my Phantom 4 pro camera sucks  at anything higher than 1080p. I have tried every mode, with the fastest SD card I can buy, and all video above 1080p is jerky, drop outs, blurs. and is totally unusable for anything. All video looks GREAT on my iPhone 7, but it just won't cooperate on my iMac. Any solutions?

Try playing it on a computer that can handle 4K

To add to Labroides comment above, I'm guessing that the video you're playing back on your iPhone 7 is from the Editor in GO. If so, you should be aware that the live video there is captured in only 720p @ 30fps. So, yeah, the video would play back fine on the iPhone 7. On the other hand, the video on the SD card is captured in it's full glory.

So the playback issue is with your iMac - either an old model or the player app that you're using doesn't have up-to-date codec support.Perhaps there's another player app you could download and try - sorry, but I'm a Windows guy so can't help there...

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-3 16:24
Try playing it on a computer that can handle 4K

Ouch -- my iMac is a few years old -- any idea on how do I update the video codecs?!

never mind -- it is my iMac...sorry for the inconvenience

fans8d58e444 Posted at 2017-4-3 16:36
Ouch -- my iMac is a few years old -- any idea on how do I update the video codecs?!

Depends on the product and how codec support is implemented. Sorry, again, I don't 'know Mac'. I suggest googling to see if theres an update for the product you prefer to use.

But what I will say is that from my experience (in Windows), updating the codecs isn't always the solution - it's still likely to be the actual product or your PC's performance. For example, VLC for Windows (there's a Mac version too) still plays videos haphazardly on my Intel i7 PC whereas the standard Windows 10 Film player works really well.

To make sure:
Did you copy the footage to your Mac before viewing?
You are not playing the video straight from the SD Card?!

For sure the camera recording of your drone isn't the issue.  Codec updates won't help you.
If you want to handle 4k, h.265 codec etc. you need graphic memory.

I'm on Windows but experienced similar. My desktop computer is only 3/4 year old, latest stuff bla bla, powerful set up CPU/Memory.
Wasn't interested in graphic memory since I wasn't into gaming or video.
That changed when I got into drones/videos short while ago.  4K/h.265 couldn't be handled.
Investment of nearly $500 into a Nvidia graphic card solved it.

In general Macs are better in regards to graphic challenges.  
But still: Your machine is a few years old. Consider 2 years as Generation.
You probably need a new machine.

Eric13 Posted at 2017-4-3 17:47
To make sure:
Did you copy the footage to your Mac before viewing?
You are not playing the video straight from the SD Card?!

yup, my iMac is too old to handle the 4K stuff