Blackmagic Forum

I would like to render using Quicktime, H.264 with 25000+ data rate in Ultra HD 3480 x 2160. When I try to do this I get the error message:
"Exceed Resolve Max Output Resolution for H.264"

Do I need to use the paid version for these render settings? I am using version: 12.0.1.006

Also when I start Resolve I see this message every time:
"Failed to initialize RED Decoder with the configured number of decoders."

Can you provide details on your system config?

Not sure if this is what you want, please let me know if you need anything else...

Windows 10 Pro version: 10.0.10240
System model: MSI GE62 2QC
System type: x64-based PC
RAM: 16GB
Graphics: Nvidia GTX960M (2GB)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5700HQ CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2701 Mhz, 4 Cores, 8 Logical Processors

On Windows, the maximum H.264 render resolution is 3072x2048 VistaVision.

Ah, OK. Thanks for clearing that up. Back to Premiere then for now.
I have heard it is better to include Resolve though, so will most likely try it again in future by exporting with MPEG4.

Dwaine Maggart wrote:On Windows, the maximum H.264 render resolution is 3072x2048 VistaVision.

Not just a restriction of Windows, and H264 is not the only codec that is very limited much beyond 1080HD.

You are probably thinking of the XAVC High-level 5.2 profile... mostly in use as an in-camera codec.

jPo

Strange number. If h264 encoder can do 3072x2048 than it means it supports level 5.1, so this means it should also be able to export 4096x2048 up to 30fps.
Overall h264 maximum resolution is OS independed and it's 4096x2304 (up to 56fps).

I ran into this issue today, too. Would be nice to have it. Why not? Used v12.0.

It's a limitation of the Quicktime encoder, I don't think there's anything BM can do about that

Dwaine Maggart wrote:On Windows, the maximum H.264 render resolution is 3072x2048 VistaVision.

I render projects in Edius Pro 8.2 with H.264/AVC at UHD resolutions. Is that totally different from H.264? I thought H.264 supported up to 4K? When I render projects and look at properties the proper resolution 3840 by 2160 comes up. I have been doing this for some time on both Windows 10 and 8.2.
I get the same error message in DR about resolution not supported - why can I render UHD using the same codec in Edius and not DR?

h264 as per spec supports up to 4096x2304 resolution. It's simply Resolve limitation. Codec spec is 1 thing and particular implementation is another. 1 can support only up to HD, other 3K and yet another full spec. 1 can provide much better quality than other etc. All down to the codec implementation in a specific software (how good programmers you have).

I'm pretty sure it's a QuickTime issue not a Resolve one. I've seen it in Premiere and After FX as well. The QuickTime encoder doesn't allow for UHD settings when encoding to .mov.
Edius also fails when exporting to a QuickTime H264 at UHD resolution

Premiere lets you write straight to .MP4 container as well...bypassing the quicktime MOV component
H264 is not the problem,it's writing to .MOV and having to use quicktime components to do so

Resolve also lets you write to MP4, it's a QuickTime issue that hasn't been fixed in years and never will be in Windows

Adam Simmons wrote:I'm pretty sure it's a QuickTime issue not a Resolve one. I've seen it in Premiere and After FX as well. The QuickTime encoder doesn't allow for UHD settings when encoding to .mov.
Edius also fails when exporting to a QuickTime H264 at UHD resolution

If it goes through QT engine than probably this is QT restriction, but I still "blame" Resolve. I'm not going to complain to Apple about it, but to BM
Instead of using QT h264 encoder, which is free and easy to implement maybe it's time to use "proper" component and have full control over it.

I fully expect them to change it going forward as they intend to remove QT from Resolve, and to do that they'll have to find other encoders

Adam Simmons wrote:I'm pretty sure it's a QuickTime issue not a Resolve one. I've seen it in Premiere and After FX as well. The QuickTime encoder doesn't allow for UHD settings when encoding to .mov.I
Edius also fails when exporting to a QuickTime H264 at UHD resolution

The more I read this thread the more confused I get. I have been exporting for nearly 2 years now video clips that were created in DR and transcoded to Grass Valley HQX (which takes forever - now I'm using DNXHR HQ since it encodes at 60fps compared with 3fps with GrassValley HQX) bring them into the Edius timeline and after completing transitions, titles etc. (editing done in DR) - I use Edius H.264/AVC Exporter Plugin to encode to .mp4 files at UHD (not .mov files).

Is there some inherent reason why Edius can do this and DR can't?

If you try exporting out to .MOV using the QuickTime exporter in Edius it also fails.
You are not using the QuickTime exporter when you choose to export as an h264 you are using an alternant h264 encoder in Edius.

There's a difference between encoding to .mp4 and encoding to .MOV. In Resolve you can also export out to a .mp4 without issues, it's only the h264 to .MOV option that fails and that's because QuickTime has a bug that's never been fixed. As BM are supposedly making Resolve as QuickTime free as possible I would expect them to add in a 3rd party H264 encoder at some point