How to fix a blurry video - TechSmith Tips

In this video, Mike is going to cover just a few reasons why you may have a blurry video, and also some terms that may help you understand what exactly is going on.

Can’t see the embedded video? Watch it on YouTube.

Post-production begins in pre-production.

Before you ever click the record button on your screen recorder or camera, ask yourself two questions: 1) where will my video end up being displayed? and 2) what resolution is my computer screen or camera? These are the first questions you need to ask yourself when you begin creating a video! Will my video be displayed on a mobile device, a high definition TV, or maybe an ultra high definition billboard? What are the screen dimensions of my computer monitor or camera?

I can’t stress this enough, you always need to be familiar with what resolution you are shooting with and delivering to.

But what is screen resolution exactly? Screen resolution is the dimensions of your screen, most commonly measured in pixels. High definition editing and production dimensions are 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) and 720p (1280 x 720 pixels). But whatever screen resolution you have available, always try and record in the highest resolution possible. We will get to the reason why in a bit.

For example, here at TechSmith, we know we will be most often exporting videos to 720p for YouTube and our website; so when we record, our screen dimensions are usually 1080p. The reason we record in a higher dimension is because when we edit, it gives us flexibility in zooming and scaling footage. Your footage becomes blurry when you zoom in or scale footage larger than what you originally recorded at.

Depending on the content, you can get away with scaling or zooming slightly larger than 100 percent without viewers noticing, just be aware.

Nowadays, there are ultra high definition monitors, which is also commonly referred to as 4K (2160p) or 8K (4320p), or Retina display, but unless you have a very powerful computer, I would recommend 1080p to get started because if you do record in those higher dimensions, you will end up with very large files, thus slowing down your computer dramatically.

The second set of terms I want to cover are vector art vs. raster art. Raster art is made of a certain number of pixels and vector art is based on mathematical calculations. In other words, raster art cannot be enlarged without losing quality and vector art does not use pixels and therefore is resolution-independent. If you are a Camtasia or Snagit user, you may have noticed that some callouts are in vector form, they can be scaled without losing quality. This can also be seen in applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator or After Effects which base a lot of their editing techniques on vector art. There are a ton of stock image sites that offer both types for purchase.

Finally, the last topic I want to cover is file formats. This topic can get very confusing very quickly, but my main piece of advice is try and use the .MP4 file format (or H.264) whenever possible. This ensures a high quality video, at a low file size. Plus, almost all web and software applications accept this as a universal format and they play well on almost all devices. So when you can, convert your footage to .MP4.

I know this is a lot to cover and can be confusing at first, but once you start practicing and experimenting for yourself, it will start to make sense. Just remember, record as big as possible, then edit in smaller dimensions, keeping in mind where this video will be displayed. As always, feel free to add comments or questions below, and thank you for your time.

If you’re using YouTube to host your videos here is a handy PDF regarding resolution and blurriness.

Help-with-YouTube

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in June 2015 by Mike Gruszynski and has since been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

BMeyer

I’d like an in-depth discussion on the relationship between setting resolution on the canvas, selecting playback resolution when saving a project, and selecting playback resolution when producing the video, and best practice, especially when making screencasts.
- Kyle Wilson
  
  That’s a great idea for a topic. I even think that’d be a good techsmith tutorial to have all in one video. I’ll pass it on to the team.
  
  For now check this tutorial out, it may be helpful:
  
  https://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia-8-editing-dimensions-basics.html
http://www.cnintech.com/ Angie@Interactive Whiteboard

Sometimes blurry videos are annoying! Thank you so much for the tips.
Me didi

I need an urgent answer to my question if possible.
I have a video that has been recorded by a CCTV camera (very low resolution) and when extracted, wherever it is viewed it’s very blurry. Where should we watch it to be able to distinguish what is going on? It is crucial for our case.
Thank you in advance
- Kyle Wilson
  
  That’s a tough one. If you have a digital file i’d suggest viewing it at 100% size which would probably be pretty small but prevent the intense blur. If you’re able to use windows media player the settings in the attached photo. Viewing at 50% would actually make things clearer as well, but may be too small.
  
  Otherwise, it might be worth taking to a video production house or transfer shop (such as a VHS to DVD) and see what they can do for you.
Katie MunchmaQuchi Smith

Sooooooo why is my video blurry?
tony

I want to record in car footage for my motoring channel. Can you suggest a good camera for this? nothing expensive.
- Kyle Wilson
  
  For a midrange budget i’ve always been a fan of the Canon Vixia line. We use Canon DSLRs too, specifically the 5D but we also have used a 60D in the past which is nice as well. I believe there are upgrades to the 60D at this point, the only catch is the need to buy lenses as well. The vixia is a nice all in one package and still produces a nice picture, especially in well lit and outdoor areas.
James Adams

Ive been having trouble for a month now. I want to do lets plays and i use Marillis Action recorder and record in 720p. After this I export it to isky soft editor where it ends up looking like crap. My screen is 1920×1080. So your saying my mistake is being made when I record in 720p because the video resolution will drop the more I export it
- Kyle Wilson
  
  Yes that could definitely be the biggest factor. Recording games at 1080p can be hard on the system, but it will produce a much better picture.
  
  Another thing to check is what bitrate that recorder is using if it can be changed in Marillis. The higher the bitrate the better the quality, but again a higher bitrate recording will require a fast cpu for recording, and gpu for gaming.
Jack Loganbill

Regarding screen resolution, and perhaps I am missing something, but depending on what you record, text may be too small to read if you record at 1080p and render at 720p. For instance, many of the applications are web based, running on Internet Explorer. If I set the screen resolution to 1920×1080 and render at 720p at something reasonable like 950 x5xx, text is virtually unreadable. My workaround is to set IE to zoom text, and it works, but it is just as easy to record full screen at 1024 x 768…..
- gjds12
  
  @jackloganbill:disqus I usually overcome this with zooming in on the area of the screen that I speaking about. I feel this also keeps the viewer engaged and focused on the content. I mean who likes to watch a video that shows the full screen these days unless you are recording a action game. I always record in 1080p or higher and render 720p.

TechSmith Blogs

Why is My Video Blurry? – TechSmith Tips

Related