There do seem to be a lot of things to consider here.

First is what I'd call "direct compatibility," which means you need to look at all the steps (if any) that are required to get the clip into PD. As I wrote in this post about the Insta360 One X, you'll defintley need to convert all the .insv videos to MP4 before PD can work with them.

Another issue is the very high video resolution.

Out of the box, PD can't produce to anything above 4k, but you can create a custom profile to match the 5.2k or 5.7k of your camera's clips, as detailed in the post about the GoPro Fusion here. That post also mentions that conversion is needed because PD doesn't support the CineForm codec. I used free 3rd party tools for the conversion, but GoPro's studio may also offer a built-in way to convert the clips.

Form my limited experience, it looks like both cameras require a conversion step, both require you to create a custom produce profile to match the highest resolution of your input (although recording at higher frame rates in the camera reduces the video resolution to 4k or below), and both require a very fast machine to do any serious editing.

You will almost certainly need to use shadow files, or convert to a lossless AVI format (which takes up a LOT of disk space). The GoPro post above has more details on that option.

Maybe other people who have either camera can comment, but if those requirements are pretty much equal, it seems like the ultimate choice is going to be more about your personal preferences than PD's limits.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

optodata,

Thanks for that detailed response.

Now I'm wondering if another video editor might be better for 360 video.

One that is capable of working with these larger files seamlessly.

Joe

That's obviously going to be your call, but I'm not sure what you mean by "seamlessly."

PD will certainly work with clips from either camera, and I gave you the ground truth about what steps will be needed. For example, setting up a new produce profile is something you'll definitely need to do, but it only takes a couple minutes and you'll only need to do that once.

I think you'll need to convert/export clips to work with almost every editor, although the InstaOne website shows a "PR Plugin" that apparently lets Adobe directly import the camera clips.

Regardless of which editor you choose, my advice is to be aware that there are often some required steps that don't always get mentioned in the marketing materials, and going to user forums will probably get you better answers.

Good luck with your search

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

OK, just keeping this thread going because of my continued confusion.

Since I don't have a smart phone- I can't use the available apps both cameras have. Both also have computer apps. I just read that the computer app for the Insta360 one X is not as good as the phone app. I'm not sure about Fusion Studio- but I do have the GoPro Studio which I used for awhile until I got the hang of my PD13- now I don't need the Studio program.

So, if I just gave up the idea of an app from those companies on my computer- and just brought the files (for either camera) directly into PD17- I presume I could do anything otherwise done in those apps and much more. So, I should have no concern about those apps?

Looking on YouTube- I found a great channel by a guy who really knows 360 consumer/prosumer cameras, Ben Claremont. His channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAjSHLRJcDfhDSu7WRpOu-w. He knows the cameras and makes exciting videos- a very talented guy. I asked what video editor he uses and it's Premier. I suspect Premier is not very different from PD. So, my best bet is to upgrade to PD17 and use it- rather than switch to Premier. I believe there's also a Cyberlink channel on YouTube which I've looked at in the past and liked it very much. So, I'll check that out again.

When I shop- I can't afford to have buyer's regret so I go back and forth for a long time with the products.

By the way, Ben Claremont seems to prefer the Insta360 one X over the Fusion.

Joe

Quote Since I don't have a smart phone- I can't use the available apps both cameras have.

Those aren't needed when editing on your computer.

Quote Both also have computer apps. I just read that the computer app for the Insta360 one X is not as good as the phone app. I'm not sure about Fusion Studio- but I do have the GoPro Studio which I used for awhile until I got the hang of my PD13- now I don't need the Studio program.

So, if I just gave up the idea of an app from those companies on my computer- and just brought the files (for either camera) directly into PD17- I presume I could do anything otherwise done in those apps and much more. So, I should have no concern about those apps?

As I wrote in my initial response, you HAVE to convert the raw files from either camera before PD can read them, and often the best way to do that is to use the PC apps that come with the camera. I doesn't matter how "good" someone else thinks the apps are, you're only going to use them to convert your clips, not edit with them.

There are also free and paid 3rd party converters that you can use if you really don't like the official apps. Handbrake and VirtualDub2 are both free, so check them out to see if you like one or the other better.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Hi,

I am an owner of the Insta 360 One X camera and can tell that Powerdirector is perfectly capable of editing the footage. Of course optodata is correct in saying that you need to convert the .insv videos to MP4 before editing with PD (the stitching proces). But after that you can import the video directly in Powerdirector and do the edit you want. There is no need to make a custom profile.

I know from a colleague that Powerdirector is even easier at the moment than Adobe Premiere when it comes to making a 2D video out of 360 degrees footage (wich I do most of the time).

The application of Insta 360 itself has had a great upgrade in the meantime and is now also capable of editing the footage besides the stitching proces.

Hope this helps!

Quote Hi,

I am an owner of the Insta 360 One X camera and can tell that Powerdirector is perfectly capable of editing the footage. Of course optodata is correct in saying that you need to convert the .insv videos to MP4 before editing with PD (the stitching proces). But after that you can import the video directly in Powerdirector and do the edit you want. There is no need to make a custom profile.

I know from a colleague that Powerdirector is even easier at the moment than Adobe Premiere when it comes to making a 2D video out of 360 degrees footage (wich I do most of the time).

The application of Insta 360 itself has had a great upgrade in the meantime and is now also capable of editing the footage besides the stitching proces.

Hope this helps!

Roene,

I now have the One X and having fun with it. You're right that you we don't need to make a custom profile but it apparently is necessary for PD17 to produce a 5.7K file. It would be nice if Cyberlink would upgrade PD to do this.

I also now have an i-Pad. Without a mobile, you can't set the timer for a photo with the One X to more than 10 seconds. The i-Pad does offer a way of editing a bit different from PD using the mobile Studio program - especially for those of us not familiar with Apple products. When looking at a 5.7K file on the i-Pad, I can edit it smootly- but on my fairly powerful Dell desktop- the Dell struggles to edit that 5.7 file even if I have the preview window set to HD. So, my solution so far is to film the video at 5.7K on the One X, then export that to a lower res- then import that into my Dell and edit with PD. On one YouTube site- somebody pointed out that if you're going to produce a HD non 360 file (overcapture)- then you will see little difference with the somewhat lower definition 360 to work with- other than while editing, you can't zoom as much because you don't have all the detail.

I'm not a video professional- just having fun and I probably don't understand this very well but I keep experimenting to learn more.
Joe

I use both PD and Magix MEP and currently MEP seems most compatible with 360 imagery and video with the way it can pretty much do what the Insta360 Video editor does in terms of panning to key points in the spherical video over an adjustable timeline. Neither PD or MEP support the new 360 video format that the insta360 OneX creates but given that they each promote themselves as being able to import over 50+ video formats I imagine yet another updated version with this one 'new feature' will happen any day now. So currently we have to deal with first converting the .insp .insv files to jpg/mp4s before combining them into a finished video.

I have a VR ready computer with a GTX 970 and have to say that 5.7K video does not actually play back as smoothly as I would like but the conversion down to 4k is overall a very good smooth result with a little sharpening for viewing in a headset. Not ideal but when I hear people wishing for 12k and 16K results I cannot imagine many systems could play or stream that back very well in a VR headset, aside from the MASSIVE files it would create. For now whichever software updates to allow import of .Insp and .insv file formats first will get my business!! Hopefully MEP because it has always handled custom output resolutions easily, I prefer it.