Hi everyone! I was just wondering if anyone could answer this question for me? I have a computer that I believe should more than be able to handle processing 4K video however I'm not sure if I need to have a 4K monitor to be able to see and edit the video? Any answers would be appreciated! Thanks!

I would think you could.  You just would not be able to view the end result.  I have not tried to edit my 4K video yet, but did  try and watch it and it was a no go.

Interesting. I'm just not sure whether I should film everything in 4K and then scale down to 1080p until 4k is more mainstream, that way when it is mainstream I won't be stuck with what will look like SD does now footage. I guess I'll just have to wait for my Inspire to show up and try.

nalhutta Posted at 2015-3-5 02:50
Interesting. I'm just not sure whether I should film everything in 4K and then scale down to 1080p u ...

I have seen my I1 4K footage and it really is stunning.  Love it.  Always shoot in the highest quality is what I have heard most on the forum..

Clem2099 Posted at 2015-3-5 02:54
I have seen my I1 4K footage and it really is stunning.  Love it.  Always shoot in the highest qua ...

Yeah, that is definitely what I would like to do but if I am unable to edit or view it then there is no point. Hopefully that is not the case though.

No problem for me.But editing goes very slowly,but this got more to do with my PC offcourse you don't see "4 k".

You can shoot and edit 4k footage without a dedicated 4K monitor, and Youtube now supports 4K upload/streaming. You won't see it in 4K, it will be maxed out to whatever your highest resolution output is.

The inspire 1 bitrate is advertised as being able to shoot at 60Mbps, however that is only true in 4K. If you shoot in 1080p you will be looking at more along the lines of 25-30Mbps. So shooting in 4k and down converting it to 1080p is better in the end as you will have more detail in your video than just shooting 1080p or less. 4K also althoughs you to reframe your shots in a 1080p timeline without degrading the picture.

Your performance of being able to actually view those 4K files and edit with them will be limited by your PC specs.

hope this helps.

mkell7 Posted at 2015-3-5 03:29
You can shoot and edit 4k footage without a dedicated 4K monitor, and Youtube now supports 4K upload ...

That's very helpful information! My computer specs are as follows. I believe I shouldn't have any issues.

OBO -Asus Crosshair V Formula Z Mother board

RAM -16 Gb Kingston 1600 KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G

HDD - 128Gb Adata SSD SX900 + Several TB Western Digital Drive 7200rpm

CPU - AMD FX 8350 4.0GHz

PSU - Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold Rated 1200W

GPUS - 2x MSI Gaming R9 280x Twin Frozr (3GB's each total of 6GB's)

Yea, shoot in the best quality you can. The bigger problem is exposure. I have 6 flights under my belt now and have tried the ISO on both manual and auto. Auto seems to get the best picture SOMETIMES... I have the 2 controller set up and haven't been able to get anyone to shoot for me yet (mostly because I have been having all the fun!!). Here is a quick vid of a city worker spreading fertilizer with a tractor. I was just out practicing flying and she started doing this and I couldn't resist getting some shots. At first I stayed back pretty far, but she was cool about it so I cam in a bit closer.

This was all shot 4k and edited in Permiere. I exported to 1080p.

One nice thing about 4k is if you edit in 1080, it allows you to adjust the frame in case you don't get exactly right when filming. I shot all of this line of sight as I don't have a sun shade yet and couldn't really see my monitor for framing. I was close on a couple shots but not right where I wanted the tractor, so in the edit, I just slide the image to where I wanted it with zero loss of resolution. Not something to completely rely on and get sloppy on framing, but it's nice to have a little flexibility.

Also, I saw on another thread that someone was talking about setting the sharpness to -1. I haven't found where that is in the app. If anyone knows how to access that adjustment, I would love to know.

Plain and simple-

1. Always shoot in the highest resolution possible (4K 24 or 30fps)

2. Learn how shutter speed and frame rate affect one another.

3. Auto settings produces not the most pleasant results - too saturated and too sharp. If you're just playing around disregard but if you're looking to get into footage that really stands out, you'll want to learn how to step out of auto camera settings and into the flattest profile possible (LOG, Custom Settings etc)

4. A 4K monitor is not needed to appreciate a film in 4K. A Film shot in 4K and downscaled to 1080 will ALWAYS look better than shot in 1080 viewed in 1080.

5. 4K is future proof, well sorta....6K is industry standard for a lot of productions and even indie films now. Youtube has a 4K (2160) streaming option, and Vimeo + & Pro accounts allow 4K footage uploads and downloads. When they upgrade to stream in 4K, all 4K video uploads will revert to 4K. --- Side comment --- (Videos just look better on vimeo don't they ;)

6. I don't own a 4K monitor but 4K looks pretty bitchin on my Retina Macbook Pro.

7. Working with 4K files CAN be processor heavy if you edit the native file. If you're using fcpx, learn how to work with proxies. They will dramatically speed up your workflow. Just be sure to switch back to native files before your render.

scooterlam Posted at 2015-3-5 14:34
Plain and simple-

1. Always shoot in the highest resolution possible (4K 24 or 30fps)

Awesome! Thanks for more helpful information!! Looking forward to trying it out!

scooterlam Posted at 2015-3-5 14:34
Plain and simple-

1. Always shoot in the highest resolution possible (4K 24 or 30fps)

Sound sound advice.  I'm on a 2013 Macbook Pro Retina and upgraded 2010 Mac Pro with ATI Radeon 9750 Sapphire Graphics card (Mac Version).  One additional suggestion I'd make is VLC seems much more adept at playback of 4K than does Quicktime.  Where you "may" get some "stutters" in viewing native 4K with QT, VLC seems much more forgiving, the 8 Cores in the Mac Pro help with rendering (as does more memory) as does working with USB 3 Super High Speed SSDs or SATA 3 connectivity for 6G connections to SSDs.

Aside from proxies, the most recent version of Compressor for OSX (again recommend) now has an export setting of 4K for Apple devices.  The compression is very minor but does make the files a bit easier for the system to play back or edit.  Using Proxies though is extremely useful in FCP X..  Mac Pro on El Captian, Macbook Pro on Mavericks getting ready to upgrade.

All very good advice above... one key element working  in 4K doesn't just need processor power. It needs really fast drives.

Try and use an external drive that's raided (ideally 4 drives, but 2 is okay) with thunderbolt for mac or USB 3 for pc and as Scooterlam mentioned work with proxies whenever you can for speed as they are only low res HD. It will also save wear and tear on your precious drive ;)