Please tell me the diff? - 1080P vs 720P at the same bitrate.

[themaxx69]

I have searched, to no avail.

What is the difference and/or which is better?

I have seen multiple movies which are 1080P and 720P with video bitrates that are very close.

So, which is more important? Does it matter? 720P & 1080P & similar bitrates.

10-20ft 40-65in tv. ?????????:eek:

[unskinnyboy]

Depends on what bitrates you are talking about here and also what type of source. If the bitrate is quite high (100+ Mbit/s), then the 1080p file is probably better, because it has the bigger resolution and it has the bitrate to support that resolution. But if the bitrate is low (10+ Mbit/s), then you might be better off going with the 720p, because the bitrate probably isn't enough for the 1080p file, especially if the source is an action movie or something such.

Gotta ask, you have eyes, don't you? Look yourself and go with the one which looks better to you.

[themaxx69]

Well, most hd 720P rips are below 10Kbit/s( usually around 7), but 1080P rips aren't usually much more.

So, if you have a 720P mkv and 1080p mkv, both ripped from same source, and both with same video bitrate, which will look better or will they look the same?

[survivant001]

you have a image screen size and the same image at double to size.. and you get the same file size when they are compressed.. I hope you think that the smaler image will look better.

[Comatose]

It depends on the source and the bitrate. If the bitrate is overkill for the 720p, it might have enough to look decent at 1080p. Just see for yourself.

[burfadel]

Also it depends on what codec is used to compress them (that is, are they the same) and even down to the settings used. I realise that there are some restrictions to the settings if intended to play back on a standalone player, but even then the ME search for example can make the 1080p better or worse than the 720p.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Assuming we're using x264, with all the latest bells and whistles (VAQ etc), the difference can certainly favor either scenario.

Case 1: Low bitrate - 3mbps
720p wins almost every time
1080p usually blocks, and loses a lot of detail

Case 2: Moderate bitrate - 6mbps
720p and 1080p look very similar. 1080p better in some cases, 720p better in some cases

Case 3: high bitrate - 10+mbps
1080p usually looks better. In some cases (crap content) 720p will look better, but it really depends.

Keep in mind, not all 1080p material deserves 1080p :) A lot of stuff looks identical (before encoding) when downscaled to 720p and then upscaled back to 1080p. The HD-DVD Release of Bullit comes to mind. I encoded it to CRF20 ~4GB at 720p and couldnt tell a difference from the source while watching. The difference in frame-by-frame comparison was also quite small.

Not always the case :)

All in all, it's hard to generalize, but below 5-6mbps, it's usually safe to assume that 720p is going to give you a better end result. It's also faster to encode :D

~MiSfit