Air 2S 5.4K video playback problems

[Kilrah]

Yep, the GPU does the decoding job for you. Again AMD's behind, Nvidia could already decode 8Kx8K h.265 back in the 10xx series.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

Just FYI, I bought the GoPro 9 and it ONLY records in the new h265 codec and I could not play or edit anything.... I returned it for the GoPro 8 which has the option of the H264 codec - problems were solved.

I do not have an A2S.... is there an option to record with the h264 codec?

 

[Geekinions]

VLC won't play it on my machine either. Windows Media player ironically enough does.

 

[Kilrah]

I do not have an A2S.... is there an option to record with the h264 codec?

Yes but not in the most "advanced" modes AFAIK.

 

[Kilerpl]

I am betting on gpu as well however something to look at as well is SD card. I had issue like that when I used "regular" micro sd card to record 4k60fps on ma2. upgrading to better sd card fixed slideshow video. Apps like AirDATA will show sd card error if thats the case.
I will try my new air2 on the weekend so i can post results however my pc is gone and using mid specs laptop now so not sure if it can play that res

 

[FuzzyDice]

Hi all, I have a new Air 2S for about 3 weeks now and have not yet been able to playback 5.4K video on my PC. 4K is fine, pc is fine. I have 1 week left to return it to place of purchase. I take the SD chip out and copy to PC and won't play properly.

Anyone else having this problem? I hate to send it back but I feel there is a problem with it. would love to talk to another 2S owner.

Thanks for reading.
Ralph

Crazy question here, what speed is the SD Card? As somebody whose done high bitrate 4K with a mirrorless camera, I can tell you that matters and you might just be corrupting the file.

For the record, I use the white high endurance Sandisk cards and never have an issue.

 

[tribar]

In VLC mediaplayer Disable Harware-accelerated Decoding.
'Tools->Preferences' or Ctrl-P, then under 'Input/Codecs'.

 

[Roamer105]

Unless you have a display that has the resolution necessary to view 5.4K natively, don't bother using that mode. To make it viewable more generally it has to be downconverted to 4K. In my experience, the quality of the resulting 4K video is not at all better than direct 4K recording yet difficult to process.

A little bit of arithmetic may help demonstrating the reasons why:
The A2S records 4K (24fps) video at 105Mb/s. It records 5.4K (24fps) at 125Mb/s. This is an increase of recording bitrate of about 19% however the amount of data to record increases by over 100%. Consequently the degree of video compression increases by about factor 5. This means that most of the extra fine detail that should be available in 5.4K is compressed down/out.

 

[Kilrah]

Consequently the degree of video compression increases by about factor 5

How does about twice the amount of data into a bit higher bitrate increase compression by factor 5? 2 yes, not 5.

 

[Roamer105]

How does about twice the amount of data into a bit higher bitrate increase compression by factor 5? 2 yes, not 5.

OK, no problem. I was referring to percentages: Increase bitrate by just under 20% yet increase the number of bits to compress by over 100%. That is probably not the best way to talk about it. Sure, the actual number of pixels per frame are a little more than doubled. The question here is - is it worth recording at 5.4K?

One day, if I feel I have nothing else to do, I'll video a resolution chart under controlled conditions in both 5.4K and 4K both at 24fps. In addition, I will use Davinci Resolve Studio to up-convert the 4K to 5.4K and down-convert the 5.4K to 4K. Then compare both 4K variants and both 5.4K variants with pixel-peeping. Stay tuned.

 

[EpicEric]

Try latest version of VLC. If it doesn't work, try MPC-HC Mega version.

 

[Skipper1]

I hope it’s OK to post this here. I’ve been keeping up with this thread because I’m having the same problem, sort of.
I have a iPad Pro and have no problem playing 4K 60fps HLG H.265, however, I cannot play 5.4K MPEG-4 H.265 and can’t find any information on how to. I’ve been told to get VLC, OK, I have it but how do I get it to play 5.4K?

 

[Kilrah]

The question here is - is it worth recording at 5.4K?

If what you want is the ability to reframe, yes. That would be the main use for it.

 

[Kilerpl]

Crazy question here, what speed is the SD Card? As somebody whose done high bitrate 4K with a mirrorless camera, I can tell you that matters and you might just be corrupting the file.

For the record, I use the white high endurance Sandisk cards and never have an issue.

