Thursday, October 12, 2017

3 Professional Methods to Solve "DJI 4K Don't Play on VLC"

DJI drones has claimed a market share of half or more rescently. Some models of drones such as DJI Phantom 4 Pro, DJI Inspire, can shoots DCI 4K (4096 X 2160) video and UHD 4K (3480 X 2160) video compressed with MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec in MOV wrapper, however finding a proper media player to play is a head-scratching task and turn into an agony when you lack a super computer. Here you will find the way to solve this problem, read on.

When we search on Google, we found that "DJI 4K vdieo don't play on VLC" would be a common problem. Even quite powerful i7 SSD PC don't play DJI Inspire / Phantom 4K 100Mbps bitrate video properly. A practicable way is to slow speed to 0.67, Media Player Classic (k-lite codecs) runs and play those 4k footage smoothly. However, for VLC fans, they give up this way.

 

Why VLC Can't Play DJI 4K Footage?

3 Method to Play DJI 4K Footage on VLC Smoothly

Method 1: Update VLC to 2.2.6 version

Method 2: Enable Hardware Acceleration in VLC to Play DJI 4K Video

Method 3: Downscale DJI 4K Video to 1080p for VLC Smooth Playback

 

Why VLC Can't Play DJI 4K Footage?

In fact, the 4K video playback including DJI 4K recordings with VLC has strict requirements on the computer's processor and graphics chip. Sometimes, even if your computer meets the requirements, you may find that DJI 4K video plays back choppy. This is due to the immense processing power required to play 4K. You can try the below 3 methods to handle the problems.

3 Method to Play DJI 4K Footage on VLC Smoothly

Method 1: Update VLC to 2.2.6 Version

With preparation for Ultra-HD video and a special care to support more formats, 2.2 is a major upgrade for VLC. Download it here and re-open your DJI Phantom 4 4K videos in VLC Player for 4K video playback.

Note: Although version 2.2.6 of VLC offers 4K playback support, it still does not support 4K video from DJI Phantom 4 playback perfectly: there is stutters, not showing audio, etc issues.

Method 2: Enable Hardware Acceleration in VLC to Play DJI 4K Video

If you ungrade VLC verison but still fail to play DJI 4k on VLC, you can try the second method. You can fix this issue by enabling the GPU accelerated decoding feature in VLC, this feature in theory uses the processing power of the graphic card to lighten the load on the processor of the system.

However, according to VLC's GPU decoding page, this feature is only available for H.264 streams. In addition, as the data is decoded in the GPU at the decoding stage and then transferred back to the player so that the other stages, filtering and streaming for instance, can be processed, this process can under under circumstances be slower than without GPU acceleration enabled. What's more, the VLC GPU decoding is only available for select operating systems. While Windows Vista and newer versions of the Microsoft operating system are supported, Windows XP is not at this point in time. The majority of graphic cards should support hardware acceleration just fine. Make sure you have installed the latest drivers though.

How to enable hardware acceleration in VLC?

Open VLC Media Player and click on Tools > Preferences or press Ctrl-P to open the settings window of the program. If you are using the simple settings interface, click on Input & Codecs on the left sidebar and check the Use GPU accelerated decoding box there.

VLC Enable GPU Acceleration

If you are using the "all" interface select Input/Codecs > Video Codecs > FFmpeg > Hardware decoding instead to enable acceleration this way.

Click on the save button afterwards and restart the media player to work with the new setting. Try playing several video files to see if hardware acceleration makes a difference in terms of playback. If it does, keep the setting enabled. If it does not, just go back to the settings to uncheck the option again.

Method 3: Downscale DJI 4K Video to 1080p for VLC Smooth Playback

It will be GPU consuming and very jerky if you play DJI 4k footage on VLC media player, and if you don't possess a powerful computer, that will be worse. So how about compressing your DJI 4k to 1080p that will be compatible with most devices, like smartphone, tablets, labtops, or game console. By the way, this way has lower requirements on the computer's processor and graphics chip than 4K video.

To downscale DJI 4k to 1080p, what you need is to get a professional 4k to 1080p compressor. Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate/ For Mac stands out from it calss just like it name. It can convert DJI Phantom 4 Pro 4K video, DJI Mavic 4K video, DJI Phantom 4K video, DJI Phantom Professional 4K video, DJI Inspire 2/1 4K video to 4K H.264 MP4 or compress DJI 4K video to 1080p for VLC. 

