of my first flights the other day and immediately noticed the difference!  

rod and the che Posted at 2015-4-5 06:35
720/60p is what you need. 30p is far too slow a frame rate for mobile video. It will play back at  ...

Me three. Thanks for providing your professional opinion. Will do as adviced

Well that told me then...lol
I have only ever shot at 1080p 30fps and edit at 25fps, but now I will have to look at this downgrade to 720/60 and see what its like.
That's if the sun ever comes out in the next day or two...

Thanks. Im gonna go out this morning and give it a shot at 720p and see how it turns out!

rod and the che Posted at 2015-4-5 06:35
720/60p is what you need. 30p is far too slow a frame rate for mobile video. It will play back at  ...

Rod,
Thanks for chiming in..and for the info...
That's a bet I would have lost and yeah, told me too, I have had mine at 1080/30 since I set it up from new...
Going to have a heard over here today for Easter dinner, will have a chance to give it a try as the sun is threatening to be out..

Depends on what your shooting.
1080 30FPS if your not panning,  and frame will be bigger.
60FPS 720p is much better for panning shots, or slow mo.
I always use 60FPS for better quality not size.

LOL Tony... I always prefer to give quality....not size!!!  Oh... wait we are talking about photography here right??

Northofthe49th Posted at 2015-4-5 21:35
Rod,
Thanks for chiming in..and for the info...
That's a bet I would have lost and yeah, told me t ...

Glad to help folks! I have work in HD for many years and there is a lot of rubbish talked  about what is best.  Youtube is native 720p in HD setting, so if you go higher it has to convert your video and essentially downgrade it to 720p.  This gives artifacts  and generally a worse image than a native 720p.

The only visual advantage in shooting at 1080 or even 4k is that it allows the videographer the opportunity to crop an image further, without losing too much definition.  Fo the best fluid artifact free video on this little camera stick to 720p/60- less blurring- less artifacts- quicker upload to youtube by a quantum amount .   I did actually show a client  a 720p compared to a 1080p video on a 50" monitor and neither of us could see any difference in the moving imagery.   If you pixel peeped still frames, then a tiny difference could be seen on diagonals but seriously folks, unless you are playing back in a cinema you ain't gonna see it as they say!  Hope this helps .
Rod and the cheshire cat

I remember when I got my Hi-8 camera and it was 100% stated that it was "broadcast quality". Then I got my Sony digital HD cameras and they were even better! They were 480 x 720 or so and it was thought that it could get no better!

Rod is, of course, 100% correct in his statements. Pilots should think about this using the term "appropriate technology" or "proper tool for the job".

Most budding drone pilots are not going to know how to crop video - that's a step above the normal cutting and assembling. 720 video is actually  1,280×720 which is about one million pixels per frame or 3X the number (density) of what we considered "broadcast" back in 2003.

Back to the tool analogy - these days most of our (at least my) audience looks at the videos on a smart phone, tablet or in a box (like youtube) inside a web page.  There is really little (or no) difference in these cases.

If you are a pro or intend to do independent film production - it's another story....but you probably wouldn't have a Phantom in that case...

This is becoming more and more important because we are now seeing 4K being pushed. This will take up MUCH more memory, require more time to edit and assemble and may require you to get a new faster computer to process. It may also result in images which are actually worse....because for a given size of sensor, packing more pixels (dots, picture elements, light receivers) onto it results in less light hitting each one! That's why really good cameras have very large sensors...and it's why Apple uses only an 8MP sensor in their top of the line phones even though they could use one double or more the size. They simply refuse to mislead their customers and provide a worse image by advertising megapixels.

On the same subject, the lower resolution is still photos from the Phantom are more than fine also....will save you some disk and memory space. But the penalty is not as great as it is with the video, so using large is fine too!

I filmed at 720p yesterday but havent uploaded the video yet. It still in the same location so Ill post up the one I recorded at 1080 30 and 720 60 when I get a chance.  

I use 720p 60 on my GoPro mainly because it will also do photos/video simultaneously in that mode. I really can't tell the difference between 1080P and 720P. Bahamasboy had a post in another thread about some additional settings he uses that make things images kind of "pop".

What's the 1080i 60 setting used for?

adrianjacobs@nt Posted at 2015-4-7 06:24
What's the 1080i 60 setting used for?

The 1080i/60 is an interlaced format suitable for old CRT tvs. modern tvs are all progressive.  It is also a bit of a misnomer as it offers 60 interlaced frames which are half frames in stripes so the frame rate is only 30frames per second not 60 as one might think, so stick to 720p/60 which is a true 60fps.  Hope this helps.

