Pro Tip: Deliver 720p

Most high end video cameras, DSLRs, and even cell phones shoot at 1080p.  You can edit 1080p video on a mid-range laptop.  YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, and most video hosting sites will gladly serve up gorgeous 1080p streams.  Seems like if you want to serve up the highest quality video, you should deliver in the highest possible resolution, right?  Not necessarily.  On most corporate PCs and laptops, there’s little perceptible difference in quality between 720p and 1080p, and yet there’s a tremendous risk of viewers with weak Internet connections walking away from a video – even an excellent one – without viewing it completely if it buffers.  The only way to ensure that 1080p video won’t buffer is to compress it at a low bit rate before you upload it – compromising visual quality (compression artifacts) in the name of, um, visual quality (resolution).  Don’t make that mistake, and don’t take that risk.  Deliver your corporate video at 720p and get more bit-rate bang for your buck.