working at higher resolution (4K) for future-proofing

[suzybee]

Hi gang,
I wondered if I could ask people's opinions and advice about resolution?

Here's my first question:

…I usually work in HD (1920x1080), which was a big step up for me last year from working at a lower resolution.
However, I’m starting to wonder if I should be thinking bigger to future-proof myself.

I have a Lenovo Y70 Touch gaming laptop with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M graphics card and Intel Core i7-4710HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz with 16GB RAM).
I use lots of layers and effects when i play, including feedback and blur.

Full 4K (3840 × 2160) seems like a lot to ask of my computer (although I haven’t tested it yet), and anyway I’m feeling aesthetically much more drawn to a wider screen format. I have According to Wikipedia there’s UW4K (ultra wide 4K) which is 3840 × 1600. I just tried a 2 minute test working at that resolution with my clips scaled up and my pc seemed to handle it ok (might be different with larger actual files).

I'm thinking i need to choose a good future-proof resolution for creating my content because i can always play a scaled down version when the venue doesn't have the kit for more than HD. I also like the idea of having a more widescreen format.
Do you guys think working at 3840 x 1600 is a high enough resolution for reasonable future-proofing (and with the computer i have)?

Here's my second question:

If i prepare my content at a higher resolution (eg. 3840 x 1600), and if i then prepare all my Resolume compositions at that resolution, if i then play at a venue where the projector is HD (1920 x 1080), will it be sufficient to make a new copy of my high resolution composition and re-size it to HD (and crop the sides for the 16:9 format)? If i'm scaling everything down am i giving my computer masses of extra work when the content is at a high resolution? Should i make copies of all my content at both 4K (or UW4K) and HD?

My third question:

If i scale up some of my HD content from HD to 4K, is it giving the computer a lot of work to scale up smaller files, or is it giving it more work to play a 4K file?

Any thoughts and suggestions would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Suzybee

[Oaktown]

My recommendation would be to get a sense of what projectors/screens you're likely to use on future projects and use that as a basis for determining what size will be best for you.

Most of my projects can't afford 4K projectors and even though prices are coming down it's still going to be a while before they become mainstream so for most of the work I do, I use WUXGA projectors (the Panasonic PT-DZ21K is my staple) so 1920x1200 (16:10 ) is my preferred size for now and 1280x800 is a scaled down version.

I don't think 3840x1600 is a format that's being used for much anything out there but I could be wrong. What I see on projects that don't require custom comps is: 1920x1080 (16:9), 1920x1200 (16:10), 3240x1080 (3:1), 3840x2160 (16:9) and 3840x2400 (16:10).

4K content is not available for everything yet but I think it's a good idea to get the highest resolution you can anytime you get collections since you can always downsample.

[suzybee]

Hi Oaktown,

Thanks for your thoughts, i agree at the moment most venues wouldn't be able to support 4K at the moment anyway so there's no hurry. It's one of those how-long-is-a-piece-of-string questions, i know, because things vary with every situation/venue...
It's useful to hear what resolutions you've come across regularly...
Yep, the main thing is to make the content at a high resolution.

Cheers!
Suzy

[crv74]

My little experecience in events end being a 3 FullHD Blending if we work with projectors (near 3500x1080 to say it rough), or going over 4500 pixels wide by 1040 height if we use LED Screens (7488 the actual project).

All of that shoot over a "medium-high" workstation.

Don't get me wrong on that, i respect your laptop with the GTX 8xx series, and i've made a show with my MSI with the 970m for a Blending as above. But for MY tranquility i built a solid media server so i can be over the requirements for a long and play safe and loud. (now two of them: one with a 1080Ti and other with a Quadro P4000)

For the content i try to get or make it pixel perfect, but in my library i start to get 4K and some of the "ellitist" 8K footage and backgrounds, so i'm covered if the "fine eyed" appears.

[suzybee]

Hi crv74,
thanks for your comments.

I'm starting to think that something lile 3500 x 1080 (or 3240 x 1080 for a 3:1 ratio) would be a good way to go because it gives a good widescreen format and can be achieved with two HD projectors blended, and won't be pushing my laptop too hard.
And as you say probably aiming to have a high resolution library of content (which can be scaled down) does make sense if possible. Also i'm making some of my animations in Adobe Animate which uses vector graphics so i can scale those up in the future.

Does anybody know how important it is to have your content at the native resolution you're playing at? If you had a 4K clip and you were playing it in an HD composition, would it be waaay better to re-record the clip at HD resolution first rather than downsizing it within Resolume?

Thanks!
Suzy