I use 1080p 60 frames and honestly, I think that's great. I don't know very many people that have 2k/4k devices, and I assume majority has 1080p at the least. If anything, go for 1080p 60 frames and you'll be fine for awhile.
The normal right now is a 1080p monitor. Most people don't have 2k or higher res monitors unless they are gamers. Even still I watch in 1080p on my 2k monitor. and lots of people also view on mobile. So i don't see a need for 2k or 4k at this moment. I record in 1080p 60fps. I started on 720p to save space on the sd card tho. 
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In my opinion, if you are doing cinematic, time lapses, or drone stuff, anything like that, definitely record in the highest resolution possible. Even if you downsize it on youtube it will still look nicer.
.In my opinion, if you are doing cinematic, time lapses, or drone stuff, anything like that, definitely record in the highest resolution possible. Even if you downsize it on youtube it will still look nicer.
For those saying the playback on YT looks crappy, just be sure you have selected the video to play at the max setting on the YT player, most often it is on the default which is set to optimize playback and may not be on your uber maximus setting you rendered it with.
Same with the others, I do believe 1080p/60fps is just right for motovlogs or riding/fast moving.
Same with the others, I do believe 1080p/60fps is just right for motovlogs or riding/fast moving.
So, technically, you're looking at a few things here ...
Like it's been mentioned, look at your analytics. But also, look at your render settings. One consideration with 2K/4K is the bitrate. YouTube will use a higher bitrate for higher res footage, so there is a chance that you get a bitrate, and therefore quality, bump by using 4K over 1080, even when viewing in 1080.
Ideally if you render your 1080 footage in a high bitrate and YouTube is true to it, there should be little difference in the 1080 and 4K footage when viewed at 1080. But if you upload 4K and YouTube downsamples to 1080, 720, etc, the compressor is working with a ton more pixels to create the downsampled footage. More data to start with makes for a truer downsampled video in terms of quality. So, uploading 1080 should give a good 1080 video, but a 4K downsampled to 720 will likely give a higher quality 720 than a 1080 video would once downsampled.
Clear as mud? Good.
Now, from a sub standpoint, when you upload 4K you give the impression of higher end content, even if you're just starting out. A 4K or HD stamp on your thumbnail matters to viewers, even if it doesn't show in the quality of the video itself. It's a mind game. "Oh, this dude shoots in 4K ... he must be legit."
So based on that, yeah, do 4K. It's hard for me to accept this reality myself, as I know that a 1080p60 or 1080p48 video will look better on most devices than a 4K24 or 4K30 video will when it comes to a motovlog.
Like it's been mentioned, look at your analytics. But also, look at your render settings. One consideration with 2K/4K is the bitrate. YouTube will use a higher bitrate for higher res footage, so there is a chance that you get a bitrate, and therefore quality, bump by using 4K over 1080, even when viewing in 1080.
Ideally if you render your 1080 footage in a high bitrate and YouTube is true to it, there should be little difference in the 1080 and 4K footage when viewed at 1080. But if you upload 4K and YouTube downsamples to 1080, 720, etc, the compressor is working with a ton more pixels to create the downsampled footage. More data to start with makes for a truer downsampled video in terms of quality. So, uploading 1080 should give a good 1080 video, but a 4K downsampled to 720 will likely give a higher quality 720 than a 1080 video would once downsampled.
Clear as mud? Good.
Now, from a sub standpoint, when you upload 4K you give the impression of higher end content, even if you're just starting out. A 4K or HD stamp on your thumbnail matters to viewers, even if it doesn't show in the quality of the video itself. It's a mind game. "Oh, this dude shoots in 4K ... he must be legit."
So based on that, yeah, do 4K. It's hard for me to accept this reality myself, as I know that a 1080p60 or 1080p48 video will look better on most devices than a 4K24 or 4K30 video will when it comes to a motovlog.
I shoot 1080p, 30fps. I'd prefer to do 60fps for the occasional slow motion, but my older GoPro doesn't support it. When the next Hero comes out and can do 4k-60fps, I'll switch. This of course, will mean I need to upgrade my video editing station for cpu/memory, as well as the storage, and can look forward to longer upload times. I'm in no rush!
Dave aka Ghaniba
Dave aka Ghaniba
1080p should be the minimum imo. I'm hoping the gopro hero 4''s go on sale soon or get a price cut.
I wonder how much battery these cameras eat up shooting at higher resolution and higher framerates.
I wonder how much battery these cameras eat up shooting at higher resolution and higher framerates.
