Do I need proxies if I’m working from 4K ProRes HQ sources?

[Ivan Eldredge]

Ivan:

From my personal experience, even though 4K ProRes HQ only requires a certain bandwidth, most SSDs can handle, I would still highly recommend using proxies due to the huge amount of footage you’ll be working with. When you’re handling 30+ hours of 4K footage, proxies will make your workflow much smoother and less demanding on your system.

This need becomes even more critical when dealing with 8K ProRes HQ, where the data demands jump significantly. Proxies will help keep everything running smoothly, especially with such high volumes of footage.

Thanks, and good luck with the project!

Ivan Eldredge G.

[Tod Hopkins]

Need? No. They may benefit you depending on how complex the project is. Proxies have two major roles. They simplify real-time playback and they allow for editing with less storage. A Mac studio with fast media storage will have no problem playing a couple of streams of 4K. Once you start layering and applying effects, real-time playback will slow down. The more complex your edit, the more your real-time playback will benefit from proxies.

Proxies can also benefit you if you need to edit the project using less storage because you can work with proxies even if the full-resolution media is not available.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to create your proxies when you start the project. You can create proxies at any point. Just right-click the clip in the bin.

The downside to proxies is that they take time to create and use additional storage. They also make your project a bit more complex and problem-prone.

[Ivan Rhudick]

Thanks very much for the input. Based on this, and some other conversations, it sounds like making proxies makes things easier, and is the “better safe than sorry” option.

Thanks again!