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Changing optimized Media settings
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Yup confused about the point of “Optimised pro Res” if you can use proxy and then export using original files that is never going to be lower quality than Optimised files and sometimes better because optimised Pro Res is often going to be compressed. No?
So I am suggesting that when working with Red footage or Hi quality for example it might be better to not Optimise, work in proxy and then export using original.
And I cannot see an advantage even for AVC HD is creating optimised footage.
Surely simpler to go to proxy and then output from original files.
Bu are you saying the inject process for creating these proxy files is much slower than optimised Pro Res? I have not noticed this to be the case but maybe I a not paying attention properly!
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[James Ewart] “Yup confused about the point of “Optimised pro Res” if you can use proxy and then export using original files that is never going to be lower quality than Optimised files and sometimes better because optimised Pro Res is often going to be compressed. No?”
It’s up to you and your workflow needs.
ProRes is not as compressed as AVCHD. No. It will hold up just fine.
You have to also take in to consideration your entire workflow. If you edit in Proxy, build composites, create titles, color correct, add filters, and sometimes render those things, when you switch back to using original, you will have to rerender those effects when exporting out to your final movie. If you work with optimized media, you won’t have to wait as long. Your particular project needs may fit one way or the other. You will have to make that decision.
ProRes Proxy doesn’t look that good. It really is a Proxy. If you monitor on broadcast monitors and have clients in the room, they will ask why everything looks low res. If you edit on a laptop screen, you might not notice it as much. ProRes Proxy literally cuts your spatial resolution in half as well as knocking down bitrate.
[James Ewart] “So I am suggesting that when working with Red footage or Hi quality for example it might be better to not Optimise, work in proxy and then export using original.”
Those exports are going to take a very long time, but if you have time, then sure, using Proxy is just fine. that is a decision that perhaps will benefit your needs.
[James Ewart] “And I cannot see an advantage even for AVC HD is creating optimised footage.”
FCPX does OK at handling h264 footage, but it’s not great (no NLE is super fantastic with h264). the more projects you do , the longer projects you do, you might find that things might get bogged down, especially when there’s effect and layers involved. Optimized media helps here, but again maybe that doesn’t suit your needs. I can’t really tell you what is best in your situation. I can tell you that I, personally, always optimize h264 material and I do that from experience. Your experiences might lead you in another direction.
[James Ewart] “Surely simpler to go to proxy and then output from original files.”
Perhaps. I think it’s much easier to simply make the optimized footage in the background will importing once, and never have to switch back and forth between proxy and original and rerender while exporting, but, to each their own.
[James Ewart] “Bu are you saying the inject process for creating these proxy files is much slower than optimised Pro Res?”
No, it’s not much different as each of them takes a while. FCPX does a decent job of doing these processes in the background, or at least when you aren’t looking. You start with editing original files and FCPX will slowly trickle the optimized media in and update each clip automatically once it is transcoded.
Jeremy
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Okay thanks.
I think I’m trying to be too clever.
regards
James
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[James Ewart] “I think I’m trying to be too clever.”
Ha!
As much flak as FCPX gets for handing everything for you, there is still a lot of choice. And in order to make the best choices, you have to see what works best for you, your clients, your footage, and workflows by working with FCPX and trying new things.
My workflow needs are probably different from yours, which are different form Bill, which are different from Sascha.
I would encourage you to follow your instincts and try working with Proxy material. Make sure to go all the way through a Project with it, switching back and forth between Proxy and Original. Try and note the export timing. See how long it takes to switch between the two.
Then you can create optimized media on the next Project and see if there’s any benefit for you. Maybe there isn’t.
Jeremy
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The nice thing about working with optimized video is not only improving performance compared to original AVCHD or the fact that you get to work with high quality video the whole time but you don’t need to keep the optimized files around once the project is complete. You can freely delete the optimized files. You get the drive space back and your edit remains intact. Then, if you ever need to go back and make a small change, you don’t even need to optimize again. Just make the change and export from the originals.
FWIW
Jeremy, your comment about trashing the originals and not the optimized files confuses me. I can’t imagine the reasoning behind trashing the original files. Those files are, comparatively, very small and can NEVER be recreated once completely deleted. Optimized are large files and recreating them in the future is a trivial task at worst. I must be mistaken, so it’s possible other people could be too.
This workflow (based on the intention of archiving the project once finished) is detailed in this episode of Macbreak Studio-
https://youtu.be/Kr3nKp5d0dgMy apologies if I’m missing something, it’s is 6am and still up on vacation in Hawaii…
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[David Eaks] “Jeremy, your comment about trashing the originals and not the optimized files confuses me. I can’t imagine the reasoning behind trashing the original files. Those files are, comparatively, very small and can NEVER be recreated once completely deleted.”
James was worried about storage.
When I say original files, i am not talking about the camera masters. You never trash those. I am talking about the original files in the “Original Media” folder in the fcpx Event. Spending on the source material of your footage, (that is, what kind of camera it was shot on) fcpx puts a rewrapped copy of the media in the original media folder.
To recreate those files from an avchd edit, you simply reimport from the camera masters.
This way, you don’t have an unnecessary rewrapped version of your camera originals and you save some space, if drive space is a concern.
If your camera originals are .mov already (say from DSLR, Alexa, or external recorder), you don’t need to do anything as you will most likely reference that media and NOT import a copy in to fcpx, which takes up very little space. We were talking specifically about an avchd workflow, in which fcpx always puts a rewrapped h264 .mov in the original media folder.
Hope that makes sense.
No, you never trash your camera original masters.
Jeremy
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Yup ands even nice thing about proxy it it doesn’t use up all that space
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Because we all create Archives as backup don’t we? Even I do and I’m storage stingy!!
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I back up absolutely everything. I can’t afford not to, but that’s what suits our needs.
I did some tests for you guys.
A 16 min AVCHD clip.
Original Media Folder – (h264 .mov) = 2.64 GB
Proxy Media – 960×540 ProRes Proxy = 2.15 GB
Optimized media – ProRes .mov = 14.02 GBProxy media savings vs Original Media = 18% (down 500 MBs and at half resolution)
Optimized media increase = 431% (up 12GBs)Extrapolated out to an hour-ish of footage:
Original Media – 10.56 GBs
Proxy Media – 8.6 GBs
Optimized – 56.08 GBsYou would then have to calculate time in here, which my feeble math skills can’t account for.
This only applies to AVCHD. Different codecs would be different numbers.
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Brilliant work thank you
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