ProRes422(HQ) vs H.264...

My original project was edited using the ProRes 422(HQ) format in the timeline.

I tried exporting a small clip (54 sec) using both ProRes and H.264 formats. I noticed that the ProRes clip was 3X larger than the H.264 and had slighter better color and contrast.

I tried exporting the whole movie (1 hr 17min) in both formats, the H.264 ended up being 13.08 GB and the ProRes version is 11.63 GB. I am wondering why the total sizes are nearly identical now and curious which one to use for my final SD DVD and Blue Ray copies? I would have thought the ProRes would have ended up being less compressed (bigger file and more GB) but it did not turn out that way. The color is slightly richer with the ProRes so I might might to go with that one even though it is more compressed!!

Regards,

Rory

iMac Dual Core 2.4GHZ, Mac OS X (10.5.5), 4GB RAM (2) 2000GB GRAID2 Ext. Drives (1) 500GB Ext. Drive, Final Cut Studio 2

Posted on Dec 26, 2009 6:10 PM

18 replies

Dec 27, 2009 2:38 PM in response to Rory Mells

ftp stands for file transfer protocol. It's a means to transfer material over the internet and file size is crucial. the larger the file size, the longer it takes and when you're dealing with HD material, clips with a few seconds duration can take hours unless it's highly compressed.

You might try going to www.wikipedia.org for definitions of terms. It's very handy and it probably does a better job than I can do.

Rory Mells Author

Level 1

24 points

Dec 27, 2009 2:59 PM in response to Michael Grenadier

The only thing I am worried about is the final DVD copy, I'm not concerned about internet transfer.

I was wondering if someone could answer about whether to use the H.264 format or the Apple HDV 1080i60 format for the final DVD copy?

Thank You.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Dec 27, 2009 5:17 PM in response to Rory Mells

Do not export to QuickTime Conversion. Export to QuickTime Movie that conforms to the original format of your sequence. H.264 is neither an option in this workflow.

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ProRes422(HQ) vs H.264...