Proxy-media vs optimized media

Hi Folks,
Upon importing my media I'm able to choose between proxy and optimized media. The difference between and the sense of those is understood. But what I'm not understand - why I'm allowed to select proxy-media AND optimized media at the same time? In my opinion you need EITHER proxy (on a laptop) OR optimized media but never both of them together...
Because if you import as proxy AND optimized, FCPX will take the proxy for editing and the optimized files are useless, right?
So why is that, why can I choose both and not one of them?
Best regards
Jörg

You only need optimized media if your computer has problems working with the original media. Optimized media will transcode your original media to Prores 422, which is much easier CPU-wise to edit with as compared to H264. However, it takes up LOTS of space, so if you have no problems editing with your original media, you don't need to generate optimized.
Proxy media is a low-res version of your original media -- 1/4 resolution I believe, and it uses a reduced quality codec meant only for "offline" editing. e.g., using a laptop. However, like Tom says, if your machine is underpowered and you don't have the space for the optimized media, it's another alternative.
I would not recommend only using proxy media for editing since the resolution is much lower and you won't really be seeing a true representation of your content. I'd say though if your computer can handle editing in H264, there would be no reason for generating optimized media.

Similar Messages

Getting my head around editing in h.264, Proxy Media, or Optimized Media for Canon DSLR

I'm trying to understand these different workflows, how they work, plusses and minues of each, with a focus on how it relates to file size. Please help me fill in the gaps
Here's what I think I know now.
Optmize meda to ProRes 422
Better for performance, but creates HUGE files. On 30 GB worth of h.264 footage, the optimzed files were over 100 GB, not including any render files, etc. I'm running off a laptop and only use external drives for storage, so I'd like to find a better way that uses less disk space and requires less time to convert (took all night for those 100 GB)
Proxy Media
Creates an easy to edit file that is very poor resolution and quality. You can use this for editing, then before final export, switch back to original/optimized media and it will re-render and reconnect with the good media.
QUESTION: If I ONLY do the Proxy optimization, do I need to also Optimize to ProRes 422 at some point also, or can I just have it refer to the h.264 .mov files and get equivalent results? If I can, this seems like a good compromize.
Editing directly with the h.264 footage
I have read that some people are dropping the footage directly into the timeline and editing without any real problems. Others say it will cause performance issues and to always optimize. Ideally I'd like to do this way as it is the quickest (no conversion) and has the smallest file sizes of all of them.
It would also be useful to start out this way and optimize later if I need to on the smaller sub-set of the footage. But I have found no good way to do a rough cut with little editing and then select only those clips used in the timeline for optimization in case I start experiencing slowdowns. Yes, you can clip-by-clip select them and "show in event browser," but you can't do this with multiple clips as far as I can tell.
So what are your workflow tips for keeping file size down? What am I missing in my understanding of these options?
I'm on a 2010 MBP i7 (dual core) with a 7200 RPM drive for what it's worth since I know the h.264 one largely depends on the hardware.

Proxy Media
If I ONLY do the Proxy optimization, do I need to also Optimize to ProRes 422 at some point also ...
Nope. You don't need to do the "Optimze Media" at all, you can use with the Proxy media for your working edit, then switch the references back to the Original media for mastering/export.
... or can I just have it refer to the h.264 .mov files and get equivalent results? If I can, this seems like a good compromize.
Exactly. And yes it is, an excellent compromise. Start working with the original media right away, but have FCPX create proxies in the background (which it switches to using as soon as each one becomes ready); if at any point you need to check a clip in place in the timeline in full resolution then you can just quickly toggle your general playback preference to "Use original", otherwise just edit away with the proxies and then switch that preference back to "Use original" when you are ready to output.
Editing directly with the h.264 footage
I have read that some people are dropping the footage directly into the timeline and editing without any real problems. Others say it will cause performance issues and to always optimize.
Yep, you can edit just with the original media if you choose but your source footage is H264, a dreadful edit codec by any measure, and certainly you will get much better timeline performance if you work with transcoded Optimized or Proxy media instead.

Workflow: AVCHD to Proxy editing (no optimizing), Export from original media. Any disadvantages?

