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Activity Forums Adobe Premiere Pro Editing in 4K – whats the need ?

  • Editing in 4K – whats the need ?

    Posted by Bill George on January 3, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    I have recently been shooting 4K footage , for projects that eventually will be screened as 4K

    To do this I watched alot of youtube guides and opinion pieces on what you need to deal with 4K

    I am now on the last bit of the upgrade – the graphics card – should I buy a GTX 970 or get a GTX 980 TI

    My point is – why build a system that is really pumped up to edit real time 4K , when you can just down convert and to HD and then swap the files
    with the 4k ones at the end.? Why overstretch yourself ? Is it a case that this end process of a 4K render would really need all this power …

    As much as really appreciate the youtube videos that people make , sometimes I feel that they are just doing it because they can for the sake of it – there fore I feel a bit misled by their motives …

    Here is an example of a 4k pc build youtube video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3unqKVlHlZc&t=152s

    I would be interested to hear opinions on editing in 4K in premiere and what they use ,…

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    Sunderland Green replied 8 years, 5 months ago 5 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • Shane Ross

    January 4, 2017 at 1:38 am

    PC or Mac? If PC, get the GTX970…or even the 1080s…and TWO of them. 32GB RAM…very fast processor.

    COMPRESSED 4K? like H.264, MP4, Red? Or converted to ProRes or DNxHD? Editing compressed formats like H.264 and RAW formats take A LOT of horsepower. While cutting ProRes or DNxHD 4K are easier to deal with, but have larger file sizes so you need more hard drive space to store them.

    You’ll also need a FAST RAID…Thunderbolt, or eSATA or SAS, Fibre…something fast to play back those files in real time.

    I built a machine much like the one he did…GTX 980, i7 4Ghz processor…for under $1600. But I also use it as a Hackintosh..run the Mac OS. If I stuck to windows, i could get an even better GPU.

    Shane
    Little Frog Post
    Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

  • Bill George

    January 4, 2017 at 2:27 am

    Thanks Shane
    Yes its a PC –

    Would you go 2 gtx 970 ? or one gtx 980 Ti ?

    I am just downconverting from 4k to HD files , H.264 at the moment

    I have the i7 4.2ghz overclocked – 32 gb ram

    I like the idea of converting to 4k h.264

    what raid config would you say is best to use ?

    I have the asus ASUS X99-A which has the ability to speed up SSD drives …

  • Shane Ross

    January 4, 2017 at 2:32 am

    [Bill George] “Would you go 2 gtx 970 ? or one gtx 980 Ti ?”

    Two 980s…

    [Bill George] “I am just downconverting from 4k to HD files , H.264 at the moment “

    NO NO NO…that’s what I said to AVOID. Editing 4K H.264 files is VERY processor and GPU intensive…decoding H.264 on the fly. Even 1080 H.264…avoid that. UNLESS I am completely clueless as to the format that is the “offline proxy” that Premiere now uses. I’ll admit I haven’t used it yet.

    RAID…what connections does your computer have? For external…like USB3, Thunderbolt…stuff like that?

    Shane
    Little Frog Post
    Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

  • Chris Wright

    January 4, 2017 at 2:34 am

    its a very complicated answer because even using proxies like 422 LT or cineform. you still have to transcode, and that takes time.
    your notion that proxies can be HD is partially true, the sequence itself still has to be 4k and your limited by audio channel matching.

    You also can’t grade with proxies in RAW, there is no RAW conforming to new redcolor/redgamma. You can’t key in proxies as they are usually lower quality, and finally, any stabilization will force original media and disable proxies altogether!

    As a matter of fact, after lots of testing, we just found out that rendering in 4k actually uses all 24 cpu threads at 100% versus HD being limited to 12 at 50%, seems to be a bug as well.

    As for GPU, it only accelerates this stuff here:
    https://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/cuda-mercury-playback-engine-and-adobe-premiere-pro/

    so if you don’t use any of that stuff, a cheaper gpu could be replaced with a faster cpu for more bang for your buck so to speak.

  • Andy Patterson

    January 4, 2017 at 6:05 am

    I can edit native Red One R3D files on my mediocre system at 1/4 resolution. Having said that a GTX 1080 and 8 Core CPU would be great if you want to playback 4K at full resolution.

    https://youtu.be/02qEztIwTeY

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  • Bill George

    January 4, 2017 at 9:52 pm

    Thanks – this is just want I wanted , some realities and tech truths of 4k editing

    I will be creating collages of 4K footage , different sizes , 3 or 4 files playing ontop of eachother at a time ,

    I’ve taken on board what you said about proxies …

    I use alot of cuda supported stuff in premiere , my work is very effects heavy – Gen arts Sapphire etc…

    I think I should just go with a GTX 980 Ti

  • Bill George

    January 4, 2017 at 11:43 pm

    yes all that raid option is available ,

    What would you reccomend instead of h.264 for these downconverts I am doing ?

  • Sunderland Green

    February 6, 2018 at 9:22 am

    You can have a reference at this article: 4K Video Editing Minimum Hardware and Software System Requirements
    https://www.videomaker.com/article/f6/17135-editing-in-4k-minimum-system-requirements

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