Best Tablets for Flying & Best Laptop for 4k uhd (Phantom 4)

[redsectora]

Hello
Can I get your suggestions for whats the best tablets for Flying my P4 and what's the best laptop for editing in 4k uhd?
Also does the laptop have to be the same resolution in 4k or can post software sort that out?

Cheers
Andy

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[Morrolan]

Unfortunately there are no easy answers as they are both highly subjective.

I fly using a mix of iPhone 6+, Acer Nexus 7, 12.9" iPad Pro. I use whatever makes sense for the task at hand.

An iPad or android tablet without cellular works fine, however without the GPS some of the advanced flight modes such as waypoint and orbit are unavailable.

I edit on a 2014 13" Retina MacBook Pro, 2.8Ghz, 8gb RAM using Final Cut Pro and it handles 4K fine, especially if you're smart and create proxy media during the import.


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[redsectora]

Proxy media?

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[Morrolan]

Proxy media?

When importing media you have 2 choices under Transcoding: Create optimized media and Create proxy media.

Creating Proxy media creates lower-res versions of your footage which is used when scrubbing and speeds up the editing process and UI responsiveness. As soon as you pause the playback or scrubbing the full-quality frame is loaded so you only see it when editing or clip playback - project payback is in higher quality.

Optimized media will convert your footage to Apples ProRes 422 format, which is a professional editing format. However, beware the bloat this creates. My latest project consists of 50Gb of 4K footage. When I created optimized media this ballooned to over 600Gb+, so make sure you have plenty of space available!

 

[matti]

Creating Proxy media creates lower-res versions of your footage which is used when scrubbing and speeds up the editing process and UI responsiveness. As soon as you pause the playback or scrubbing the full-quality frame is loaded so you only see it when editing or clip playback - project payback is in higher quality.

Optimized media will convert your footage to Apples ProRes 422 format, which is a professional editing format. However, beware the bloat this creates. My latest project consists of 50Gb of 4K footage. When I created optimized media this ballooned to over 600Gb+, so make sure you have plenty of space available!

I still use my ancient 2009 Mac mini to edit 4K and output to HD.

At first that old PC seemed really underpowered for editing 4K with Final Cut Pro.

I tried proxy media and it was a little better but not enough. Still dropped frames and jerkiness while viewing footage.

But using optimized media made the difference. Yes, it takes some time to create optimized media and render but for my max 10 minute 4K footage that I edit down to 1-2 minutes and output to HD it isn't so bad -- I just let it process in the background 10-30 minutes before starting editing.

I have plenty of HD space for the temporary optimized media files. I usually trash the FCP files after exporting the edited footage (I do archive trimmed original good 4K .mp4 files).

That allowed me to postpone getting a new PC for a while.

 

[redsectora]

So I don't need to buy a laptop that has 4096 x 2160 resolution to easily view and edit videos?

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[Morrolan]

So I don't need to buy a laptop that has 4096 x 2160 resolution to easily view and edit videos?

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Not at all - I don't even think they exist!

Any powerful computer can process 4K media, they just can't show it in its full resolution. This doesn't mean that it cannot do something to the footage, I.e. Edit it or apply a color correction.

I have a 5K iMac which I use to watch my videos sometimes (owned by my employer so don't edit on there, just watch). Would work well for editing but in reality it's not needed unless you're a true professional wanting the very best.


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[redsectora]

Thanks for the tips


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[msinger]

Can I get your suggestions for whats the best tablets for Flying my P4

You can find a list of recommended and commonly used tablets here.