So I recorded some 4K footage on the Phantom today and decided to see how it looks. I imported it into Final Cut Pro X and everything looks AMAZING, when paused, but when the footage is playing it looks like the first image, when paused it looks like the second image. Everything is rendered inside FCP no orange line across the top or anything.

Any suggestions on why it looks like that while the footage is playing?

Thanks DJI guys

This is what it looks like as im playing the video in full screen as well as while im out on the timeline:


And this is what it looks like when I pause the footage, nice and crisp and clear:

Not as familiar with the latest FCP X but usually there is a playback quality setting.  In Adobe Premiere, the playback is usually set to 1/4 the actual resolution, but you can change it to be higher or lower as you please.  I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you are wanting to see the full resolution as you edit.  Once you export it out, it will be full resolution as you are showing in the bottom image.

Just a warning, you are not allowed, under the forum rules, to use the DJI logo in your avatar. Please change it.

To test out the issue, try just playing the footage outside of PCP to see if the effect is the same.

Geebax Posted at 2016-12-15 08:05
Just a warning, you are not allowed, under the forum rules, to use the DJI logo in your avatar. Please change it.

To test out the issue, try just playing the footage outside of PCP to see if the effect is the same.

Sorry, I changed it. I'm new here.
So I just checked the footage out in quicktime and it runs smoothly and looks crisp. It has to be something inside of FCP X

Edit: I got it, I changed the playback quality in the view menu

Justin2310 Posted at 2016-12-15 12:56
Sorry, I changed it. I'm new here.
So I just checked the footage out in quicktime and it runs smoothly and looks crisp. It has to be something inside of FCP X

Good move changing your avatar. Yeah, unfortunately not all edit programs handle the DJI 4K well.

For DJI Phantom 4K videos in FCP issues, you may refer to 4K to Final Cut Pro workflow.

What Media Device are you playing it on? The device must be capable of processing 4K data, most of your new smart phone have no problem playing 4K, but many computers have a hard time with it. Unless you have a 4K TV or a MAC Book Pro, 4K video devices are relatively new, soon most laptops & PC will be 4K capable.

I edit DJI P4 in FCPX daily, and am an FCPX trainer.
FCPX will play back the DJI clips natively, no need to transcode.  
If your hardware won't play it back smoothly enough in full quality, FCPX will degrade the image quality dynamically during playback to give smooth playback.
If it looks fine playing it in QuickTime Player, then don't worry about it, it'll be fine.  Edit, export, you'll have good quality video.

Does your Mac meet the mini requirements to edit 4K video, if not, it would be much ideal for you to create a proxy file format with smaller file resolution for editing with Final Cut Pro X.

I have met the same problem, then i searched online to find the answer and find that DJI 4K video resolution can up to 4096*2160, the video format is MPEG-4 AVC/  H.264 .  Final Cut Pro X can support for 4K video, H.264 is not the perfect video editing codec, so i convert 4k video to MOV, this is the best format for editing in FCP. Then i can edit 4K video in FCP smoothly. I refer to this link article.

wshmb Posted at 2017-4-27 17:05
I have met the same problem, then i searched online to find the answer and find that DJI 4K video resolution can up to 4096*2160, the video format is MPEG-4 AVC/  H.264 .  Final Cut Pro X can support for 4K video, H.264 is not the perfect video editing codec, so i convert 4k video to MOV, this is the best format for editing in FCP. Then i can edit 4K video in FCP smoothly. I refer to this link article.

Should not make any difference, MOV is simply the container for the file, it is still encoded in h.264

may be the video was processing in the background (render after the video imported into fncx) and op was playing the video in fncx, it has happened to me once.
you should wait until the fncx finished the background render.

Geebax Posted at 2017-4-27 17:10
Should not make any difference, MOV is simply the container for the file, it is still encoded in h.264

Oh, i get, thanks for your kind remind.

fansfbd82212 Posted at 2017-6-15 23:31
Based on our testing, the issue is probably caused by the H.264 codec. It is an outstanding distribution format, but it is not a good editing format. If you try to edit H.264 in FCP X natively, you will start to lose image quality as you do color correction or composite gradients to create greenscreen keys. There just isn’t a lot of room to work. To import and edit DJI Phantom 4 4K in Final Cut Pro X flawlessly, a good suggestion is to transcode DJI Phantom 4 4K H.264 to Prores for FCP X.

Much helpful

I use iDealshare VideoGo to convert 4K, MTS, AVCHD, AVI, MPG, MP4 to Final Cut Pro supported Apple ProRes .

You got the right answers.  I am a full-time FCPX editor.  I see the same thing, looks a bit choppy during playback, looks incredible when freezing playback.  I also agree that there should be no difference between mp4 and mov.  What COULD be making that difference was when the conversion to MOV happened, you changed the underlying codec.  (to a version of pro-res?).

To edit 4k footage in FCP X, it is better to use Avdshare Video Converter to convert various video files to FCP more supported Apple ProRes to successfully import any video to FCP