My system good for 4K?

Gabonviper wrote on 3/6/2015, 5:18 AM

Hi guys (and gals),

I am a sucker for the best possible video quality and would like to go 4k and change my current Sony HX-50V camera for a Panasonic Lumix-DMC LX100 (here's a review in case you're not familiar with the camera: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-lx100).

I know there are even better options for 4k cameras, but I want a point-and-shoot one that fits in the jacket pocket, not an slr or bigger. And money IS a problem: the 800€ price tag for the lx100 is where I draw the line. I've viewed some of the footage shot with that camera on YouTube and it looks very impressive.

But am I also totally in the dark about 4K and the question is: is my software and hardware capable of rendering and viewing 4k? Can you pintpoint at the weak links and suggest upgrades? Which of these HAVE to be upgraded or are they something that could still do?

The object is to burn edited 4k concert videos (most likely multicam projects with some 1080p material, too) to bluray discs to view them through my home theater system, and upload some 4k material to YouTube.

Computer: IntelCore i5 2500K CPU 3,30 GHz with 8 GB RAM and 64-bit Win7
Graphics card: Sparkle GeForce gtx580 Guru, driver 296.10
Motherboard: MSI z68A-G43
Bluray burner: Pioneer BDR-209DBK 16xBD-R
are regular 25gb or 50gb bdr discs ok?

Home theater:
Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector
Grandview Fantasy 106" motorized screen
Playstation 3 for bluray discs

Software: Vegas Pro 12 build 770 (with NewBlue Titler Pro 3 and effects, Heroglyph)

Any help appreciated, as always.

Comments

Dexcon wrote on 3/6/2015, 6:20 AM

I suspect that you may be expecting BluRay and your Panasonic projector to display 4K. Unfortunately, neither can display 4K. 4K has 3840 x 2160 pixels, but the maximum pixel size of BluRay and your projector (from its manual) is 1980 x 1080 - i.e HiDef.

In rendering to BluRay, your 4K project has to be down-converted to HD quality at some point in the process. But one of the advantages of shooting in 4K is that you're sort of future-proofed for the time when delivery of 4K is more viable and 4K display equipment more available. The other advantage of 4K right now is the ability to significantly pan/crop 4K images and still retain HD quality (HD is roughly one quarter the pixel size of 4K which means that you can pan/crop up to roughly one quarter of the 4K image frame and still retain HD quality).

The question that only you can finally decide is whether or not the 4K camera that you are interested in delivers an image (albeit in HD quality for BluRay) better than your existing camera.

As for editing in VP12 on an i5 computer, you'll probably need to use proxy files (via Project Media) to get a reasonable fps rate when playing 4K clips on the timeline - but proxy only works when preview quality is set to Draft or Preview.

Not having any experience with uploading 4K to YT, I am unable to help re YT.

Cheers

wwjd wrote on 3/6/2015, 8:39 AM

Google and download some raw footage from the camera you are looking at and give it a test run in Vegas. I've got a GH4 which may be similar, and can upload footage for you if you want

videoITguy wrote on 3/6/2015, 8:41 AM

4k workflows are very problematic for the hobbyist - read all 4k threads everywhere for confirmation.

4K display is even MORE problematic - a design issue for creating 4k optical disc has been targeted for 2016 - but uncertain whether licensing of software will ever permit in the hands of the hobbyist. 4k compatible Blu-ray - is just a marketing emphasis that 4k can be connected in the pipepline but has nothing to do with putting some Blu-ray+ disc in the tray.

Gabonviper wrote on 3/6/2015, 1:00 PM

Thanks Dexon,
I shoot a lot of concerts and almost invariably there's something that needs to to be cropped out, and I certainly could benefit from 4k there. Perhaps I should upgrade CPU?

Gabonviper wrote on 3/6/2015, 1:05 PM

Hi wwjd
Thanks for the offer to upload 4k footage from your GH4, which is similar though slightly more advanced than the lx100. I would really appreciate the opportunity to try and see what I could do with it with my current setup so please do upload some footage :). Thanks.

Gabonviper wrote on 3/6/2015, 1:06 PM

Thanks, I will look into the threads.

wwjd wrote on 3/6/2015, 2:07 PM

here, I'm FAIRLY CERTAIN these are unprocessed files. But, they are DCI 4K, not UHD 4K - 4096x2160, not 3840x2160. Also, 24p not 30. So, your milage may vary, but not much depending on content. :) There is a larger 350MB one if you want to get that big, let me know.

Also, I note in using Vegas, I usually have to play through a clip a couple times before it fully loads into RAM and playsback in preview smoothly..... then you add an FX and everything slows down. I use SHIFT-B (temp render section) a lot to check edit flow of 4K

Gabonviper wrote on 3/7/2015, 2:09 AM

Thanks wwjd for the samples. They played ok, though sluggish in full mode. Thanks for the tip. If these really are unprocessed, I think I have every reason to go 4k. I cropped radically to the hand and pistol and to my mind the result was still very useable.
If it's not too much trouble, I'd also be interested in the larger sample. Of course, a full 2-hour concert in 4k might be a headache, but if it's too massive, you can always divide the footage into smaller projects.

wwjd wrote on 3/7/2015, 8:17 PM

so you know, those clips ARE "Compressed".... in camera compression. I just meant they are raw files strait from camera, not the latest craze: uncompressed "RAW". GH4 doesn't do that kind of "RAW"

due to 4k file sizes, and projects I do, I don't usually do longer takes. for me, that is easier than big long takes - so I don't really have anything longer for ya

wwjd wrote on 3/9/2015, 10:30 AM

let me know when you download the last one so I can pull the links