Can you edit 4K@30fps smoothly?

[Red_Raven]

Remember too if you're using Premiere Pro you can select the playback resolution in the Program Monitor such as full, 1/2, 1/4 etc. That way you can still work with native files but with smooth playback.

I also use this.
In pair with the proxies, I love working on premiere. I actually hated it from the bottom of my heart before. I'm not the most patient person... Some might say I even were the least patient person. I got this Adhd mind and nerves, that demands quick reactions to my clicks. [emoji3] my wife have even calledmy disorder AD(full)HD

 

[Lapeer20m]

I use free GoPro studio for editing mavic 4K videos.

It's just fancy enough for me. I ended up purchasing a new laptop with an i7 processor. 4K was impossible to process on my other relatively modern computers with much less powerful processors.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

200GB, that seems like your trading one problem for another!
I have a 1TB SSD for my main drive, it has about 600GB free for using as a scratch pad area for my open projects. It could run down pretty fast using that method. Even with an SSD I still think 40GB which would be an average flights worth of uncompressed video is going to really chug along slowly. I will take your word that Drive speed will trump GPU speed but it seems like a trade off.

Also for those not using SSD for a work area it seems like a non starter.

The second issue is throwing away the files. I gather your keeping the originals in compressed format, but don't you run into issues if you want to re-edit the footage and need to reconvert them? I got a feeling Adobe Premiere would kick out some kind of source error when I open the project if it happens that something is not exactly the same as the one I threw out.

Rob

Hi Robby,

Yeah the space requirements could be an issue for some, but a HDD is plenty fast enough, even a USB one would do - say we're working with cineform at about 10x the bitrate of mavic native files that's about 60MB/sec - well within the performance of a USB 3 drive, but older USB 2 might be too slow (possibly even that would be OK at 480 Mbps), anything connected via SATA will definitely be OK.

I actually use an eSATA HDD for this, so as not to fill my SSD with huge files unnecessarily.

In terms of keeping your original files, all you need to do is reconvert them again then open the project. In fact, if it was just a quick new edit you could accept the performance penalty and reopen it with the cineform files missing then do "locate media" and select the original mavic mp4 files as the targets - everything would then work just fine without having to even transcode again, albeit slower.

For me, I actually discard my original files - all the good clips end up in the final edit, so I export two final files - one h264 or h265 for watching/sharing, and one cineform with no colour grading, so if I want to reuse the clips in a later edit I can use that second file and re-grade them to match the new project, but I don't have to keep parts of the original source files that I decided not to use at all.

 

[CashCache]

I just tried the Proxy options and it really made no difference in my case. I'll stick with the resolution playback setting since this seems to work well.

 

[Red_Raven]

I just tried the Proxy options and it really made no difference in my case. I'll stick with the resolution playback setting since this seems to work well.

If it didn't work for you, you're doing it wrong. This does a major difference both in theory and practise!

 

[CashCache]

If it didn't work for you, you're doing it wrong. This does a major difference both in theory and practise!

That's very possible. To be clear, my system plays back 4k just fine, but as soon as I make any edits (basic coloring), the playback becomes very choppy. I used a 30 second 4k clip to test with. You can see the results of the four tests below:

• Added to project with no Proxy settings. Dragged to timeline - Playback with no edits - works perfectly, no lag or choppiness with resolution set at 1/2.
• Added to project with no Proxy settings. Dragged to timeline - Playback after a few color edits made - Very choppy playback at 1/2 resolution.
• Added to project with Proxy settings (copy and proxy 1024x540) - Playback with no edits - works perfectly, no lag or choppiness with resolution set at 1/2 - I also confirmed the Proxy file was created in my project and the "Toggle Proxies" button was selected.
• Added to project with Proxy settings (copy and proxy 1024x540) - Playback after a few color edits made - Very choppy playback at 1/2 resolution. I also confirmed the Proxy file was created in my project and the "Toggle Proxies" button was selected.

I could still be doing something wrong, so if I'm missing something, please let me know. The only setting that really seems to help me on this machine is the Resolution setting. Keep in mind, this is not the machine that should be used for editing and the Proxy setting may fully help someone out with a decent graphics card.

 

[Robbyg]

If it didn't work for you, you're doing it wrong. This does a major difference both in theory and practise!

