Grainy looking photos

Uploading them via the SD card will have no effect on the resolution.
There is a difference between image grain and image pixelation.
If the resolution is too low for the size you are printing the image will pixelated, meaning that it will be made up of lots of little squares.
If the image is grainy it may be that you are shooting images in low light at a high ISO setting on the camera. Typically with the lower end Canon cameras anything above 800ISO will start to look grainy.

First go to the SETUP menu and make sure that the PLAYBACK VOLUME setting is set to a value greater than 0. Try increasing the shutter speed of any photos as CCD's will notoriously produce grainy images on slow shutter speeds. Grainy videos will indicate poor light, camera shake during filming or moving too quickly so the autofocus cannot function correctly, or using too low a resolution and will be especially noticeable at 640 x 480 when viewed on a large high resolution screen. If all the above make no difference then you may need to get the camera serviced.

Set up a cleaning session on the sensor frrom settings and see if that improves it

It appears that the solution is to wait a few days (5 in my case?), and then view the HD version.

It'd be great if YouTube would let you know that it may take a few days to make a better version available =)

This sounds like it might be a defective CCD imager. If so, Canon should fix this for you for free, including free shipping both ways. This is regardless of your camera's warranty status. Please check the following two links for more info:

http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/11/canon-digital-cameras-showing-black.html

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=PgComSmModDisplayAct&fcategoryid=225&modelid=13390&keycode=2112&id=29819

Applicable cameras include:
A40, A60, A70, A75, A80, A85, A95, A300, A310, S1 IS, S60, S200, S230, S330, S400, S410, S500, SD100, SD110, IXUS V2/300/400/430/500, IXY Digital 200a/300a/400/450/500

Regardless of the camera make/model... dark, grainy photos are usually a result of a lighting problem. Looking at the specs for your camera, the flash is only speced for 4m. If you are shooting near or above this you might have trouble. I ended up using an external flash that is triggered by sensing the cameras flash. Pretty inexpensive and pics ar 10x better. Try a local camera shop or B&H Photo (NYC) is where I got mine set up on line.

Hi,

This camera takes pictures with a Ppi of 72. That is why the pictures look huge on the screen. To get good quality prints you need to have at least 200 ppi, or even better, 300 ppi.

Or, the contrast of the pictures may be to low. I have an FZ7 too, and I always tweak the contrast and color saturation before outputting.
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1. images straight from the FZ7 are generally low in contrast.

2. Pictures that are low in contrast might not look too bad on screen, but when they are printed they will look slightly greyish.

3. Low ppi pictures look fuzzy in print.

Maybe you can post a sample original picture??

If you can adjust the ISO sensitivity to a lower number then the graininess will be reduced.

However, by reducing the ISO, you will need a slower shutter speed and a larger aperture. A tripod, table or other support may be necessary.

The "noise reduction" setting on the camera can also be adjusted a step up.

Taking pictures at full resolution and fine compression will also help.
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Overall, at least try lowering the ISO, and using the flash brighter.

You have your ISO setting far too high - set 100 or 200 and get a magic improvement immediately !