Can't Edit DJI Mavic Air 4K with After Effects? Fixed!

DJI has announced Mavic Air for many days, many DJI lovers are hesitating to buy this drone or not. The new $799 Mavic Air shares a lot of similarities with both the DJI Spark and the Mavic Pro and Pro Platinum. Like those models, it’s a compact drone with a 12-megapixel camera and a handful of different flying and shooting modes. The Air also has a couple of new tricks, like new obstacle avoidance technology. The another attractive trick is the Air shoots 4K video at 30 fps with a 100Mbps bitrate, compared to Pro's 4K footage at 60Mbps.

On the one hand you can enjoy the super clear picture of the 4k video, on the other hand you may be painful when you try to edit the 4k footage with Adobe Affter Effects. Below is a question a friend asking for help in a forum, let's go check what's he saying.

Why does your DJI Mavic Air 4K video look horrible in After Effects?

"Hello, I just purchased a DJI Mavic Air camera, when I import the 4k video into After Effects, it looks blurry and pixely. However, when I view the same video out of the folder that it resides in, the video looks amazing. What am I doing wrong? I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong during the import process. Any suggestions? Thank you!"

The DJI Mavic Air shoots 4K video in MP4 or MOV (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC), which is acturally included in Adobe After Effects supported video formats list, so the reasons that you fail to edit DJI Mavic Air 4k footage are in two version: the video format is not the best native editing codec for After Effects, the other one is the 4k footage compressed with MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 still have big file size, and it takes a lot of time for After Effects to render those 4k footages.

To ensure a smooth workflow of DJI Mavic Air 4K video with After Effects, it is ideal for you to transcode DJI Mavic Air 4K video to After Effects editing codec - HEVC (aka H.265) codec footage in a QuickTime(.MOV) container, which is a video compression standard designed to substantially improve coding efficiency when compared to its precedent, the Advanced Video Coding (AVC), or H.264. HEVC promises a 50% storage reduction as its algorithm uses efficient coding by encoding video at the lowest possible bit rate while maintaining a high image quality level.

You can performing DJI Mavic Air 4k video to After Effects transcoding process on Windows with Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate | for Mac, it allows you to output 4K MOV, 4K MP4, 4K MKV, 4K XAVC even any 4K video formats to QuickTime(*.mov), H.264 MP4, H.264 M4V, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 for After Effects. Moreover, this software take full advantage of the NVIDIA CUDA technology and AMD® Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) to largely accelerate video encoding speed. The GPU acceleration saves users time when encoding Blu-ray/DVD disc or digital video files to H.264 codec or H.265 codec.

Related topics: Best DJI Video Converter You Need Have One | Best Editing Workflow of DJI Osmo 4K Video with iMovie/FCE on Mac

How to import and edit DJI Mavic Air 4K video with After Effects?

Step 1: Transfer DJI Mavic Air 4K recorded footage to your computer.

The DJI Mavic Air records footage on an SD card, you can remove the SD card from the camera, insert the SD card to a card reader, then plug in the card reader into your computer SD card Port for transferring the video footage to your local hard drive.

Step 2: Import DJI Mavic Air Professional 4K videos.

From "File"drop-down option, select "add Video/Audio"to add source DJI Mavic Air 4K video files to the program.

Step 3: Select output file format.

Click "Format"bar, from its drop-down list, select "Common Video"> "MOV - QuickTime(*.mov)"as your desired output file format. H.264/H.265 MP4, H.264 MOV, H.264 M4V, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 almost all After Effects supported video formats could be find in its formats list, go check by yoursevles.

Tips: After you have defined the output format, then cilck the Settings on the UI, in the pop-up window, you are able to adjust video/audio codec, resolution, bit rate, frame rate, channels, etc. To compress DJI Mavic Air 4k to 1080p by changing resolution from 3080*2160 to 1920*1080. To get smaller video file by lowering the video bit rate.

Tips: Enable GPU Encode Acceleration

When you want to enjoy the acceleration, you need to do some settings: Click "Tools" > "Options", in the opened "Options" window, click "Acceleration" menu, then check "Enable GPU Encode Acceleration" option so that the program will accelerate conversion speed when you are encoding DJI Mavic Air 4K to H.265/H.264 codec.

NOTE: You need to make sure your PC configuration supports the GPU acceleration, you can refre to this: Nvidia Cuda Speed Up.

Step 4. Start the conversion

Start the DJI Mavic Air 4k to QuickTime MOV conversion by pressing the red button Convert on the UI, wait for a while, go click "Open the Output Folder" to get the generated file. Now you are free to input the covnerted DJI Mavic Air 4k with After Effects for postproduction without any obstacles.

