Proxies vs Prores?

[Brandon Fraley]

Alright, so I'm now able to edit the 2k Proxies fine in 1080p on my MBP 2.33ghz 2gig.

Why would I bother transcoding them to Prores first?

 

[Matt Garrett]

any temp effects you'd need to transcode for.

 

[Mel Matsuoka]

FCP has no problem playing 2k proxies back in realtime, but I've found that if you have mixed proxy sizes (i.e. some overcranked 2k/3k stuff in addition to straight-up 4k), FCP will choke if you try to play them in RT from a single timeline. Even on our 8-core machines, with the sequence RT settings set to Low quality, Unlimited, we can't get reliable realtime playback this way

Even if it did work at Low quality, it's an unacceptable level of quality if you're offlining with the client/director in the room with you, unfortunately...hence the need to convert to ProRes, which is seriously major drag.