Have we gone MAD?? - We bought a bunch of Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12Ks

The video opens with Linus addressing the idea that 12K video is not a mainstream concern for most viewers, then lays out the core motivation: capturing more detail, aiding post production, and providing flexibility to reframe shots. The team explains why they pursued six URSA Mini Pro 12Ks despite expectations of limited display support, highlighting their past experience with 8K and a belief that higher resolution can improve the final output and the editor's options. They describe their hardware setup and initial performance assumptions, noting that their Ryzen Threadripper, 128 GB RAM, and multiple RTX GPUs seemed sufficient for 12K editing at a reduced timeline resolution. They also acknowledge the early adopter challenges, including bugs in the camera and software, and the reality that full 12K workflows require navigating proprietary BRAW, which introduces additional pipeline constraints and decisions about ingest and render strategies. The segment then shifts to a deep dive on the software ecosystem, contrasting Blackmagic’s native workflows with third party alternatives. They explain that BRAW, while offering post capture metadata flexibility, is tightly tied to Blackmagic software and hardware, and that on Windows Premiere playback and editing becomes fraught with performance and stability issues, requiring workarounds. They finish by outlining practical paths forward: using the Autokroma BRAW Studio plugin for more stable editing in Premiere, leveraging an adjustment-layer workflow to mitigate color grading performance, and contemplating a continued wait for Blackmagic to fix ongoing bugs while also considering hardware upgrades to meet VRAM requirements. The video closes with a candid reflection on the ecosystem, the cost of sticking to one vendor, and a practical stance that 12K may not become a universal standard overnight, but that incremental workflow improvements could make it viable for future projects, including their own ShortCircuit build. In short, the team balances enthusiasm for 12K ambition with a measured assessment of current toolchain limitations and pragmatic workarounds, underscoring that practical 12K editing remains a complex, evolving challenge rather than a plug-and-play reality.

Topics · technology · video production · software · hardware · workflow · cameras · editing