2.7k 60fps GoPro footage >> export at 4k looks terrible?

Hi,

My old GoPro would only record 1080P and I never noticed any issues with that.

I just got a new GoPro 9 and am recording at 2.7K/60fps. I edited some clips together in Resolve like normal, and then exported using the YouTube 4k render setting. Footage looks better on YouTube if you upload as 4K, even if the source footage is only 1080p.

Anyway, the exported 4k footage looks terrible. Quite pixelated, worse than 1080p. I haven't been able to figure out why. Even if I export using the YouTube 1080p render setting the quality is very bad - looks the same as the 4k export. Looking at the sky in the video there should be a smooth gradient change in color but instead it is extremely pixelated like low bit/color depth (See attachment).

I went into Project Settings and set Video Format = UHD 2160p 59.94 but that had no effect

Any thoughts on what's going on? It seems I need to change something to deal with this 2.7k/60fps footage properly...








Windows Explorer > Properties provides the following info (source is gopro footage, export is the exported 4k footage from Resolve)

Resolution
source: 2704x1520
export: 3840x2160

Data rate
source: 59951kbps
export: 27323kbps

total bitrate
source: 60140kbps
export: 27518kbps
Frame rate is 59.94 fps for both

It looks like choosing a custom profile (rather than youtube > 4k) results in the expected video quality...

Did you wait long enough for YT to get its act together and post the 4k video? They start off with the lowest resolution and work their way up. The 4k one can take quite a few hours to appear.

Did you wait long enough for YT to get its act together and post the 4k video? They start off with the lowest resolution and work their way up. The 4k one can take quite a few hours to appear.

I haven't even uploaded to YouTube yet. I'm just looking at the file exported from Resolve to my PC.

I only use GoPro cameras and work in a 1080p timeline
When exporting to YouTube for upscaling to 4K, I set my project setting for Image Scaling >> Output Scaling > Mismatched resolution files to 'Scale entire image to fit'

Then for the export > H.265, 50000Kb/s and the Resolution to 3840x2160 Ultra HD (you need to confirm this choice since the timeline is 1080p)

As has been said before, YouTube works it's way up the various resolutions before the final 4K becomes available. I posted one yesterday in this way. The 4K took half a day before it was ready.

You can check it out here -

- a mix of Pixel2XL photos, Hero7Black and Max footage

I only use GoPro cameras and work in a 1080p timeline
When exporting to YouTube for upscaling to 4K, I set my project setting for Image Scaling >> Output Scaling > Mismatched resolution files to 'Scale entire image to fit'

Then for the export > H.265, 50000Kb/s and the Resolution to 3840x2160 Ultra HD (you need to confirm this choice since the timeline is 1080p)

This is exactly the way you shouldn't do it, when the source footage exceeds HD, as it does for OP. The timeline, in that case, should never be a lower resolution than the source footage, if you're upressing when exporting. You're being warned on the Deliver page for a reason.

Since the OP's exports are the first issue of contention, export to an intermediate codec in Resolve and compress it in an application better suited to h.264/5 exports. There are free ones, like Handbrake and Shutter Encoder.