Given the playback performance of all of these seems to be about the same, what do you all use Optimized Media for that you can't get with the proxies that come out of the Proxy Generator Lite app?
Proxy media is the way to go. First click the little gear in the bottom right of your screen. Select : Master Settings - Optimize Media and Render Cache - Select - Proxy Media Resolution = Half. Select - Proxy Media Format = DNxHR LB. Avoid any format that uses interframe compression such as H.264 or H265. Such files may be smaller but are more difficult for your computer to process. Don't forget to switch out of proxies in order to colour grade. When delivering DaVinci will automatically use your original files.
The original idea of creating proxy files is to make the easier for the system to work with. The reason they are hard to work with is because they are compressed. H.264 and H.265 are highly compressed formats demanding a lot of system resources while formats like ProRes and DNxHR are almost uncompressed and therefore easy on the system. If you « uncompress » something compressed it will naturally be bigger - but the file size also depend on resolution and bitrate. The free version, with the Proxy Generator Lite, only have H.264 and H.265 codecs to chose from while the Studio version have also ProRes (and on Windows I would guess DNxHR but I’m on Mac so I cannot confirm this). If you generate your proxy or optimized media in DaVinci Resolve I think the default setting is DNxHR HQ and original resolution. This almost no compression, very high bitrate and obviously the full resolution so the files will very big. If you change the settings to DNxHR LB and, depending on the original resolution bring it down to 720 or 1080 for editing the files will be much smaller. Still much bigger than H.264 but also lighter on the system. So why does the proxy generator even have the highly compressed h.264 and, the even more compressed, h.265? I’m not sure but I think it is for collaboration where it is easier to share compressed files and the original media might be in a difficult to manage uncompressed format…
This is awesome, thanks for the great detail here! Makes sense for the compressed vs uncompressed. I guess to some extent you're trading disk space with processing power needed for decode (with some lossy-ness). For me, I couldn't really visually tell the difference between them when editing (novice DaVinci user though) and don't notice a playback performance difference at all either way. But I could see how different system specs would lend to different outcomes here.
@@NealWiser Not sure how that would work… only when the project is finished do you, or the system, know how much load (effects, grades, fusion follies) you put on it and then it is too late… DNxHR LB if you are on the free version, DNxHR LB or h.264 if you are on the Studio version (h.264 only if you have good graphics card) is a safe start for performance. You can always bypass proxy when grading and if needed in fusion. You will know the day you need any other proxy settings.
Old video head here - it is all about optimising your video for editing, not playback. Optimised files are good for editing, small files are essentially your output goal after editing. You can set your proxy file type and optimised file types.... That's why you have the discretion between Internal Resolve and the app. 'optimised' doesn't mean smaller, it means optimised for editing. Far too complex to get into, but certain files are way more efficient for editing cut points, overlays etc, and may well be a lot bigger in size, but the hit on your system when you are working on those files (speed of playback and responsiveness to editing tasks) will be way better. If you don't feel a need to use proxies or don't feel a hit when editing your original footage, don't use them. But if you do start editing and it starts getting choppy and unresponsive, then they will be worth doing.
One likely reason for the difference in proxies from the app vs the generator is the app is using DNxHR HQX by default instead of h.264. By default it uses that for both proxies and optimized media which is why they were the same (enormous) size. Playback performance might start out similar but if you start adding effects, titles, nodes etc. the H.264 proxy can start to bog down, especially if it's at full resolution as the original clip
I had a similar experience to you when I first tried davinchi resolve. I tried turning all my footage into optimized media but after a few clips my hard disk was completely full, and I had over 900GB spare before generating the media.
What were your settings? I think most people here are just as concerned with conserving hardrive space as well as easing the editing process for their machines. Thanks.
U can try shutter encoder software to generate low size files and finish editing but u need to relink original files before starting to do colour grading ur project..
Interesting video! I've always been curious about the differences in file size. I think you can set the Proxy size in DR, you don't have to use the external proxy generator. Just an aside, skip the progress bar animation, and just tell us how long it took. Sped up progress bars aren't why we're here.
Point taken about the progress animations. I'm getting an idea from some of these comments to make another video really digging in to the size (and maybe time if that's different / noticeable) comparisons would be a good idea. Thoughts?
Hi there! Someone else pointed out that it might be that the two versions are just using different options for generating the proxies, but still seems like the defaults could be the same for both. As for where to find the Proxy Generator app, I have it in my Start Menu in the "Blackmagic Design" folder, but really it is a shortcut to calling the Resolve.exe app with the `-pg` flag added.
My generated proxy files are about the same size as the originals when I create them in Resolve. Not sure why yours is different. I'm on 18.1.2 Build 6. My proxy settings under project settings are choose automatically for resolution and 422 hq for format.
My proxies are always around 1/4 of the original, gott get your setting right in the (Master) section under project setting, and theres a few other places to check for proxy settings as well. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Gm_j5KRm1Ng.htmlsi=bIXsA6ZuGMuujC3P
Davinci Resolve killing phrase But at what cost of your hard drive Also: Time it takes to generate previews. Dont bother. Use Premiere. Even old Premier pro cs6 does better.
Sorry - couldn’t get past the horrible, horrible, horrible, loud, too loud, way too loud (music?) blaring in my ear pods. Git rid of that noise - don’t turn it down. - just get rid of it.
