H265 or ProRes ?

Good question, Doug. I have a USB 3.2 SSD drive (Samsung T9) that has a nominal read speed of 2000 MB/s, and my older Thunderbolt 2 drives with 2 to 3 cables. Tried on both with no success. I was initially dubious about that USB drive but read various things from people using it for video editing purposes that said it was more than fast enough.
 
Easy to test if the drive's speed is the issue. Since you have Resolve, you also have their "Blackmagic Disc Speed Test" utility as well. Just point it at the disc you want to test.
 
CharlesPapert said:
Good question, Doug. I have a USB 3.2 SSD drive (Samsung T9) that has a nominal read speed of 2000 MB/s, and my older Thunderbolt 2 drives with 2 to 3 cables. Tried on both with no success. I was initially dubious about that USB drive but read various things from people using it for video editing purposes that said it was more than fast enough.
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Those little Samsung drives (I own a couple) are not good enough for serious editing. I don't care what the specs say, they aren't good enough for sustained throughput. I believe that is your bottleneck.
 
CharlesPapert said:
Good question, Doug. I have a USB 3.2 SSD drive (Samsung T9) that has a nominal read speed of 2000 MB/s, and my older Thunderbolt 2 drives with 2 to 3 cables. Tried on both with no success. I was initially dubious about that USB drive but read various things from people using it for video editing purposes that said it was more than fast enough.
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Charles, you might be correct. I downloaded a sample R3D file from this website and it barely plays back at 2 fps in Resolve 19. God, what an awful codec. Who would put up with this? My 16-bit Sony RAW and X-OCN files playback as smooth as MP4.

Okay, so I guess there are some unfortunate souls who must use proxies in 2024. I stand corrected. Live and learn . . . but I'd never stand for it myself. I guess I've been spoiled by owning Sony cameras.

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Free Download: RED Komodo R3D RAW Sample Footage

R3D RAW HDR Video Details: Model: Ngô Hài Hà. RED Komodo 6K. Meike super35 50mm T2.1 Cinema Prime. Kolari ND3. 6K 17:9 R3D MQ ISO 400, 24 FPS, T2.1. Edited in DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.6. Mac…
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I had no issues with that same clip on my Intel PC and looking at the performance meters while playing back multiples of this clip on a 4K Timeline in Resolve 19, I could see that:
- Decoding is all CPU (I think they use a version of JPEG2000 for each frame). My i9-13900KF hit about 50% during playback.
- GPU decoding was 0%, and 3D processing was about 25% on the 4090.

Also FWIW, Red have their own sample library across multiple cameras, resolutions, frame rates (but you have to create an account to download) - https://www.red.com/sample-r3d-files
 
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In Resolve you have to set preferences to decode for RED.By default it is set to none and if you set to use GPU to decompress and debayer they will play fine. At least that sample plays fine on both my PC Threadripper and 4070Ti and on my M1 Studio Max
 
Doug Jensen said:
Those little Samsung drives (I own a couple) are not good enough for serious editing. I don't care what the specs say, they aren't good enough for sustained throughput. I believe that is your bottleneck.
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I've had no issues with 4K files from Varicam and FX6 so far, but yes I should invest in a project drive that is Tbolt 3 or 4. Just being a cheapskate while work is so slow. Any suggestions? Maybe something while the Cyber Monday sales are happening?
 
Charles, about a year ago I switched to the Sandisk Pro Blade ecosystem and I love it. Super fast, super reliable, and very flexible.

There's the base station that can hold 4 blades at once that come in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. Each blade appears on your desktop as a stand-alone drive. You can mix and match the blades in any combination you want, and hot swap them as necessary.

Blades can be purchased in a bundle or one at a time. I have four 2TB drives and two 4TB drives that I keep my most commonly used files and active projects on.

Then there's the Pro Blade Transport bus-powered device, which allows you to use a single blade without the base station. Speeds are a little slower with the Transport, but still good enough for serious editing. When I'm on the road teaching a workshop I just bring one blade and the transport.

I don't own one of these drives yet, but I'll be getting one soon for a 3-month road trip I'm doing next summer. Should make it really easy to off-load footage and make backups. A 12TB drive with a slot for one blade.

Anyway, there are lots of SSDs out there that will get the job done, but I love the Sandisk Pro Blade system and don't see myself using anything else anytime soon.
 
Ron Evans said:
In Resolve you have to set preferences to decode for RED.By default it is set to none and if you set to use GPU to decompress and debayer they will play fine. At least that sample plays fine on both my PC Threadripper and 4070Ti and on my M1 Studio Max
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Wow, that a difference. Thanks for the tip. I feel like someone who complains about something Sony-related but it turns out they are just doing it wrong. Now I'm guilty about not understanding RED. That's why I try to stay in my lane. :)

Okay, so now I can go back to my original statement (which turns out to be true): "Proxies?? In this day and age? You gotta be crazy or very cheap."
 
