4k video player | video playback tips

I have a 4K video in an mp4 container (H.264). QT player 7 would not play it fluidly (though I suppose it’s normal) and QT player X just shows a black screen. How can I play a 4K video in QuickTime? Searching online, I got some clues. And now I want to write down this article to help QuickTime player users to solve the QuickTime 4K video playback issues.

As you see, 4K is coming. But believe it or not, 4K video is very difficult tor playback on PC, Mac. Apple has offered 4K playback support on OS X Mavericks, but with limits. Even if you can add a 4K video to QuickTime player, it is still an exercise in frustration- content on the display appeared tiny. What you can do is to scale the 4K resolution and tweaking a setting. What’s more, if your 4K videos in a Mac unsupported format, it won’t work at all. In this case, what you need is to convert 4K video to QuickTime playable format first. To resolve all the issues, we can recommend you Brorsoft 4K Video Converter Mac, which is an all-in-one tool that can help you to convert and downscale 4K videos within one stop.

Overall, this program is a completely professional 4K video converter and player. Just like the way it is dealing with 1080p videos, it is surely in the support of converting 4K videos in any formats faultlessly. With it, you can fast convert 4K Ultra HD videos in MP4, MKV, MXF, XAVC, WMV, AVI, or any other extension to QuickTime playable format with least quality loss. Plus, this 4K video converting software provides the optimal presets for portable devices like iPad, iPhone, Galaxy Tablet, Surface Tablet, Kindle Fire HDX; editing programs like Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Avid MC, etc for better enjoying, editing 4K files. It is also available to customize the output resolutions to any size the users want. For Windows users, turn to 4K Video Converter to ensure perfect 4K playback.

How to View 4K Videos in QuickTime Player(Mac)

1. Load 4K footage Launch the 4K to QuickTime Converter Mac. Drag & drop 4K files to the program directly and your files would be added instantaneously. Or you can head to the “Add” button to locate the 4K videos you want to add.

2. Select output format Click format you choose MOV as target format. This video app offers the QuickTime Movie Format for you. Or, you can also choose “Common Video -> MOV – QuickTime (*.mov)” as the output format.

3. Tweak video, audio settings Click “Settings” button; you can adjust video and audio settings, including codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, and audio channel. To down-convert ultra HD 4K to 1080p for easier playback, you just need to adjust video size to 1920*1080.

4. Start 4K to QuickTime conversion Hit the “Convert” button to let this smart converter start encoding 4K to QuickTime .mov on Mac OS X. When the conversion is done, you can play the converted 4K videos in QuickTime player without hassle.

Additional Tips:

1. What are the PC/Mac system requirements for 4K playback?

I can give you some data points as I tested multiple configurations to find out myself. My requirements were 4Kp60. The tests were done using a 4k capable monitor connected via displayport (the monitor however was not mine). I tested this a few months ago, I believe.

Tests, in order of memory:
i7-4770k using integrated GPU: 4k@60, no issues.
EVGA nVidia GTX 750Ti: 4k@60, no issues.
i7-2600k using integrated GPU: 4k@60, no issues.
G540 Celeron CPU (2013 CPU) using integrated GPU: 4k@30 no issues, 4k@60 a slight slowdown during high action scenes. CPU was pegged @ 100% for majority of the scenes. I believe that this chip is using the same integrated GPU as the 2600k, so it may have simply been an issue of the performance capabilities of the chip.
EVGA nVidia GTX 680: 4k@60, no issues.

Of course, source video encoding is the most important aspect of these tests, so I tested with three sources:
Youtube 4k video scene (VP8 codec, I think?)
Netflix, House of Cards S2,Ep1 title sequence (Silverlight? Windows 8.1 OS).
Some random MKV that I don’t remember the codec of and I’m not sure why I mentioned it.

Conclusion, most modern GPUs and Intel CPUs can handle the scenes relatively well.

2. Some guys recommend third-party 4K video player apps like VLC, DivX Player, Media Player Classic, but all of them can’t be an ultimate solution for all 4K videos. Based on out testing, we found VLC can’t support 4K video well, Media Player Classic can play 4K movies but only on Windows… To have a smooth 4K playback on Mac/Windows, this professional 4K Ultra HD Video Converter is the best choice.

Q1: FCP 7 won’t import 4K videos from Panasonic GH4?

I got some 4K footage from Panasonic GH4. But Final Cut Pro 7 can’t import/ingest 4K videos taken from Panasonic GH4? Any solution?

Q2: Windows Media Player can’t play my 4K video

I just download 4k video from Youtube, but VLC, Windows Media Player, Media player classic can not execute 4k format.

There are more and more 4K media we can access like from 4K professional camcorders(Panasonic GH4, Blackmagic, Sony FDR-AX100), YouTube… But we found that 4K video is still not widely supported by video editing programs like FCP(before FCP X 10.1.), iMovie, Avid, Adobe PP, etc; video players like VLC, Windows Media Player, etc.The majority of playback, editing work is still being finished in 1080p. In most cases, we still need to downscale most of the Ultra HD 4K to 1080p or 2K properly. And this article will present you how to downscale 4K to 1080p or 2k in detail.

First, download and install Brorsoft 4K Video Converter

It is surely in the support of compressing 4K UHD videos to 1080p, 2k faultlessly. Plus, this 4K video converter enables you to transcode 4K videos to any format MP4, MOV, WMV, FLV, MPG, AVI, MKV… as you want. Thanks to the built-in video editor, you can trim, crop and retouch your videos in clicks. Overall, this program is a completely professional 4K HD video converter, player and editor. If you are running on Mac OS X, Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac is the alternative choice, which allows you to batch convert 4K clips to 1080p on Mac(Mavericks included) at high speed.

Convert & Downscale 4K to 1080P, 2K video

1. Load 4K Videos

Launch the 4K to 1080p Converter; click “Add” and load your 4K HD files. Or directly drag and drip your 4K source to the program.

2. Choose output format

Click the “Format” drop down list to select a proper video format as you want. Since this video converter also provides optimal profiles for kinds of editing programs and media devices, you can also select a proper format that best meets your needs.

Tip: And by clicking Edit, you can trim, crop videos, adjust video effects, add watermarks, etc.

3. Set Video Resolution at 1080p or 2K

Click “Settings” button; you can adjust video and audio settings, including codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, and audio channel. To down-convert ultra HD 4K to 1080p, do remember adjusting video size to 1920*1080. That is the exact 108p. If you want to downsize 4k to 2k, you are advised to set video size as 2048×1080.

4. Start 4K to 1080p/2k conversion

Hit “Convert” button to start downscaling 4K to 1080p or 2K video.

After conversion, check the generated 1080p, 2k video, you will certainly be satisfied with its final video quality. Now it’s easier to playback and edit your 4K video clips. Enjoy your Ultra HD life.

video playback tips

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Tag Archives: 4k video player

How to play 4K Videos with QuickTime Player 7 on Mac

Downscaling 4K to 1080P, 2K for Easier Playback & Editing