Talk to me about 4K

Splats · Jan 31, 2018

Ok, so my Mavic Air is on the way and my Spark is looking like it's sold. The MA will be my first 4K device and I don't have any other infrastructure to support/display it yet.

My computer is 8 years old and does an OK job of running Premier Pro CC to edit my 1080p Spark footage. It's not fast, but not completely frustrating either. My two monitors are 1080P, as are all the TV's in the house.

My first question is (and it seems obviously the answer is 'yes') but do I need to upgrade to a 4K monitor and TV to really appreciate the 4K footage the MA can shoot? In other words, is there little to no benefit of watching 4K footage back on a 1080p 8 year old monitor?

The next question is, if I stick with my current set up for a bit longer (likely) should I shoot in 1080p on the Mavic or 4K. Obviously cropping is an option when I have 4K footage but are there any other benefits. My fear here is that shooting in 4K will allow me to re-work that footage in a few months when I upgrade everything else. However, I'm worried that throwing 4K footage at my current rig for editing purposes will make everything unbearably slow. I colour corrected a short 4K clip I downloaded from an MA this morning and Premier Pro was pretty painfully slow to use with even simple contrast, hightlight, etc changes taking a few seconds to render on the one frame. As for playing back the footage with the adjustment layer changes applied, forget it.

I suppose the short version of my question is: In the absence of a faster rig and 4K monitor, is there any reason to use the 4K resolution features of the MA? Leading on from that, if I do upgrade my monitors/rig/TV then shoot and edit in 4K will it be balls to the wall/OMG better to look at?

2nckayakers · Jan 31, 2018

You don't have to have a 4k monitor to appreciate 4k video. I can tell a big difference in 1080 and 4k on my 1080 monitors.

As far as your old computer system, it will be slow trying to process 4k if you are already having a time with 1080, however, with PPcc you can set up a proxy and then edit it in 1080 and then just render it out in the end, and export it in 4k. If you aren't sure how to do that, just go to YouTube and there are a lot of good videos out there on the subject. I had the same situation when I went to 4k on my GoPros and it has worked out really well. Just be prepared for it to take a little longer to render out and export when you are not in the proxy files.

Mr. Salty · Jan 31, 2018

As far as not having a 4K TV right now, I don't know what size of TV you have, but these days any TV bigger than about 42 inches is going to be 4K. It's difficult to find bigger TVs in 1080p any more. So while you don't have 4K now, if you want a bigger TV you likely will have 4K the next time you replace your TV.

Splats · Jan 31, 2018

Mr. Salty said:
As far as not having a 4K TV right now, I don't know what size of TV you have, but these days any TV bigger than about 42 inches is going to be 4K. It's difficult to find bigger TVs in 1080p any more. So while you don't have 4K now, if you want a bigger TV you likely will have 4K the next time you replace your TV.

TV is about 8 years old as well and 42". We are moving house in the next few months - which is why I'm not running out and dropping ££££ to upgrade stuff now - and a new TV will be very high on the agenda when I move in. Obviously, I'll get 4K.

With regards to the computer/monitor, once my business financial year ends (April) I can purchase all that through my Limited Company. Again, I could theoretically run out and do that just now but I need this years books to look as healthy as possible to get the mortgage in the first place.

That's really interesting/cool than I can work on 1080p and export to 4K in PP - thanks for that. I don't mind the longer rendering/export times as I can just set the computer to do it while I'm working during the day.