Question about resolution and HD

[icegnat]

Hi all.

Let's see if I can ask this question in an articulate fashion. I'm shooting my video in HD. (1920x1080i) I don't need the massive size of full HD so I downconvert to 720p using mpeg streamclip. The end result is still some nice looking video. However, I need to embed it to a website. The highest quality that is able to be imbedded is the iPod/DVD setting. In terms of window/playback size, this is perfect and the quality looks decent. But I'm wondering if there is anything at all advantageous about shooting in HD if my end result is the iPod/DVD setting. Would I get the exact same quality if I shot in SD? I'm thinking that because it's being shot in higher resolution, you've got better looking source material so the encode to iPod/DVD will be cleaner looking. Is this just wishful thinking?

The reason all of this matters is because I'm starting a business and trying to offer online embedded HD videos to clients. I'm shooting in HD but is there anything at all HD about my end result if I'm only able to give them the iPod/DVD version? Is there a better way to go about this? I'm willing to pay for a pro account but first want to make sure this is going to serve my needs. Any suggestions?

Thanks for any input!

J.


EDIT: I know YouTube works well for embedding HD video but I find their uploads take forever and would rather not have the YouTube logo on all my videos.

[nigelbb]

Always shoot & process in the highest possible quality then whatever lesser quality you compress down to will be higher quality too. reducing resolution from Full HD 1920x1080 to DVD 640x360 will give a better end result than if you start with HD 1280x720. Simply put there is more data for the compressor to work on with the higher resolution original. You certainly won't get such good video quality in the final product if you shoot in SD

[nigelbb]

EDIT: I know YouTube works well for embedding HD video but I find their uploads take foreverUploading & particularly processing of videos on SmugMug is pretty slow. I haven't tried YouTube but have uploaded HD videos to Vimeo & Facebook & those services are far quicker.

[docwalker]

Are those service not limited to 720p? Our HD is full 1080. High quality video takes longer to process, plus we are creating multiple display copies. I want high quality for my personal work.

[nigelbb]

Are those service not limited to 720p? Our HD is full 1080. High quality video takes longer to process, plus we are creating multiple display copies. I want high quality for my personal work.You are correct. It's the multiple different resolution versions that undoubtedly take extra time.