Moreover, based on testing and VLC playback feedback, we found 1080p MKV, AVI, MOV, MP4 are more compatible with VLC and can be played by VLC more simply. All those container, you can find by click "Settings" button.

To get a better virtual experience, you can edit video with this smart assistant. You can flexible to adjust vdieo parameters, including video and audio bitrate, frame rate, resolution, channel and more. With it, you can merge separate video clips into one, insert external subtitles to video, add transparent text watermark/image watermark to video, crop black bars around the video frame, adjust video color brightness, remove audio from a video or replace audio in video, trim video footage, crop unwanted area from video, etc. More funtions here.

Step By Step to Convert DJI 4K Video to VLC

Step 1: Add 4K videos

Open the 4K video converter program, click “File” menu, from its drop-down option, select “Add Video/Audio” to load DJI 4K video to the program. If you have Blu-ray and DVD that want to playback on VLC, you also can load them to rip to VLC.

load 4K video

Step 2: Choose output file format

From “Format” bar drop-down list, choose the formats that you want to output for later use. For compatibility consideration, it is idea for you to choose “HD Video” > “H.264 HD Video (*.mp4)” as output file format.

output mp4

Open “Profile Settings” window, click “Size(pix)” to select 1920*1080 as the final resolution for output video. In this way, the DJI 4K video can be downscaled to 1080p then you can play it with VLC smoothly.

mp4 settings

Step 3: Convert DJI 4K video to VLC

After all the settings is completed, hit right-bottom “Convert” button to start to convert and downscale DJI 4K video to 1080p format videos. When the conversion is finished, click “Open Output Folder” icon on the main interface to open the folder with generated HD DJI video files. 

Now, try to play DJI video files with VLC on your computer. It should be smooth now. 

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Useful Tips for Uploading DJI Phantom 4 Pro 4k to Youtube

DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ stands out from its class, which is capable of shooting H.264 videos at 60fps or H.265 4K video at 30fps, both recorded in a 100 Mbps bitrate. When the shooting is completed, you may want to upload the 4k video to Youtube and share with thousands audiences. It easy to get this goal, cause Youtube has already added 4K video streaming support. However, what really matter here is how to smoothly upload DJI Phatom 4 Pro+ 4K video to YouTube with the best quality. Before you get start, you have to know the  best 4K format and settings for YouTube as folllowing.

Best 4K upload format and settings for YouTube

Container: MP4 


Video codec: H.264 
Progressive scan not interlacing 
High Profile 
2 consecutive B frames 
Closed GOP. GOP of half the frame rate. 
CABAC 
Variable bitrate, no bit rate limit required, though we offer recommended bit rates below for reference, 
Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0


Audio codec: AAC-LC 
Channels: Stereo or Stereo + 5.1 
Sample rate 96khz or 48khz


Frame rate and bit rate to view 4K uploads on 4K TV with YouTube

SDR uploads

24/25/30 fps standard frame rate - 35-45 Mbps 
48/50/60fps High Frame Rate - 53-68 Mbps

HDR uploads

24/25/30 fps standard frame rate - 44-56 Mbps 
48/50/60fps High Frame Rate - 66-85 Mbps


Resolution and aspect ratio 

YouTube uses 16:9 aspect ratio players. If you're uploading a non-16:9 file, it will be processed and displayed correctly as well, with pillar boxes (black bars on the left and right) or letter boxes (black bars at the top and bottom) provided by the player.


Time and file size limitations for YouTube video upload

Size: Up to 2GB 
Length: By default, you can upload videos that are up to 15 minutes long, but you can upload longer videos by following the steps below to verify your account. 
1. go to the upload page at youtube.com/upload
2. At the bottom of the page, click Increase your limit. You can also go directly to https://www.youtube.com/verify
3. Follow the steps to verify your account. You can choose to receive a verification code through a text message on a mobile phone or an automated voice call. 
4. Once you've verified your account, you can upload videos that are longer than 15 minutes long.

How to Convert DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4K for YouTube

From above official information, we know that to upload DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4k H.264 at 60 fps with 100Mbps video to Youtube, you have to adjust uploaded 4k video bit rate to 66-85 Mbps which is more suitable for Youtube. And if you are uploading DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4k H.265 at 30fps with 100Mbps video to Youtube, transcoding the H.265 to H.264 High Profile video codec and adjut 100Mbps to 66-85 Mbps could be better for Youtube.

Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate for Windows/Mac enables you to convert DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4k H.265 to H.264, with adjusting bit rate to 66-85. Furthermore, for those people, who want to transfer the 4k video to iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, or other tablets, you can downscale 4k to 1080p, in fact, you will not see the difference between 4k and 1080p, so to save more storage space, you can compress 4k for massive devices.

Moreover, this program also works as a professional video editor, which enables you to trim the 4k vdieo to cut your unwanted part. With it, you can merge separate video clips into one, insert external subtitles to video, add transparent text watermark/image watermark to video, crop black bars around the video frame, split large video files into small parts, adjust video color brightness, contrast, saturation, remove audio from a video or replace audio in video, trim video footage, crop unwanted area from video, etc. More functions in this guide.

Quick Guide to Upload DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ to Youtube

Step 1: Load DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4K video into the program.

Start the program on your computer, click "File" menu and select "Add Video/Audio" or "Add from folder" to import DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4K video.

Load DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4K video

Step 2: Output Youtube best uploading format for 4K video.

Click "Format" bar, from its drop-down options, choose YouTube best compatible uploading format from "Common VIdeo" > "H.264 High Profile Video(*.mp4)".

Output YouTube best uploading 4k formats

Step 3: Tweak encoding settings for YouTube upload.

Click "Hit "Settings" to open the "Profile Settings" window, here you can adjust the output video codec, resolution, bit rate, frame rate and audio codec, bit rate, sample rate and channels to let them fit them YouTube.

Tip: Video size are based more on bit rate than resolution.

Output YouTube best uploading settings

Step 4: Trim video file.

If the 4K video is longer than 15 minutes, you can shorten the video length with the trimming function to set the start time and end time to remove unwanted clips from the video.

Trim video

Step 5: Start the conversion.

Start DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4K video to YouTube best format conversion by hitting the right bottom convert button, when the conversion is over, you will have no limitation to upload and share DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ 4K video on YouTube with fast speed and perfect quality.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Jerky DJI Spark Video in iMovie? Fixed!

DJI Spark, a mini drone that features all of DJI's signature technologies, allowing you to seize the moment whenever you feel inspired. With intelligent flight control options, a mechanical gimbal, and a camera with incredible image quality, Spark empowers you to push your creative boundaries. Many people would like to transfer DJI Spark footage from SDcard to iMovie for editing then upload to Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and share with thousands of audiences. But the feedback unveiled that when it would be smooth to play the videos in QuickTime Player and VLC while it is choppy using the DJI Spark videos in iMovie.

When we are visiting DJI forums, we found that this problem is not unique. But few people can know the exact reason. One speculation is that whether DJI is reporting the frame rate incorrectly in its files or it a software issue on the desktop cause while importing video clips in Final Cut Pro, if you change the default frame-rate of 29.97 to 30fps, the video plays smoothly. Using the 'mediainfo' utility, the only difference we can see between DJI videos and videos from other cameras is the following:

DJI: Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) fps
iPhone: Frame rate : 30.000 fps

Some people tried to adjust 29.97fps to 30fps when importing DJI Spark video to iMovie and succeeded, but others got failure. To play DJI Spark vdieo in iMovie choopy, you can convert DJI Spark video to iMovie most compatible AIC codec MOV video in that MP4 video is not a friendly video format to NLE software with a video converter.

Here we highly recommend you Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac which can convert DJI Spark 1080p MP4 video to iMovie best editing codec Apple Intermediate Codec video in MOV format with most compatible video and audio settings. It not only works for DJI Spark, but also for DJI Phantom 4/4 Pro, DJI Mavic Pro, DJI Inspire. It can transcode DJI 4k video/HD video to iMovie and Final Cut Pro and other NLE software friendly video formats for editing without any issues.

By the way, this program also performs as a video editor, which offers professional editing functions. You can trim video length to remove unwanted parts from DJI Spark video, crop video file size, adjust output file aspect ratio, add text/image/video watermark to DJI video, apply special rendering effect, insert external ASS/SSA/SRT subtitles to videos, etc. You can learn more about this video converter in the review.