Doug Jensen said:
Charles, about a year ago I switched to the Sandisk Pro Blade ecosystem and I love it. Super fast, super reliable, and very flexible.

There's the base station that can hold 4 blades at once that come in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. Each blade appears on your desktop as a stand-alone drive. You can mix and match the blades in any combination you want, and hot swap them as necessary.

Blades can be purchased in a bundle or one at a time. I have four 2TB drives and two 4TB drives that I keep my most commonly used files and active projects on.

Then there's the Pro Blade Transport bus-powered device, which allows you to use a single blade without the base station. Speeds are a little slower with the Transport, but still good enough for serious editing. When I'm on the road teaching a workshop I just bring one blade and the transport.

I don't own one of these drives yet, but I'll be getting one soon for a 3-month road trip I'm doing next summer. Should make it really easy to off-load footage and make backups. A 12TB drive with a slot for one blade.

Anyway, there are lots of SSDs out there that will get the job done, but I love the Sandisk Pro Blade system and don't see myself using anything else anytime soon.
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That system looks great, Doug. Watched the product demo to get a feel for the flexibility. May be something I'll invest into at some point, hard to know what lies ahead to justify it or not!
 
Little late here, but just came across this thread and saw Charles' post up top about the Samsung T9 drives with a read speed of 2,000 MB/s.
Not sure if you're on a Mac or not, but no Apple silicon Macs take advantage of the USB 3.2 Gen 2 2x2 speeds (20 Gb/s). They're all capped at 10 Gb/s speeds, which is why I only buy 10Gb/s drives, or build my own TB 3/4 drives (I'm on an M1 Ultra). I have a couple with Orico enclosures - one with a Samsung 2TB 970, and one with a 4TB WD drive.
On the 10 Gb/s front, my Sandisk Extreme 4TB will hit 900 W/720 R, Samsung 4TB Shield at 800 W/650 R. Meanwhile the TB enclosures hit ~2800 W/2550 R, removing them from having any sort of bottleneck effect.
More on Macs and the USB Gen 2 2x2 spec here: https://eclecticlight.co/2024/12/25/how-your-intel-mac-can-use-usb-3-2-gen-2x2-drives-at-full-speed/
 
Apple's moved onto USB4 and TB5 in the never-ending bizarre amount of changes over the last 20 years, but it looks like USB-C is here to stay.
 
Thanks all for the answers. Doing some testing and still haven't made up my mind between H265 or Vlog. Adding a sub 1K small camera for the underwater stuff (cage), and currently outfitting the Crosstreak for overnight if I am out of hotel range. H265 is going to be easier and probably only used for Youtube. Due to the dust and water not using anything that would compromise the integrity of the camera (hit a dust storm last year as was glad I didn't have any open ports. You have all given me a few things to consider.
 
JeffD7K said:
Thanks all for the answers. Doing some testing and still haven't made up my mind between H265 or Vlog.
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Can't you do both? One is a codec and the other is a "look" or recording mode. You ought to be able to use them simultaneously if you choose.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Can't you do both? One is a codec and the other is a "look" or recording mode. You ought to be able to use them simultaneously if you choose.
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No. You can either choose the Pany baked in profiles or you can choose from various luts. After shooting about 10 hours of video (wildlife) over the last week, H265 5.8K seems to be the way I am leaning. You can of course still do tweeking on the color page, but Natural is so very close to real life colors, I've decided not to go Vlod, Arri, or 705.
 
JeffD7K said:
No. You can either choose the Pany baked in profiles or you can choose from various luts.
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Exactly. You can choose LOG or a baked in proflie. But the choice of H.265 or some other codec, such as MP4, is a separate choice that has nothing to do with profiles or LUTs. You said you had to choose "between H265 or Vlog". That's can't be right. One choice should not exclude the other, unless Panasonic has totally screwed the pooch since I got my S1H.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Exactly. You can choose LOG or a baked in proflie. But the choice of H.265 or some other codec, such as MP4, is a separate choice that has nothing to do with profiles or LUTs. You said you had to choose "between H265 or Vlog". That's can't be right. One choice should not exclude the other, unless Panasonic has totally screwed the pooch since I got my S1H.
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You are correct I should have said H265/Natural or ProRes/vLog as one you can use with out color correcting for nature images and the other means Vlog>705>color correction (for me one workflow is eaiser). If I Use H265/vLog then again its color correction and more time.
 
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