Video formats? MP4 vs Mov - 24 vs 48 or 30 or 60?

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New to drones and plan to use my P4P mostly for stills but will also shoot video periodically.

I dove into the Video settings last night and got a bit confused. Searched here and saw discussions of the Color and Sharpening settings but not the basics so here goes:

1. MP4 or MOV? Does it matter which format I choose? Im on a Mac
2. Do you have a preferred frame rate? I'm leaning towards the 24/48 mix and use the latter for smoother pans
4. 4k - I see two size options: 4096x2160 or 3840 x 2160...Not sure why there are the two options...
5. h265 - Tried recording in this and could not open the file in DaVinci, Lightroom, or VLC. Sounds like it needs to be converted first. Just confirming. Since 265 doesn't seem to allow 48 or 60 fps, I'm leaning against using it as long as we also have the second step of converting the video before use.

Also, any good intros to using DaVinci for color grading would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

E
 
New to drones and plan to use my P4P mostly for stills but will also shoot video periodically.

I dove into the Video settings last night and got a bit confused. Searched here and saw discussions of the Color and Sharpening settings but not the basics so here goes:

1. MP4 or MOV? Does it matter which format I choose? Im on a Mac
2. Do you have a preferred frame rate? I'm leaning towards the 24/48 mix and use the latter for smoother pans
4. 4k - I see two size options: 4096x2160 or 3840 x 2160...Not sure why there are the two options...
5. h265 - Tried recording in this and could not open the file in DaVinci, Lightroom, or VLC. Sounds like it needs to be converted first. Just confirming. Since 265 doesn't seem to allow 48 or 60 fps, I'm leaning against using it as long as we also have the second step of converting the video before use.

Also, any good intros to using DaVinci for color grading would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

E
1) The container doesn't matter. Many people use MP4 on Windows and MOV in Mac, but is your choice.
2-4-5) The best combination are H265, 4k (3840x2160) 30fps. 24fps is too low for me, and 60fps loses quality.
You can convert H265 to ProRes and then edit in your favourite vídeo editor.



Enviado desde mi Nexus 6P mediante Tapatalk
 
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I noticed that my sony vegas will directly import the h264 4k MOV files no problem, but h265 it gives me an error. I am going back to h264 until I can figure out how to get the h265 to work in sony vegas 13. :(
 
4K 4096x2160 h.264 30fps mp4 (windows) downsampled in premier to 1080p gives me nice smooth video. If I know I want slow motion I will shoot at 60fps otherwise 30fps just seems better for me. h.265 is too much of a hassle.
 
1) The container doesn't matter. Many people use MP4 on Windows and MOV in Mac, but is your choice.
2-4-5) The best combination are H265, 4k (3840x2160) 30fps. 24fps is too low for me, and 60fps loses quality.
You can convert H265 to ProRes and then edit in your favourite vídeo editor.



Enviado desde mi Nexus 6P mediante Tapatalk
Hi
Can I please ask, I just took delivery of a P4A, today took some video(MP4 24 fps 4k). I can view the files on my iMac but cannot import them into Final Cut Pro.
Have you ever come across that and is there a solution ?
It seems a pain if I have to convert these big files before even importing them!
Hopefully thanks
 
Hi
Can I please ask, I just took delivery of a P4A, today took some video(MP4 24 fps 4k). I can view the files on my iMac but cannot import them into Final Cut Pro.
Have you ever come across that and is there a solution ?
It seems a pain if I have to convert these big files before even importing them!
Hopefully thanks
Try ; Open the MP4 in quick time on your mac and export the file as .mov (this may work) With my PC running win10 just renaming the .mov to .mp4 extension works and the videos plays using all the player capable software in my PC.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for replying.

I tried the rename, that didn't work.

I will try your suggestion (thanks) and someone else on the DJI Forum suggested/advised that for Mac I should be recording in MOV format in the first place.

I do also have a few programs to potentially reformat, but I was thinking what a pain.

Cheers
 
Try ; Open the MP4 in quick time on your mac and export the file as .mov (this may work) With my PC running win10 just renaming the .mov to .mp4 extension works and the videos plays using all the player capable software in my PC.

Yes that worked thanks.

Potential downside and I am assuming compression the 4gb file was saved down to about 1gb.

So I have managed to now pull that into FCP, I will have a play and output to youtube and have a look.

I will also try changing my video capture format to MOV (hopefully Apple compatible).

Thanks for your suggestions/help.

Cheers
 
1) The container doesn't matter. Many people use MP4 on Windows and MOV in Mac, but is your choice.
2-4-5) The best combination are H265, 4k (3840x2160) 30fps. 24fps is too low for me, and 60fps loses quality.
You can convert H265 to ProRes and then edit in your favourite vídeo editor.



Enviado desde mi Nexus 6P mediante Tapatalk
Hi
Do you mind asking what do you use to convert H265 to ProRes ?
Thanks
 
Odd, just changed the video capture format to MOV and FCP still will not recognise it.

Thats at 4k 4096 x 2160 H265
 
So after all that, FCP (Apple on iMac) works with both MP4 & MOV, the issue was I had set my 4k to H265, my version of FCP 10.3 does not support that(Only H264).

New version of FCP does support H265.

So if I alter my video coding to H264 both formats work.

Result!
 
