What are the pros and cons of using proxy media?

Pros: better performance, portability.

Cons: some degradation of clip quality. This hasn't been a problem for me but it could be when it comes to doing critical image control and color grading. It will take longer to render out your project on export.

jphil7747 wrote:

If I understand you correctly that means that final export quality is unaffected by the use of proxy media while editing.

That is correct.

Jeaux,

Sorry I just want to make sure I'm understand your reply 100%.

Even though I chose to edit "using proxy media", when I select share/export movie, FCP X will reference back to the "High Quality Media" to create the exported MOV file?

If that's true, how cleaver is that.

Yes, it applies all the edit decisions, effects, etc., to the original, not the proxy, footage to create the export. Cool, huh?

OMG that is way cool...!

Jeaux if i want to copy an event from an external HDD to my MBP HDD, is there any way i can transfer ONLY the proxy media?

This is not the behavior I'm getting. If I have a project with project media and playback set proxy media, the export in current settings is in ProRes Proxy.

But why would you use "current settings" instead of a higher quality export?

blimpmedia wrote:

OMG that is way cool...!

Jeaux if i want to copy an event from an external HDD to my MBP HDD, is there any way i can transfer ONLY the proxy media?

I haven't tried it but you might be able to copy the Proxy Media folder into the Transcoded Media folder in your event folder. Dunno... One of the raison d'etres of ProRes Proxy is it's portability, say to a laptop, so that you don't have to cart around the original video files.

Blimpmedia - one thing I forgot to mention is that when it comes time to export your project, be sure to go to preferences and in the Playback menu select "original or optimized media" or your movie will be rendered out using the proxy media.

When you select "original or optimized media" in Playback, the elements that need rendering will begin. Then on the export drop down list, select how you want it exported, ProRes 422, H.264, etc...

After rendering, it's exported pretty fast for me, about 90 seconds for a one-minute project exported to ProRes 422.

Jeaux wrote:

I haven't tried it but you might be able to copy the Proxy Media folder into the Transcoded Media folder in your event folder. Dunno... One of the raison d'etres of ProRes Proxy is it's portability, say to a laptop, so that you don't have to cart around the original video files.

I agree, with FCP7 proxy media worked perfect, as long as you were comfortable with re-connect media, everything worked just fine. Not so sure it's that easy in FCP X.

What I've found is when I drag and drop an event folder from one drive to another, FCP X doesn't give you any indication of the folder size. What if the drive space left on your MBP was only 40GB and the folder your about to copy or move is 140GB, common sense tells you it's not going to work.

My findings in copying or moving only the proxy media has been unsuccessful. Maybe someone else can shine a light on this for us 😕

Example:

• Plugging in an ext hdd and import a few clips in a folder called TEST-1
• I made sure transcode optimized and proxy media was selected.
• On my external hdd i get the following folders/files.

I then copy and paste all folders/files to my MBP hdd except for the High Quality Media, eject the ext hdd and open FCP X to only find this.

OFFLINE MEDIA.....! So what's the point of transcoding to proxy media when you can't transfer it to your mobile device?

Sorry Jeaux, I stand corrected. I've accidentally dropped the proxy media folder in the sub-directory folder called TEST-1 rather than the Transcoded Media folder 😮 seems to work just find now.

So let's say while I'm traveling I add some favorites/keywords to the clips. When I get back I'd like to sync the work done with the ext hdd. Do I only copy & paste the CurrentVersion.fcpevent file?

Hmm... this is interesting.... I decided to copy all the files/folders (except the transcoded media) from the MBP hdd to the ext hdd, opened FCP X and found the following.

The TEST-1 folder showed on the ext hdd but not on the Macintosh HD.

I'f I eject the EXT_HDD_1, it shows back up on the Macintosh HD.

Anyone care to explain...

Glad it works after all.

I don't know if keyword and favorites are stored as data in the CurrentVersion file or not. It can be a pretty hefty file, so I imagine so, and having looked over the files and folders in Events, I don't know where else it would be. You're the official tester! Keep us posted...

FCPX is wonky about which drive it decides to recognize; it's definitely the most talked-about anomaly.

It doesn't matter what settings you use, you're exporting from compressed proxy files.