Best bitrate setting for 4k

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
August 1, 2021
3 replies
1902 views

Hello community!

.....quick question,,, I've been shooting some 4k (3840x2160 4k) on a DJI Mavic Air 2 and am now beginning to archive. I started off setting Media Encoder to the following settings:

H.264 Custom

Output: 3840x2160 @ 23.976 fps

Target Bitrate: 100mbps

Max Bitrate: 200mbps

VBR 2 Pass

I want to archive with the best quality... but I don't want to over do it and have problems down the road because I set the bit rate too high. Do these settings sound good for archiving 4k video?

As far as what the video will be used for,,, I want the flexibility to be able to use it for anything....

....so I'm really just looking for the best settings for all around archiving at high quality.

I just wanted to make sure I'm on the right track.

Thanks in advance for your answers!

~Andrew

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Andrew_in_JensenBeachAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks for your answers...

.....so if I want to try Cineform, would I choose

'Format: Quicktime'

'Preset: GoPro Cineform YUV 10-bit' ?

((the other Cineform options under Quicktime are 'GoPro Cineform RGB 12-bit with alpha' and 'GoPro Cineform RGB 12-bit with alpha at maximum bit depth')).

And if I want to try ProRes, would I be correct to choose 'Format: Quicktime'.....

or 'Format: Appple ProRes MXF OP1a'?

>>>and then, in either case, I'm not sure which preset would be correct....

There are 8 ProRes presets if I choose 'Format: Appple ProRes MXF OP1a',,,

and there are 18 ProRes presets if I choose 'Format: Quicktime"

My best guess would be to choose Format: Quicktime >>> Preset: Apple ProRes 422

Would that be ok or is there a better choice?

Thanks again.

~Andrew

R Neil Haugen

Legend

Yea, the Cineform 10-bit would be a good option.

Or the Quicktime ProRes 422.

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...

Andrew_in_JensenBeachAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks very much!!

~Andrew

R Neil Haugen

Legend

H.264 does compress a lot using block compression. Meaning say a four pixel block, if a couple of the pixels are relatively close to each other, it simply makes them both the same values. So even at high bitrates, you do tend to lose data. You may not notice it for a generation or two, but you will eventually.

Which is why Ann suggested an intermediate, which would be ProRes, Cineform, or DNxHD/R. Cineform's wavelet style of compression is quite good at keeping all the data but getting the file size down at least some. Not nearly as much as H.264, but still down a bit.

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...