Gary Kissler

Q: Can Final Cut Pro x edit 4k video

I purchased a DJI Phantom 3 Professional which can shoot 4K video. But I am not satisfied with the "smoothness" of the material shot. So I wanted to know if anyone has tried to edit 4K video with Final Cut Pro x. And, specifically, has anyone loaded 4K video into Final Cut Pro X that was shot with the device I am using?

 

I am using a Mac Pro with 8GM of memory and the operating software version is 10.10.3,

 

Finally, what solutions should I consider for creating smoother video on this device.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Posted on Jun 22, 2015 3:01 PM

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Q: Can Final Cut Pro x edit 4k video

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  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Jul 7, 2015 2:22 PM in response to Gary Kissler
    Level 6 (18,660 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 7, 2015 2:22 PM in response to Gary Kissler

    Both of them are pretty bad.

     

    I've not seen anything like that and it's not the normal jitter I was expecting.

     

    In QuickTime Player it looks though the video is being dragged and shaken about, yet it's quite a smooth sort of judder, but it is not what you would expect.

     

    In FCP X it appears as a horrible high frequency violent jitter

     

    Hopefully someone can come up with an explanation of what it is and more importantly a  solution.

  • by David M Brewer,

    David M Brewer David M Brewer Jul 7, 2015 5:01 PM in response to Gary Kissler
    Level 6 (9,429 points)
    Video
    Jul 7, 2015 5:01 PM in response to Gary Kissler

    Does a video look like the sample you uploaded... when recording video with the Phantom not running and or with the Phantom running but not flying?

  • by David M Brewer,

    David M Brewer David M Brewer Jul 7, 2015 5:24 PM in response to David M Brewer
    Level 6 (9,429 points)
    Video
    Jul 7, 2015 5:24 PM in response to David M Brewer

    Looks like a vibration problem,

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Jul 8, 2015 2:28 AM in response to Gary Kissler
    Level 6 (12,627 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2015 2:28 AM in response to Gary Kissler

    Gary

     

    I think you misunderstood Ian's advice.

    Simply converting the video to ProRes ("optimizing") does not in any way "improve" it.

     

    Being optimized means it will be better for the application to edit, as it is easier to decompress and each frame is stored in full, whereas the original format does not store every frame (it is a "GOP" codec, where GOP stands for Group of Pictures; some (key)frames are stored in full and the rest are only stored as differences from the previous one; this makes for a much smaller file, but it is harder to edit and does not stand as well to effects, coloring, etc).

     

    So looking at the two versions of the file will not tell you anything.

     

    Anyway, looking at the posted movie, I can tell from the plants on the ground that there was quite a bit of wind that day - that may well account for the jerkiness, I imagine (not that I have any experience, I have yet to try one of those devices).

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Jul 8, 2015 3:12 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 6 (18,660 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2015 3:12 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    Now you mention it, Luis, the "smoother" version of the video does look like the drone being buffeted about but we are still left with the question as to why FCP X sees the original file as madly jittery whilst QT Player does not.

  • by Gary Kissler,

    Gary Kissler Gary Kissler Jul 8, 2015 4:19 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 8, 2015 4:19 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    I will try to respond to the comments related to my latest post about the "solution."

     

    First of all, let me assure you that the weather condition when this material was created was actually quite calm. So any indication to the contrary is just misleading. And, since this was my very first time to fly the drone, I would certainly have not risked it in strong wind! Second, the video was indeed shot from the air and not in a stationary position elsewhere.

     

    As for the outcome from converting to ProRes 422, this is just perplexing to me. Quite literally, this is the ONLY thing that has made any difference whatsoever. I was certainly operating on the suggestion that such a change would allow for easier editing AND viewing of the material to be edited. So now this just deepens the mystery for me.

     

    I would only offer one more point about the material I put out for review. Since this was the first time I used the drone, I just accepted the settings that came with it. So this means the format was .MOV and the video was shot in 4K. All of the material that I have shot since has been in .mp4. As I said in the earlier post, I don't know if this makes any difference but decided it was worth a try.

     

    It is worth repeating that the viewing of the material as "jerky" ONLY happened on my computer--but not on other Apple devices I used. I probably should also add that I simply "exported" the files from FCP-X. I don't know what the outcome might have been if I had chosen to create versions that could run on "Apple devices."

