4K or 1080p Video Project Size?

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere but hoping someone can help me as I am still learning and a little confused!

I am working on a project where the final product will be show on a 4K UHD TV (3840x2160 16:9)

The video footage I am working with is 1920 × 1080 16:9 as well as some large photographic stills at varying aspect ratios.

Before I start editing, should I be using a project with 4K properties (even though i have no 4K footage) but that is what the final video will be viewed on OR should I just use a project that is 1920x1080?

I guess i'm worried how the 1920x1080 footage/stills will look on the 4K TV (blurry, pixelated etc....) and just want to get the video properties right before I start editing...

Any help/guidance would be much appreciated! Thanks

If your original footage is 1920x1080 then make that project the same.

ollieb wrote: ...i'm worried how the 1920x1080 footage/stills will look on the 4K TV (blurry, pixelated etc....) and just want to get the video properties right before I start editing.....

In Premiere this can be a problem if you have "default scale to frame size" enabled. The still photo is down-rezzed to the frame size and the extra detail is lost. Therefore you can't crop or zoom without it looking bad.

With FCPX it seems to always retain the original resolution even if the still is scaled to the project resolution. I have edited 4k content in a 1080p project and the original resolution is always available whether I (a) zoom into the frame in a 1080p project (b) export it as 4k (which requires copying/pasting into a 4k project).

If you are distributing at 4k but only have 1080p content there are some advantages to a 1080p project. This determines the size of temp, render and cache files so editing performance will generally be better.

Re still photo quality I think you will have the original resolution regardless of the project size. However it's best to always test this on a little test project before you commit to a lot of editing.

Thanks guys! Thats a great help! Interesting and good news that FCPX will retain the original resolution despite the project resolution. Cheers