I have 3 flights in front of my house on the MP, and just getting familiar with it has been fun  My first attemped at editing the video was not so fun, I have Windows 10 PC that has i7 from 6 years ago with 24gb of ram, SSD drice as main C drive and i just upgraded my video card to a Geforce GTX 6GT.  I thought upgrading the video card would be enough for the 4k edits but it is not. My pc really stall and stutters on the images. My question is what are the bare miniumun recommended to edit these big 4k files and what are you useing to edit your images ? Also I live 1 miles away from March ARB just east and behind the tower, I call them before each flight and they have been very polite and helpful.

I've found after much frustration that it really depends on what video editing package you use.  Some are coded to mainly rely on the main system memory and some are coded to make better use of video cards, so the experience differs wildly.
I have a new gaming laptop that I bought specifically for video editing and it still ran like a dogs it's 4K, even with proxies... And that's another point...

Some packages allow you to use a 4K file but edit lime you're editing a 1080 file, and you can still switch back and forth in terms of the resolution (e.g. On pause) for color grading.  I found that this feature was extremely effective on Adobe Premiere Pro.  It ran smooth as butter for me.  The many and various proxy settings on Resolve did nothing for me but waste my time, while others with more powerful setups appear to have had some success with that.  Others with more experience may be able to suggest other options.

I have fought this very thing over the years on different projects with different files.  I recall fighting 1080 footage not too long ago and it always felt like a hardware play.  I would get the biggest machine my meager pocketbook could swing and go for it.  All that being said what I have come to now "believe" is like BuzzCut alluded to the software is huge and the way it is optimized is even bigger.  One thing I would do in your case is ensure that your software is using the resources you have in your machine, occasionally the software will be limited by default to only use a small amount of the power you have at hand.    I current am using a 2015 MBP, and iMovie, and FCP work flawlessly for 4k footage,  and oh by the way my MBP does not have a dedicated graphics card.  That again strengthens my argument that the software can make a huge difference in the way it utilizes the hardware at hand.  Frankly it is all a bunch of crap that sells us more hardware/software looking for the golden goose, but I digress.   

When I was using PCs for video I enjoyed using Vegas, it seemed to handle resources better for me at least.  (not a recommendation by any stretch)
My current machinne
        

The MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.2 15-Inch (Integrated Graphics/Iris Only/Force Touch - Mid-2015 Retina Display) features a 22 nm "Haswell/Crystalwell" 2.2 GHz Intel "Core i7" processor (4770HQ), with four independent processor "cores" on a single silicon chip, a 6 MB shared level 3 cache, 16 GB of onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM (which cannot be upgraded later), 256 GB of PCIe-based flash storage, and an integrated Intel Iris 5200 Pro graphics processor with 128 MB of "Crystalwell" embedded DRAM (and shared system memory).

I don't have much experience with 4K video processing, but in a former life I did a lot of computer simulation and image processing.  What I can offer from the mile-high view is this:

Rendering 4k is a graphic card function.  Just make sure it has the memory on board to do it properly ... and at the desired frame rate.  High-end graphic cards for gaming have a ton of GPU processing available for functions like shading and rotation, but offers little help to the image process we're talking about (although some can do simple filtering and color correction - but that's at the rendering level and will not be saved).

Most of the processing is going to be CPU  intensive. While the quad-core i7 is the default norm for general computing, it's not the fastest nor the most adapt for parallel processing. Better solutions are available but are far more costly than you're probably interested in.

4K is 4 x the pixel density of 1080, so it requires 4 x processing power.

That leaves the software as you best chance for success - and I'm not up on all the current offerings.  I agree with many of the above posts, that your best option is software that allows you to edit 4K with 1080 proxy. Once your process steps are complete, the final image processing of the 4K version can take place at non-realtime pace and produce good final results.

Just my 2 cents from an available-technology perspective.

@fans - what is your editing platform and how serious are you about two new potential hobbies?

a capable 4k editing system is going to run you IMHO around 1400+ USD  if you work to find online deals.  I have a 4k gaming rig, that i don't edit on today.  I built this a few months ago, and it cost me around 1600 USD - these prices would include any costs for the actual video editing platform, speakers, 4K/UHD display etc you would also need to properly edit at greater than HD resolutions.  I will actually be loading up premiere pro cc on this today for a 4K/UHD project on which i am currently working.

i work in video production for a living and currently am using a mid 2014 mbpro decked out as much as you can from apple (top end proc, max RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD), my NLE is adobe premiere pro CC (will certainly take advantage of GPU with it's mercury engine) and editing is mostly smooth at 4K/UHD with mavic and P4Pro footage (much less so with the higher data rate/fps files out of the p4pro) - not buttery, but not scream at your machine while you wait for the playhead to catch up either.  New, this was a 3300 machine - it's also my workhorse, daily driver work machine.

