What is the recommended video format for 4K to ensure smooth playback?

[rbtmckny]

If your videos are grainy, it may be due to your camera settings. Try watching some YouTube videos for setting up your M2Z camera.

 

[mfc]

If your playback is juddery it might simply be that your Mac/PC (or its attached storage device(s)) isn't fast enough to handle the data at the necessary speed. If it's more than 3 years old, this is quite probably the case.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

This is using Davinci Resolve, hope it helps

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

This is an excellent video and will help you be able to play and scrub in the video editor.

Then when you're done editing, you can render a file that is the appropriate resolution / quality for wherever you're going to publish it. You don't want to publish the full, raw 4K file to most social media platforms for others to view (if so, a lot of them would likely have the same judder problems you are having). Often, rendering a standard HD (1k or 2k) is fine.

The above Resolve video will not help if you just want to play the raw, 4K file right out of the aircraft. As others have already pointed out, that requires the strongest / fastest computer and components (hard drives, video cards, CPU, memory, etc.).

Getting gosh-wow results straight out of the bird is also something you might have had too great of expectations for. Really great video (as mentioned) requires post-processing. HOWEVER, you have 3 different modes you can film at and also as mentioned, D-log is the one you want to avoid if you don't want to do post processing. Try normal and HLG. See if you like it better. Do a bit of testing.

Previous DJI crafts had a "Vivid" video recording mode, which isn't on the M2P. They may have assumed that most people with this level of recording capability would be dipping into the greater world of post-processing.

You should not get noise out of the box, at least on a bright day. As mentioned, make sure that your ISO did not get turned up to too-high values (bring it down to 100 if so).

This is the first AC of its class to have adjustable aperture. That's nice, but we've learned not to close it down further than f5.6.

For photos only (not video): If you did have a higher aperture (f8 or higher) and you have Auto-ISO on, then that would have raised the ISO and created noise.

Lastly, if the different formats, ISO, and concepts such as aperture f-stop settings are over your head, then you may want to consider doing some wood-shedding to increase your knowledge and skills to get the pro-like results you see coming from other people.

Chris

 

[JSM]

264 I think. It's more compatible and easier and not enough difference to spend all that time in post editing Dlog. I know people will argue, but I have some awesome videos in 264.265 is very demanding on CPU and Video card. I just don't think it's worth it, unless you are great and like editing a lot. It isn't worth the differance unless you have a reason to edit for a specific reason.

Yes, to run 265 on your computer you need NASA type power !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Yes, to run 265 on your computer you need NASA type power !!!!!!!!!!!

For an editing environment, it is only demanding on decode or render. If you use a proxy (optimize file as mentioned in the above video), it should not be a problem for editing / scrubbing / playback. If your system is slow, you just will have a bit more downtime for the media to optimize.

Chris

 

[Elude]

256 Will require more CPU horsepower to play back vs 264

 

[makneyse]

A problem my clients have is they request 4K footage but then their computers (video cards, RAM, etc) can't handle it.
If your image is grainy, check your ISO. These drones don't work well in low light so if you were shooting at night and had your settings in Auto, that could be part of the problem.
If it's a sunny day out, your ISO should be 100 or 200. Make sure it's not manually set to something like 1600 which would affect your shutter and iris, plus look grainy.
I recommend H.264 if you're ever going to play your footage on someone else's computer (like a client's). Not all of them accept H.265.

I also second the use of ND filters. And as mentioned, don't mess with D-Log unless you plan on spending the time in post production. D-Log will definitely give you that wow factor but it won't look good straight out of the camera.

I hope this helps!

 

[Hubster]

Thanks all. Sorry for the lack of response - I didn't get any notifications!

I can only see minimal settings for video in the DJI app. I can select:

- HD/2.7k/4k
- FPS
- h.264/.265
- MP4 or MOV

I can't see any reference to Dlog or anything?

I have selected MP4 format for the video. Is MOV better seeing as I am using an Apple Mac?