Currently I use Sandisk Extreme > not sure what speed it is but previously i used kingston class 10 micros sd and it did not work properly recording 4k60fps.
As promised I've tested air2s in 5k 30fps, 4k 60 fps in 265 codec and had no issues playing it on laptop that has i7 , 16 GB of RAM and basic Intel UHD video card
Played in win 10 Movie & TV player . 5.4k looked bad when trying to play in vlc but still was smooth .I think i downloaded .265 codec for it to work on windows player

 

[jonnmedds]

Hi, I had the same issue. It seems to be dependent upon the video player I use. When opening with VLC or 5KPlayer, its rubbish, loads of what looks like interference, and all the drone info is on the screen. But when I open with Lightroom or Windows Media player it's fine

 

[Roamer105]

OK, no problem. I was referring to percentages: Increase bitrate by just under 20% yet increase the number of bits to compress by over 100%. That is probably not the best way to talk about it. Sure, the actual number of pixels per frame are a little more than doubled. The question here is - is it worth recording at 5.4K?

One day, if I feel I have nothing else to do, I'll video a resolution chart under controlled conditions in both 5.4K and 4K both at 24fps. In addition, I will use Davinci Resolve Studio to up-convert the 4K to 5.4K and down-convert the 5.4K to 4K. Then compare both 4K variants and both 5.4K variants with pixel-peeping. Stay tuned.

Had a bit of spare time and shot some video of a 4K test chart including 2 pixel black/white lines both horizontal and vertical. I shot this in both 5.4K (HLG) and 4K (HLG). I also shot the same with my M2P in 4K FOV (HLG).
After that, I converted the 4K to 5.4 and the 5.4 to 4K. Comparing both at equal footing. Of course that is really easy in 4K not so much in 5.4 because I don't have such a display. However I can zoom in with the viewer to 200% while in 5.4K and then compare clarity and detail.
Observations:
1) with the timeline set to 5.4K (custom setting) and the viewer set to 200% I compared the 5.4 and the 4K (at 5.4K) and found that the detail is pretty much identical and the up-converted 4K has slightly better clarity/sharpness in those details.
2) with the timeline set to 4K (UHD) and the viewer also set to 200% albeit the viewer image is smaller due to change in resolution, the results are identical to the former observation.
3) I also compared the M2P FOV shot of the same test image and same conditions in both modes described above. I made sure the M2P style settings are 0-0-0 (default) since the A2S does not have such settings. The M2P had a difficult time delivering the 1-on-1-off pattern. It was recognizable but quite fuzzy. Clearly the A2S 4K image compared to the M2P shows clean details and much better clarity when compared to the M2P.
4) While shooting resolution limit details one will end up seeing some moire patterns. The cleanest (least "noisy") playback was from the A2S 4K (UHD) video. It was definitely better than the 5.4K shot. Now that is likely due to the inability to view it properly in 5.4K as I did not expect any difference there. The M2P did not fare as well. Pretty noisy details.
5) Colors. Either resolution shots of the A2S show accurate, very clean colors with good intensity. Interestingly, the M2P colors were not quite as good especially the green is weaker (slight shifting towards yellow) and the other two colors a bit less intense.
6) Comparing the dynamic range (again video not still) I found the M2P just every so slightly better with little to write home about. Moreover, the M2P produces a bit more noise as well.

Bottom line for me:
I will not shoot 5.4K. There is absolutely no value/gain when producing a final in 4K/UHD format. There are no 5.4K displays so that in essence settles it. Even for re-framing, given that it is the same field of view, there is no advantage since the resulting details are more or less the same in both shooting resolution modes..

From what I can see here, the built-in video processing (down-conversion from 5.4K to 4K/UHD) is doing a marvelous job. That is where the newer image processor (as compared to the M2P) really shines.

 

[ninja_geezer]

VLC is absolute garbage. If a file does not play in VLC that means the file has excellent bitrate and video quality

VLC is one of the best if not the best out there and has been for years !!! plays my 5.4k and anything it chuck at it and on my i7 2nd gen cpu. with 16gb ram and a 1050i card.

 

[test2000Anafi]

I believe all VLC are garbage because they cannot use GPU decoding. So it is as if there is no GPU in the system not even the integrated one

 

[SkyeHigh]

I believe all VLC are garbage because they cannot use GPU decoding. So it is as if there is no GPU in the system not even the integrated one

That is completely untrue. VLC has supported hardware-based decoding for years.

 

[test2000Anafi]

That is completely untrue. VLC has supported hardware-based decoding for years.

Not on professional operating systems