Introducing 1080p playback and AVCHD support! on Vimeo Staff Blog

by Andrew Pile
January 29th, 2010

Woah it's been a big month for new stuff! At the beginning of 2010 we rolled out Plus mobile support, and kicked off a new HTML5 beta just last week. Today we're announcing two more options for you HD shooters out there.

First up: 1080p support. If you're a Plus user, you can now optionally upgrade new or existing 1080p videos to be played back in full 1080p. To do this, go to the settings page of your video, then click "video file", then check the "Display this video in 1080p" box. Your video will re-encode and soon be available in 1080p to everyone! We're calling this feature experimental: that means to use caution before enabling 1080p, since viewers may experience choppy playback. Remember that very few computers have 1920x1080 monitors and 720p will load about twice as fast. You can always uncheck the box to go back to 720p. We'll be improving this feature as we get feedback, so please let us know how it's working for you in this forum thread!

Second: AVCHD support. We've actually had this in beta for a long time, but never fully announced it to the world. If you shoot or edit in AVCHD, you can now upload the .MTS or .M2S file directly.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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- Garrett Wesley Gibbons 2 years ago
  
  Way to keep the ball rolling! HTML5 Beta is the bomb, and 1080p is going to be awesome!
- Jared Flynn 2 years ago
  
  Way excited to try out these new features down the line!
- Lonny Quattlebaum 2 years ago
  
  I just 1080P'd myself
- adonis 2 years ago
  
  Is that what they're calling it these days? ;)
- Keith Rivers 2 years ago
  
  I as well just 1080P'd my pants
- glass popcorn 2 years ago
  
  ugh, please don't talk about that on the internet, i just lost my appetite
- Couture Cinema 2 years ago
  
  Oh...I would love to just shower myself in glorious golden 1080p
- Tim French 2 years ago
  
  @ Yaro
  I am SO glad we had separate hotel rooms in Prague.
- Beau Cottington 2 years ago
  
  dude, LOL
- Christoph Schaarschmidt 2 years ago
  
  this is absolutely awesome
- Tetsouille 2 years ago
  
  Gooooooooood.
- Shark Teeth Films 2 years ago
  
  1080p?!?!? Sweet!
- Josh Reichlin 2 years ago
  
  Vimeo, thank you for being amazing.
- RYAN OHM ▲ 2 years ago
  
  vimeo doesn't stop improving in my book.
  good work guys/gals!
- Seb Farges 2 years ago
  
  Good but I have downloaded a MTS file 3 monthes ago, and it was already working ! :)
- Daniel Gustafsson 2 years ago
  
  Woa! Great news!
- Ivan Zuber 2 years ago
  
  Thanks Vimeo Staff!
  
  I just uploaded my video: vimeo.com/9071939
  
  Well I don't really see a difference with 720p for now. It load a the same speed, it look the same... maybe I have to wait a few hours?
  
  But anyway that's great news!
  
  EDIT: also, one question: if I decide to unclick the "1080p button" in my option, and if I decide to allow it again a few month later, does it gonna reconvert one more time?
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  Anytime you click or unclick it'll send it through again. As long as we have the source file (as long as you're plus) the option to swap back and forth will be there.
- Remyyy 2 years ago
  
  Vimeazing !
- Martin Lang 2 years ago
  
  I love you guys!
- CathieGraphy 2 years ago
  
  Thank you so much for the .hts file support .. its gonna make my life easier for editing, ie. no editing and just upload!!
- Regis Hervagault 2 years ago
  
  you rock !
- Fredrik Harper 2 years ago
  
  so the 1080p function is only availble for plus users?
- Nilz 2 years ago
  
  That's how I read it, unless some one can offer otherwise?
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  Yes it's Plus-only.
- Space Cherry Films 2 years ago
  
  I love youtube!
- Marian Cabanski 2 years ago
  
  I like vimeo, but I think PLUS is too expensive (for me).
- Aaron Dalton 2 years ago
  
  So I just want to clear it up. Can only plus members upload AND view 1080 or can anyone watch a 1080 that a plus user uploaded?
- fearless sunrise 2 years ago
  
  As far as I know anyone can view the 1080p versions (as long as their system can handle it), however only plus users can upload / choose to show their vids in 1080p due to vimeo saving the source 1080p files of plus users.
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  Fearless is right, anyone can watch the 1080p version.
- Just 2 years ago
  
