Graphics Card that supports 4K

[Ed012]

I use Premiere Elements 10 and have recently purchased a Nikon Coolpix A900. The 4K video clips will not display in Windows Media Player when the blue slider moves from left to right. 1080p clips will play. Sometimes the upper half of the cip will appear when playing but not smoothly, and the lower half will be a solid block of green, then I receive a message " Windows Media Player cannot play the video because there is a problem with your video card". 4K clips will display inside Premiere but do not play smoothly; they stop and start. I can render them down to 1080p but the time taken is much longer than with original 1080p clips.

I contacted the manufacturer of the motherboard which included the graphics card. It is the AMD Radeon HD 7000 series graphics in A-series APU. The motherboard is the ASRock A75M-ITX. The replied that the mainboard doesn't support 4K. They said that I should check with Adobe regarding the most suitable card that will work with Premiere so I would like to ask your advice.

Also, is there software that will resize the 4K before importing into Premiere or is Premiere better at retaining the detail of the 4K clip?

Finally would I benefit from updating to the latest version of Premiere? Is there an overal 'quick fix' as in Photoshop's fix for single photos, for example.

Regards

[Steve Grisetti]

The first thing I'd recommend is downloading the free VLC Media Player and make it your default media player. Windows Media Player is way too limited.

The second thing you definitely want to do is upgrade to a newer version of Premiere Elements. 4K video was in its infancy when Premiere Elements 10 came out, and the program was by no means designed to edit it.

I'd recommend upgrading to at least version 14 of the program and most of your issues should go away.

Your video card is not the issue here. In fact, Premiere Elements doesn't even benefit from a high end video card -- and yours is already more than beefy enough. You just need to right software to support the work you're trying to do.

[Bill Sprague]

Ed012  wrote

......

Also, is there software that will resize the 4K before importing into Premiere or is Premiere better at retaining the detail of the 4K clip?

Steve skipped that question. 

I've been editing 4K MP4 files from a Panasonic that should be similar to your Nikon for a couple years using Premier Elements.  First, it was with version 13, and now 15. 

My computer has a relatively slow i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM.  It works fine with Premier Elements 15 and 4K files.  

There is software, such as Handbrake, that would re-size 4K clips but there would be no point in shooting in 4K.  

Bill

[Ed012]

Bill:

Yes I agree with your comment on resizing 4K clips in third party software. I will avoid that path. The 4K clips are also useful when I want to extract single frames.

Steve:

I will install a copy of VLC Media Player and see how it goes. Regarding the upgrade to the latest version of Elements I will ask in my local Currys-PC World store if it is possible to download onto a large capacity flash drive as I am not connected to the internet at my home. They also sell a small Wi-Fi gadget that would allow me to download the software for a monthly fee. If Elements operates better when connected to the internet then I will consider a subscription.

[Steve Grisetti]

Premiere Elements is not a subscription product. It's a one-time pay product. And it is available on CD disc as well as via download.

[Ed012]

Hi Steve

First of all I found a copy of VLC Media Player already installed but the result was the same when playing 4K clips; it stopped and started but the screen was full; no lower half of green block. Do you think that I need a new graphics card, and should it be a specific brand or are all brands compatible with the ASRock motherboard; the ASRock Support didn't recommend any.

I visited Currys-PC World and they had a Premiere-Photoshop Elements 14 bundle, download version, for £109. I have just checked Adobe's products on their website and the Elements 15 bundle is on offer for a little over £80 until tomorrow, 21st February. It is also a download and there wasn't the option of purchasing the CD version. My Elements 10 bundle was purchased on CDs many years ago. Is there a location on Adobe's website where I can order the software on CDs?

[Steve Grisetti]

If you can't play 4K on VLC Media Player, it's most likely that your computer is underpowered for this type of video. What processor do you have? Does it rate at least an 8000-10000 on this chart?

PassMark Intel vs AMD CPU Benchmarks - High End

The program on disc is available on Amazon as well as at most big box stores (Best Buy, OfficeMax, etc.).

[Ed012]

The processor is an AMD A4-3300. It doesn't appear on the list therefore it seems that I need to look for a more capable product.

Regarding the Elements 15 bundle I checked Amazon and they are selling at around £60.

I will solve the processor issue first then upgrade to Elements 15.

Thanks for your help.

[Steve Grisetti]

Your processor appears on this list as a Low Mid Range processor.

PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Low Mid Range CPUs

It rates a 1500, which is way too low to edit 4k (as I said above, I recommend at least an 8000-10000), which accounts for the playback issues you're experiencing. A higher end graphics card will not compensate for this low end processor.

[Ed012]

I contacted ASRock Support and they replied that I need  " a newer mainboard and a AMD Radeon R7/R5 Series Graphics in A-Series" and an "FM2+ CPU to have 4K@24Hz support."

They added: " or check for a graphics card that supports 4K resolution/playback..... and then the CPU performance is not so important."

The latter doesn't seem to be the best advice considering that my current processor is Low Range.

I will contact a few stores, such as Maplins, and if they have custom built PCs with SSDs etc and more capable processors and cards then I could keep my current PC for general use and therefore avoid using the space on my new PC required for rendering.