Thoughts on AVCHD vs MP4 for technology videos on YouTube

[Tony_G]

Hey All,

I've been doing my channel in 35MBps MP4 on Canon R600 & R700 cameras. I've never really thought about using AVCHD but I just acquired Adobe Premiere Pro and they have a transfer utility that understands the AVCHD format.

All the information seems to imply that AVCHD has better resolution and is easier to work with but when I took some sample clips I really couldn't notice any difference.

Anyone have any experience/thoughts on whether one should move to AVCHD or just stick with MP4.

Thanks,

TonyG

[amyk]

I think MP4 (H.264) is fine for basically all videos today.

[rsjsouza]

I think MP4 (H.264) is fine for basically all videos today.

Well, it is fine for videos up to 1080p. According to the rederence below, AVCHD goes beyond that.

https://m.dvdfab.cn/resource/video/avchd-vs-mp4

I always get confused between the MPEG-4 codec and the MP4 container. I think this was a deliberate choice to confuse people in favour of MP4, but maybe it is just me...

[EEVblog]

I used to use 28Mbps AVCHD but have switched to 20Mbps XAVC S MP4 on the new camera. 60Mbps if it's 4K
Majority of tech videos don't need high bitrate because there is little moving footage. i.e. tripod shots of products and/or talking head etc.

[rsjsouza]

I used to use 28Mbps AVCHD but have switched to 20Mbps XAVC S MP4 on the new camera. 60Mbps if it's 4K
Majority of tech videos don't need high bitrate because there is little moving footage. i.e. tripod shots of products and/or talking head etc.

Dave, for technical content, do you see much advantages to 4k? (Apart from the coolness factor, of course).

I know that a talking head video does not benefit at all but, when showing a PCB, do you see it as a benefit to having the extra resolution so you don't see the need to take hi-res photos of the board?

[EEVblog]

I used to use 28Mbps AVCHD but have switched to 20Mbps XAVC S MP4 on the new camera. 60Mbps if it's 4K
Majority of tech videos don't need high bitrate because there is little moving footage. i.e. tripod shots of products and/or talking head etc.

Dave, for technical content, do you see much advantages to 4k? (Apart from the coolness factor, of course).
I know that a talking head video does not benefit at all but, when showing a PCB, do you see it as a benefit to having the extra resolution so you don't see the need to take hi-res photos of the board?

Yes, for teardowns I would usually shoot 4K, it lets you zoom in to more detail in editing if needed.
There are reports that 4K rendered down to 1080p is sharper and better quality than 1080p footage shot on the same camera. I think I did a test of this on the 2nd channel someone at the time, but don't recall. But 1080p60 beats 4K rendered down to 1080p30