Also, re: panning, I am panning slowly but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Also, all the videos I am referring to haven't utilised the zoom function as I have been fully zoomed out

 

[Les Sullivan]

I am also a bit of a beginner and staggered at the capability of modern digital technology having played with computers and video editing for more than 50 years!
My new gadget, Mavic 2 Zoom, has reawaken my enthusiasm and the image quality is superb.
I have a video projector in my sitting room that generates a 6ft wide image and it is pin sharp even at 1920 x 1080 with a typical viewing distance of about 10ft. I do find myself questioning the worth of 4K for general viewing given the bandwidth and storage requirements. Filming the original material in 4K is, however, quite advantageous and to be encouraged. A 4K original image, later rendered (downsized) to Full HD is, in my opinion, sharper and with greater dynamic range than shooting in HD in the first place.
My experiments show that 4k 25fps (I am PAL) is good and although H264 is less effective than H265 it does require less processing power and is more compatible.
I edit in 4K and then render to 1920 x 1080 as that is very efficient and versatile. I still have the 4K masters if required. There are plenty of YouTube videos on the net showing comparisons of 4K and HD and indeed 720K.
I built myself a new quite high spec PC purely for the purposes of editing 4K as my other PC's could not handle the frame rate smoothly enough when scrubbing backwards and forwards.
Despite 32GB RAM, Solid State drives, GeForce 1660 graphics and Ryzen 7 3700x processor, I still found Davinci Resolve too slow although it has wonderful colour editing capability.
Eventually I settled on PowerDirector for editing and colour correction. Filming in D-Cinelike is really important to maximise the image quality and it is essential (and easy) to post process and lift the otherwise "flat" image.
Rendering the 4K original to Full HD is speedy.
One last comment about panning.... Even the BBC with all their sophisticated equipment and skill avoid panning shots as they are prone to all sorts of issues. Pan very slowly and you will be ok.

Les

 

[GadgetGuy]

One last comment about panning.... Even the BBC with all their sophisticated equipment and skill avoid panning shots as they are prone to all sorts of issues. Pan very slowly and you will be ok.

They even have online calculators for ground based video cameras to determine the exact maximum panning speed, based upon the lens focal length and the subject distance, to avoid jitter from a 24fps video recording. The slower, the better! The longer the lens focal length, the slower it has to be!

 

[DanMan32]

I noticed that playback of pans appears blurry but if I pause during playback, each frame is quite sharp.

 

[Thomas B]

I noticed that playback of pans appears blurry but if I pause during playback, each frame is quite sharp.

Pan slower?

 

[DanMan32]

It has to be a really slow pan to avoid any apparent blur. I'm sure it's not the recording itself, since each frame is clear, but rather how it gets played back on a PC.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I noticed that playback of pans appears blurry but if I pause during playback, each frame is quite sharp.

That is because of the slow frame rate of 30fps in 4K on the M2, compared to 60fps in 4K on the P4P. Slowing the M2 pan down as slow as possible will eliminate the 30fps playback blur. The blur will be enhanced on the M2Z when using the 2x zoom. To see the difference 60fps makes, record in 2.7K at 60fps. Buttery smooth even on aggressive pans. To get the same result, either record in 2.7K at 60fps, or slow down your 4K 30fps pans even more, and don't use the optical zoom during pans. Works for me!

 

[DanMan32]

I record 1080p.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I record 1080p.

Then you can go up to 120fps, which will never show any jitter!

 

[DanMan32]

But I do get blurr (but not jitter).

 

[GadgetGuy]

But I do get blurr (but not jitter).

Sorry, I meant blur, but it applies to jitter, too!

 

[Mavic Mac]

@Hubster - I also found the same thing - I slowed my pan down to what I thought was a reasonable speed but once I reviewed the VIDEO it still was way to fast. In post editing I slowed it 50% and it still seems fast. I guess I just need more practice.

 

[GadgetGuy]

@Hubster - I also found the same thing - I slowed my pan down to what I thought was a reasonable speed but once I reviewed the VIDEO it still was way to fast. In post editing I slowed it 50% and it still seems fast. I guess I just need more practice.

Panning requires high frame rates, or very s l o w panning, achieved by slowing the yaw expo down to the lowest setting of 10%, and turning excruciatingly slowly. Tripod mode will also help. Slowing the pan down in post, to try and fix it, just makes it worse, as you reducing the frame rate even further.