Also, editing UHD/4k material is only one part of the workflow...rendering/transcoding - even when editing 4K/UHD on an HD timeline is significantly longer than real time.

A simple and non-pointed question: For what reason do you want to output UHD/4k imagery today?

Can you edit in HD, keep the higher resolution master files and then export your timeline to 4K/UHD once the uptick in 4K/UHD playback devices sees more adoption?

happy to discuss in more detail, let me know if you have any questions.

thanks.

dave

You can edit 4K on a cheaper system IMO - at least with Adobe Premiere Pro on its well-developed proxy mode.  It's all about the software and the settings.

It's fee to trial, so you can always check without committing.  I like the user interface no more and no less than anything else I've tried.

My specs: MSI - 15.6" Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (3GB onboard) - 1TB Hard Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive (OS, Adobe, and live video files all on the solid state drive).  Smooth as butter.

Resolve is useless with the same specs, and it doesn't seem to adequately utilize the resources of the graphics card, or just has very poor proxy coding IMO.  As I understand it 4GB on the GPU is the absolute minimum to edit 4K comfortably with Resolve.  Since other programs exist that give a better experience I'm not even going to enter the graphics card arms race.  It's the thing that always annoyed my about PCs.

The color grading flexibility of Resolve is completely overhyped for a newbie like me... I can't  get colors to 'jump out' of the image that can't be pulled out with anything else I've tried.  Maybe I'll grow in my editing capabilities to where I see and appreciate a difference, but that may be in the next century  

What You need for 4K editing without getting nuts watching the snail of the prerender and render-process:

preferably a 6-core i7 Skylake, better 8-core i7 Skylake at 3 GHz (rendering in most editing softwares needs CPU-power)32 GB RAM
a SSD
a Nvidia 1070 or 1080

I'm no professional but record all my videos (not just Mavic) in 4K. I have no problem editing the footage however I find when processing the video into the final file I can't really use the computer for much else as CPU is up around 100% and everything becomes stuttery (playing the video afterwards is obviously fine). I use PowerDirector/ColorDirector. Not too expensive and basic enough for somebody like me to use!

My specs are....
i7-6700k 4.0GHz
16GB RAM
C Drive: SSD
12GB GTX Titan

I'm getting to the point where sometimes if I have anything else open as well as the video editing software, my RAM use is almost topping out so may upgrade this soon.

You should use destop to edit 4k video. Mine computer is i7 and two GTX1080, the RAM is 64 GB

Thanks for the all the info. I installed a trial version of Premiere and i am playing with the settings and getting better results. Premiere is actually usable, it renders fast enough but the video scrubbing and playback still have stuttering issues.  I also have tried a couple other free editing software and they are not working for me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Thanks for the all the info. I installed a trial version of Premiere and i am playing with the settings and getting better results. Premiere is actually usable, it renders fast enough but the video scrubbing and playback still have stuttering issues.  I also have tried a couple other free editing software and they are not working for me.

dnorm Posted at 2017-2-8 09:05
@fans - what is your editing platform and how serious are you about two new potential hobbies?

a capable 4k editing system is going to run you IMHO around 1400+ USD  if you work to find online deals.  I have a 4k gaming rig, that i don't edit on today.  I built this a few months ago, and it cost me around 1600 USD - these prices would include any costs for the actual video editing platform, speakers, 4K/UHD display etc you would also need to properly edit at greater than HD resolutions.  I will actually be loading up premiere pro cc on this today for a 4K/UHD project on which i am currently working.

Thanks for the all the info. I installed a trial version of Premiere and i am playing with the settings and getting better results. Premiere is actually usable, it renders fast enough but the video scrubbing and playback still have stuttering issues.  I also have tried a couple other free editing software and they are not working for me.

dnorm Posted at 2017-2-8 09:05
@fans - what is your editing platform and how serious are you about two new potential hobbies?

a capable 4k editing system is going to run you IMHO around 1400+ USD  if you work to find online deals.  I have a 4k gaming rig, that i don't edit on today.  I built this a few months ago, and it cost me around 1600 USD - these prices would include any costs for the actual video editing platform, speakers, 4K/UHD display etc you would also need to properly edit at greater than HD resolutions.  I will actually be loading up premiere pro cc on this today for a 4K/UHD project on which i am currently working.