Rod and the Cheshire cat

Thanks Rod

I just looked at the new video I took at 720p 60 and to my eye it looks soo much better than the 1080p at 30 did.  If I keep my phantom 2 this will be my new setting.  Who would have thought...  Anyways, I may not keep the P2V+ V3. Its up on ebay because I think I want to take the leap and pick up the P3 probably  just the advanced version since if 720p 60 looks that good to me then 1080p 60 will be just fine.  

Hey Rod. That is great info. I do a lot of flying at my cabin and don't have a computer up there to view the vids. I download them straight to my iPad which takes not only a long time but chews up storage quickly. This will help greatly. Any other settings you default to?
Thanks again.

are there any other video settings that should be adjusted to give the best quality?

I use 720p/60fps as well



I wish there were some other video settings to play with.

I just found that I have choices to 1080P 60 to my PVision + V3.
Did not think it would have that choice ?!
Is this true?

jonnybgood.olss Posted at 2015-4-11 01:01
I just found that I have choices to 1080P 60 to my PVision + V3.
Did not think it would have that ch ...

As above, it's 1080i 60.  Rod has explained what that is further up the thread

It took me awhile to get around to uploading this one, but this is the one I shot at 720p/60. No cheesy music this time sorry lol.  I think it looks way better than my other ones at 1080p/30.  Im very excited to start recording in 1080p/60 when my phantom 3 arrives.  

Well this was shot at 1080x60 and i think the quality is bang on especially if you selecet the 1080 HD setting on Youtube..



At a loss what to do now, guess I'll try a 720x60 later and compare

Buzz

Jerdel Posted at 2015-4-11 22:08
It took me awhile to get around to uploading this one, but this is the one I shot at 720p/60. No che ...

Just remember that youtube definition is 1080x 720p not 1920 x1080- so it will downgrade any 1080p image to 720p.  That's why I said that 720p is the best native image to shoot in as no conversion or compression has to take place..   I understand that much of the American broadcasting standard is also 720 although not all.  Some TV stations will insist on 720p specifically. ( I am in New Zealand so that is secondhand info from a USA film maker.)

On my pro cameras I can shoot in either and I have carried out tests on both formats- there is no visual difference until you enlarge a section by a factor of 3 or more.  That is an advantage of 1920/1080 but for youtube and TV 720p gives a class result.

It is also worth noting that if you are going to output to DVD then 720p definitely will give a better downgrade conversion over 1080. ( because the data loss has to be less, so there are fewer artifacts.

Cheers!
Rod and the cheshire cat

kamalot@gmail.c Posted at 2015-4-9 13:54
I use 720p/60fps as well

nicely shot. but how come it isn't really 'sharp'
and what if i shoot in 1440, hero 4 only allows me to do 48fps max... so even if i edit in 30fps, will it still be better than if i shoot in 30fp?

rod and the che Posted at 2015-4-5 06:35
720/60p is what you need. 30p is far too slow a frame rate for mobile video. It will play back at  ...

Rod,

Tried the 720 x 60 (apartment and early golf course scenes) and compared it to later scenes (FPV Mode, 1080 x 30) and the difference in video smoothness is quite obvious. Thank you again. Cheers

I am videoing flyovers at a golf course tomorrow. They are going to use the video for their website. Would it be advantageous to shoot in 720/60 instead of 1080p/30 or 60. Sorry, I am a still photographer, this video stuff is all new to me.

would you say that the 720/60 is best for still pics?  How about videos for a customers website or just viewing videos on a computer for presentations

rod and the che Posted at 2015-4-12 06:09
Just remember that youtube definition is 1080x 720p not 1920 x1080- so it will downgrade any 1080p ...

Rod,

I was looking for camera setting info a few weeks back and saw your notes about it. I changes my settings to 720p. Then of course, I saw a video from an "expert" with histograms and everything saying 1080p. I changed to 1080p and shot a few videos. Initially, the 1080p "seemed" better but as I really started to pay attention I noticed that there was less definition as I was rotating the bird or mowing along a scene rapidly. Actually appeared to get a bit blurry. I think you're dead on and have changed back to 720p. Thanks for sharing your thought on this subject it really helped me!

Jerry

Ok if what we are say is the 720 is best then here is the question... The new Phantom 3 there are two versions. The 4 k and the less expensive 1080p. SO if 720 is best would we be just as well of getting  the less expensive model as it comes to the question of video?
Need your thoughts?

rod and the che Posted at 2015-4-4 15:35
720/60p is what you need. 30p is far too slow a frame rate for mobile video. It will play back at  ...

Thank you for these infos. I just got my first drone (P3 Pro)  ever. I really want to take greats pics and vids.

60 fps is a much smoother video. So choose 720/60.

microcyb Posted at 2016-3-16 22:59
60 fps is a much smoother video. So choose 720/60.

+1

used that with my P2 vision plus for long time and it was a great choice for quality and file size.
looks great and plays fine on pc and youtube