HELP 4K wont play back on i7 Intel 4.2GHZ with GTX 770 card

[reddenim]

I've just upgraded my system to an Intel i7 4.2 ghz 32gb ram GTX 770 graphics , as my older system would not play back 4k files

This is driving me nuts as the new system still wont play 4k files

I've looked everywhere for solutions -
VLC fix vid on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAJ6F3mVgOQ


How can this be a problem ? why are there no solutions on the internet for such a big common problem ?

driving me nuts

 

[kanewolf]

Which port on the 770 are you using?

Is the desktop displaying correctly at 4K but just not video through VLC ?

 

[reddenim]

Which port on the 770 are you using?

Is the desktop displaying correctly at 4K but just not video through VLC ?

I am using the DVI - PC display port
and I've used the HDMI to HDTV

 

[reddenim]

Which port on the 770 are you using?

Is the desktop displaying correctly at 4K but just not video through VLC ?

its breaking up in VLC , I am not using a 4k monitor , should I go through the display port to HDMI ?

 

[rhysiam]

I am using the DVI - PC display port
and I've used the HDMI to HDTV

DVI cannot handle 4K, and your GTX 770 only supports HDMI 1.4 which can't properly output 4K either.

The only ways to get 4K @ 60hz from that card is...
1) A native Displayport connection from the card and the monitor
2) Displayport from the card to a HDMI 2.0 adapter like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812443021&cm_re=displayport_to_hdmi_2.0-_-12-443-021-_-Product

When you say it "would not play back 4K files"... what's happening? Is it stuttering/frame drops? Is it crashing? What are you seeing?

 

[clarkjd]

Which port on the 770 are you using?

Is the desktop displaying correctly at 4K but just not video through VLC ?

its breaking up in VLC , I am not using a 4k monitor , should I go through the display port to HDMI ?

How can you view 4K videos without a 4K monitor?

 

[rhysiam]

its breaking up in VLC , I am not using a 4k monitor , should I go through the display port to HDMI ?

Can you describe "breaking up" a bit better? Does that mean you're dropping frames, so it's sort of jerky? Or are you getting artifacts/colour shifts? Or something else?

Also... why are you so keen to playback 4K files if you don't have a 4K display?

It might be easier to transcode the file(s) down to 1080P. Handbrake is a free encoder that should be able to take your 4K files and transcode them to a nice, high quality 1080P file that will still look great, take up less up less space, and actually play properly on your system.

 

[rhysiam]

How can you view 4K videos without a 4K monitor?

Video playback gets resized all the time. It's probably not necessary, but it should work just fine.

In fact, even with a 1080P monitor/TV, if you want the best possible picture when streaming youtube or netflix content and you've got the bandwidth and performance to handle it, you should select the 4K stream. You'll lose the extra pixels from the 4K stream, but the higher bitrate does result in better video quality. Most people won't notice, but those who have high end displays and are picky about those sorts of things can pick and appreciate the difference.

Given OP is talking about "files" and not streams, the above doesn't apply though.

 

[reddenim]

Which port on the 770 are you using?

Is the desktop displaying correctly at 4K but just not video through VLC ?

its breaking up in VLC , I am not using a 4k monitor , should I go through the display port to HDMI ?

How can you view 4K videos without a 4K monitor?

its breaking up in VLC , I am not using a 4k monitor , should I go through the display port to HDMI ?

Can you describe "breaking up" a bit better? Does that mean you're dropping frames, so it's sort of jerky? Or are you getting artifacts/colour shifts? Or something else?

Also... why are you so keen to playback 4K files if you don't have a 4K display?

It might be easier to transcode the file(s) down to 1080P. Handbrake is a free encoder that should be able to take your 4K files and transcode them to a nice, high quality 1080P file that will still look great, take up less up less space, and actually play properly on your system.

Ok so it freezes on the vlc player a perfect frame no break up , after changing the codec settings in vlc it ran with glitched artefacts for a few frames

I want to edit and retain the 4k footage as I will be projecting as 4k eventually and taking large stills from the video

I will be uploading 4k video to the internet aswell

I will go with your display port idea , I think this will work ...

 

[kanewolf]

There are definitely lots of threads out there on playback problems with 4k, VLC and trancoding to 1080p. Have you tried alternate players ?

 

[rhysiam]

Ok so it freezes on the vlc player a perfect frame no break up , after changing the codec settings in vlc it ran with glitched artefacts for a few frames

I want to edit and retain the 4k footage as I will be projecting as 4k eventually and taking large stills from the video

I will be uploading 4k video to the internet aswell

I will go with your display port idea , I think this will work ...

Unfortunately I don't think the connection will make any difference whatsoever. If your graphics card needs to output 4K to the monitor, then the connection matters, because it needs a connection capable of supporting the (substantial!) bitrate required for a 4K 60hz connection.