Svavar any info on my Post #20 ?
I was going to try this out but I do not want to wreck my current projects.

Rob

 

[Robbyg]

Hi Robby,

Yeah the space requirements could be an issue for some, but a HDD is plenty fast enough, even a USB one would do - say we're working with cineform at about 10x the bitrate of mavic native files that's about 60MB/sec - well within the performance of a USB 3 drive, but older USB 2 might be too slow (possibly even that would be OK at 480 Mbps), anything connected via SATA will definitely be OK.

I actually use an eSATA HDD for this, so as not to fill my SSD with huge files unnecessarily.

In terms of keeping your original files, all you need to do is reconvert them again then open the project. In fact, if it was just a quick new edit you could accept the performance penalty and reopen it with the cineform files missing then do "locate media" and select the original mavic mp4 files as the targets - everything would then work just fine without having to even transcode again, albeit slower.

For me, I actually discard my original files - all the good clips end up in the final edit, so I export two final files - one h264 or h265 for watching/sharing, and one cineform with no colour grading, so if I want to reuse the clips in a later edit I can use that second file and re-grade them to match the new project, but I don't have to keep parts of the original source files that I decided not to use at all.

Thanks for the info, I am now torn between which method to use. I suspect converting any existing project source files to cineform will completely wreck my uncompleted projects? So I would have to start from scratch right?

What are you using to decompress them to Cineform?

I am very familiar with Lightroom and know enough about Photoshop to get myself into trouble but working with video has never been a part of the hobby. In the past all I did was simple 1080P footage and edited the clips without even grading them. Since the Mavic I have been trying to get up to speed but Premiere has a lot of features and it's taking time.

Rob

 

[Red_Raven]

Svavar can I create Proxy files for an existing project or will that not work? If it wont this is only going to be good for me with new stuff. I already have three 4K projects in various stages of editing and I would hate to start over.

Rob

Sorry, I did not see this post earlier.

The answer to your question is yes, you can also use this on your previous projects.
You'll just right click on the files you have imported into your project (in the media browser / libary window.)
There you have "proxy " under there you have 3 options and one of them is "create proxies"
And it opens media encoder and starts working.

This blue button isn't there by default but it is absolutely crucial in my opinion to have it there. It's the toggle proxies button and it switches between original and the proxy files.

You'll have to add the button to the to the workspace.

 

[Red_Raven]

That's very possible. To be clear, my system plays back 4k just fine, but as soon as I make any edits (basic coloring), the playback becomes very choppy. I used a 30 second 4k clip to test with. You can see the results of the four tests below:

• Added to project with no Proxy settings. Dragged to timeline - Playback with no edits - works perfectly, no lag or choppiness with resolution set at 1/2.
• Added to project with no Proxy settings. Dragged to timeline - Playback after a few color edits made - Very choppy playback at 1/2 resolution.
• Added to project with Proxy settings (copy and proxy 1024x540) - Playback with no edits - works perfectly, no lag or choppiness with resolution set at 1/2 - I also confirmed the Proxy file was created in my project and the "Toggle Proxies" button was selected.
• Added to project with Proxy settings (copy and proxy 1024x540) - Playback after a few color edits made - Very choppy playback at 1/2 resolution. I also confirmed the Proxy file was created in my project and the "Toggle Proxies" button was selected.

I could still be doing something wrong, so if I'm missing something, please let me know. The only setting that really seems to help me on this machine is the Resolution setting. Keep in mind, this is not the machine that should be used for editing and the Proxy setting may fully help someone out with a decent graphics card.

I can't point put an error there. Everything seems to be done as much right as my knowledge goes.

I'm no expert, I'm simply a n00b with a long background in photography. But I'll share what I can, and what works for me, with the hope that it's useful to others.
The only thing I do different is I use the 720p option in ingest presets.

And I'm really not using a good computer. It serves me really fine tough. It's getting old.

-AMD A8-7600 random r7, 10 compute cores 4C+6G 3.10ghz

-16Gb ddr3 (recently upgraded from 8gb)

-GeFORCE GTX 960 4Gb GDDR5 Graphix


But as I stated before I also take advantage of the playback resolution downdcale in the premiere.
And I'm not saying I have a flawless playback no matter how much I throw onto that sequences. But I have good acceptable outcome trough the process. But in the final stages I, of course notice more lag than when im starting with fresh clips. But not in any way in such ammount that I'm not able to edit the footage easily.

