Which ones have you look at that interest you. Choice of a camcorder might just be a personal preference and depends on need. What are you going to use it for? What price r4ange?

What computer are you going to use it on and how much storage will be avaible on your system drive? .
.
BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Hi you are asking good questions as I was also wondering how much computer power it takes to run 4k video.

I have AMD Phenon II X6 Processor with 8 GB of Ram. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium. My hard drive is 1.8TB

I understand what you mean about choices when it comes to camcorders. I have spent more hours than I want to confess looking at reviews. I am trying to stay under the thousand dollar range. I just want to make sure that I am not going to cause future problems if I buy 4K camcorder.

Have you looked at this list? It may be somewhat out of date. http://www.cyberlink.com/support/faq-content.do?id=17904

Did you look at the required specs? Do you exceed all of them?

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector-ultimate/spec_en_US.html

Please post your dxdiag.exe evaluation of your computer. It tell us a lot.

Asked agaon, what are you going to use it for? I'm sure you have 4K ability but do your friends who would view the finished projects? Sorry, I'm a gadget person and that is for my personal infromation (I have a 3D camcorder that I use in 2D because no one wants to wear the glasses) !. .
.
BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Hey I am going to be using this camcorder for mostly nature and also include some video on Youtube. The two camcorders I am looking at are not on the list you provided. So you are correct the list is out of date.

Right now the Sony Handycam FDR - AX53 and the Panasonic HC-WXF991K are comparable give or take some features. But was also impressed with the Panasonic Lumix FX1000 which is a much lower price but has good video quality.

I have never used a camcorder directly with Power Director 14 but I am sure I will figure it out.

I am not interested in 3D myself.

Here are some reviews from a reputable US store: (I'm usually a Sony fan).

Sony : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1211905-REG/sony_fdrax53_b_fdr_ax53_4k_ultra_hd.html

There is only one for the Panasonic HC

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1211805-REG/panasonic_hc_wxf991k_4k_camcorder.html

There are no results on the other Panasonic from that store.

The SAony uses memory stcks so there is no need to capture; just copy from the camcorder to the computer.

The codec use is xavi s http://www.divergentmedia.com/blog/understand-xavc/

Do you see that as an acceptable input format in PowerDirector? .
.
BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Thanks for the links but as noted I have done hours or research already. I have read as much as I could and watched video reviews on the three camcoreders mentioned plus many more.

I was just wondering how the 4K videos work with Power Director 14? I just don't want to purchase something and find out it is not compatible.

I guess I just need to check out Power Director and figure it out. Thanks for the help.

Give your question more time. It's only been up a few hours. I know there are people on this forum who shoot and edit 4k. Some have day jobs and/or live in other countries.

Posting your dxdiag.exe will help. Regards,
Dan
Power Director 21-Ultimate
v 21.0.3111.0
XPS-8940, Win-10 64-bit,
Intel Core i9-10900 processor
(10 core, 20M Cache),
32GB DDR4 RAM, 2TB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD, 2TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD,
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6

Thanks , I will wait it out as I try not to hurry when spending this much money on a camcorder.

I am only home today because I am self employed so I totally understand.

You'll find that the more patience you have for such things should yield better results.

Just saying....

CS PD13 Ultimate - Build 3516, WIN 8.1, 64 Bit, 16G RAM, Intel Core i5 4460, CPU @ 3.2GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT720, Graphics Memory(total avail.)-4093MB
LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray Drive

I only work in 4K, so I will relate my experiences as I see them.

PowerDirector will produce 4K material with no problems whatsoever (usually). So the production stage is nothing to worry about. However, editing 4K material is another, not insurmountable, story. I have said many times on this forum, and to date, nobody has really put up a case to say I am wrong, that the program has great difficulty editing 4K clips on the timeline, and this is due, in the main, to the very high bit rates that 4K creates.

I can quote a forum member that had spent thousands of dollars trying to achieve the goal of a machine that could edit 4K, and at the same time be able to use the "Power Tools" such as rotation, video speed, video in reverse, etc. It became apparent that the goal was pretty much unachievable due to the CODEC used by PD.