I've been reading AVCHD threads for FCP 7 and now FCP-X for a year or two. I understand the concepts. Now with FCP-X, I don't see any advantages to optimizing media to Apple Pro Res 422 on import. I'd be using the Pro Res Proxy and then ultimately exporting out with the original source files. The Proxy files will make editing fast, the export from source files removes any chance of generation loss, and not optimizing to Pro Res 422 at import will save a ton of backup space over the years. I realize the final export may take a bit longer from the raw AVCHD files vs. from Pro Res 422 media (how long I don't know yet).
Based on this scenario, any good reasons as to why I should be also creating the Apple Pro Res 422 files? Am I missing anything?
Thanks,
Dave
Hardware: Brand New 2011 MacBook Pro i7 17" with external eSata drives.

Harmonica_Lessons wrote:
Questions:
1. When you are ready to export, you MUST switch the playback to Original Material so FCP-X knows not to export with the Proxy files? I've seen posts implying this might be true and also that FCP-X will know to export using the source files and not Proxies.
No. You don't have to do this. Playback is just that, playback. When exporting, FCP X will not use transcoded media as the source. You do of course need to have the original source available/on line for FCP X to access. However, switching back and forth is a simple and quick operation so even if you did have to,
2. Once I set up a new Event and point it to the original source files and create the Proxy files, can I assume that since the Proxies are created, FCP-X won't need to reference the source files again until export time? If this is the case, I can easily work on my laptop's internal drive without lugging around an external drive until I'm finally ready to export.
Yes, this is true. You can either do the method you described (copying the event to/from external to internal drives), or have the event on your laptop with the original source media on the external drive. Proxy media would be generated and stored in the Event folder (on your internal drive) while source media remains on the external drive. Just don't select 'copy into event folder' when importing the source media.

Proxy Media: Transcode Source File and Export Read File...

Hello, I'm new to FCPX. I have a Panasonic HC-X920. When I shoot things I copy the entire folder tree to my hard drive and import from there, rather than directly from the SD card.
I learned that FCPX "re-wraps" the truly original h.264 MTS files to "Original" h.264 MOV files. Not a huge deal, as there doesn't appear to be quality loss, and the MB/s rate is slightly higher on the MOVs. Ideally I'd be able to use the MTS files but FCP is Quicktime-based and I've decided I'm not worried about it.
Anyway,
My computer can't handle playing back 1080p 60fps h.264 footage. In order to have playback on an FCPX timeline, I have to transcode to either Proxy or Optimized media. Optimized, of course, takes up a ton of space, so I'm curious about using Proxy. But I want more info first.
I'm most curious about question #1, but here are two questions:
1.
Let's say I transcode everything to Proxy Media upon import. When I go to share/export a final file from my timeline, which of the following does FCPX do?
(A) Export the timeline using/reading from the lower-quality Proxy media, ignoring the Originals.
(B) Automatically replace the Proxy media with the Original media files, and export the timeline using/reading the Original media files while ignoring the Proxies.
(And if B is the answer, is it reading the Original MTS or Original MOV? I'd assume MOV, right?)
Does this question make sense?
I'll mostly be editing home movies with this, so it's not imperative that I be able to see what I'm editing in vivid detail and I can use Proxy for that to save disk space. But I DON'T want my final exports to be based on that lower-quality transcoded 422 Proxy Media; I want the proxies to be view-only, and I want the final exported quality to be based on the quality of the Original media.
My other question:
2. (probably not a big deal either way)
When FCPX transcodes to Proxy and/or Optimized, is it reading from (A) the "Original" MOV files it created upon import, or (B) from the "truly original" MTS files?
Thanks!

Tom Wolsky, thanks for your answer.
1. Where do I switch playback to original, in the Preferences? I'm attaching what I see in my Playback preference window. I don't see a place to switch this, am I doing something wrong?
2. That's what I suspected, thanks for clarifying.
Here's the screenshot I mentioned in #1:

Proxy Media Codec

What is "apco"? My understanding of the import and transcode process is that you have a choice of Optimized or Proxy media, both of which should be ProRes 422. When I look at the Proxy .mov file info it says the Codec is "apco, Linear PCM, Timecode".
Also, what is a reasonable speed for the transcoding process? I'm using a MacBookPro with a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. It took more than 3 hours to import and transcode about 13.5 GB of Canon 5D II .mov files inot Proxy files.
Thanks
A.T.

Hi Tom
Thanks for the reply. I saw "apco" when I selected the .mov and clicked "more info" file using Finder and looking in the hard drive. But, yes, when I used the Movie Inspector in QuickTime it did come up as Pro Res 422.
My MacBook Pro is about 4 years old. I don't think my graphics card is so great anymore. I think my laptop has 2. One for "Better Battery Life" and one for "Higher Perfrormance". I was told by a tech who is also using this same laptop that the "HP" cards were junk when they were new and not to bother using it. I was having issues with my Cine Display when I tried it.
I'm back to using OS 10.6.8. after having tried Mountain Lion and having all kinds of problems, particularly with Capture One Pro.
A.T.

