Higher Resolution or Bitrate. Which to go for & Why?

[SithUK]

I use GKnot and Doom9's guide. When resizing to get a good percentage of my compressibility I can either lower the resolution or lower the bitrate.

Is there any advantage to keeping a small video resolution and high bitrate over a large resolution and lower bitrate?

Thanks,

Sith

[binky the stunt cat]

the bitrate will not change for a small or large frame size.
What will change is the ratio of bits to pixels.
The best thing is to get the most bits per pixel while still having a large frame size.
Easiest way to do this is the comptest from Gordian knot.
Aim for 60% and you'll be fine.

[makikes]

Without any doubt, it is best to have a lower resolution with a high bitrate than the opposite. But Binky was much more accurate than that. It's the bit/pixel ratio that matters. Although it may seem that a higher resolution with a low bit/pixel ratio should look just like a lower resolution with a high bit/pixel ratio, if you make a few tests, you'll find out that it doesn't happen. If you compress something with a higher resolution instead of a good lower resolution, you'll get a lot of artifacts around moving objects and a "watery" look all over the picture. If you do the opposite you'll get a good picture without artifacts but slightly less sharp when using a fullscreen mode. The but tradeoff is obvious and favours a smaller resolution.:)