Ultimate Test: Pixel 8 Pro Video Boost & Night Sight Verdict

Welcome, everyone! This video is a follow-up to my 'First Look' and 'Get Boosted' series, diving deeper into the Pixel 8 Pro's Video Boost and Night Sight Video features. This time, I conducted more thorough tests, comparing the 4K video with Video Boost to regular 4K footage straight from the camera. We delve into stabilization, weighing the pros and cons of Video Boost. Is the Pixel 8 Pro's Video Boost worth it? Join me as we compare 4K video quality, assess stabilization, and discuss the feature's merits.
In the ultimate showdown, we compare Pixel 8 Pro's Night Sight Video to the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. Watch as we test stabilization and image quality in various lighting conditions. Witness how Night Sight squares up against the DJI Osmo Pocket 3's Low Light mode as well as D-Log M footage and cast your vote. Share your thoughts in the comments, and if interest sparks, I'll continue this series!
Affiliate Links:
Pixel 8 Pro: amzn.to/4agHfRq
DJI Osmo Pocket 3: amzn.to/47QKi11
DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Kid (recommended): amzn.to/4aaSGKf
00:00 - Intro
01:41 - Video Boost Tests
02:58 - Night Sight Tests

[@TravelingAhn]

Hey Tim, what a great and informative video for all of us regarding this! For a smartphone to be able to give us these kind of results is pretty impressive. I like how you incorporated giving us some of the pocket 3 comparisons as well. After the first comparison, I was going to comment how you should have used low light mode on the pocket 3, but thankfully you did for the rest of them. This was a really well produced video, well done!

[@timbrowntown]

Thank you so much Adam. It means a lot for you to say that. You know as well as I do how much time these things take and how long it takes to develop the skill, both filing and editing. I'm truly interested in seeing the pixel video boost night sight continue to improve as Google fine tunes the algorithms. And I truly enjoy being able to discuss this with like minded individuals such as yourself down in the comments. I would have liked to have had the foresight to have tested the DJI pocket 3 normal mode video in there as well. I've also never really filmed an entire KZbin video in 4k 60 so I'm thinking that comparison is coming soon as well. Might be short but I'm genuinely curious myself.

[@TravelingAhn]

@@timbrowntown That's the caveat to Pixel is that Google can improve with software! Yeah, it was tricky for me to put all 4 comparisons, at least on FCP. I had to do trick to make each video a "Compound" video so when I stacked them on top of each other in editing, the top one wouldn't affect the others ones. Maybe DaVinci has an easier method. But, yeah...I liked the talking head scenery. Did you use the Sony ZV-E10 on that?

[@timbrowntown]

@@TravelingAhn you don't have to make compound clips you just create different video tracks and stack them. The hard part of DaVinci and maybe I just haven't figured it out is getting the size of each video correct. They have coordinates so I can probably math it out, but there seems like there should be an easier tool to create some sort of collage without cropping each video and just resizing them. That talking head part was actually shot on the pixel 8 Pro straight out of camera. That's natural bokeh, no fake blur. I thought it looked fantastic to be shot on a cellphone.

[@TravelingAhn]

@@timbrowntown oh~~~ill look into the separate video tracks. I had the same issue with resizing too. Wow, that's crazy you used the pixel for the talking head!

[@piyush83dimri]

These videoboot are getting really interesting. I wish Google keeps improving the video quality and address the jitters both in normal and boosted mode.Last but not least needs 60fps too.

[@timbrowntown]

I agree 100% It is very likely that the feature continues to improve. Hopefully so and I can do more videos on the improvements!

[@Ogura_Tech]

Its incredible!!! Great job!!!

[@timbrowntown]

Thank you and thanks for watching!

[@vannymoreno9315]

Te tomaste tu tiempo amigo 😯 realmente valoro éso y te agradezco por traernos todo éste contenido tan valioso para nosotros 😃

[@timbrowntown]

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you find the content valuable.

[@vgls88]

Great review Tim, thank you. I keep coming for those video boost videos. Looking forward to how this feature will evolve. Subbed

[@timbrowntown]

Thank you for your support! More to come.

[@CaseyDarwin]

Thank you for explaining the flaw in the way most people are testing this. Been saying it since day 1.

