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DJI All-I video question.

akdrone

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Anyone had any experience with the new Mav 4 All-I video compression in any editor like FCP, Premiere, etc? It seems like a really stupid move on their part and i'm guessing they decided not to pay for a pro res license (does it even require that?). That's the only reason I can think of for not using ProRes. At least one report commented that it really was hard to use (not seamless and fast like ProRes) even with a powerful computer.
 
Billy gives his take on this topic in the first 5 minutes of his review video:

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I'd seen that and knew it was not inter-frame compression but with ProRes, all new Macs and I think some PC's deal with ProRes natively with very little overhead on the computer but I think All-I is not at all like that and may be a real problem. I'm looking for information on that issue. It's new enough that as far as I can tell there is nothing on the net so far with the exception of one video (can't find it) where the commentator complained his computer really bogged down with it.
 
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humorously I am "concerned" about this in spite of not even knowing if I'll ever get the darned drone in my hands.
 
I think that is, perhaps the bit rate? That has everything to do with file size and it's related to how hard the computer has to work in order to render things but Apple (and other?) computers have codecs in hardware to work effortlessly with ProRes. I THINK...that is not the case with All-I which would mean it might take a lot of horsepower and rendering times would be a real issue but I'm not sure about any of that as it's so new that there's virtually no information on it. A one minute video of All-I takes several (5?) GB of storage. That's not insane for such a codec but even the Mav3 Pro has a 1TB SSD available. The decision making on only a 512GB and dropping Pro Res continues to make me scratch my head. It's all academic to me - I'm not a pro needing to use All-I but the geek in me wants to understand it.
 
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ALL-I / 264 itself is far from new. My 12 year old Canon 70D shot it.

If your computer can handle the bit rate/resolution then All-I wont change anything. (and even then you can proxy)
 
I think that is, perhaps the bit rate? That has everything to do with file size and it's related to how hard the computer has to work in order to render things but Apple (and other?) computers have codecs in hardware to work effortlessly with ProRes. I THINK...that is not the case with All-I which would mean it might take a lot of horsepower and rendering times would be a real issue but I'm not sure about any of that as it's so new that there's virtually no information on it. A one minute video of All-I takes several (5?) GB of storage. That's not insane for such a codec but even the Mav3 Pro has a 1TB SSD available. The decision making on only a 512GB and dropping Pro Res continues to make me scratch my head. It's all academic to me - I'm not a pro needing to use All-I but the geek in me wants to understand it.
Yup, my bad - bit rate
 
I think that is, perhaps the bit rate? That has everything to do with file size and it's related to how hard the computer has to work in order to render things but Apple (and other?) computers have codecs in hardware to work effortlessly with ProRes. I THINK...that is not the case with All-I which would mean it might take a lot of horsepower and rendering times would be a real issue but I'm not sure about any of that as it's so new that there's virtually no information on it. A one minute video of All-I takes several (5?) GB of storage. That's not insane for such a codec but even the Mav3 Pro has a 1TB SSD available. The decision making on only a 512GB and dropping Pro Res continues to make me scratch my head. It's all academic to me - I'm not a pro needing to use All-I but the geek in me wants to understand it.
This is basically just a matter of marketing, simplicity, and standardization.

ProRes is an All-i codec too it’s just Apple’s specific implementation and standardization of it with the main benefit for ProRes being that it’s simple to understand and doesn’t have a lot of options to screw up. Theres only 6 options for ProRes in order of quality (file size) are:
ProRes Proxy
ProRes LT
ProRes 422
ProRes 422 HQ
ProRes 4444
ProRes 4444 XQ

So each one of those levels has specific and standardized bit rates and encoding profiles, etc.

When you go outside the ProRes walled garden you are given so many options it can make your head spin. For instance the standard 264 encoder you have to choose between all-i vs long GOP, constant bit rate or variable bit rate then single pass or multi pass, choose a target bit rate then max bit rate. Then you choose the encoding profile which will include things like your bit depth, color primaries etc. And there’s just such a massive difference between all those options that you really do need to know all that info because screwing up just one of those could screw up everything if it’s not caught.

ProRes isn’t necessarily any better assuming similar settings it’s just a certain standardized mixtures of those settings which takes a lot of the idiot factor out. I can tell someone “hey send me that file in ProRes 422” and know what I am going to get. Otherwise I have to say “hey send me that file h265 Variable bit rate quality set to high. High 10 encoding, 10bit 422.” And pray I get what I asked for.

As a recording codec, ProRes isn’t helping that much unless there are multiple options for All-I recording. The mavic four only has one all i option so basically moot.

