Resolution of ProRes Low/Medium/High Resolution Proxies

M. .....

Yea, it would be so nice if the Adobe folks overseeing their document/information services actually provided more data. That is a continual and ongoing complaint that seems to run across nearly if not all their applications.

LIke you, I prefer hard data always, and don't see why that isn't included. But then, I've also been 'around' the way Adobe apps function for some time.

Some of us that have been using the apps for a while probably get a bit jaded about this at times. Or, answer simply from a practical perspective. As in, "this" is what you can do, now ... and "this" ... like getting more detailed information .... probably just ain't gonna happen in this lifetime.

Their Premiere Pro UserVoice is the place to go give feedback to the devs and the M&E people above the program teams that control this stuff. This forum is actually user to user 'help'. 

Neil

It would be great if the proxy options could show more information. Right now it is not clear what High, Medium and Low mean from the interface itself, which is bad for a variety of reasons.

I really don't understand why some people respond with: "you don't need to know" or "find out yourself". Firstly, some of us clearly do need to know, otherwise we wouldn't be looking it up. Secondly, I found this thread through a google search, which took me 10 seconds — making various proxies to check it out would take me much longer. Especially when you consider the fact that, as of now, it's not clear whether the Low, Med, High options scale or not; if I input a 4K file, do I get the same Low res resolution as when I input a 1080p or 8K file? Or, if I input a 4K file, do I get the same aspect ratio as with a UHD file? I would have to make quite some proxies before I found out how the proxies actually function. Besides, the software allows you to create your own proxy presets, what use does that have when you don't know what the available options actually are?

BTW: Check the size of the main folder and proxy. The Cineform proxies are actually smaller than the 4K - UHD footage.

Sorry, I hit the mark as correct by accident.

Use 1080p proxies then. Just no h.264. Use the Cineform or ProRes proxies. Experiment as to bitrate / quality. Next project I'm going to try ProRes LT proxies and remove the timecode window, so I can try a smart render, the advantages of that look worthwhile. If not, I'll stick with my 720p Cineform.

Lots of drama here. But I'll explain why the proxy resolutions matter to me. Because I want to use the highest quality proxy possible for my system in a particular editing situation. When it comes to multicam tracks, and there is a lot of footage to convert, I don't want to waste time creating proxies more than once if I can make an informed decision in the first place. Actually, I'm surprised that High Resolution isn't 1080, especially with so much 4K and upwards footage being used these days. 

I've been reading Neil's posts for several years, and I've not known him to be sarcastic, neither do I see sarcasm in this thread.

With that said, I don't understand why you didn't just test it? It's one of those easy things. Three options and see what you get. Before my first Proxy project and first Multicam project I must have created 50 projects testings from Ingest to final output. And once I knew what was happening, I created my project knowing what I'll get.

I agree with you that proxies with bars would be just plain wrong. When I was testing I realized why that was happening and could simply change the resolution to match what I was encoding. I also add a TimeCode window so I can see that I'm using the proxies at any time.

Yes, Ann, you are most correct. IF you are wanting to export from the proxies, then the AR is quite important. I'd not thought of that specific thing as I think I've only once in how many years exported from the proxies.

But I should have thought of that possibility ... my bad.

Neil

When I've got proxies up, I'm not paying any attention to "exactness" ... I'm just doing basic editing, cutting & such. To check something, it's a quick keyboard tap to original, then back to proxies. So what concern are black bars?

Many of the editors I know of use watermarks on their proxies to ensure they know when proxy is up or not. For me, the bars are the same thing, and I know plenty of editors who prefer having bars show rather than watermarks.

Neil

Proxies are designed to use simply for easing playback. In general, they are not a replacement media ... just to give you an adequate view and let the app play through complex timelines easier. Therefore, in nearly all circumstances, the important parts of a proxy format/codec are 1) how well it allows Premiere to play complex timelines versus original media and 2) if the visual quality is adequate to give you a decent idea of your basic editing ... cuts/pacing & such.

For that, knowing the exact resolution is not necessarily any more useful than low, medium, or high.

Neil