@matt_gh2,

I think my playback issue on Vimeo had more to do with the 2k 80mbps original file I uploaded than with Vimeo.

I also saw the fairly decent amount of color correction options available to correct footage on youtube. But, I didn't want to have to color correct footage again after already getting it to a point I liked in post, well actually what I already got in-camera..

Burnet, you pretty much nailed it. That's what YT does sometimes for me. Wish Vimeo would playback consistently though.

@bleach551 Yeah, I hear you. I do my adjustments in editing/color grading software and then export to YT. If not good, I go back into editing/grading software again to tweak and re-export. It's a pain, but I just have to do it.

Yep, Dr D right on with audio.

@bleach551

At what "Profile" and "Level" are you rendering your H.264 files. I always use "Profile-(High)" "Level-(5.1)" and render at max bit depth and with "Target" and "Max" Mbps at "80". I always use the Standard H.264 instead of H.264 for Blu-ray.

H.264 High Profile, Level 4.2 @ 20Mbps avg, 24Mbps max. This is comparable to Blu-ray quality, which I consider good enough for 1080p delivery to clients. I don't really see this as relevent, however, since the issue is Vimeo's re-encoded low-bitrate quality degradation, rather than the quality or bitrate of the original uploaded video.

After reading this discussion, I'm not sure whether the crucial issue is clear to all posters. I'm not complaining about the quality of 1080p videos downloaded from Vimeo, they are adequate for review purposes. What I find unacceptable is the visual quality of 1080p videos streamed off Vimeo's web pages, whether on their site or embedded in other pages. As displayed by Firefox on my Win7 workstation at 1080p, these look much worse than they do on either YouTube or played locally on my PC.

Does anyone here NOT see how much worse my sample video looks streamed off Vimeo?

@LPowell,

I understand what you are saying. But I think your workflow and how you transcode your footage for Vimeo is at the root of your displeasure with the way it looks to you. Vimeo is going to heavily compress the files you upload anyway, so upload the highest bitrate, highest profile and level that they will accept and see if that changes the quality of the 1080p streaming video.

I see that you are uploading around about the max bitrate for Vimeo for 1080p footage, 20mbps. How about something like 40mbps or higher. The clip I recently uploaded was at 80mbps and it looked great. I mean F**K Vimeos max settings for 1080p.Try "level" "5.1" and see if that makes a difference.

For important stuff, I check how final version looks on different browsers and different devices (computer, tablet, and phone). Then pick which is best overall. At end of day, you're left with imperfect result, but you can do best possible.

And regarding best target and max settings etc., I've heard YT and Vimeo change their algorithm/system fairly regularly, so what worked great 12 months ago, might not be optimal now.

Bottom line is experiment to find secret sauce for yourself.

As I replied above, I have done so and ALL downloaded versions of the video play back in acceptable quality. It was only the version streamed directly from Vimeo's website via Firefox that looked bad.

I really do not know that you are talking about. I talk about tools that store streamed version in file.

No one cares about how it looks in your FireFox or Chrome. As it depends on huge number of things, even your graphics card, drivers and moon phase (here I mean huge number of versions and updates of this bloated buggy browsers).

If you discuss Vimeo and Youtube and how their video looks - you do so analyzing actual footage that they stream. All else is discussion about browsers and million other variables.

Yes, but I care how it looks to my clients on their browsers. If it looks bad in Vimeo on my workstation, I want to know why and take whatever steps I can to insure it doesn't look bad to my clients.

Well, it is Sisyphean task.

This is how it looks (simplified slightly):

Stream->Splitter->Video decoder(with decoder post processing most of the time)->Video renderer (with its own post processing and "enchancements")->Image buffer

You can't control video renderer behavior (on random viewer computer) used during browser playback at all. As not only it is dependent of graphics card, but also on drivers version and actual settings.

You also can't control decoder as it can be either build in Windows (Mac OSX) one or one made by browser authors (needs good research). Usually here no one tell you about settings.

@matt_gh2

And pray that your client is pretty young girl :-)

When this is on, Vimeo 1080p playback is totally smooth, but the details look like crap. After turning it off, Vimeo's choppy but looks at least as good as YouTube. Maybe it's something to do with running my Nvidia Quadro card in 10-bit color mode...

No, it is driver behavior and settings :-) Turn off all enhancements related to video (in drivers settings).

Crap you see originate in "smart" idea to "enhance" overcompressed or noisy videos.

I've been hyper critical of their new damn default setting to "AUTO". They absolutely should offer higher quality renders to Pro users. They keep adding stupid free additions that are useless. All most of us want is higher quality.

As far as what the hell they do to uploads when they re-render, they must provide us more info, or their actually render engine. Plus if I upload with their "ideal" setting parameters, they should leave that upload the hell alone and just post it.

I think they're doing a terrible job. Just because youtube is worse in many ways, does not Vimeo gets to just get away with eroding support. Too few of us complain. I'm looking seriously at moving my 100 videos to youtube. I hate youtube.

I could do a better job programming their web site as well as youtubes and I'm not all that great at it anymore. Vimeo's on the way out it seems.

If vimeo becomes more like youtube they won't survive. YouTube has much bigger user base and way more established. Majority of people don't even know what vimeo is. Their entire identity was to be a higher quality outlet. They lose that they're gone.