That was impossible for me to do before being showed the proxy function.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Thanks for the info, I am now torn between which method to use. I suspect converting any existing project source files to cineform will completely wreck my uncompleted projects? So I would have to start from scratch right?

What are you using to decompress them to Cineform?

I am very familiar with Lightroom and know enough about Photoshop to get myself into trouble but working with video has never been a part of the hobby. In the past all I did was simple 1080P footage and edited the clips without even grading them. Since the Mavic I have been trying to get up to speed but Premiere has a lot of features and it's taking time.

Rob

I use adobe media encoder to transcode - you want to use the QuickTime (mov) container format, and select the YUV 10-bit cineform which is the smallest and more than enough for mavic source files.

You can change the files for an existing project - just transcode outputting the same file names but to another folder, then in the project panel in premiere offline all the original files, then do "locate" or whatever the option is called and select the new transcoded files to re-point to the cineform files.

 

[SteelFlyer]

Yeah I tried that but its like needing 4 horses to pull the cart and even at 1/8 setting I have the power of only two.

Rob

Sounds like you have the perfect excuse to buy a new computer

 

[CashCache]

The only thing I do different is I use the 720p option in ingest presets.

... and that seems to be the missing piece of the puzzle. I did not have this option in the ingestion presets, so I used the lowest one listed at 1024. However, I found a video on how to create your own preset using whatever resolution and trans-coding you want. Once I created this new preset, I was able to import my clips using my new custom 720 (25 fps) proxy preset, the performance jumped to something much more usable.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Red_Raven]

Sorry, I did not see this post earlier.

The answer to your question is yes, you can also use this on your previous projects.
You'll just right click on the files you have imported into your project (in the media browser / libary window.)
There you have "proxy " under there you have 3 options and one of them is "create proxies"
And it opens media encoder and starts working.

This blue button isn't there by default but it is absolutely crucial in my opinion to have it there. It's the toggle proxies button and it switches between original and the proxy files.

You'll have to add the button to the to the workspace.

Ok guys, last night my brain function might have been slightly off. at least this post suggest so. Why the **** did one take photos of his screen with a cellphone. There is available option to both screenshot and use snipping tool! #dumbass #blaimitonthewhiskey

 

[CashCache]

Drinking while computing? At least that's the excuse I use ;-)

 

[Robbyg]

Sorry, I did not see this post earlier.

The answer to your question is yes, you can also use this on your previous projects.
You'll just right click on the files you have imported into your project (in the media browser / libary window.)
There you have "proxy " under there you have 3 options and one of them is "create proxies"
And it opens media encoder and starts working.

This blue button isn't there by default but it is absolutely crucial in my opinion to have it there. It's the toggle proxies button and it switches between original and the proxy files.

You'll have to add the button to the to the workspace.

Thanks so much for the help, I am going to give this a try on the weekend.

Rob

 

[Robbyg]

I use adobe media encoder to transcode - you want to use the QuickTime (mov) container format, and select the YUV 10-bit cineform which is the smallest and more than enough for mavic source files.

You can change the files for an existing project - just transcode outputting the same file names but to another folder, then in the project panel in premiere offline all the original files, then do "locate" or whatever the option is called and select the new transcoded files to re-point to the cineform files.

I am going to try both methods on the weekend and see which one works better for me. Thanks for the info.

Rob

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Thanks Rob I'd like to know how you get on, I may try lower resolution proxies myself as well since it takes quite a while to transcode to 4k cineform and 1080 would be quite sufficient during editing so if the transcoding time is significantly lower I might start doing that myself.

 

[Robbyg]

Sounds like you have the perfect excuse to buy a new computer

LOL If one more more mavic related investment is made I have a feeling my wife is going to have me checked into an institution

Rob

 

[geigy]

Speaking of investment. Right now I'm loving on MS Movie Maker. I drag the Mavic native files onto the timeline (such as it is), snip and edit away, and render out to whatever format I want. No proxies, good performance during the edit.

I've used Premiere in the past, fairly extensively, so I would like to have features, BUT, I don't want to be on the hook for a monthly. If I thought Lightworks could edit Mavic mp4's natively, I would pony up the $159 in a heartbeat, but apparently it can't.