Pro Res 422 or 422 (Proxy) when using MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression

[Eatsnax]

I'm creating a mockumentry and in the show we have cars rigged with Sayno CG10 cameras. It looks like CCTV footage, kind of like it does on The Kardashians show, for example.

I'm editing this in a macbook pro. The Sayno footage uses MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression. When used in a FCP timeline, it lags. I find that when I render them out to 422, it runs much smoothly. Problem is the file size baloons to a huge size. If I render to 422 Proxy, I realize that it's much smaller.

My question is this...

Would rendering MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression, to 422 Proxy, really degrade the footage that much? Is the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression, really that high of a quality to render it out to the regular 422 codec?

 

[David Saraceno]

You have to transcode your MPEG-4 into a QT codec that is an editing codec such as pro res.

Sure the file size will increase, but editing will more pleasant and there won't be a degradation of quality.

Not a fan of "reality TV," so can't help you there.

 

[xmephestox]

well you just have to look at the bandwidth and resolution size of ur originals. is it 1080 or 720? and what's its recording bandwidth. if the bandwidth of the original is under 45 mbps, then u should be fine with proxy, and probably don't need anymore than pro res LT for easy cutting and maintaining the image quality.

 

[Calomile]

Like xmephestox says, Proxy should work well, and you'll likely see minimal issues shooting on mid range gear. If you want to play it safe, LT will definitely cover you. Standard ProRes is way overkill for most consumer gear even now.

 

[Eatsnax]

Sweet guys, thanks for the help! I thought so.

@xmephestox; this is the info of the footage via MPEG STREAMCLIPS stream info option--- "H.264, 1280 × 720, 29.97 fps, 8.98 Mbps"

So looks like I'm good with Proxy.

So cool, thanks again!

 

[Eatsnax]

@xmephestox I guess then 422 LT is all I need for footage from an HMC?

 

[xmephestox]

yeh pretty much, it's good to overshoot a little to ensure lossless encoding. anything prosumer these days is 8 bit 4:2:2 or, or 4:2:0 or worse. and unless your running AVC intra, or Red footage and so on, there's really no need for anything past pro res LT IMHO. regular pro ress 422 is over 147 mbps. LT is around 102. I pretty much use LT for everything these days. It's a great compromise in hard drive space and visually lossless quality.