Rendering your video?

[TomC9000]

When you guys render your videos that you shot in 4K, do you do in what you shot it at or down render to 1080p? I'm asking because most people don't have a 4K monitor or TV or the power on there computer to watch it smoothly.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

If your computer hardware and editing software will handle the original 4K footage, go with that and when you save your final cut you should be able to choose the final output resolution. Also consider your delivery method... if it's going on YouTube, the file will be recompressed again. IMHO, I would not bother with 4K for YouTube streaming.

 

[TomC9000]

If your computer hardware and editing software will handle the original 4K footage, go with that and when you save your final cut you should be able to choose the final output resolution. Also consider your delivery method... if it's going on YouTube, the file will be recompressed again. IMHO, I would not bother with 4K for YouTube streaming.

That's what I do right now, I film in 4K and then down render to 1080p. I can't see any difference on my monitor and it saves on upload time.

 

[AH-1G]

Dito with TomC9000

 

[Deleted member 13635]

Is there any advantage shooting in 4k then down sampling to 1080p? Why not just shoot in 1080p and skip the rendering.

 

[TomC9000]

Is there any advantage shooting in 4k then down sampling to 1080p? Why not just shoot in 1080p and skip the rendering.

I don't think so, but I have the 4K footage for when I do need it and it doesn't take any longer to render down to 1080p. I do edit all my videos to cut out all the useless parts.

 

[Pyrate]

Is there any advantage shooting in 4k then down sampling to 1080p? Why not just shoot in 1080p and skip the rendering.

detail is detail, capture all the data you can, it can only help in the final product

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Is there any advantage shooting in 4k then down sampling to 1080p? Why not just shoot in 1080p and skip the rendering.

Yes, the advantage is that if you ever upgrade your hardware to be able to better handle 4K resolution video, you will already have it... shoot in 4K and archive that original footage. You can always downsample 4K to 1080, but you cannot upscale 1080 to 4K. Whatever resolution you shot at originally, is the maximum you will have available. If you are, for example in a work for hire situation; shooting for a client and giving them all original footage, certainly shoot whatever resolution they require.

 

[Steve Carr]

I'm still kicking my butt for shooting a sample video in 2015 at 720p. After editing and posting on Youtube it's had over 17,000 views. It was a foolish idea to think I would never need better quality. Many times you can't repeat a flight. It's a one time deal, so go with the best resolution.

I'm a novice at editing and rendering, but I've noticed when rendering 1080p, the bit rate makes a big difference in quality of the final product.

 

[FlushVision]

For hobby flights I usually shoot at 1080 unless it's a particularly interesting site and render it out the same . However, for a commercial job I always shoot at 4K and give the client the option of a 1080 render or a full 4K render...making it clear to the client that if his display device can't handle 4K, or whoever will see the video doesn't have 4K capability he/they won't be able to see it properly. I also point out that if they choose a 4K render and subsequently find that they can't see it, it'll cost them extra for a 1080 re-render.

After I've explained this my clients usually opt for 1080.

My aging laptop won't display 4K straight from the sd card using the default display software but it will display a stuttering video using VLC media player, and my video editor (Filmora) will handle 4K video so I can produce a 4K edit...just not be able to see the finished results on my laptop without stuttering (The finished results are ok if I viewed it on my UHD television so I know that my 4K renders are good)

 

[Ty Pilot]

I've just recently edited a video with all cameras at 4K. Before that all video from the Typhoon was shot at 4K and final output was 1080 because at the time my other cameras could not shoot 4K. The 1080 Videos were rendered out of my editor at maximum file size for YouTube. My CCC and Trim Function Videos are both about ten minutes long and the final rendered video was just under 4 gigs each at upload.

My recent video at 4K, also ten minutes long was rendered out at maximum data rate and final rendered video is about 6 gigs for the 10 minutes - 50% more data.

Even though I do not have a 4K screen, my computer has the ability to watch 4K and the difference is clear. Even on youtube if you've got a good enough GPU, you can see a clear difference. In scenes where tree leafs are moving against a background for instance; this is where highly compressed video starts to break up and loose quality. At a high enough data rate uploaded to youtube these areas can be preserved. It all starts at the source, capturing the biggest image is paramount.

Here is the relative sizes of our 12 MP Sensor, a 4K (8MP) image size and a 1080 (2MP) Image Size - a 4K Video has 4 times the data rate. This is also why cameras like ours have the ability to shoot high frame rates at smaller resolutions - for instance shooting 1080 video at 120 FPS (4 times faster than normal) has roughly the same amount of data being written to the card.

4K Video properly render out in 1080 is always better than native 1080 because there is simply more data in the image regardless of size. Also if you want to know where that extra size of 4K available on the CG03 comes from its the extra on the sides of the 4K and is not a true anamorphic picture.

 

[Steve Carr]

Agree with all of that Pat. At least the parts I understand. There is a definite difference in viewing Youtube videos at 1080, 1440, 2160 in full screen.

I check the bit rate of the clip from the card and set up the render to be about the same. Is that a reasonable approach?

 

[Ty Pilot]

I always set my bit rate at maximum for the given editor - regardless of how big the final video will be if its going up to Youtube. One of the pitfalls of many of those who edit their video is they render out using a preset from a given NLE Program. All compression is not equal and many times low cost programs have horrible rendering capability. Adobes media encoder is one of the best I've used because it give you total control while budget NLE give you basics. For videos going to Youtube here are some basic settings. In your editor when it is time to render out never use a preset if you have the ability to adjust the settings individually.

Here is a screen shot of Power Directors' Preset for 1080 video - Notice the data Rates.




Here is my Preset For 1080

 

[Steve Carr]

Ah. Okay. I'm using PD 16 as well and that's the way I set up a new profile. I have been using 40-50,000 bit rate. I've never understood the CABAC/CAVLC.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Also it helps to upload a video to Youtube using their recommended parameters, if you can change them when rendering - this is what you want.

Advanced encoding settings
Recommended bitrates, codecs, and resolutions, and more
Container: .mp4

• No Edit Lists (or you may lose AV sync)
• moov atom at the front of the file (Fast Start)

Audio Codec: AAC-LC

• Channels: Stereo or Stereo + 5.1
• Sample rate 96khz or 48 khz

Video Codec: H.264

• Progressive scan (no interlacing)
• High Profile
• 2 consecutive B frames
• Closed GOP. GOP of half the frame rate.
• CABAC
• Variable bitrate. No bitrate limit required

Color Space: 4.2.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That last bit is important and so many miss it - keep your data rate as high as possible. This is probably not the best analogy but think of it like a piece of paper. It comes out of the camera folded four times, then we edit and render out - that folds it twice more, then youtube folds it twice more. it will be pretty small. Instead - take it out of the camera and unfold it completely - edit and render out - unfolded - then send to youtube to fold it.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Ah. Okay. I'm using PD 16 as well and that's the way I set up a new profile. I have been using 40-50,000 bit rate. I've never understood the CABAC/CAVLC.

That is all about the different types of frames, just make sure you GOP is half the frame rate and that there are two B'b back to back in the code, click on your details and it should look like this

 

[Steve Carr]

I'll have to take another look at all of this. I always see the message on Youtube that my video will load faster if I use stream something-or-other.......
I can never figure that out.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I get that to but dismiss it. I'm okay with a multi hour upload if the video will be better. I also get one about sound not matching or detecting video shake and dismiss all those as well.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

One other reason to use 4K resolution even if your final output is 1080, is that you can then if needed, "zoom in" in post to that central 1080 area... without having to move the aircraft, switch your camera or have to match color from two different source files.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Thats a good point Eagle's Eye