Video and animation file formats - After Effects

Format	Import/Export support	Format Details
MXF/ARRIRAW	Import only	ARRIRAW codec in an MXF container file
H.265 (HEVC)	Import only	HEVC (also known as H.265) codec footage in a QuickTime (.MOV) container
3GPP (3GP, 3G2, AMC)	Import and Export
Adobe Flash Player (SWF)	Import only	Note: SWF files are imported with an alpha channel. Interactive content is not retained. Export functionality of SWF files is supported by versions earlier than After Effects CC 2014.
Adobe Flash Video (FLV, F4V)	Import only
Animated GIF (GIF)	Import and export
AVCHD (M2TS)	Import only
DV	Import and Export	In MOV or AVI container, or as container-less DV stream; requires QuickTime on Windows
H.264 (M4V)	Import only
Media eXchange Format (MXF)	Import only
MPEG-1 (MPG, MPE, MPA, MPV, MOD)	Import only
MPEG-2 (MPG, M2P, M2V, M2P, M2A, M2T)	Import only	Some MPEG data formats are stored in container formats with filename extensions that are not recognized by After Effects; examples include .vob and .mod. In some cases, you can import these files into After Effects after changing the filename extension to one of the recognized filename extensions. Because of variations in implementation in these container formats, compatibility is not guaranteed.
MPEG-4 (MP4, M4V)	Import only
Open Media Framework (OMF)	Import and Export	Raw media [or essence] only; Windows only
QuickTime (MOV)	Import and Export
Video for Windows (AVI)	Import and Export	Export is on Windows only.
Windows Media (WMV, WMA)	Import only	Windows only
XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX (MXF, MP4)	Import only

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Any Product-related questions?support@pavtube.com

Top Free Online 4K Video Downloader, 4K Video Converter, 4K Media Players for Enjoying 4K

"I'm looking for a top free online video downloader which can download any online videos from YouTube. Obviously, a downloader supporting more video-sharing sites is more favorable. Any suggestion?" 

Therefore, we will list the top 3 online video downloaders for your reference in this post.

top 3 best free online video downloaders

Youtube downloader 4k:

The YouTube downloader 4k is a Firefox extension that will allow you to download 4k videos from YouTube in a variety of other sources. The extension is relatively easy to install and it works with thousands of other video websites to download hardcopy versions of some of your favorite videos found online. As long as a 4K video source for the video exists with minimal security, it is possible to download the content directly to your desktop for copy and share anywhere. The main problem with this extension is that it's relatively slow to use and it also doesn’t come with much in the way of features for output file versions.

online.4kdownload.com:

This video source is an easy way to paste a link of any YouTube link to have it downloaded in the full 4k format. While this is a simple copy and paste download feature, it is also relatively slow and it only outputs the file to download in a few different formats. Overall this is one of the easiest converters to use online but also one of the slowest.

MediaHuman YouTube Downloader:

The media human YouTube downloader is also an excellent option but it really only provides two output formats as well as a fairly slow bandwidth limit for conversions. It is very simple to use and you just need to paste a link and click convert with one click operation, but this option has even less features than some of the other online options for video conversion and download.

If this is the case that you only need to download 4K videos, you can directly choose from the top 3 4K downloaders listed above. However, it won't be late if you abruptly realized the fact that you are in lack of a great 4K video converter for EI Captain or Windows 10/8/7. Here is where the best 4k converter can help and more.

Choose the 4K Video Converter that right for you:

Studio	Pavtube	Acrok	Pavtube	WinX	MacX
4K Video Converter
Price	$35	$39	$65	$35.95	$34.95
Ease of Use	95%	90%	95%	90%	90%
4K UHD Support	√	√	√	√	√
GPU or Multicore Acceleration	√	√	√	√	√
Trim Clips	√	×	√	×	×
Join Clips	√	×	√	×	×
Crop Frame	√	×	√	×	×
Add Effects	√	×	√	×	×
Add Subtitles	√	×	√	×	×
Video Quality	95%	90%	95%	95%	95%
Audio Quality	95%	90%	95%	90%	90%
Batch Conversion	√	√	√	√	√
TRIAL(windows)	download	download	download	download	download
Buy	buy	buy	buy	buy	buy
TRIAL(mac)	download	download	download	download	download
Buy	buy	buy	buy	buy	buy

With the best top 3Online 4K Video Downloaders and the Top 5 4K Video Converters for your, you will be have no problem with the 4K entertainment any more. It doesn't end yet, we will list you the top 3 4K Video Players for a better visual experience for enjoying the 4K.

Additional read: Top 3 4K Video Players

4K Media Player Top 1: 5KPlayer

If a winner is to be named, we would like to recommend 5KPlayer, a free 4K media player which is designed to work under PC and Mac to smoothly play videos in 4K uhd 3840x2160, HD 1080p/720p, MKV, AVI, as well as play 360º virtual reality videos. Besides the ability to play UHD videos, it also features download & airplay knacks. If you don't know how to play 4K videos on your computer, this video player for 4K videos will be a good choice.

