How to get HD quality in Zoom
Are you tired of seeing your 1080p webcam image show up in standard definition (SD) in Zoom? That’s because by default Zoom is actually SD right now, but there is a way to enable HD, and most people don’t know about it! In this blog post, you will learn how to enable group HD mode in Zoom and get 720p and even 1080p video in your Zoom Meetings.
Great news: there is a feature inside of Zoom called “Enabled Group HD Video.” You may have noticed that inside of most Zoom meetings your video and the video of others looks well, small and sometimes pixelated. This is usually because Zoom is doing it’s absolute best to make everyone’s connection seamless for online communications in real time. Therefore, depending on the bandwidth of your internet connection, Zoom may reduce video quality in order to optimize your overall experience.
Here at the StreamGeeks, we have been using Zoom to bring in remote callers and video quality is really important. So in this video, you are going to learn everything you need to know about video quality inside of Zoom.
Enable Group HD Mode in Zoom
First of all, what is this “Enable Group HD Video” feature? You can find this feature by logging into your Zoom account and clicking on “Settings”. Under “In Meeting (Advanced)” you can scroll down to find a feature called Enable Group HD Video which will increase Zoom’s default standard definition to 720p HD video. Yeah, remember the days of SD? That was way back in the early 1990’s.
The way Group HD video works in Zoom is simple. When this feature is enabled, HD video which is 1280×720 or 720p will be activated for the active speaker in the video layout. At this time, full HD or 1080p video is limited to Business and Enterprise plans.
Warning: If you like Zoom’s virtual background feature, you might want to consider using a virtual webcam with OBS. Note that in Zoom’s description of this feature they state, “When using the virtual background feature without a green screen, your video will be capped at 720p, potentially at 360p for some lower-end Windows computers.”
How to get HD quality in Zoom
Note:
Please note that Group HD will use a higher amount of CPU and bandwidth (~2Mbps up/down). If you are experiencing network or CPU performance issues, you may want to disable Group HD.
Now, how do you know what resolution you are getting with Zoom? In the video settings area, which you can access by clicking the up arrow next to the camera, you will find an area called “Statistics.” Here you can see the video quality or bit-rate which is coming into your computer. This is helpful to try and figure out.
Testing the Zoom Meeting
Now, with all of that being said, I want to geek out about bitrates in our follow up video. As you may know there is a big difference between 1080p video at 8 Mbps, and the 1080p video Zoom is saying they will provide a 1.8 Mbps. Let’s take a look at why I will still suggest you record and stream with OBS or another software like vMix, while optimizing your Zoom meetings for HD video. I know a lot of you guys have watched our tutorials on connecting OBS and Zoom together. This is just another reason why you should keep a tool like OBS around to record high quality video and stream in real HD with an acceptable bit-rate.
I should also mention here that we are now using a system called LiveToAir to bring in many of our remote guests into our live productions. The system is quite advanced and it’s able to give our guests 1080p video connections directly into our production system with an NDI input. Pretty cool. We will demonstrate this system in an upcoming video. Peace!
Live streaming has become an essential component of modern sports production, allowing fans worldwide to…
Sports Video Essentials - Level 2 - Sports Analytics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48VfDSImwjY As sports production technology advances,…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn_pG8_uqcI Portable Sports Video Systems Recording sports video in the field requires a portable, easy-to-use…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTqa0OYNusY When it comes to sports video, your equipment has to be ready for action…
As the sports world becomes increasingly digital, athletes now have unprecedented opportunities to shape their…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Dhq2OTKKw Capturing the Bigger Picture: Tactical Camera Use in Sports A tactical camera serves a…