Why can't I use proxy media?

I've got media from 3 cameras - all are 720x480. Two were imported from camcorrders, one was miniDV and one was JVC hard drive (SD). When importing I did not have the option to create proxy media, and still do not have that option available (it is grayed out). The third was imported from an avi file uncompressed; it created proxy media when importing. I am trying to use them in a multi-cam clip. If I use proxy media, the two clips from the cameras show the red/yellow "Missing proxy" screen but the avi file shows fine. If I select "use original or optimized media" the clip from avi drops frames, either with "better performance" or "high quality" settings. I know I've had it playing back OK before, but don't know what I have changed such that I can't get a good playback in the multicam multi-angle viewer. It seems if the camera video is already coded so it doesn't need proxy media, it should use that format when proxy is selected (I'll make that suggestion on the feedback from). Any help would be appreciated.

The problem is AVI is not a native format to FCPX while DV is. And FCP X will not make DV into Proxy for this reason. So if you want to mix AVI with DV you need to do it in 'original' mode. For better performance what you'd want to do is convert all of the AVI to a better format- like ProRes for example then import that as your new originals for mixing with the DV footage.

Bad audio when using proxy media

I'm using FCPX on my MBP 15" late 2008. To get some reasonable speed I transcode all the clips to proxy media.
Doing this degrades audio quality to a point where the audio makes a clicking noise all the time.
Also when I add a sound effect and edit it in surround with keyframe animation the sound makes clicking noise all the time.
This noise is present when I export the movie.
What to do?

Trying that now
The odd thing is that the audio is fine when I play using optimized/original media. The audio gets crappy when I switch to proxy media.
I also get sort of the same problem when I'm using sound effects and choose "Create Space" or "Circle" under Audio inspector. These sound effects should be in the correct format since they came with FCPX.

10.1 doesn't seem to want to create proxy media

Now 10.1 doesn't seem to want to create proxying media.
Is this new?.
Will it ever create proxy media.?
Or is that only for like 4K cameras?
I used to create proxy media for everything I shot which is 1080.

My two Canon Vixias shoot AVCHD and my Canon DSLR shoots in .mov format.
I usually import all that I'm going to edit and then choose create proxy media.
10.1 did not create proxy media nor does it seem to when I ask it too.
Maybe with improvements, it doesn't feel a need, but before working in proxy improved the editing process and I'd just switch back to optimized media for output.

Proxy media created after the fact

In another thread I was trying to find out why my multicam clips were frozen in place in the angles viewer while I edited them in the timeline. One reader's suggestion was to convert the clips making up the multiclips into proxy media. I did so; right-click on clips and select "Transcode media..." then "Create Proxy Media." That all worked as it should (though it did not remedy the angles viewer problem) however what I'm wondering now is just what did I do to my project? I just blindly transcoded to proxy but what does that mean to the edit I'm doing? How does this affect eventual output? Could someone please explain the ramifications of this action?
alan b

Just creating proxy media does nothing to your project.
I suppose you also changed the preferences to use proxy media (Preferences->Playback, "Use proxy media"), otherwise you'd still be using the original or optimized media all the same.
All the edits you make are preserved, whether you work in proxy or not.
The usual workflow when you need proxy is simple:
1) create proxy media if you haven't already (as you did)
2) switch to proxy media in preferences (as I suppose you also did)
3) when finished, switch the preferences again ("Use origina/optimized media") so that the final export is done in full quality. (In the meantime you can of course export "draft" versions in proxy mode)
Note: if you switch proxy *before* creating proxy media for all the clips, you'll get the "offending" clips appearing in red with a yellow warning; if that happens, just create the proxy media after the fact and everything will be fine.

If I imported proxy media to edit in fcpx, can I export a hight resolution (apple pro res 422 (hq)) version of the project ?

If I imported proxy media to edit in fcpx, can I export a hight resolution (apple pro res 422 (hq)) version of the project ?

OK, let me re-answer here. You HAVE to have either original or optimized media, you can not have Proxy only media, when using FCPX's inport options. You will switch between which FCPX is using; in 10.1 via the Canvas menu option called "Media", or in 10.0.9 and earily via the Preference's "Playback" settings.
When set to Proxy, FCPX only references that medai, which is 1/4 resolution, and not full quality. When set to Original Or Optimized, you'll get full resolution output, as FCPX is not referencing those files.
The only way to have Proxy only media is to convert it in Compressor and then import that. And that would just be a huge mistake.