What's happening in your case, however, is that the monitor is NOT 4K. (Is it 1080P or 1440P)? Whatever it is, your graphics card and CPU are working together to resize that 4K video down to the size of your display. Then those images are being sent to the monitor at 1080P/1440P (whatever your monitor is). So... the interface is irrelevant. Clearly your computer either can't handle the file properly, or isn't able to reduce the video size in realtime.

Are you sure the file is okay and not corrupt?
Is there another system you can try and play it on?
You say you're editing in 4K. Can your video editing software, or some other media player handle the file? In your video editor, try scrubbing through it, that'll show you whether the file is okay... if so, it suggests your PC isn't handling the downscaling.
How is the file encoded? Some (newer) 4K encoders will use the new H.265 (or HEVC) standard. It's more efficient for 4K video, but I don't believe your GTX 770 has hardware support for H.265 decode. Which means your CPU will be left doing the heavy lifting, and probably nowhere near up to the task.

 

[kanewolf]

Yes, my question on the display interface was based on the incorrect interpretation of "play 4K files" -- I assumed (as many others would have) that the display was a 4K display. Transcoding to 1080p (or whatever) is a different problem....

 

[rhysiam]

Yes, my question on the display interface was based on the incorrect interpretation of "play 4K files" -- I assumed (as many others would have) that the display was a 4K display. Transcoding to 1080p (or whatever) is a different problem....

Yeah, I was right with you as well until OP explained it wasn't a 4K display.

 

[reddenim]

Ok so it freezes on the vlc player a perfect frame no break up , after changing the codec settings in vlc it ran with glitched artefacts for a few frames

I want to edit and retain the 4k footage as I will be projecting as 4k eventually and taking large stills from the video

I will be uploading 4k video to the internet aswell

I will go with your display port idea , I think this will work ...

Unfortunately I don't think the connection will make any difference whatsoever. If your graphics card needs to output 4K to the monitor, then the connection matters, because it needs a connection capable of supporting the (substantial!) bitrate required for a 4K 60hz connection.

What's happening in your case, however, is that the monitor is NOT 4K. (Is it 1080P or 1440P)? Whatever it is, your graphics card and CPU are working together to resize that 4K video down to the size of your display. Then those images are being sent to the monitor at 1080P/1440P (whatever your monitor is). So... the interface is irrelevant. Clearly your computer either can't handle the file properly, or isn't able to reduce the video size in realtime.

Are you sure the file is okay and not corrupt?
Is there another system you can try and play it on?
You say you're editing in 4K. Can your video editing software, or some other media player handle the file? In your video editor, try scrubbing through it, that'll show you whether the file is okay... if so, it suggests your PC isn't handling the downscaling.
How is the file encoded? Some (newer) 4K encoders will use the new H.265 (or HEVC) standard. It's more efficient for 4K video, but I don't believe your GTX 770 has hardware support for H.265 decode. Which means your CPU will be left doing the heavy lifting, and probably nowhere near up to the task.

My laptop which is an ASUS i7 with gtx 970m , has the same problem ,

the file is a MKV file , I've tried different 4k files same problem

NVIDIA settings control panel - adjust desktop size and scale , i've turned off the rescale , tried different comninations

Not got premiere pro installed yet so will have look asap on that

 

[reddenim]

Yes, my question on the display interface was based on the incorrect interpretation of "play 4K files" -- I assumed (as many others would have) that the display was a 4K display. Transcoding to 1080p (or whatever) is a different problem....

I see - the downscaling is a problem , so if I had a 4k monitor I would be taking that job away from the process ...

 

[reddenim]

Yes, my question on the display interface was based on the incorrect interpretation of "play 4K files" -- I assumed (as many others would have) that the display was a 4K display. Transcoding to 1080p (or whatever) is a different problem....

Yeah, I was right with you as well until OP explained it wasn't a 4K display.

I think if I get the display port lead , then it will give me the option to choose the UHD res size for the screen size
]at the moment its the 1680 x 1050

 

[rhysiam]

I think if I get the display port lead , then it will give me the option to choose the UHD res size for the screen size
]at the moment its the 1680 x 1050

But is it a 4K monitor? If it's a 4K monitor then yes, the display port will open up the 4K (usually 3840 x 2160). But obviously you need a 4K monitor to display that resolution.

Playing the video at the native resolution is a little easier, so it is *possible* that a 4K display will handle it. However, I don't believe it really makes that much difference. If the current set up was only dropping the occasional frame, that might be enough. But given it's not even playing at all, I'm extremely sceptical that getting it onto a native 4K display is going to make any real difference.

A couple of other thoughts...
Look at the Codec. With VLC open, press CTRL + J. Under Codec, it should tell you what it's using. h.265 or h.264 is likely.
The other thing is the bitrate. You're not trying to run it off a USB, or SD card or something are you? 4K Bitrate can be very high and the system needs to be able to read from the source media fast enough.
How big is the video file? And how long is the video?
Definitely try Premiere Pro.

Final question. Where are you getting these 4K files from? That might help to figure out what the issue might be.