Stuck on 640 x 320 resolution

[blitz]

Hello!

Have been researching and troubleshooting to figure out why recording is stuck on 640x320 during a one-on-one recorded meeting.

• Host using desktop, other participant on Ipad
• Host has HD enabled
• Using "speaker view"
• Recording saved to local HD

Do the settings of the other person "not the host" matter? Do they need to enable anything? Is because they are using an Ipad?

[Jameswalter]

If you are stuck on a 640 x 320 resolution in Zoom, it is likely due to the camera settings or limitations of the camera you are using. Here are some steps you can follow to troubleshoot and potentially resolve the issue:

Check Camera Settings in Zoom:

Open Zoom and sign in to your account.

Click on your profile picture or initials in the top-right corner and select "Settings."

In the settings window, click on the "Video" tab on the left.

Look for the camera settings and ensure the resolution is set to a higher value if available (e.g., 1280 x 720 or higher).

Update Your Camera Drivers:

Ensure you have the latest drivers for your camera installed on your computer. Check the manufacturer's website or use Windows Update (or Mac's Software Update) to find and install any available driver updates.

[blitz]

Thank you James.

I used the web portal on Safari. There are no settings that I can see for video on the dashboard on the browser. 

Are you referring to the desktop Zoom "App"? Is that what the problem is?

[blitz]

Yes, that was all done.

Ran two tests today without making changes. One was 1280×720 and the other 640 x 320. No settings were changed and cannot figure out why this is happening.

It's like playing roulette and I need to know that when I record for an hour, that's it's not going to be 640 x 320.

[Ray_Harwood]

Welcome to the Zoom Community, @blitz.

This Zoom Support article might shed some light on the differences you're seeing:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/4409490756749-Resolution-of-recorded-video

Since you're using the Web Client and not the installed Zoom application, I have to assume you are talking about a Cloud Recording, since the Web Client doesn't support Local Recording.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/214629443-Getting-started-with-the-Zoom-web-client#h_01FNY... 

Note that there are many possible recording formats with Cloud Recording.  Here are the Recording Settings I normally use, since I often take the raw Zoom video and create a post-edited video for uploading:

There is a wide variation in the video resolutions, based on the number of participants and the shared screen resolutions during the session.  Each session can and will be different -- sometimes I can explain it, and sometimes it's a mystery!

[blitz]

Hi Ray and thank you!

I was using the Zoom App on desktop today for two tests. Recording to local HD. First test was 1280x720. Second test went right back to 640 x 320 even though no changes were made.

[blitz]

I want to add that both tests were done using the Zoom app - not the browser portal.

[Ray_Harwood]

Thanks for the clarification, @blitz.  The only real difference that makes is it opens up the possibility that you were using a Local Recording.  There are settings for that as well (on the Zoom app's Settings -> Recording tab).  But if you're concerned about good resolution and using the videos for post-editing, you should be relying on Cloud Recording.  I can go into the pros and cons a bit if you're interested.

[blitz]

HI Ray and thank you!

I can certainly look into Cloud Recording. 

What if the host has good internet speed, but sometime during the meeting, the other person has some not-so-good internet speed. Does that affect the resolution overall? O

Is the resolution solely based on the host settings?

[Ray_Harwood]

Good question – I don’t have a definitive answer, but I believe that the Zoom post-processing program looks through all of the collected video and audio and determines what the “best/largest resolution” was, then creates the output video file based on that, scaling or cropping everything that doesn’t match.  But when the target resolution isn’t in the recorded stream temporarily due to internet issues, it seems like it maintains the overall pixel size of the video and does some interpolation of the image, sometimes resulting in pixelation. 

Note that Internet congestion/throughput issues are twice as likely to affect Local Recordings – since a Cloud Recording is only subject to issues between the Zoom server and the source of the audio/video, whereas the Local Recording also has to deal with issues between the Zoom server and the device making the Local Recording.