Proxy Media Issue

I originally imported my media as "optimized" and not proxy and then laid a bunch of clips onto the timeline. I then decided I should edit the project using proxy media and so selected all the clips in the Event and transcoded them to be Proxy.
After the transcoding was done I changed the preferences to use proxy media. When I did that everything on my timeline went red instead of switching over to the proxy media.
Any idea what I did wrong? Is there something I need to do with the timeline footage in order for it to switch over. I've gone too far into the project to lay it all out again so I'm hoping there's another solution.
Thanks,
Ray

Puzzling - but have you tried selecting the clips in the Timeline and transcoding them to ProRes?
(Just an idea - I'm away from FCP X at the moment, so I can't try it myself).
Andy

How to resume proxy media generation

I had to interrupt the generation of optimized media after importing several files. Is there a way to resume this? Or to just start over and replace all proxy media with newly generated files?

I'm not aware of any way to make this go faster.

What are the downsides to working with Proxy Media?

My iMac is one of the more powerful ones: i7, 2 internal drives (the main one is a 256 GB flash drive), ATI Radeon HD 5750 w/1 GB VRAM, 16 GB RAM. But I notice that when I'm trying to apply multiple effects to a compound clip and then use crop to zoom on it, it starts dropping frames all over the place and barely plowing through.
I'm wondering if I should edit with proxy media. I know one disadvantage is the amount of space it takes to have both proxy and regular media, but I have plenty of disk space. I edit AVCHD footage that I optimize upon import.
I will also be doing a lot of multicam editing.
So I'm thinking proxy media is the way to go. But I have to wonder what the disadvantages to using proxy media are. For instance, since you're editing with a lower-quality version of the video, does that mean that when you do things like color correction you aren't getting a good a final result when you switch back to the regular media?
I'd appreciate any advice/tips.

JDLee wrote:
.... you aren't getting a good a final result when you switch back to the regular media?
no, the color correction is done with the 'HDef' material.
proxies is just a pre-view thing; esp. when doing multicam, the amount of data shoveling from/to harddrive is enormously ... theoretically, even a fw800 connected super-fast Raid can handle only a max. of 10 HDef streams ...
I'm on consumer/hobbyist level - handling here 4 streams from usb-drives - as proxies, no problem.
when editing is done, you switch back to original/optimized and export in shiny 100% ...

Editing with proxy media

Does editing with proxy media files affect the video quality once its time to export project?
I shoot 1080P HD video, import both optimized and proxy media files. When its time to export the project or share to yutube the video comes out grainy and dull. I color correct during the edit process. I don't use compressor because I don't create dvd's.
This is a bit frustrating. Any comments or suggestions?

John Lyons wrote:
Even if I checked optimize and proxy video at the same time?
Do I lose the color corrections I did when I go back to optimized?
You don't lose anything. Edit in proxy mode, then before exporting go to preferences->playback and select Original/Optimized media. FCP X will keep all your edits, but will then use the high quality media so that you export your work in full glory.
If you choose this workflow, you really do not need to create optimized media.
I don't see any point in creating both proxy and optimized versions of your media. Either edit in proxy (if your mac or drive is relatively slow, or if you use multicam with several angles) - and then you don't need optimized - or edit in optimized and you don't need proxy.

Use of proxy media in viewing, then exporting projects from FCPx

I am trying to get my head around the use of proxy media in FCPx and would appreciate feedback
Up till now, having used H.264 files from various cameras, I have not had the need to use proxy files. I get smooth playback etc, no issues. Now, however, using the Blackmagic Pocket CC, and find that when I am 'on the run' and using a USB external drive, or even a firewire 800 drive, it struggles to playback the very large Prores files.
I understand the use of proxy media files in playback, and to assist with smooth editing.
Where I am lost is in how to ensure that any exported files from FPCx, either directly (or if I send to Compressor) are using the high quality Prores files, and not exporting based on the proxy files
I see well, how to change the file for playback from prores to proxy and back, but how do I ensure the high quality file is used for export ?
Best Wishes
Paul

The playback switch berween proxy/originals also switches what is to be used when sharing.
When switching to originals and requesting to share the switch is locked until the sharing process completes (so you can continue editing, but using originals only).
Not sure if this affects Compressor. I believe not.

Proxy-media vs optimized media

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