Thanks for the all the info. I installed a trial version of Premiere and i am playing with the settings and getting better results. Premiere is actually usable, it renders fast enough but the video scrubbing and playback still have stuttering issues.  I also have tried a couple other free editing software and they are not working for me.

dnorm Posted at 2017-2-8 09:05
@fans - what is your editing platform and how serious are you about two new potential hobbies?

a capable 4k editing system is going to run you IMHO around 1400+ USD  if you work to find online deals.  I have a 4k gaming rig, that i don't edit on today.  I built this a few months ago, and it cost me around 1600 USD - these prices would include any costs for the actual video editing platform, speakers, 4K/UHD display etc you would also need to properly edit at greater than HD resolutions.  I will actually be loading up premiere pro cc on this today for a 4K/UHD project on which i am currently working.

Thanks for the all the info. I installed a trial version of Premiere and i am playing with the settings and getting better results. Premiere is actually usable, it renders fast enough but the video scrubbing and playback still have stuttering issues.  I also have tried a couple other free editing software and they are not working for me.

fansfbd82212 Posted at 2017-2-9 00:18
For those who are running on an old PC, you'd better downscle 4K to 1080p for easier playback and editing.

Thanks for the tip, will try it and see how i like it. Just wondering if i will really notice the difference, all my monitors are 4k along with my still camera and the Mavic. So going back to 1080p does not make since to me.  guess i will have to upgrade my PC if there is no software solution for my 6 year old system.

i wish i read this thread before i ran out to get a gaming laptop thinking it was powerful enough to edit 4k since my 10 year old computer couldnt even play the file. i got an msi ge62vr apache pro. i use cyberlink powerdirector 15 as it was the least confusing to use for editing since i was coming from editing on windows movie maker. i mean it handles it for the most part but had i read this thread before i prob could of got something else. this only has intel 6th gen core i7 6700hq geforce gtx1060 3gb and 16gb ddr4 2133 but i was told it could handle 4k editing so i got it. i should of opt for the more expensive msi with the 1080gtx card oh well it hasnt been a problem so far but i have only edited gopro 4k footage as of now since i dont really fly much in winter

boostedford Posted at 2017-2-11 09:40
i wish i read this thread before i ran out to get a gaming laptop thinking it was powerful enough to edit 4k since my 10 year old computer couldnt even play the file. i got an msi ge62vr apache pro. i use cyberlink powerdirector 15 as it was the least confusing to use for editing since i was coming from editing on windows movie maker. i mean it handles it for the most part but had i read this thread before i prob could of got something else. this only has intel 6th gen core i7 6700hq geforce gtx1060 3gb and 16gb ddr4 2133 but i was told it could handle 4k editing so i got it. i should of opt for the more expensive msi with the 1080gtx card oh well it hasnt been a problem so far but i have only edited gopro 4k footage as of now since i dont really fly much in winter

I have been using  Adobe Premiere Pro and the playback is not smooth on my old PC but it renders fast enough i think. Still playing with the settings.How do i change my avatar ?

fans424d58e5 Posted at 2017-2-15 10:28
I have been using  Adobe Premiere Pro and the playback is not smooth on my old PC but it renders fast enough i think. Still playing with the settings.How do i change my avatar ?

you need a certain amount of posts before you can change it in settings in the top right corner of the page

boostedford Posted at 2017-2-15 18:33
you need a certain amount of posts before you can change it in settings in the top right corner of the page

I thought avatars were DNA-encoded to your specific body...  I mean, I watched the movie twice & they were pretty clear about that.

boostedford Posted at 2017-2-15 18:33
you need a certain amount of posts before you can change it in settings in the top right corner of the page

thanks. Thats one..

dnorm Posted at 2017-2-8 09:05
@fans - what is your editing platform and how serious are you about two new potential hobbies?

a capable 4k editing system is going to run you IMHO around 1400+ USD  if you work to find online deals.  I have a 4k gaming rig, that i don't edit on today.  I built this a few months ago, and it cost me around 1600 USD - these prices would include any costs for the actual video editing platform, speakers, 4K/UHD display etc you would also need to properly edit at greater than HD resolutions.  I will actually be loading up premiere pro cc on this today for a 4K/UHD project on which i am currently working.

Dave , i have the insta360 one x camara. im looking to.buy a computer to edit and render my videos. Im not looking for a top.notch computer just something to run the insta360 studio. My videos DONT need to be in 4k. Seeing that the Camara records up to 5.7k what are the minimum specs i need to edit and render these? Im not to computer savvy so i NEED help. Because the videos taken are 4-5.7k do i need something to edit in 4k or can i go with something for 1080? Again if you could lead me into the correct direction with specs needed.THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Where do I post a question along this same 4K thread?

