Quick question- when rendering a video, is it worth rendering in HD? The cost seems so high compared to SD vids but i don't actually know what the respective quality is like. I find it hard to believe the HD version would look 5 times better but maybe someone who is more experienced could tell me otherwise.
I wouldn't bother, but that's just my personal opinion. The only reason you should render a video in HD is if you really want it to be viewed at 720p, and when you consider that people are probably only going to view your video once (unless it's really good), it doesn't seem to justify using five times the render minutes, does it? At the end of the day, I can only advise you, but it's up to your own preferences, really.
720p is much clearer and sharp compared to a SD video. If you ever put the videos on YouTube, or make a machinima, etc. You'd want this 720p. The 5x the credits thing isn't just for quality. It also costs for the processing power that a HD video takes to render.
This. BUT: If you ARE making a machinima, or you're thinking of uploading quite a few clips to youtube every now and then, or making a montage, then Bungie Pro isn't for you. Get yourself a capture card. They aren't too expensive, and they're a HELL of a lot cheaper than buying credits constantly.
If you're making machinima it's worth going HD (but a capture card is better than Bungie Pro for that). If you're just uploading previews of maps and such, SD is probably fine. I always do SD clips uploaded to YouTube and for my purposes I think it works great. The detail isn't magnificent but it gives a clear impression of the map and looks fine at the embedded size most people will see it at.
I used SD in the end but thanks anyway guys, I'm thinking I might just buy myself a capture card of some sort because the credits seem like a real rip-off especially for very short clips.