Questions around how professionals can and should utilize 4K are as pervasive as ever. What sort of hardware requirements are needed for a 4K production? Will you need to upgrade or install different software? Are you working as efficiently as possible in your 4K production?

Post-production consultant Jeff Greenberg is someone who has the answers to those questions and more. He has nearly two decades of experience as a Master Instructor (trainer for other trainers) for Adobe, Apple, and Avid, specializing in the areas of editorial, workflow, compositing, sound, color grading and compression. On February 24^th, he’ll share some of that experience and expertise during a live webinar where he’ll compare 2012 technology to this year’s powerful hardware and software. He’ll also talk through how professionals at all levels can speed up their 4K workflow to increase their productivity.

We caught up with Jeff to run through what’s he’s been seeing and experiencing in his role as a consultant, what he does when he comes across people arguing about 4K and what attendees of the webinar can look forward to seeing and experiencing.

ProVideo Coalition: It’s been a little while since we caught up with you for the 2014 Editors Retreat. How was the rest of 2014 for you?

Jeff Greenberg : 2014 was amazing. I’m wonderfully busy! I’m heavily digging into 4k at every level.

Probably one of the coolest things was playing with a Sony A7s; between an ISO of 400,000 and shooting 4k, it’s a stunning camera!

I’ve been playing hard with 4k hardware; two fantastic items at the moment are the Dell 32” 4k monitor – what a great picture! – and the G-Tech Studio XL drive. It’s been a fantastic tool to push 4k at any bandwidth.

Since I’m in Editors Retreat mode at the moment, one of the exciting things is the TWO keynotes at this years ER (Arthur Schmidt  and David Moritz). 

And NAB’s Post Production World is right around the corning.

UPDATE – 2/19/15: PVC’s own Kevin P. McAuliffe is set to host the webinar

Any project, technology or release you’re especially looking forward to in 2015?

I’m particularly looking forward to the way the industry is going to deal with 4k; in many ways it’s like the SD-HD jump; I just think that 4k gives higher flexibility to production. The wider bottlenecks (like SAN solutions) aren’t really there yet; so, I’m excited to see where they go.

And I’m always looking forward to what new thoughts on editing will come out from the NLE makers this year. Each of them (Adobe, Apple, Avid) have had some great innovations that keep pushing the field forward.

Bruce Johnson talked with you at the Premiere Pro World Conference to grab a quick tip that explained how people can quickly bring down all their music in one step. Is that an issue you’ve seen a lot of pros struggle with?

It’s a favorite painful moment that every editor experiences. You’re in a rush, load a music clip, hit play and the sound deafens you. It’s not a hard problem – but every editor experiences it. 

When I think of quick tips, I’m always talking from the editorial experience; common ground. I like to find those hidden nuggets/workflows that I can share with others!

When you hear people passionately arguing about the pros and cons of 4K, do you jump into the fray or stand back and listen?

I stand back. It’s like arguing the pros and cons of Facebook. You can’t ignore it. It’s happened. You can argue why it’s not right for you or why a given tool doesn’t work for your workflow; but the industry will embrace 4k.

On February 24th, you’re going to be presenting during the Speed Up Your 4K Workflow: Real-World Benchmarks webinar. Can you give us a hint about a couple of the topics you’re looking to explore in your presentation?

We’re going to talk about how far the industry has come in the past three years or so; that the hardware and software upgrades really make a difference.

How many professionals realize they aren’t working as fast as they could be?

All of us. It’s hardware, software and the human element. 

How the technology has changed from 2012 to now is one of the topics you’re set to dig into. Where have you seen this impact professionals in the biggest way?

That evolution of the technology is actually the major brunt of this webinar. There’s so much that’s changed, and that means making the right choices pays for itself in a matter of months.

As far as the impact for professionals, nobody likes to wait for the h.264 file to output. Nobody.

Is there a subject you’re especially excited to dig into during the live Q&A? 

None more than any other; I think that we are forced to change/upgrade rapidly and yet, I keep meeting people with equipment that’s four, five and six years old. I cringe at how much waiting around they do.

We’re going to be looking at only about a 36 month time frame; if the difference is great there, imagine what the productivity benefit is when you have hardware that’s from 2010.