Make Panasonic GH4 4K videos compatible with iMovie/FCE/FCP

Summary: This article offers a brief guide about how to transcode Panasonic DMC-GH4 4K footages to FCP, iMovie, FCE for editing on Mac OS X with a smooth workflow.



Panasonic DMC-GH4, a new Lumix camera, as its predecessor records videos in AVCHD format. What’s more this 16-megapixel compact system camera stands at the top of the Panasonic range and its big selling feature is the 4K ultra-high-definition video recording in .MP4, .MOV format. According to my testing, the 4K video was restricted to shooting and editing in Final Cut Pro X, which handles 4K input and renders the output to 1080 HD. If you want to import Panasonic GH4 4k to iMovie/FCE/FCP(6/7), you will need to do some preparation before editing.

The reason that you can't successfully ingest those Panasonic GH4 recorded 4K files to FCP, iMovie, FCE, etc non-linear editing systems is simple. Currently 4K footage is not widely supported yet, only a few video editing program like FCP X can support it. In order to edit Panasonic DMC-GH4 4K MOV/MP4 files smoothly, the easy workaround is to use 3rd-party to rewrap and convert Panasonic GH4 footage to a more "editable" format in 1080p.

Converting Panasonic DMC-GH4 4K footage to FCP, iMovie, FCE compatible video

1. Download Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac

Overall, this program is a completely professional Mac 4K video converter, player and editor. Unlike some free video converters, it provides hundreds of output format presets for 4K videos, such as Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 4444 for Final Cut Pro, AIC MOV for FCE (Final Cut Express) and iMovie, for better editing and playing. This Ultra HD Video Converter is also available to customize the output resolutions to any size the users want. Thus, with the video converter app, you can fast transcode Panasonic GH4 4K video to FCP, iMovie, FCE friendly format with ease.

2. Launch the 4K file converter and click add button to import Panasonic 4k clips to the program for converting.



3. Click "format" bar to choose the output format. You can freely choose Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov) for FCP, or iMovie and Final Cut Express > Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov) for working with iMovie/FCE.



Tip: Click the Settings button; you can recommended to set the video size, bit rate, fame rate, etc. Here you are recommended to set the video size as 1920*1080 for iMovie, FCE, Final Cut Pro 6/7 can’t support raw 4K video well.

4. Hit the Convert button to start the conversion; it will convert Panasonic GH4 4K MOV/MP4 to iMovie/FCE/FCP friendly format on Mac OS X.

After the conversion, you can transfer the converted Panasonic GH4 videos to Mac for further editing with FCP, FCE, iMovie smoothly.

Additional Tips:

1. If you record MTS files with Panasonic GH4 and met troubles in editing Panasonic GH4 MTS in iMovie, FCE, FCP, this Panasonic 4K Converter can be also used to transcode Panasonic GH4 MTS to ProRes for FCP, AIC for iMovie and FCE, which ensures a smooth workflow.

2. Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac not only can converting Panasonic footage, but also can transcode Sony MTS, Nikon/Canon MOV recordings to FCP/iMovie/FCE editable format without losing quality.

See more:

How to Import 4K video to Final Cut Pro 6/7/X
How to Import Sony PXW-X180 XAVC to Premiere, FCP X and Avid MC
How to Import Sony FDR-AX100 footage to Avid, FCP and Premiere