In an half hearted effort to get around the problem, PD allows you to use shadow files. Shadow files are lower resolution copies of your original material that can be edited easilly, but at a price. The price is speed. Each of your clips need to be generated and, in the case of 4K, this can take several hours and you have to wait until all the clips in the project are complete before you can edit, or odd things begin to happen.

This post is not suggesting that PD is a bad program, on the contrary, it's a great little editing program that's easy to use and produces some wonderful results, it's just not quite ready for raw 4k work.

There are three ways in which to circumnavigate the 4K shortfalls. I have already mentioned shadow files, which I believe are a disaster for 4K users.

Secondly, another quicker method can be seen here: http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/46616.page.

This third method was created with these problems in mind. It uses a special lossless CODEC to create AVI copies of your clips. These clips can be edited in PD to almost any level without skips and jumps on the timeline. You then just produce the project to your required need, such as 3840x2160 MP4, and when complete you just delete the disk hungry AVIs. I have carried out comparison tests and can say that this method is about 8 time faster than shadow files.

Have a read here if you are interested in working 4K in PD. I will say this, you will not be disappointed in the lossless results.
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/46177.page


So far as a machine is concerned, try for an absolute minimum of 16GB RAM, the eqivalent of at least an i5 processor - i7 is better. And in my experience, 4k seems to work better with an SSD.

In conclusion I would say that if you are prepared to take these extra steps 4K and PD will be best mates.

I hope that I haven't frightened you off, I just wanted to say how it really is. I don't think any other NLE would, in reality, be any better.

I do hope this helps you. Remember, I work 4K and I wouldn't move from PD for anything.

Robert Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,

I too use only 4K and have no problems at all. Using shadow files is a must, I doubt that there are any reasonable priced pc's or editing programs that can handle the original UHD data stream w/o any hickups.

A very important factor is the GPU, mine is a GTX960, it and its cousin GTX950 are the only ones (Ithink) that have all the 264 and 265 codecs for rendering and HDMI 2 output.

And PD14 does a terrific job as far as video quality is concerned

My computer is over 4 years old, has 12GB memory, that proved enough even for 90 min long videos.



Download some 4K video from the internet and try editing it in the PD14, that way you find out.



Good luck



Eugene 73s, WA6JZN ex DL9GC
CYBERLINK PLEASE ADD UHD BLU RAY BURNING SOFTWARE
PD14,
Win10,64bit.CPU i7 6700,16GB ,C= 480 GB SSD ,GPU GTX1060 6GB 1 fan. Plus 3 int, 4 ext HDD's for video etc.LG WH16NS40 reads UHD.
4K 24" ViewSonic monitor.Camera Sony FDR-A

Quote: A very important factor is the GPU, mine is a GTX960, it and its cousin GTX950 are the only ones (Ithink) that have all the 264 and 265 codecs for rendering and HDMI 2 output.

Just to finish Eugen157's statement for those that may use the thread as reference latter on. Current Nvidia Maxwell desktop GPU's GTX950, 960, 970, 980, and TITAN X will all support both H.264 and H.265 encoding. The 950 and 960 have the added benefit of pure hardware decoding for certain profiles while the others use a combination of hardware/software. Currently hardware decoding not a major editing factor with PD14 as many timeline playbacks are not using HA decoding anyway for whatever reason.

Since shadowfiles or uncompressed intermediate codecs are currently the norm for handling 4K content timeline playback with PD14 anyhow, having the hardware decode of little value for PD14 editing as significant load just not present like it is in the source 4k compressed footage.

For those that use the GPU as part of a home media playback system, HA decode could be very relevant.

Jeff

I might add if this will help in hardware selection of editing and encoding 4K video. The is from my 4K game video recording, edited and encoded with PD14, then uploaded to youtube.

I did some testing of my hardware when I first purchased PD14 and I am still very happy with this software.