I did a Google search for "bare minimum for 4K" and this thread popped up so here I am.  I am an artist (painter, photography, experimental including various video projects, etc.)  Video has been an important part of creating art but I will not go into details on how I create my art.  Let us say that I may have ideas that are 15+ years old but have to wait until technology allows me to bring those ideas to fruition.  I know that I can use any decent Windows XP or 7 pc to edit my photographs or create other digital art, but some file sizes are very large (32GB or greater) and so I have pushed my equipment to their limits.  I had been using a general pc with an AMD FX9350 Black before catastrophe forced me into this upgrade.  Though it worked flawlessly, I was not able to do any serious video rendering and it  has taken me a year and half to purchase parts.   I mainly have my questions that relate to this particular thread (4K editing and rendering.  I have done VHS, Hi8, S-video, etc. video editing and have done editing and rendering w/ the prosumer level tech of the and I wish to explore do some art projects utilizing 4K (up to UHD) or 1080.  I still use old video technology as a beginning of a project.  I have been using some GoPro's including off-brands in 4K (60fps) or 1080 @ 120fps but no droning yet.  I love doing documentary (high res and sometimes cinematic work but I do not plan on doing much in the way of fancy effects or modeling, I just want something capable.
I would like thoughts or suggestions as it relates to editing software and the graphics card that I have yet to purchase.  I know there are rendering times, codecs and so forth but I would like a realitively easy software that is plenty capable and an equally capable GPU for $K.  I have to say that finding details on the software's use and dependence upon the GPU though I know the CPU and amount of RAM are just as important.  I have considered DaVinci Resolve, Filmora, even Corel Video Studio 2020Vegas, Premiere, etc.
So here are my tech specs:  I have a Asrock X470 Taichi Ultimate w/ AMD Ryzen 7 2700X and a X470 Prime Pro w/ Ryzen 5 3400G with 2x512GB SSDs, several 2TB HDDs, 32GB RAM in each.  I plan on using Win7 on one, so I would not necessarily need an expensive graphics card for that.  The other will run Win10 but I have not purchased GPU's for either.  I have been looking at the RX580 or a 1050Ti for the lesser set-up (Win7) and I have been considering a Nvidia GTX 1650/60/70 for the main beast.  I cannot afford the new sparklies and so my budget is no more than $350 w/ $250 more ideal for me but I have read that GTX1650 or 1660 are great for gaming at native higher resolutions, nothing about video editing, but I wonder if it is for higher res monitors.  I do not want to cheat myself with a less capable GPU, but as optimal as I possibly can get away with so any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated (GPU and software.)

Guys, what are you talking about here???
My editing computer is I7 6th gen with 32 Gb ram, GTX 1060 6 Gb and 2 x SSD (use always 1 SSD for buffer, one SSD for final work, is a lot faster).

In Premiere Pro I edit all 4K footage, just use Full HD for PREVIEW...The computer is working very good, all previews are working at 1/4 Preview good (around 14-20 fps)...
In DaVinci is working even faster, as Davinci has a very good support for NVIDIA...

Pay attention at NVIDIA drivers ! If are not the proper ones, Premiere will render only in CPU Software mode, that is a crap...I use last version of NVidia Gaming drivers, I found out that Studio drivers are not 100% compatible with Premiere Pro and Media Encoder.

So stop throwing money on useless hardware...you just need to optimize the one you have...
Also you can use PROXY editing in Premiere...in this way you will definitely have a very good speed at previews.

WARNING: The rendering time depends on what effects you use...for example, 5 minutes of rendering on my computer with Mocha AE effects, RED colorize for colors and Video transitions will take about 10-20 minutes rendering at 4K. BUT....if I put also a Noise reduction from RED, at only 20% denoise, the rendering time will be around 14 hours !!!...
So...it is up to you how to use and the speed of rendering.

If you want a very fast rendering and also very fast preview, you need a server with 2 x CPU Xeon Quad Core or 12 Core, with 64 Gb RAM and Nvidia Quattro...the price is around 1600-2000 USD for a second hand (with 3 years warranty)...but i work in Commercials with Sony Alpha III and MA 2 and i can tell you that is not needed, as long as you know what are you doing.

         That is my last work...Was used also a lot of effects, 3D rendering, RED denoiser...I have generated the final video without noise control in 15 minutes, and for the published video I made a denoise in 1 night for all video (around 11 hours), as the denoiser is a time consumer (not hardware consumer, as the CPU stays at 50%) because it takes each frame and denoise it...
         So before throwing money on hardware, start learning (learning for real, not just watch 3 videos on Youtube and you are expert) the program that you will use...I work with Premiere Pro, After Effects and Adobe Media as I have this licenses for editing effects (a lot easy than DaVinci), and for colorization I use RED Colorista for Adobe, or if you want free the Davinci Studio is way better for colors than Premiere.