  ..amazing stuff guys!!! you totally rocks!!
- Giulio Sciorio 2 years ago
  
  So when I export from compressor do I need to change anything other then the pixel size from 1280x720 to 1920x1080?
- Frank Cooper 2 years ago
  
  You gotta love vimeo
- Jedd Goble 2 years ago
  
  You guys are way ahead of the curve. Way to go, Vimeo!
- Welcome To The West 2 years ago
  
  oh man you guys are awesome.
- Mark Corliss 2 years ago
  
  Exciting! Thanks for all you do. Mark Corliss, The State of John Anderson: A TV Reality Show about the brilliance, creativity, inspiration, and love of a photographer with Parkinson's Disease.
- Eugenia Loli 2 years ago
  
  Andrew, what is the bitrate that Vimeo re-encodes in 1080p?
  
  Also, does 1080p re-encodes happen only for 1080p videos? I hope it's so, otherwise upresizing a 720p video to 1080p won't be a good idea. I wouldn't want my own future 720p videos for example to be resized to 1080p.
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  At the moment it's 4.5 mbit though it might change based on feedback. Only videos with a 1080p source show the option to re-encode.
- Sean Duran 2 years ago
  
  I thought 720 was encoded at 5 mb/s?
- Eugenia Loli 2 years ago
  
  No, that's how you should be encoding. Vimeo, and youtube, re-encode at 2 mbps for 720p. At 5 mbps it would be too difficult to stream on most connections and it would cost Vimeo/youtube way too much money, since bandwidth is not free.
- Tom Lowe 2 years ago
  
  Win.
- Light Theory Productions 2 years ago
  
  Sweet. If we change a video to 1080p, does that mean that other people no longer have the option of watching it in 720p as well? Might be a good idea to have the user be able to select between 480, 720, and 1080 depending on their computer and connection speed.
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  For now it's EITHER 720 or 1080. We don't give an option.
- Thomas Lew 2 years ago
  
  1080p sounds crazy cool. Very foolish though for people who edit in avchd natively!!!
- Thomas Lew 2 years ago
  
  it's a compression no no when editing!
- John Kostelyk 2 years ago
  
  Why is it a compression no no?
- Dave Dugdale 2 years ago
  
  Why is it a no no?
- Thomas Lew 2 years ago
  
  AVCHD is a highly highly HIGHLY compressed format. You're not really supposed to edit in it.. If you're just throwing together a quick video then it doesn't really matter I guess. I forget that not everybody on here is a video professional. If you're uploading straight from a camcorder to vimeo then I guess that's a great feature, but if you're doing a video product, editing lots of footage and adding effects / compositing, you'll just kill your system by editing natively.
- Mason Makram 2 years ago
  
  Who uses straight AVCHD?
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  People who upload files right from the camera mostly.
- Luiz Murillo 2 years ago
  
  All the current Canons are using flash/hdd storage, a lot of panasonics, some sonys, some prosumer/pro cameras like hmc150... it's great to shoot with, but a pain to (transcode and) edit. Thanks Vimeo!
- Chris Mierzwinski 2 years ago
  
  Awesome! now i have to join in as a plus user!!
- Aclara Promotions 2 years ago
  
  YESsssss !!!
- Jamie Simko 2 years ago
  
  I love you vimeo!
- cody kern 2 years ago
  
  chris@visceralfilms.ca, i hope i am with you on the sarcasm. these ARE killer features for only $___ a month!
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  You sure he was being sarcastic?
- Deep Roots Media - Dane Henry 2 years ago
  
  I still don't understand how people can complain about $6 a month. You get HD hosting, clean Mobile playback, a generous weekly upload total and access to viewers who's opinions actually mean something. If you don't mind ugly players housing your video and a barrage of cursing comments feel free to have YouTube just host your video.
- Jon Kline 2 years ago
  
  Amen, Dane. Much cleaner player, cleaner video, and a cleaner community.
- Stephen Coghill 1 year ago
  
  Exposure Room rules. and it's FREE!
- Asmo Koskinen 2 years ago
  
  Kiitos!
- Daniel Foucachon 2 years ago
  
  Thank you so much! Vimeo is great!
- GPSchnyder 2 years ago
  
  Wow. Now I need to drop my GH1 for a Scarlet to get proper 1080p with slo-mo ;-)
  