     

    But, at this point, I'll just leave it to others to weigh in. It has been an exhausting experience but enlightening--at times.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jul 8, 2015 6:42 AM in response to Gary Kissler
    Level 10 (118,433 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 8, 2015 6:42 AM in response to Gary Kissler

    What Apple devices? What's the difference between the before and after except the file size? It looks like vibration with a rolling shutter that's giving a jelly wobble on parts of the image.

  • by Gary Kissler,

    Gary Kissler Gary Kissler Jul 8, 2015 8:47 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 8, 2015 8:47 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Tom,

     

    I have described the Apple devices in an earlier post. As for the difference between the two files, one was the raw footage taken directly from the drone. The second is that same material after being covered to the ProRes 422 codec. Each file was exported to Dropbox.

     

    For more detail, look at the summary I submitted about this entire process and how the "solution" emerged.

     

    Gary

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jul 8, 2015 3:37 PM in response to Gary Kissler
    Level 10 (118,433 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 8, 2015 3:37 PM in response to Gary Kissler

    WWhat I meant when I said what is the difference between these files, is the visually I can't see any difference frame to frame. They both show the same problems of mechanical vibration combined with a rolling shutter problem because of the rapid motion. At least that's what it looks like to me.

  • by Gary Kissler,

    Gary Kissler Gary Kissler Jul 9, 2015 4:51 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 9, 2015 4:51 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Tom,

     

    From my perspective, there was a "slight" improvement in the video material after I converted the clip to ProRes 422. Frankly, neither outcome would have been acceptable for any final editing. Some have suggested that converting to ProRes 422 should not make any difference in the viewing of the material. But, for reasons I apparently cannot explain, it does for me.

     

    Gary

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Jul 9, 2015 7:26 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 6 (18,660 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 9, 2015 7:26 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Tom, did you view the native media clip as it came from the camcorder in FCP X?  It's appalling.

     

    In QT Player it just showed the wobbly rolling shutter type effect but when played in the FCP X timeline or Browser it was horrific  .  .  .  .  vibrating violently at high speed   .  .  .  heaven knows why.

     

    I think the OP means that converting to ProRes has improved the playback so that it now is no worse in FCPX than it is in QT Player.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Jul 9, 2015 7:36 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 10 (118,433 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 9, 2015 7:36 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    It's pretty horrible in the QT player. I can't say it looks any worse in FCP when played full screen. Maybe on a small Viewer the vibration looks more disturbing, but it's pretty bad anywhere, and unless it's a once in a lifetime shot, I wouldn't think was useable.

  • by Ian R. Brown,

    Ian R. Brown Ian R. Brown Jul 9, 2015 8:08 AM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 6 (18,660 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 9, 2015 8:08 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Sorry, my previous post was made from (bad) memory of 2 days ago.

     

    Looking at it again I think my description was a bit OTT !

     

    In FCP X the native media is worse but only a bit  .  .  .  seeming to add some shimmering effect to the general wobbly jerkiness especially in the grass, soil and    horizontal fence posts.

  • by evabosch,

    evabosch evabosch Sep 5, 2015 7:49 AM in response to Ian R. Brown
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 5, 2015 7:49 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

    I also have problems with editing 4 K with  Final Cut Pro X 10.1.4

    I have downloaded all the updates as well as Pro Video Formats 2.0 but the files remain unopened. Files are MXF.

    What am I doing wrong? Can anyone help.

    I have tried to open the files by going to File, Share, Add destination, Compressor settings. At this point I gather there should be the option for 4K on the drop down menu, but there is not. There are several options all named MXF.

    Any ideas??

    I have an iMac OS X 10.9.5 Processor 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5

    8GB16000 MHz DDR3

    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX 1024 MB

    Please help if you can.

    Eva

  • by Town in sky,

    Town in sky Town in sky Dec 25, 2015 12:25 AM in response to Gary Kissler
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 25, 2015 12:25 AM in response to Gary Kissler

    According to my testing, the DJI Phantom 3 4K video was restricted to editing in FCP X, which can’t handle 4K videos well. Frankly speaking, expect for Final Cut Pro, most popular editing softwares including iMovie, Avid Media composer, Premiere Pro and more all can't support 4K video natively due to the codec incompatibility. In addition, the 4K video footage compressed with MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 will still have big file size, it will take a lot of time for Final Cut Pro to render those 4K videos. You'd better to resize the 4K files to 1080p on Mac in advance.

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