Preferred size of Proxy-files? Smaller= faster?

[Andretti]

Hi again!

I'm digging a little deeper into this software for every day that passes =)

The default proxy setting is PAL DVD on my install. 720x576 at 6000 kb/s and audio at 240 I think...

This seems a bit high to me. Why the 'big' size? Aren't proxys only for the editing process itself? The preview window is much smaller than mentioned resolution which causes minor 'artifacts' when previewing with files that big.

I'm also thinking that the proxy conversion process would be faster with, let's say, the 320x288(?) option. Not to mention performance on my Vaio laptop.

Can I make the preview window bigger to fit the DVD resolution (my screen is 1920x1200 so I have space)?

I'm doing a conversion at the default setting now and it won't be finished until an hour and a half or so... Just asking around in the meantime...

Please feel free to ad to my limited knowledge..

Thank you

a

[Terry Stetler]

If you check the template list there is also a VideoCD template, so yes smaller frame sizes are quite possible.

OTOH if you mod one of the DV templates to use an external *.AVI softcodec (MainConcept/Morgan/PicVideo MJPeg, WMV, DivX, whatever....) you can use whatever frame size the codec will accept. In the case of the listed MJPeg's that can be about anything.

The only thing I'd advise is testing both 720x576/480 (PAL/NTSC) and smaller frames of your chosen codec for encoding time. Some may encode faster with larger frames, some smaller.

Just make sure that once you set up a custom *.AVI template you save it with a discriptive name for later reuse. The Add Template selection is in the template menu at the bottom.

Another option arises if you have one of the Sony HDV cams that can also capture anamorphic 16:9 DV clips of the tapes HDV content. In this situation you can just capture those DV versions by IEEE-1394 to the Proxy File folder as defined in Preferences but named thusly:

file_proxy.avi

Now use the appropriate DV 16:9 template, making sure the HDV sources have the same name(s) minus the "_proxy".

[Andretti]

Thanks for coming to the rescue one again Terry...

Let me make sure I understand your second option which sounded interesting...

You mean that I should do a double capture/transfer?

First the normal HDV which will be the actual footage, and a second one, in my HC1's DV mode directly from camera of the same footage?

As long as I put the DV footage in the proxyfolder with the same name (plus the _proxy) as the HDV reference, then MSP8 will do the math?

I have the Canopus Procoder 2. Can I also convert my captured HDV stream externally (with PC2 outside MSP8) and then manually rename and put the result in the proxy folder? This way I have many, many file format and size options.
Can the proxy files be any format or is it .avi and .mpg only?

Many thanks,

A

PS. I think the 'DV from HC1 as proxy' is a great idea, but as a notebook user I'm a bit filesize contious. And the DV is the same size as the HDV so I might want to convert in PC2.

[Terry Stetler]

If you're file size concious and not adverse to the transcoding time I'd just use one of the lightning-fast MJPeg codecs like MainConcept, Morgan etc. instead of the DV files. They work directly and will allow you to use proxy frames as small as you want.

Just remember that the main reason for Proxy's is speed, in that it's faster/easier to push the bits for a small intra-frame video through the MSP pipes than one that's much larger and in IPB (inter-frame) MPEG.

intra-frame: each frame individually compressed. examples: MJPeg, MJPeg2000, DV, uncompressed RGB or YUV etc.

inter-frame: only a few actual frames (I frames) with the rest calculated from motion vectors etc. (B and P frames). aka: temporal compression (DivX, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV etc.)

Decoding intra-frame on the fly is much easier for any editor than inter-frame.

I'm getting ready to experiment with LEAD's MJPeg2000 which uses wavelet compression. More later....

Dr. Mordrid