What to convert h.265 to?

Alec200

Newbie Joined: Oct 23, 2015 20:14 Messages: 17 Offline

Solved by

Dec 31, 2016 16:53

Hi all.

I'm just trying to get to grips with editing the footage from my Phantom 4 Pro on Windows 10 64bit. To get the best from the camera I'm told that I should have it output in UHD h.265 which is what I've been doing. The issue in having is that my laptop isn't very beefy (i5 6200u/20GB DDR4/480GB SSD). Whilst it was just about tolerable when editing h.264 UHD, its just far too slow when with h.265. I use the shadow file option for editing but still a no go.

Can anyone recommend an intermediate file format that I could convert the h.265 into that would be easier to work with. Ideally lossless. Ideally it would be free or nearly free to use. I've explored Prores but not found any cheap and simple solutions.

Thanks for any ideas.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Dec 31. 2016 16:54

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 31, 2016 18:13

Hi Alec200 -

I'm not sure why you were told that using HEVC H.265 would "get the best out of your camera". Clips from DJI P4 are AVC H.264.

The advantage of H.265 is that you can get similar picture quality with smaller file size.

Have a read here

If file size is not an issue, I'd consider keeping with H.264.

Cheers - Tony
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Alec200

Newbie Joined: Oct 23, 2015 20:14 Messages: 17 Offline

Dec 31, 2016 19:40

The rational that has been quoted on the Phantom 4 Pro specific threads is this:

max bit rate of the camera is 100mbits/s (excuse me if I have mixed up my units). If this bit rate is used to create h.265 files then there will be more information available than if the same bit rate is used to create h.264 files.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 31, 2016 21:25

I have to apologise. I wasn't aware that the Phantom 4 Pro had the option to record in H.265 as well as H.264. Should have double checked

The advice about HEVC H.265 is right. The "HE" stands for High Efficiency". In theory, recording at 50Mbps using HEVC H.265 gives about the same image quality as recording at 100Mbps using AVC H.264... so you get similar PQ with a much lower file size.

Without any H.265 clips from DJI P4, it's difficult to test... but my PC has way more trouble with smooth playback using H.265 clips from other cameras compared with 4K clips from DJI 3 shot in H.264.

You've tried shadow files? What do you mean - "still a no go"? It will take PDR15 a good while to produce the shadow files, but didn't that make it easier on your PC?

You may want to consider the suggestions in this thread.

Cheers - Tony
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SoNic67

Senior Contributor Joined: Sep 27, 2014 14:14 Messages: 1308 Offline

Jan 01, 2017 02:59

Quote Thanks for any ideas.

Dump the laptop and use a decent desktop with an i7 and a nvidia GTX1050 video card. You can't do 4K editing on a laptop...

As for "uncompressed 4K video" - you don't realize what are you asking.

Alec200

Newbie Joined: Oct 23, 2015 20:14 Messages: 17 Offline

Jan 01, 2017 16:18

I tried editing the video with the shadow file option enabled but it made little difference.

Thanks for the idea of Magic+ PD. I've installed the components as directed and it converted my 3.95GB H.265 4K 25fps video into a 19GB AVI file. This opened and seems to make editing far quicker (I've only given it a short test so far).

Knowing little about file formats etc, could anyone tell me what, if any, image quality is lost during this conversion? Do these potential losses, amount to a level that I would be better off just setting the Phantom to record H.264 rather than H.265 in the first place?

I do have a reasonable i7 HTPC at home, but the nature of my work dictates that I have little opportunity to use anything other than my laptop to edit videos

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 01. 2017 16:21