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4k not so great.

U

user2014

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 10, 2014
4
0
I have a top spec, late 2013 rMBP, and got an email today from youtube about 4K video so I thought I would check it out. But really, it is all a little underwhelming. Here I am expecting it to look like pixel perfect moving photos and it really doesn't. Not even close.

For instance, the sky on this video ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIfWzm6O9gg&list=PLbpi6ZahtOH6qU1WZzpcYz6hPhPRMByo8 ... I can see lines of block colour.


image ru

It just seems a little rubbish to me! Is my computer no good, or is 4K just a gimmick?
 
That's a result of the video codec used for streaming it. A video can be 4096 × 2160 (4k) but look like a 1920's black and white movie. What makes it 4k is the resolution, not the quality of the image.
 
Intell said:
That's a result of the video codec used for streaming it. A video can be 4096 × 2160 (4k) but look like a 1920's black and white movie. What makes it 4k is the resolution, not the quality of the image.
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So youtube tells you it's 4K, and then screws with the file that it sends you? Seems bizarre. Is there somewhere I can download some small 4K videos to watch? I am kind of interested to see it now.
 
It is 4k, the quality doesn't make it such, only the resolution. You could take a VGA/640x480 movie and upscale it to be 4096×2160, it would look awful, but it would be 4k.
 
Ok, so do you know of somewhere with high quality videos in 4K? All the ones I am finding on youtube are blurry/blocky in this way.
 
You could always look for RED Epic footage in 4K and 5K and use REDCINE-X PRO (free) to watch those .r3d files, since those are directly from a 4K or 5K camera. It can hardly get better than that.
 
user2014 said:
So youtube tells you it's 4K, and then screws with the file that it sends you? Seems bizarre. Is there somewhere I can download some small 4K videos to watch? I am kind of interested to see it now.
Click to expand...

Check the bit rate, its likely compressed to within an inch of its life. It may be 4k in terms of resolution, but do you really expect an ad supported, free at the point of use service to stream you uncompressed 4K material? Most paid for move streaming services compress the hell out of "HD" movies, let alone 4K material :(
 
Last edited:
simsaladimbamba said:
You could always look for RED Epic footage in 4K and 5K and use REDCINE-X PRO (free) to watch those .r3d files, since those are directly from a 4K or 5K camera. It can hardly get better than that.
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NazgulRR said:
http://www.elementaltechnologies.com/resources/4k-test-sequences

Download the ProRes .mov files.

Alternatively, http://timescapes.org (costs a bit though).
Click to expand...

Thanks for those, I will check them out.

5to1 said:
Check the bit rate, its likely compressed to within an inch of its life. It may be 4k in terms of resolution, but do you really expect an ad supported, free at the point of use service to stream you uncompressed 4K material? Most paid for move streaming services compress the hell out of "HD" movies, let alone 4K material :(
Click to expand...

Well, when I get an email from youtube saying 'come and look at these amazing 4K movies', and then clicked on movies with titles such as '4K ULTRA HIGH DEF' I kind of expected to see something high quality. I'll be honest, it's business model never crossed my mind. More fool me, eh.
 
Try looking at this one I did. http://youtu.be/AHUUS_NCSyQ
Remember, you have to click on the gear and change the resolution to see 4K. Otherwise you are just seeing it at 320. That video you were looking at was a time lapse, and caused the sky to look funny.
 
chenderson2 said:
Try looking at this one I did. http://youtu.be/AHUUS_NCSyQ
Remember, you have to click on the gear and change the resolution to see 4K. Otherwise you are just seeing it at 320. That video you were looking at was a time lapse, and caused the sky to look funny.
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WOW! I have a late 2013 13" rMBP middle of the road model (2.4 Ghz, 8 Mb). Checked 4K and this video looks absolutely amazing even at full screen:). Thanks for the link.
 
user2014 said:
I have a top spec, late 2013 rMBP, and got an email today from youtube about 4K video so I thought I would check it out. But really, it is all a little underwhelming.
...
It just seems a little rubbish to me! Is my computer no good, or is 4K just a gimmick?
Click to expand...
Each video format encoder needs the correct encoding settings (settings for x264, for example) and a decoder (hardware or software), which can decode the video with the best possible quality, including error correction. In the case of YT, you need also a network with a high bandwidth.

I see 4K as a standard in 5 years. That means you can expect a higher quality of videos, pictures and of course hardware (displays and so on) in 5 years. Today 4K is just an expensive toy for the average user.
 
4K for consumers is still pretty lame.... even with the great H.265 codec. Truth is... only about half of major movies are even shot in 4K. The rest are shot in 2K or 2.7K. Couple that with the fact that videos being streamed in 4K are going to be compressed to hell.... even with H.265. That means that detail and/or color depth is going to be compromised. H.265 is pretty amazing for what it is... but don't expect the 4K you get on your TV to be anything like the 4K being projected in a theater... or (if/when they release them) 4K Blu-ray discs.

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Mr. Retrofire said:
Each video format encoder needs the correct encoding settings (settings for x264, for example) and a decoder (hardware or software), which can decode the video with the best possible quality, including error correction. In the case of YT, you need also a network with a high bandwidth.

I see 4K as a standard in 5 years. That means you can expect a higher quality of videos, pictures and of course hardware (displays and so on) in 5 years. Today 4K is just an expensive toy for the average user.
Click to expand...

The only real advantage that 4K is going to give consumers is quality 3D viewing. 4K (actually is UHD not 4K btw) is being pushed hard right now simply because TV manufacturers are trying to sell you a new TV. There is practically zero content for UHD... and broadcasting in UHD means that us content-creators will have to start shooting in 6K+ for everything. Which means much more expensive post-production pipelines across-the board. Between computational power for animation and fx, to storage space and throughput. It's a huge deal that most consumers don't appreciate... and most will never really see true UHD as it was intended... since the compression methods gut the hell out of the rich detail and color-space.

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I should add that UHD/4K monitors are a welcome addition. I think this is where 4K is going to be the most beneficial for content-creators.
 
We definitely call it 4k in my facility. Also, h.265 looks wonderful especially when compared to an h.264 at an identical bitrate
 
That is what's called "banding" it happens when the color depth is not high enough. Web color depth is a lot narrower so this is to be expected. I wouldn't use youtube to judge 4k quality.
 
Trek2100 said:
WOW! I have a late 2013 13" rMBP middle of the road model (2.4 Ghz, 8 Mb). Checked 4K and this video looks absolutely amazing even at full screen:). Thanks for the link.
Click to expand...

Let's be clear here.... that's not a 4K video (4096x2160)... that's a UHD video (3840x2160). It may sound petty, but when shooting for production, it's important to know the final format (theater vs UHD). You wouldn't want to accidentally shoot UHD when the delivery is going to be 4096.

We shoot UHD 4K 4.5K 5K and 6K on a regular basis.
 
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