Can this video quality be improved?

[Simonk]

Hi there. I recently filmed a weekend of us waterskiing and I can't seem to solve the pixilation of the water (watch in 1080 full screen). I use Sony Vegas and also film with a Canon 60D. I normally render at 10mbps using AVC mp4 files for upload to Youtube and this has always worked great with the Canon. For the P3S, I need to render the video below at least 25mbps for the image to be clear when playing the file on my PC. Once I upload it to Youtube, the quality goes bad. I've tried 50mbps, 25mps, 10mbps, 8mbps, using handbrake to output in h.264 with various bit rates, variable, constant bit rate etc. and the result is always the same. The original footage is 1080/30, the same as the end format.

So, is this just a flaw in the hardware of the camera or is there something else I should be doing? I understand that Youtube compresses the video but I don't understand why say a 25mbps video from my Canon looks great but a 25mbps video from the P3S looks rubbish, even though both videos look great when played directly on my PC or TV. Do I need to watch my filming technique by flying slower or higher for example? Would it help if I filmed at 2.7k and downscaled in my project? Would using manual exposure mode and locking in 100ISO with nd filters improve it? Any resolution to this would be greatly appreciated

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[LuvMyTJ]

If it looks good on your PC or TV (master file), there must be a loss in the transcoding for YT.

 

[Simonk]

If it looks good on your PC or TV (master file), there must be a loss in the transcoding for YT.

Correct but what I'm trying to work out is why there is so much more loss with the P3S footage vs the Canon footage, even when there is footage from both cameras in the same movie. Note, that at 10mbps, the canon looks good on the master on the PC and TV but the P3S does not, only at 25mbps will the P3S look good on the master file. So when rendering at 10mbps the loss is too much for the P3S but is fine for the Canon. Given Youtube downgrades the original footage, the same problem occurs. Essentially the lower bit rate works fine for the Canon but not for the P3S so how do I get the P3S looking better given that Youtube will always bring it below 10mbps, no matter what the master bitrate is?

 

[Mr. Salty]

To begin with, the P3S has the lowest quality camera out of the current Phantom lineup and uses a small imaging sensor, basically a glorified cellphone camera. The 60D has a much larger APS-C sensor and is a DSLR. It's like asking why a Ford Fiesta isn't as good as a BMW.

What resolution are you shooting at with the P3S? Have you tried rendering at the full 2.7k? Are you doing a two-pass render?

 

[LuvMyTJ]

To begin with, the P3S has the lowest quality camera out of the current Phantom lineup and uses a small imaging sensor, basically a glorified cellphone camera. The 60D has a much larger APS-C sensor and is a DSLR. It's like asking why a Ford Fiesta isn't as good as a BMW.

What resolution are you shooting at with the P3S? Have you tried rendering at the full 2.7k? Are you doing a two-pass render?

The Phantom 3 series and the Phantom 4 (non-pro) all use a similar 1/2.3” CMOS sensor.
And as stated, the Canon will certainly have a better sensor than a common 'action cam' sized sensor & quality.

 

[Mr. Salty]

The Phantom 3 series and the Phantom 4 (non-pro) all use a similar 1/2.3” CMOS sensor.

But the P3S camera is 2.7K, 12MP, where the rest are 4K, 12.4MP, so there are differences.

 

[Simonk]

So are we saying it's not possible to get a nice clean picture in YouTube with the P3S if there's fast moving footage with detailed scenery?

I'm filming at 1080/30. The only other thing I can think of trying filming at 2.7k but my end project needs to be 1080 as that's the maximum my Canon can do. Is downscaling from 2.7k therefore going to make any difference? I'm filming to MP4. Is it worth trying MOV instead?

 

[Mr. Salty]

MP4 and MOV are essentially the same. I would shoot at the highest quality possible. You're likely to get better downconversion from Sony Vegas taking time to do it rather than asking the processor in the quad to do it on the fly.

You could also try rendering at 2.7K if your version of Vegas is capable of it. Upconverting the Canon footage shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[Sevyn13]

I can't tell you why they are different on each camera. But In general with all video, quality suffers when there is a lot of movement and changing colors. Kind of the same as when the picture gets horrible when there is a ton of confetti on screen, i.e. Super bowl. Parts of the water are constantly changing and hurting it.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Simonk]

Thanks everyone for your help. It looks like water is not very friendly for the footage once the drone is moving at a certain speed and anything less than 25mbps bitrate will cause it to pixelate. Filming at 2.7k and outputting at 2.7k would solve the problem as long as the video is viewed at 2.7k on Youtube. I think the main thing I've learnt is to be mindful of what's in each scene and if there is grass or water to fly slow or higher or closer to the subject so they fill the screen.

 

[dan84uk]

Thanks everyone for your help. It looks like water is not very friendly for the footage once the drone is moving at a certain speed and anything less than 25mbps bitrate will cause it to pixelate. Filming at 2.7k and outputting at 2.7k would solve the problem as long as the video is viewed at 2.7k on Youtube. I think the main thing I've learnt is to be mindful of what's in each scene and if there is grass or water to fly slow or higher or closer to the subject so they fill the screen.

Always film at 2.7k then if you must downscale afterwards it will always look better than recording at 1080 (by a large margin). I use premiere and upload my edited stuff as h264 @ 60mbs 2.7k 30fps and my youtube videos come out great. An added advantage will be youtube will encode your videos to 1440p too. Which look alot sharper than the 1080 option.