Does HD Quality Matter?

Dewmonic Abyss

Super Poster
One of the things I've always been neglecting on YouTube has been quality. Until recently, most of my videos were 480p when I started off my channel. Now, the thing about me, I don't notice that stuff. I've never played with quality when I've watched videos. I grew up on a Windows XP, so I've always been used to the 480p range. But as I've been more acquainted with other YouTubers, I see some stress over the value of uploading in HD. I never understood why, but I want to produce quality content that suits a wider spectrum of people, not just the people who don't notice quality. Now, no one has complained to me about quality yet, but I feel like it's out of politeness. Not sure, though. Now what I'm doing is aiming for 1080p, which is easy for my commentaries, because they're sort, but for gameplay, which can be up to 20 minutes, it takes forever to render, so I can't upload as much as I normally would. It's a quantity vs quality issue.

So, I want to ask you guys, how import is uploading in HD quality? What are the consequences of not? What do you notice is different in a 480p video, compared to a 1080p? I'm still new in this territory, but I'm experimenting, and I'd like advice on that.
 
Quality really matters, people can watch 480p videos but it is hard to watch any 240p videos. Sound quality is very important. Audience will turn away the videos that has lot of noise. Never mind, we should keep improving the quality of our content every time to let the audience know that we care for them.
 
Most people watch in 480p due to connection/internet issues (like being slow) but. It's always a great idea to upload HD Videos (1080p or 720p normally) as it gives a better quality. More smooth, more detailed, less noise, overall a better choice. So if you can record and upload in HD, then I suggest you start doing so.
 
Make videos at the highest quality possible, without lag or anything else.

On mobile devices I'll usually watch at 320 since no real reason for anything higher, but on my pc most vids I watch are in 720p at minimum. The higher quality content you produce the more people can enjoy on different devices or better setups and be able to enjoy it fully without upscaling it horribly from a lower resolution.
 
I know some people that simply refuse to watch videos unless they're at least 720p. In gaming, it's a must to go as high as quality as possible, with 1080p being the norm, unless it's a game that doesn't even go that high (for example my XBox 360 gameplays are at 720p because it won't go higher, but my PS4 gameplays are at 1080p). And yes, it does take a while to render if your computer is slow (it takes mine 30 - 50 minutes depending on the length of the video), but that's just how the cookie crumbles.
 
youtube is a competition. people are gonna choose the video that has the quality an time put in to it. If its going to take 6 hours to render let it render
be patient with your uploads its not a race
 
I personally don't like low quality videos! 720p is like a minimum for me to watch. Even though 1080p takes longer, it is worth it to most viewers and publishers. Good luck! :)
 
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