# Playing 4K on a Mac (video is slow)



## duarted (Nov 16, 2014)

Hi,

I know this section is for DSLR video but I got a question about the videos of my GoPro Hero 4 Black

When I try to play the 4K videos on my Macbook Pro they are slow and "break", they don't play smooth like an 1080p video would play. I don't have a 4K display, is that the reason?

I have a Macbook Pro 15", 2 Ghz Intel Core i7, 16 GB Ram, 250GB SSD, OSX Mavericks, Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB + AMD Radeon HD 6490M 256MB

Thanks!


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## runnah (Nov 16, 2014)

What are you trying to play it with?

4k take a lot of grunt to play. I'd check to make sure all your codecs are updated. Try playing it through the gopro program.


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## duarted (Nov 16, 2014)

I'm trying with Quicktime player, VLC player (Version 2.2.0-pre3) and MPEG Streamclip

I dont have the GoPro Studio but that's to edit the video right? I just want to play it.

How can I check my codecs?


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## runnah (Nov 16, 2014)

vLC would be your best bet.

Yeah the software is for editin but you can at least view it.


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## Light Guru (Nov 16, 2014)

A quick search of gopros support website brings up this. 
Minimum System Requirements for 4K Editing and Playback

Most likely your graphics card is just not up the the job.


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## duarted (Nov 17, 2014)

Thanks for the link

I'm going to try with GoPro Studio, if I'm able to play it there it means the computer is okay to play 4K files and that it might be a codec problem with VLC and the other players. 

I'll let you know


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## duarted (Nov 17, 2014)

Ok I tried with GoPro Studio and it's still slow playing the 4K movies, even after converting them to be more "edit friendly".


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## runnah (Nov 17, 2014)

Sounds like you don't have enough horsepower to run them.


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## duarted (Nov 17, 2014)

yeah that's what it seems... anyway 1080p is still pretty good and I'm sure it will still be used for a long time


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## bvjgcigh (Nov 17, 2014)

On my gaming laptop, you can actually see how much the rendering slows down when it encounters 4k footage.


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