1-RAM usage 7GB. Another test with the wrong settings, RAM was up to 10.5GB's 16GB RAM I would say is the minimum.
2-Let your GPU do all the work for your project. Selection of a high grade video card will make your projects go very smooth. I believe GPU is much more important than the CPU, but both will tax your system.
3-The software file "PDR.exe" can use over 3GB or RAM when producing 4K video.
4-Hardrive temps, normal, no worries. (example M.2)
5-CPU temp, all normal
6-GPU temps, in my specific video card a EVGA 980, the highest temp was 140F/60C. Again, this is all normal temps. When I am gaming, my temps are 130-135F/57C. These high end video cards fan speed will kick in at 160F/71C
7-Hard drive. I found no difference in speeds or final output with a M.2 drive, SSD, or standard hard drive. The process time didn't change with any hard drive setup.

Again, high end CPU and GPU are key hardware parts to consider with 4K video. RAM today, is just plain cheap to upgrade to larger quanity. (16GB)

Hi Allen80

Here's a 4k workaround from the very talented Optodata.



I haven't used this program myself but others swear by it



http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/46177.page Happing editing

Best Regards

Neil
CubbyHouseFilms
My Youtube Channel
My Vimeo Channel
PD3.5, 5, 6 & 7. Computer: Dell Dimension 5150, Intel Pen. 2.80 GHz, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 256MB, Windows XP Pro!!
PD8 Ultra v3022. Computer: Dell Studio 1747, Intel, i7 Q740 1.73 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 560v 1GB, Windows 7 Ult. 64
PD10 Ultra v2023. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD12 Ultra v2930. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD13 Ultim v3516. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD16 Live v2101 Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 16GB RAM, ATI Mob.Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
Director Suite 6: PowerDirector 16 Live, PhotoDirector 9, ColorDirector 6, AudioDirector 8

Cameras: Sony(s) HXR-NX5P, HXR-NX70P, NEX-VG10E, a6300 4k, HDR TG5E, GoPro 4 Black, Canon 6D DSLR

Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog - PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

Hi Neil

My third reference in the post above was meant to to be the Magic+PD thread, but I see now that I gave the wrong thread address.

Thanks for your input and I will now correct the error.

Robert (shadowman) Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,

As a slightly connected thought...I have finally uploaded a few 4K Apple 6S camera-phone files to my site.
http://bgillcyberstudio.com/barry_gill_cyber_studio_007.htm
If anyone would care to provide for me any further 4K samples I could place on my site so others may experiment, I'll be happy to take them. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

I want to apologize for not getting back to this tpoic. For some reason my email notifications is no longer working. I will have to check this and makes sure it is still checked on this site.

I was feeling like no one was going to answer but I was very glad to see the replies.

I under stand the power issues as far a the computer is concerned. I think mine will handle it. But I am wondering if this 4K really makes that much difference by the time you post your work on YouTube?

I watched one video in which a professional camera person demonstrated that 4K was only noticeable when you use high end equipment. Yes I know there is some controversy over this issue.

And what happens after you edit the 4K in Power Director? Do you lose some of the quality. What happens to the 4K when the video is turned to Mp4?

I will make more comments later concening the differnt comments but like most people need to get to work.

I appreciate all the replys to my quesiton. It appears that I need to to a test 4K in my PD14 on my computer to see how it all works. Most mirrorless cameras and camcorders have both HD and 4K so ether way you look at it I can still use the HD. The comments about being hard to edit 4K appears to have more to do with the computer rather than PD.

Some camcoreders that shoot 4K have there own internal system to converst the 4K files for those who don't have 4K TV's. I would think this also means that this same process would work for editing in PD. But need to do some more research.

Thanks again for all the replies.

It's not really the computer alone, that makes editing 4K difficult. It' more about the CODEC that PD uses, that's why I pointed you in the direction of, in particular, Magic+PD.

Magic+PD utilises a much better CODEC that converts 4K into AVIs for easy editing, and this process is lossless. In other words, what you put in quality wise you get out the other end. Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,