  And I need to become a plus member...
- Christopher Pearless 2 years ago
  
  Great work chaps, as always :) (And I'll take that GH1 ;):P)
- TOM TRUONG 2 years ago
  
  Good Stuff! Like the AVCHD support. Will upgrade soon.
- Marien MALET 2 years ago
  
  Great news. Thanks
- Klaus Stern 2 years ago
  
  Thanks for great news!
- Jerry Norman 2 years ago
  
  Is AVCHD upload available to standard accounts, or only pro?
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  AVCHD works for anyone.
- Hunter Starnes 2 years ago
  
  Sweet! very excited to try it.
- TONYWORKS 2 years ago
  
  great news!
- Junction 133 2 years ago
  
  Bring advanced stats!
- Dominic Sotirescu 2 years ago
  
  It did not work for me. I keep getting the same error: 'There was a problem converting this video! Please review our compression guidelines.'
  
  All the video clips I tried 1080p mode, failed. They were uploaded in 1080p resolution/format.
  
  Here is an example that did not work: vimeo.com/4642043
- Dominic Sotirescu 2 years ago
  
  Trying to revert back to 720p but the thumbnails are not there anymore including the selected one (I know you warn us about them disappearing after a month). In this case when switching to or from 1080p it would be nice to generate the thumbnails again or not to delete the selected one.
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  Sorry for the screw up Dominic, I'm looking into this now.
- Zebbler 2 years ago
  
  Yay! 1080p is an awesome option to have here!
- Fillm 2 years ago
  
  thank you for the avc!
- Danny Cooke 2 years ago
  
  Does that mean we have to choose between 720p or 1080p? Can't we give the viewer the option to decide?
- Bill Perry 2 years ago
  
  Very cool, keep on innovating!
- NoFatClips.com 2 years ago
  
  How does a viewer knows that a video is 1080p (before clicking the HD button)?
- Henrique Siqueira 2 years ago
  
  great news! Thank you...
- Bernhard Häussner 2 years ago
  
  I wonder how on earth you got AVCHD working. I always had to find a Intel/Mac platform to do the decoding.
- celibacyclub 2 years ago
  
  also seems to be about half the cpu load!
  
  this is pretty great. thanks vimeo
- Bora Dayanikli 2 years ago
  
  Awesome news.
- LoKan Sardari 2 years ago
  
  First of all, excuse me for my horrible english.
  You seriously should offers HD embed, or for half the price.
  Actually I don't understand why a Vimeo Plus account needs to pay more and more and more while dailymotion and YouTube are totally free services.
  
  Please, sincerely, do something about that...
  Thank you for reading.
- Enriqe Pizarro 2 years ago
  
  Thank, Andrew, thank you. Thank for do this. I know that you are a good guy. Really, thank.
- Emrah Gunduz 2 years ago
  
  any 1080p video links ? want to test if i need a new pc :)
- Dimitrios Papagiannis 2 years ago
  
  Make it Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
- Andrew Hernandez 2 years ago
  
  awesome, mts support. you guys are sweet
- Charles Tashiro 2 years ago
  
  I can't keep up with you guys.
- Jacques Bellemare 2 years ago
  
  Love it !
- Trey Cook 2 years ago
  
  2K is next! Haha, 1080 progressive for the WEB...what is this world coming to!?!
- Dale Kamp 2 years ago
  
  This is great!
- Sean Duran 2 years ago
  
  My 'puter can handle it, but maybe users should have the option to have their HD videos be set to SD by default?
- roberto e lepe 2 years ago
  
  and this is why your the best.
- Philippe Creux 2 years ago
  
  You rock!
- Terence Beal 2 years ago
  
  Vimeo, always ahead !
- Perez 2 years ago
  
  Vimeo is ten years ahead of me....
- Daniel Dragon Films 2 years ago
  
  Ye gods, support for awkward-ish MTS files. 1080p is awesome. Can I have a pony now?
- Bokafolket 2 years ago
  
  Witch bitrates is best for the 1080pm when encoding H.264 files?
  
  1500kb for SD
  3500kb for 720p
  5000kb for 1080p?
- Andrew Pile 2 years ago
  
  Try 5,000 kbps for 720p and 10,000 kbps for 1080p.
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