I have several cameras (360 cameras such as the Insta360 One X, Evo, and Vuze XR) that store their files using h.264. During the stitiching process I have the option of creating an intermediary file that uses ProRes 422. I can also create the intermediary file using h.264. The ProRes files are of course huge but they do speed up workflow quite a bit.
Some people advocate always going to a ProRes 422 intermediary file because they claim that if you work with the h.264 files, apply some adjustments and effects, and then export with h.264 you will be recompressing the video, ie. compressing an already compressed video and adding more compression artifacts and degrading the quality. But does this really happen? Doesn't Premiere have to decode the h.264 video, rebuild all the frames, and apply all the adjustments and effects, and then just compresses the final results? Doesn't the quality end up being the same or does something else happens that degrades the quality? It seems like all the ProRes intermediary file does is save time. Can someone clarify?
Thanks,
Christian
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