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Keep in mind that 4096x2160 is true 4K and will put black letterbox bars at the top and bottom of a 16x9 frame. Unless you are going for that look, I would recommend 3840x2160 (or Quad HD) for full frame 16x9 video. Personally I haven't seen any significant benefit to H.265 over H.264 with my P4P. It must be primarily file size benefits because either way you're ending up with 8 bit video in post. I don't bother with it myself. 30fps verses 24fps is a huge debate that's probably not worth having again. I prefer 24fps because it looks more cinematic to my eyes and I think 30fps looks more video-ish. Some people like the smoother pans and crisper image you get with 30fps. I say go with what looks best to you. Glad you discovered MP4 & MOV both work in FCPX. They are each just quicktime wrappers for the H.264 video. Happy flying!
 
Keep in mind that 4096x2160 is true 4K and will put black letterbox bars at the top and bottom of a 16x9 frame. Unless you are going for that look, I would recommend 3840x2160 (or Quad HD) for full frame 16x9 video. Personally I haven't seen any significant benefit to H.265 over H.264 with my P4P. It must be primarily file size benefits because either way you're ending up with 8 bit video in post. I don't bother with it myself. 30fps verses 24fps is a huge debate that's probably not worth having again. I prefer 24fps because it looks more cinematic to my eyes and I think 30fps looks more video-ish. Some people like the smoother pans and crisper image you get with 30fps. I say go with what looks best to you. Glad you discovered MP4 & MOV both work in FCPX. They are each just quicktime wrappers for the H.264 video. Happy flying!

Sorry to revive an older thread, but you might have the answer I need. I'm trying to render some clips for stock video and they have to be 4k but can't have black bars. Is 3840x2160 also 4k? Is there any way to shoot 4k with a P4P and not get black bars?
 
Sorry to revive an older thread, but you might have the answer I need. I'm trying to render some clips for stock video and they have to be 4k but can't have black bars. Is 3840x2160 also 4k? Is there any way to shoot 4k with a P4P and not get black bars?
Technically 4K is 4096 × 2160. 3840x2160 is 4K UHD (Ultra High Definition) and it retains the 16x9 aspect ratio of 1080 HD video (exactly 4 times as big). You can export 4096 × 2160 4K from your compressor without black bars if you want. Just make sure it's not conforming it to a 16x9 aspect ratio and you'll be good to go. On the other hand, your stock video company might accept UHD 4K (since most people edit with that anyway) so you might want to double check with them about what their expectations are. Good luck!
 
eoren1: I was faced with the same questions one year ago. I was an experienced stills photographer and had made several films pre-digital. Here’s what we use:
1. MP4.
2. 24fps. It’s the industry standard, but things are starting to change since the LOTR & Hobbit films. Accordingly, we set the shutter speed at 1/50th.
3. You missed this one!
4. 3840 x 2160.
5. We use h264.

I know you’re not asking this, but we usually underexpose at -0.3 or -0.7. We fly mainly during the golden hours to obtain the best natural colours.
 
New to drones and plan to use my P4P mostly for stills but will also shoot video periodically.

I dove into the Video settings last night and got a bit confused. Searched here and saw discussions of the Color and Sharpening settings but not the basics so here goes:

1. MP4 or MOV? Does it matter which format I choose? Im on a Mac
2. Do you have a preferred frame rate? I'm leaning towards the 24/48 mix and use the latter for smoother pans
4. 4k - I see two size options: 4096x2160 or 3840 x 2160...Not sure why there are the two options...
5. h265 - Tried recording in this and could not open the file in DaVinci, Lightroom, or VLC. Sounds like it needs to be converted first. Just confirming. Since 265 doesn't seem to allow 48 or 60 fps, I'm leaning against using it as long as we also have the second step of converting the video before use.

Also, any good intros to using DaVinci for color grading would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

E

I can import h265 in Davinci without any problems....which version you have? I'm talking about Davinci studio
 
The h265 is a lot more demanding in terms of computer performance - of course, you can allways go the proxy editing way, but it adds some more hassle to the process.
So, unless You are about to get out maximum from the shiny new Hasselblad camera on the new M2 pro (on this bird, you can use the non pre-sharpened/saturated video mode with 10bit color depth only with h265 codec), I would suggest You to stick with h264.
 
New to drones and plan to use my P4P mostly for stills but will also shoot video periodically.

I dove into the Video settings last night and got a bit confused. Searched here and saw discussions of the Color and Sharpening settings but not the basics so here goes:

1. MP4 or MOV? Does it matter which format I choose? Im on a Mac
2. Do you have a preferred frame rate? I'm leaning towards the 24/48 mix and use the latter for smoother pans
4. 4k - I see two size options: 4096x2160 or 3840 x 2160...Not sure why there are the two options...
5. h265 - Tried recording in this and could not open the file in DaVinci, Lightroom, or VLC. Sounds like it needs to be converted first. Just confirming. Since 265 doesn't seem to allow 48 or 60 fps, I'm leaning against using it as long as we also have the second step of converting the video before use.

Also, any good intros to using DaVinci for color grading would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

E
I would suggest you do post production in the form that is recommended by where you are going to post the vids. Most internet users are low demand. I convert to mp4 and shoot at 30fps. Watch which aspect ratio you use...again use the one recommended by your vid host (youtube etc). Take LOTS of video... it's easier to cut stuff out than not have enough to play with. Have fun!
 

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