Proxies advantages and disadvantages

Well, things you can proxy are just not as useful now that it's more difficult. You cannot do URL blocks beyond the host resource (without proxying or full browsing, which is not truly a proxy at that point and won't work with a lot of websites) when everything isproxy io, for example.

Warren is a very experienced pro, his advice is very good btw. I'll just add a bit more and/or different perspective.

The only downsides to use of proxies is a bit of time with the computer making them while (hopefully) you do something else. And a bit of space in disk storage.

Proxies are a heavily used process in video post. I also came out of a stills background. The image files there are tiny compared to what we deal with in video. So the processes have to be different just from a practical perspective.

For many people, setting the computer to make proxies say overnight for tomorrow's work is slick and all they need do. Finish the project, you dump the proxies as they can be recreated if you ever need to.

I know others that (like in Warren's example) transcode overnight instead of proxies. And work the project from the t-codes, using an intraframe codec like DNxHD/R, Cineform, or ProRes. Much larger files on disk, but they edit better.

And again, they dump the t-codes after the project is over because they can always recreate them from the more heavily compressed original files.

Neil

The main reason to use the Premiere Pro Proxy Workflow is if the bandwidth requirements of your full resolution source footage exceed the playback capabilities of your workstation.

How about taking advantage of Smart Rendering in Premiere Pro instead of using the Proxy Workflow by transcoding your GoPro camera originals to Apple ProRes?

Larry Jordan explains it very well in his December 2019 article Premiere Pro: Export Faster with Smart Render:

https://larryjordan.com/articles/premiere-pro-export-faster-with-smart-render/

Here's the official Adobe documentation, Supported formats for smart rendering:

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/smart-rendering.html

You can transcode to ProRes using GoPro Player (https://community.gopro.com/t5/en/GoPro-Player/ta-p/413305), Adobe Media Encoder, or by enabling the Ingest option in Premiere Pro's Project Settings.

If you're creating content for YouTube or social media, I would go with Apple ProRes422 LT.  If you're creating content for broadcast or cable, I would go with Apple ProRes422 HQ.

Smart Rendering supports most of the CODECs that are good for editing.  If you don't go with ProRes, I would pick Avid DNxHD second and GoPro Cineform third.

Branched and renamed title to the Premiere Pro forum.