In the video he says the 512 GB internal drive is much faster so probably it was a decision to put a smaller faster internal drive than a slower larger drive.
 
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I also have some issues with this. I filmed in 6K All-I and can't seem to preview the files on my Mac or Final Cut. Anyone got any tips? Am I needing to put the files through Handbreak or Shutter Encoder?
 
I also have some issues with this. I filmed in 6K All-I and can't seem to preview the files on my Mac or Final Cut. Anyone got any tips? Am I needing to put the files through Handbreak or Shutter Encoder?
I have no experience with All-I but try this old school trick. I don't know what the .xxx file type is but try changing it to .mov or .mp4 and see if FCP can then see it. That simple thing can sometimes make a file type be able to be opened but it may only work with some limited file types that share characteristics but it won't hurt to try.
 
I also have some issues with this. I filmed in 6K All-I and can't seem to preview the files on my Mac or Final Cut. Anyone got any tips? Am I needing to put the files through Handbreak or Shutter Encoder?
There's some discussion on this in the M4 section:


Transcoding seems one option, people are suggesting a Resolve option as well.
 
If converting any of these files is required it will give me pause when/if the drone is ever available in the U.S. Really dumb on DJI's part as far as I'm concerned. Did anyone try the "change the file type" trick?
 
If converting any of these files is required it will give me pause when/if the drone is ever available in the U.S. Really dumb on DJI's part as far as I'm concerned. Did anyone try the "change the file type" trick?
You don't have to use the codec, it supports more standard codecs as well - the All-I codec is only available on the creator combo as a substitute for ProRes. Changing the filetype or extension is not going to make any difference if the playback device or editor doesn't have suitable codec support.
 
You don't have to use the codec, it supports more standard codecs as well - the All-I codec is only available on the creator combo as a substitute for ProRes. Changing the filetype or extension is not going to make any difference if the playback device or editor doesn't have suitable codec support.
Makes sense regarding the file type issue. My desire was to start using Pro Res a bit but I will never bother with converting All-I so that's dead to me. I may get a standard model and buy a Pro controller on the side. I would not want to keep adding to a 512gb internal and then loose that footage if something happened. I'd only want that if I were shooting All-I (or pro res) so the Creator Bundle just became uninteresting to me. Sigh. For now it's all academic.
 
Makes sense regarding the file type issue. My desire was to start using Pro Res a bit but I will never bother with converting All-I so that's dead to me. I may get a standard model and buy a Pro controller on the side. I would not want to keep adding to a 512gb internal and then loose that footage if something happened. I'd only want that if I were shooting All-I (or pro res) so the Creator Bundle just became uninteresting to me. Sigh. For now it's all academic.
The issue with DJI’s All-I seems to limited to newer Macs using Apple Silicon chips with hardware decoding enabled. Seems M1 chips aren’t having the same issues, reportedly.

Seems like an early launch bug that will get worked out shortly to me but who knows.
 
The issue with DJI’s All-I seems to limited to newer Macs using Apple Silicon chips with hardware decoding enabled. Seems M1 chips aren’t having the same issues, reportedly.

Seems like an early launch bug that will get worked out shortly to me but who knows.
Not quite sure what you are saying. Seems you are first saying the issue...the problem..is limited to newer Silicon macs with hardware decoding enabled. The M1 is silicon..does it not have hardware decoding enabled? All-I is not listed by Apple as a supported codec so I can't imagine any of the Macs have hardware encoded support. Don't know how this could be worked out. Seems to me DJI decided not to pay to license ProRes and I doubt but hope that Apple will at least support it via software but Apple doesn't even support avi natively so not much hope on that front.
 
Not quite sure what you are saying. Seems you are first saying the issue...the problem..is limited to newer Silicon macs with hardware decoding enabled. The M1 is silicon..does it not have hardware decoding enabled? All-I is not listed by Apple as a supported codec so I can't imagine any of the Macs have hardware encoded support. Don't know how this could be worked out. Seems to me DJI decided not to pay to license ProRes and I doubt but hope that Apple will at least support it via software but Apple doesn't even support avi natively so not much hope on that front.
In September, would be funny if we all got shocked and all of a sudden DJI launches the Mavic 4 Pro Cine with ProRes and 1 TB SSD for the US market only....for the same price! 😆 🇺🇸
 
In September, would be funny if we all got shocked and all of a sudden DJI launches the Mavic 4 Pro Cine with ProRes and 1 TB SSD for the US market only....for the same price! 😆 🇺🇸
I'd buy a six pack :)
 

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