Hi,
been shooting C4K 4096x2160, 100M, 24p, LPCM movs with a GH4. Been quite out of touch with recent digital evolution, so excuse the ignorance. Trying to get back on track...

1. My mid2011 MacMini can't handle this format properly. Since a Mini is very suited for my general situation and needs, I was wondering if a current Mini could play (and edit?) C4K properly. For a while, I actually only need to play and check footage. Of course it would be nice to be able to start editing although Mac Pro or Mac Book Pro are out of the question now. Any such thing as a Linux Mini-like box that works?

2. That said, what recommendations do you have as far as software for editing C4K: FCX? PremierePro? The least conversions, the better. No color correction, just basic cut editing, feature lengths.

3. What external Storage is needed to play C4K properly? Again, for a while I only need to check footage and keep it safe. If cheap USB 3.0 externals would suffice, I'd rather go with them and wait until I need fast Thunderbolt to edit online.

No current Mac Mini is worth having for video editing. Their guts are only slightly better than a MacBook Air. You need a MacBook Pro or the previous generation iMac or the current 5K iMac.

Or a Mac Pro.

or a simple run of the mill i7 PC with Sony Vegas Movie Studio 13 :)

QuickTime on a Windows platform is quite poor, so you'd need to be able to record MP4 4K files instead if that doesn't have any issues with current or future workflows (i.e. Resolve does not currently bring in LPCM audio from 4K in the MP4 container).

MS13 actually does edit in C4K mov just fine, but it is quite clunky. MP4 seems to be quite a bit easier to play back.

In any case a $800 PC with some $79 software can do in a pinch if the poison seed is letting you down :)

Cheers,
Pete

Thank you for your answers. Aren't some people running OSX in PCs nowadays?

I debated the MacMini for a month and did a ton of research too...buy something with a real video card, iMac, MacPro, Macbook Pro, or build a PC. I ended up purchasing a new iMac.

I have the "PC=problems" notion (in the form of little warning windows popping insanely to let you know that there's no way out) but, before having to spend in yet another expensive Mac, I always give it a thought, because things can change. I'm wondering if a well built PC, exclusively dedicated to Vegas or Premiere and nothing else, not even connected to the www, could run without problems these days.

I'm wondering if a well built PC, exclusively dedicated to Vegas or Premiere and nothing else, not even connected to the www, could run without problems these days.

Why would you wonder? With my current 2 year old pc configuration and installed software it's rock solid editing and colour correcting 4K footage from a GH4 in realtime, no conversion needed, just native editing in Edius without any issues.

It doesn't matter if you work on a mac or a pc, if you choose the right tools for the right job you shouldn't have a problem.

I think the debate regarding PC v Mac ran its course several years ago. Use the equipment you have, Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects and many more applications run just the same regardless of which OS you are using.

Yes, I also think we are way past the "I"m a mac and I"m a pc" age, there is a reason Apple stopped doing these funny ads once windows 7 came out which is according to me the most stable OS microsoft ever made, windows 8 is still as good but with improvements but has annoyed many users, including me, with it's "I don't know which OS I want to be" approach. You can hide the tablet oriented interface entirely but it should not be there in the first place when you use it on a desktop. As I have heard windows 10 would make it a better experience.

Actually Apple dropped those ads when they decided to focus primarily on mobile devices.

well, at least they knew when it was time to stop :)

A MacMini is probably a losing proposition if you intend to work with these files in the recorded format. Once you enter 4K territory you have minimum requirements in either Mac or PC to get decent performance. Usually it's the video card that can't handle the data compression that 4K needs for playback. However if you are transcoding to ProRes a recent Mini might squeak by, but I would check first.

There are several iMacs, older models included, that can work 4K without a hitch as long as you are working a single stream on a timeline. Multicam 4K probably needs top line iMacs, newer or older.

I use a Mac Pro at work, with Premiere Pro CS6. At home I switched to a PC and in my searching discovered that gaming computers have lots of power and fast graphics cards and are cheaper. I got a Toshiba Qosmio 17.5" laptop. That screen serves as my bin monitor and a 24" Asus as my edit screen. I tried Sony Vegas Pro but it was just way too different and there was one major thing it wouldn't do. I grew up on Avid, used FCP for several years, then Premiere Pro. All are easy to learn, but Vegas was pretty far out for me.

So because I needed to finish a documentary quickly, I crossgraded to Grass Valley Edius. I learned it in a day and am fairly happy with it. The cool thing is that it'll handle anything you put in the timeline. A friend sent me some Black Magic 4K ProRes shots which I dropped into a 1080p timeline along with AVCHD and .mov files and all was well.

I've also been looking at the free Lite version of DaVinci Resolve from Black Magic. You get the whole package, including the great color grading, for free, and the free version does everything I need. It does not handle AVCHD files at all, so those would require transcoding.

You might also want to look at Lightworks (lwks.com). They now have a Mac version. It's cheap, you can try it for free, and it looks like a very nice and intuitive interface. Good color grading and audio tools as well. Works on PC, Linux and Mac. You can rent it monthly or buy it for around $400. The big thing it's lacking is a motion stabilizer.