Quick Guide to Convert DJI Spark Video to iMovie on macOS High Sierra

Step 1. Load Spark Video files

Launch this best Spark Video converter on your Mac. Click "Add Video" or directly drag and drop the Spark video file into the software.This Mac version software also supports batch conversion to encode your Spark Videos. It still has Windows version, its operating procedures are as the same as its Mac version.

load video

Step 2: Select output format for iMovie

When the files are loaded, you can simply choose "iMovie and Final Cut Express"> "Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)" as the output video format, in this option all the key specs like video resolution, frame rate, bitrate has been optimized for using in iMovie. Then hit "Browse" to decide where to locate the output files. Otherwise, they will be exported to a default folder specified by the application itself.

iMovie

If you are not satisfied with the default settings, click "Settings" button, then you will enter the following interface, on which you are allowed to customize size, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, and audio channel to your required ones.

settings

Step 3: Start DJI Spark video to iMovie conversion

Click the big red Convert button on the main interface to start to convert your DJI Spark MP4 video to AIC MOV for iMovie.

After the conversion, click "Open" to locate the encoded videos and then launch iMovie, choose File > Import > Movies..., to import the converted video into iMovie; prepare for editing. You will find that it's just a piece of cake to edit DJI Spark files in iMovie.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Tips for Importing Nikon D850 Footage to Davinci Resolve for Editing

Whether you're shooting weddings, landscapes, portraits, action or wildlife, the D850 won't leave you wanting. A much more versatile proposition than the D810 (and its closest rivals for that matter), the D850 is a brilliant DSLR, and perhaps the most well-rounded camera we've ever tested. For those photography enthusiast, second thing they have to do is to edit their works. So here comes the DaVinc Resolve, which stands out from professional editing software class and combines professional video editing with the world's most advanced color corrector and incredible new effects to allow you to edit, correct color, add effects and deliver projects from start to finish. DaVinc Resolve could be the best partner for Nikon D850.

DaVinc Resolve can support several different resolution: SD, HD. From its official formats website, we know this program covers a wide range of import/ouput formats as the list below.

Davinci Resolve supported file formats

DaVinci Resolve allows full unlimited editing and grading of anything in real time.
Video codec: QuickTime, Prores, DNxHD, MXF, DPX, CIN, EXR
Image format: TIFF, JPEG, MOV, TGA, BMP
Camera raw format: Blackmagic CinemaDNG RAW, ARRI Alexa RAW and Amira. RED One, EPIC , Scarlet and Dragon R3D files including +5K, monochrome and HDRx images, Cineform , Cineform 3D, Phantom Raw, GoPro, Nikon, Canon C300, C500 and 1D, 5D, 7D, Sony F65/F55/F5 RAW, Sony XAVC variants

Nevertheless, we still get some issues about importing Nikon D850 footage to DaVinc Resolve from some forums. As we all know, we can get MP4 with H.264 codec and MOV movies files from Nikon D850. You also can shoot 4k at 30 fps, Full HD at 60 fps and other HD files via this smart camera. However, MP4, MOV are just container which covers a lot of codec, so it is common that you meet formats incompatibility issues when editing footage on DaVinc Resolve. In this article, we have list several cases for you when you meet the same issues you can know something.

Option 1: When you get Full HD at 60 fps video but it is very choppy when you editing via DaVinc Resolve. To solve this problem, we strongly recommend you a powerful assistant - Pavtube Video Converter/For Mac, which could help you downscale 60 frames video to 30p, or 25p for smooth editing on Davinci Resolve.

Option 2: For getting H.264 MP4 footage then importing into Davinci Resolve, if you don't care about the output formats after edititng on Davinci Resolve, you can skip this. Cause Davinci Resolve could decode H.264 MP4, but can't encode H.264 MP4 on Windows and Mac. For those people who care about the output format, you can take measures as following I will show you. To be frank, MP4 is not friendly to non-linear editing program, no matter Davinci Resolve, or other editing programs. To solve the video format incompatibility issues, we highly recommend you to convert H.264 MP4 to DNxHD MOV, which could be the best video format for non-linear editing program. You must want to know how to convert H.264 MP4 to DNxHD MOV, keep reading.

Option 3: For those people who are crazy about getting 4k UHD video and want to bring your works to a higher visual level via non-linear editing program, like Davinci Resolve, After Effects, Adobe Premiere, however, if your computer is not powerful enough to editing those footage, Pavtube Vider covnerter also can help you solve those problem easily by downscaling 4k to 1080p.

Key Features about Pavtube Video Converter

  • Convert almost all Nikon HD audio/video to 200+ audio/video formats like, MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WMV, etc.
  • Convert Nikon 4k/HD footage to massive non-linear editing programs, like iMovie, Adobe Promeire Pro, After Effects,Final Cut Pro and more.
  • Get footages of Nikon/Canon/Sony/Panasonic series footage for free playback on popular devices like, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPad, PS4 Pro, and more.
  • Powerful editing functions enables you to trim or cut unwanted parts of recorings, insert subtitles, add creator's watermark, etc.
  • GPU acceleration technology available .

