4K Video Editing and Exporting Question.

[Larry Johnson]

My apologies if this isn't the correct forum for this question.
I've recorded a bunch of 4K clips (100mbps/30p, MP4/LPCM), made some minor edits in iMovie, and created final ProRes 4K .mov files on an obsolete computer. Understandably, the videos were choppy during editing and any viewing on my old computer. I'm wondering if my final .mov clips that were exported from iMovie retained their 4K 100mbps format and if they would retain their quality if viewed on better computer or would they be choppy like I viewed on my computer..

[Roger Gunkel]

I don't use Macs, but on every NLE system I have used, you need to select the export format that you want before rendering.

This means that although your original footage may be in 4K, your export settings may be MP4, avi, mov. or whatever you have selected and each of those can be in SD, HD, or whatever size you have selected. If you haven't selected any, it may well export to whatever was previously set.

Roger

[Larry Johnson]

Yes, I was able to select "4K" and "ProRes" prior to creating the .mov file, but I was concerned that the file may still be as choppy as when I tried viewing it.

[Roger Gunkel]

Well the file may still be 'choppy' when viewing it on the same system as it was originally, but that is not because the footage is choppy. If you view it on a system capable of handling the high data rates involved, there will be no problem. When the footage is rendered after editing, your system will render correctly but at a speed that it can handle. A faster system will playback and re-render much more quickly.

If you want to make a copy that you can view smoothly on your older system, just render again at a lower resolution down to 1080, or whatever plays smoothly. If in doubt, just try rendering 30 second clips until you find one that works for you, then you can convert the whole lot. That way you will have both your prores and lower res versions.

Roger

[Larry Johnson]

Excellent. Thanks Roger.