4k Media Player Top 2: VLC Player

VLC player, widely known for compatibility with a huge number of file formats, like video formats MP4, MKV, AVI, FLV etc and audio formats MP3, WMA, M4A, AACA and many more, has a strong ability to play files and codecs many other programs fail to handle with.
Recently, this video player get a got a boost and updated its support to cover 4K videos playback, as well as 8K video playback. Besides, this 4k video player software runs on both Mac and Windows for free.

4k Media Player Top 3: Media Player Classic

When it comes to 4k UHD players, Media Player Classic is not-to-be-missed. MPC is an extremely light-weight, open source media player, which unfortunately, runs on Windows only. It supports all common video and audio file formats available for playback, including 4k videos, HEVC H265 videos playback. However, as the MPC itself comes with no 4k playback ability, you will have to install the K-Lite Codec Pack first. Then you can play 4K videos with it.

4K Video Converter – Convert 4K Video for editing with Mac in FCP, Avid, iMovie, Premiere Pro, FCE

Follow the guide below and you will know how to import 4K Video to FCP, Avid, iMovie, Premiere Pro, FCE without rendering or any other problems on Mac OS X(Mavericks included).

At CES 2013, Panasonic and Sony is unveiled their 4K camcorder, they witness the power of science and technology again. For consumers, this is a good thing, but the 4K camcorder is so expensive. Sony calls it a consumer model, but it definitely looks more like a prosumer piece of gear.

Videomaker's Best Camcorder of NAB 2013 is the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K, and there are other video camcorders can record videos in 4K, such as Canon C500, Sony NEX-FS700, Sony PMW-F55/F5, etc. the videos formats include MXF, XAVC mainly. But the 4K video doesn't have good compatibility. Especially edit 4K video on Mac. Here I'll share the Mac 4K editing solution, that is, how to edit such 4K high definition videos on Mac in FCP, Avid, iMovie, Premiere Pro, FCE.

What's the 4K video format?

Different 4K camcorders record different formats, the formats including MXF, MOV, MP4, AVCHD, MTS, M2TS etc. To make 4K videos editable on Mac in FCP, Avid, iMovie, Premiere Pro, FCE, we need to know Mac compatible formats first and then do conversion with a professional 4K to Mac Converter software tool.

Find below a step-by-step tutorial on how to ingest 4K formatted footage through Mac in FCP, Avid, iMovie, Premiere Pro, FCE.

Recommended Software

Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac supports three professional encoders, Apple Intermediate Codec, ProRes and DNxHD – ensuring maximum editing quality and efficiency when working with iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Express or Avid Media Composer, respectively. With 4K Video Converter Ultimate for Mac, you can edit Canon, Sony, JVC and Panasonic 4K video on Mac easily.




4K Video Converter supported devices and formats:

Support Devices:

• Sony 4K camcorder: FS 700 
• Canon EOS C500 4K camcorder: EOS C500, EOS-1D C 
• Panasonic 4K camcorder
• JVC 4K camcorder

Support 4K formats:

4K MOV, 4K AVCHD, 4K MXF(P2), 4K MP4, 4K MTS, 4K M2TS etc.

How to transcode 4K video on Mac via 4K Video Converter?

Step 1: Install and run this Mac 4K Video Eocoder on your Mac.

Click "Add Video" and import the 4K video into this software. 4K Video to Mac converter Mac can help you transcode 4K video to FCP, Avid, iMovie, Premiere Pro, FCE for 4K to Mac importing natively.

Step 2: Choose output format

Click on "Format" bar and locate the appropriate output profile. To import 4K files to Mac, you need to convert to Mac supported formats.

• Final Cut Pro 7/X

Move mouse cursor to “Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)” to set a FCP 7/X best codec.

Apple ProRes 422 – Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (LT)

Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) – Keep original video quality for editing in FCP

Apple ProRes 422 (LT) – Get a smaller file sizes than Apple ProRes 422

Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) – SD levels – 480i/p and 576i/p. Used in offline workflows.

Apple ProRes 4444 – Edit and finish 4:4:4 material

• Final Cut Express and iMovie

Choose FCE and iMovie friendly format- “iMovie and Final Cut Express > Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)

• Avid Media Composer 5.5/6 

In order to take advantage of the plugin AMA, you have to make sure that you still keep the structure of the file folder recorded by your camera. If not, here you can set Avid DNxHD (*.mov) for natively editing in Avid MC.



Step 3: Just hit the Convert button on the bottom right to kick off 4K to Mac Conversion.

Step 4: Import 4K video into Mac through FCP, Avid, iMovie, Premiere Pro, FCE

After conversion, locate and select the file you want to import, then click Import for further editing in Final Cut Pro 7/X, Final Cut Express/iMovie, Avid Media Composer.

Now, you can edit 4K video on Mac in FCP, Avid, iMovie, Premiere Pro, FCE natively, smoothly without any problem. Video and audio quality and synchronization are perfectly guaranteed.

Related posts:
Edit Blackmagic Production Camera 4K in FCP