How to transcode Nikon D850 H.264 MP4 to Davinci Resolve for Editing?

Step 1: Add Nikon D850 H.264 MP4 with 30 frame video files.

Launch this assistant on your Windows, click the “Load file” or “Add Video” icon on the main interface to import Nikon D850 H.264 MP4 video into the program.

load H.264 mp4

Step 2: Choose DNxHD MOV as output file format.

Click "Format" bar, from its drop-down option, choose "Avid DNxHD 720p/1080p(*.mov)" best editing codec by selecting "Avid Media Composer".

ouput setting dnchd mov

Step 3: Downscale 60p to 30p(Optional).

If you worry about footage with 60p which can't be played on Davinci Resolve smoothly, you can click "Settings" on the main interface, and change "Frame Rate" from 60 to 30. you also can flexibly tweak video Codec, Size, Bitrate, Frame Rate, Audio Codec, Sample Rate as you like.

Tip 1: Generally, the higher the bitrate is, the bigger file size it will be.

Tip 2: For those people who has a weak computer but get 4k footage, you can downscale resolution form 3840*2160 to 1920*1080

60 to 30

Step 4: Edit video.

This program also supplies simple edition features, please click pen icon on the main interface, and enter the "Video Editor" interface, there are seven edit tabs: Trim, Crop, Text Watermark, Image/Video Watermark, Effect, Audio Editor and Subtitle for you to select. More feature you can check this review.

video editor

Step 5: Start the conversion process.

After all the setting is over, go back to the main interface and hit right-bottom "Convert" button to start Nikon D850 H.264 MP4 to Avid DNxHD 720p/1080p(*.mov) conversion process.

You can click "Open" and pop up the folder with converted file, then launch Davinci Resolve on your Windows/Mac to import Nikon D850 H.264 MP4 video to Davinci Resolve for editing.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Convert MTS to M4V for Playback on iPhone 8/ iPhone X

MTS is a file extension for an AVCHD video clip format for high-definition video which is used by Sony, Panasonic, and other HD camcorders; based on the MPEG-2 transport stream and supports 720p and 1080i HD video formats. When you record video footage on an AVCHD digital camcorder, the captured footage appears as an MTS video file, a format most media players and video-editing programs don't recognize.

mts to m4v

When you try to play or watch .mts files on iPhone 8 or iPhone X, changing it to M4V would be a good idea as  M4V is a standard file format for videos for iPhone 8/X and other devices developed by Apple. M4V is based on the MPEG-4 AVC video codec, and it is also used by QuickTime. You could use M4V file freely in the Apple world, even from iPad, iPhone, to its apps. To convert MTS to M4V, Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate plays a leading role in ripping camera MTS video files to video formats natively supported by Apple devices.

Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate/Mac works as a professional MTS to M4V converter, which not only could convert MTS to M4V, MOV for playing on iPhone 8 or iPhone X, but also convert MTS to 200+ formats, MP4, AVI, MKV, WMV, etc for almost all devices, like Android smartphone, tablets, laptops, game consoles, TV box, NAS, and more. You also could convert captured footage to M4V for editing with iMovie, after that, upload to Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and share with thousands of audiences. By the way, Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate offers you 7 main editing functions, you can trim to remove unwanted parts, add your own watermark, crop video aspect ratio, more features you can explore by yourself.

How to convert MTS videos to M4V for iPhone 8/X?

Step 1. Import captured MTS videos

Download and open up recorded HD MTS videos to this MTS to M4V converter by clicking “File” > “Add Video/Aideo.”

add mts video to mts converter

Step 2. Choose M4V as output video format

Just click "Format" bar, navigate to "Common Video", then select "M4V MPEG 4 Video(*.m4v)".

output iTunes M4V format

Step 3. Edit recorded HD MTS videos (Optional)

Go to “Video Editor” window to create your personal videos by trimming, cropping, adding watermarks and special effects.

edit mts video

Step 4. Convert MTS to M4V for iPhone 8 / iPhone X

One click on the red button “Convert” to start to convert recorded HD MTS videos to iPhone 8/iPhone X compatible video format - M4V.

After conversion, transfer the converted MTS videos to your devices for playback or editing at will without worring about video format issues.