1080 60fps all day. Anything else is just not worth it. I already have computer issues editing the files. If you want to use 4k you need a serious machine to be able to edit those videos. Also, you need to have the right software, since i already encountered some that do not support 4k.
I'm experimenting with 2.7k 30fps down scaled to 1080 now with a few extra tweaks added in. Reason being that you get a bit more clarity with 2.7k and its a native resolution for the Hero 3 black. Straight from the camera on my 40" screen it looks amazing.
My next video will be a tutorial on how I edit my footage.
My next video will be a tutorial on how I edit my footage.
R-Rated
Remember to Have Fun! - Solar Bear 2020 Champion
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Those are great points. Plus, even if the device can handle the higher resolution for the display, what about loading and buffering?
It would be interesting to see if there is a significant difference on viewer retention. I would think someone out there in YouTube land has studied it.
I think at the end of the day, you really have to know the kind of demographic your are showing your videos to.
For example, my demographic is mostly Singaporean and Malaysian. They are people that mostly prefer to watch on their smartphones, and have better mobile data coverage than the US or Europe. The limiting factor here is that smartphones, even iPhone 7+ is limited to 720p.
So there is absolutely no reason to waste space, processing power and time rendering videos out to 4k since nobody is going to appreciate it. I top out at 1080p60fps for those who are watching at home on monitors, and the mainstay here is still a FHD 60hz monitor.
However in other countries there are those who are on computers or smart TVs more than on mobile phones. These are the countries where rendering it out to 4k 30fps will work best on.
For example, my demographic is mostly Singaporean and Malaysian. They are people that mostly prefer to watch on their smartphones, and have better mobile data coverage than the US or Europe. The limiting factor here is that smartphones, even iPhone 7+ is limited to 720p.
So there is absolutely no reason to waste space, processing power and time rendering videos out to 4k since nobody is going to appreciate it. I top out at 1080p60fps for those who are watching at home on monitors, and the mainstay here is still a FHD 60hz monitor.
However in other countries there are those who are on computers or smart TVs more than on mobile phones. These are the countries where rendering it out to 4k 30fps will work best on.
So, I have to report back into this thread. Mother of god, 4k is just HUGE to deal with. I picked up a Hero5 Black and did a demo run, about an hour worth of video - ~33GB on the MicroSD card. My machine gave me fits about importing it using an adapter card and the slot that would read SD cards normally (as I have always done prior with my GoPro footage) didn't work. I ended up having to feed it in via USB 2.0 which took an awful long time to do, as you can imagine. Finally got the footage local, rendered it to Apple ProRES (for uncompressed, faster editing) ........ and it came out to be about 350GB.... I really appreciated how I ran out of space and it paused the renders... so I could delete more from my machine!!! Classic. I chopped it down to a shorter video ~12min to give varied demos of what the quality looked like in varied lighting conditions, etc. Still after rendering and post processing it was nearly a 7GB video, uploaded to the YouTube.
It was an experience to say the least, but I'll be doing 1080p@60fps for now due to other limitations I found with the GoPro Hero5 Black. - Check the cam setup forum for my mini review of it. I think I'll also get a bigger machine to do some editing on and look forward to 4k in the next couple years, but not on the Hero5.
--Dave aka Ghan
It was an experience to say the least, but I'll be doing 1080p@60fps for now due to other limitations I found with the GoPro Hero5 Black. - Check the cam setup forum for my mini review of it. I think I'll also get a bigger machine to do some editing on and look forward to 4k in the next couple years, but not on the Hero5.
--Dave aka Ghan
MotoMisc
Move along, nothing to see here!
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Is this a myth that I imagine work or is it real...
1080p recording = look worse when re rendering after edit (still renders at 1080p)
4k recording = looks better when re rendering after edit (renders at 1080p).
1080p recording = look worse when re rendering after edit (still renders at 1080p)
4k recording = looks better when re rendering after edit (renders at 1080p).
1080p is 1080p regardless, but, if its 4k scaled down to 1080p. it will be more detailed as there won't be as much bleeding between pixels, as the software has more to work with. Meaning you get a sharper image.
MotoMisc
Move along, nothing to see here!
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FYI everybody, I saw a video that went over 1080, went to like 2160 or something (definitely over 2000). I tried the 1440 (if I remember right) and Youtube just stopped working for me and stopped loading the page altogether.
You Tube went:
You Tube went:
If your PC isn't very powerful it might simply not be able to run it. I remember a few years ago when "will it play 1080p video?" was a factor in choosing a PC.
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