A6500 video new user - why is 4K saved as mp4?

[Nautonnier]

Hello Everyone,

 

Just made the switch to Sony (A6500) from Canon and already drowning. Nothing in the manual or online to explain why 4k footage is saved as an mp4 file or am I doing something catastrophically stupid? If so could something put me right please? I thought this would be an XAVC-S codec.

 

This is the first time I have shot in 4K. Any help with regard to how I can use Adobe Prelude (CC) to extract footage and downscale to HD ready to edit in Adobe Premiere (CC) would be greatly appreciated. Fingers crossed that I am not the idiot I think I am and all is well.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[cws]

Not an idiot... you just need to look harder.  
It's in the specs...  mp4 is just the container.    I don't use Adobe for editing, but would expect you could just open it with Premiere directly and output your HD from there, keeping best quality all the way along.

I use Resolve (free version) with 4K footage and/or HD footage... works just fine too.

 

What is XAVC S?

XAVC S is a subset format, using many of the superlative techniques and technologies used in XAVC, but intended for consumer products and workflows. It supports the 3840x2160 pixel version of 4K only, known as Quad Full HD, QFHD, UltraHDTV or UHDTV. XAVC S is a lighter codec with Long GOP compression and relatively small recorded file sizes. XAVC S also uses the .MP4 file wrapper for greater compatibility and suitability in consumer workflows.

 

from Sony specs:

VIDEO COMPRESSION XAVC S: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264,    AVCHD: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264,       MP4: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264  

[Makeev]

 

This is the first time I have shot in 4K. Any help with regard to how I can use Adobe Prelude (CC) to extract footage and downscale to HD ready to edit in Adobe Premiere (CC) would be greatly appreciated. Fingers crossed that I am not the idiot I think I am and all is well.

 

 

If you just want to convert to HD then it's faster and easier to use Adobe Media Encoder

[steeptrails]

Hello Everyone,

 

Just made the switch to Sony (A6500) from Canon and already drowning. Nothing in the manual or online to explain why 4k footage is saved as an mp4 file or am I doing something catastrophically stupid? If so could something put me right please? I thought this would be an XAVC-S codec.

 

This is the first time I have shot in 4K. Any help with regard to how I can use Adobe Prelude (CC) to extract footage and downscale to HD ready to edit in Adobe Premiere (CC) would be greatly appreciated. Fingers crossed that I am not the idiot I think I am and all is well.

 

Many thanks in advance.

This explains everything...

[cws]

that's a great video on the codecs... thx for the lead.

[MGHimages]

This explains everything...

 

 

Agree with CWS! Great video!

This video kept me from pulling out what little hair I have left.

I recently have begun learning videography, and have purchased an A6500 for the 4K vid and stabilization.

Since I'm used to shooting stills in an uncompressed RAW format, I assumed my recorded 4K video files would also be uncompressed.

Nope!

It seems all video cameras compress their files in one manner or another via codecs. Didn't understand that until just right now.

When importing my vid files, all I could find on my card were .MP4 files.

I thought my uncompressed files were somehow hidden in the folders, and I needed special software to uncloak them.

Nope, again!

So, I guess .MP4 is as good as this little camera will deliver. 

Not terribly thrilled with this revelation, but at least my search is over.

Thanks again STEEPTRAILS!