[@timbrowntown]

Yes! On this topic I am realizing things during the edit, and also by listening to people commenting. One other thing I noticed with this one is that the boosted version is cropped more than the straight out of camera. I believe that what may be going on is that it turns off in camera digital stabilization and is using the gyro information to stabilize when it processes it on Google's servers.

[@CaseyDarwin]

@@timbrowntown That's definitely the case because I was testing it with video stabilization turned off on the first day in hopes that it would have less of a crop but still be stabilized. End result was what seemed to be about the same crop as you would normally have with video stabilization turned on.

[@timbrowntown]

@@CaseyDarwin that's interesting. Maybe one day they'll fully explain it and we won't have to reverse engineer all this stuff!

[@ssaini5028]

Video Boost is a game changer

[@wade_county]

Great comparison. Thanks for this. Just wish Google would give the video boost option to the regular Pixel 8 lol.

[@timbrowntown]

Thanks for watching! I think they eventually will release it to other Pixel phones. I think they usually do after a delay.

[@noisackda2564]

Nice tests Tim and nice clarification. What were you shooting the intro with? Looks clean!

[@timbrowntown]

Thanks Noi! That was actually the Pixel 8 Pro on all auto, no post processing. Even I was astounded. Bokeh was even on point. That was the first time I put it on a tripod. Pretty good, huh?

[@noisackda2564]

@@timbrowntown Insane! Looks better than most pocket 3 footage. Very clean and yes, very nice bokeh. I thought it was the ZV camera.

[@timbrowntown]

@noisackda2564 That's an idea for a follow up comparison video. Talking head shot comparison...The 24mm focal length equivalent of the Pixel 8 is perfect for talking head, though, and the background across the lake was about 500ft away so that helped. I can easily go back to that lake though and do some comparisons, but I'm not sure if I'll get lucky and there will be no one there.

[@alexgoriatchenkov]

Noe even familiar with Pixel 8 Pro video boost...interesting test Tim.

[@timbrowntown]

Thanks Al!

[@denisdenis9959]

Супер! Спасибо большое!!

[@timbrowntown]

You're welcome!

[@monkeyboy9896]

Good stuff ty ty 🎉. Hopefully they are taking these boost samples and improving the algorithms as we speak🎉 Ps. I've noticed a small glitch and wondering if you might be able to replicate it boost Videos are not able to be cleaned up with the magic audio eraser tool from my experience at least. ? ✌️🕺

[@timbrowntown]

Thanks. I'm testing now. I forgot to mention the editing issues. Man, I had to squeeze a lot into that video. It could have been twice as long. But I try to keep them under 10 minutes. 12 minutes max.

[@timbrowntown]

@monkeyboy9896 I don't seem to be able to edit a boosted video. I tried audio eraser and it's been spinning for about an hour at this point in a 15 second video. I will let you know if it ever finishes.

[@monkeyboy9896]

@@timbrowntown yeah that's exactly what happens to me. Hopefully they'll get word of this and get it fixed soon. 👍

[@timbrowntown]

@@monkeyboy9896 yeah it just kept spinning. I waited over an hour. I had to kill it. There's a way to submit a bug to them about it, but I found that posting on Reddit is also an easy way to make them aware or to see if anyone else is having the issue.

[@joelconolly5574]

I just hope they slap it into the hardware itself instead of needing to upload to Google Photos and processed there. Heck make it have both boosted and non-boosted or available too.

[@timbrowntown]

I doubt it goes on device before 2025 when Google starts using TSMC chips instead of Samsung. I believe it may be using gyro info for stabilization and if you've ever used a PC for post processing stabilization it requires a ton of processing.

[@joelconolly5574]

@@timbrowntown true. Unless they have their own custom chips, or use faster chipset slapping those functions in the Pixels is gonna be ways off still.

[@timbrowntown]

@@joelconolly5574 yes, even though the Pixel's tensor is a custom chip, using Samsung silicon wafers. I don't know the details, but Apple, Qualcom, Nvidia, and AMD all use TSMC wafers for their custom chips so it appears to be a factor in processing speed. I've also noticed that the faster the processor speed, the better the video stabilization and noise reduction seems to be, separate from the quality of the camera sensors. It all plays a role, but it seems like most obvious factor separating Pixel video quality from iPhone video quality is raw processor speed.