Why do we have to reboot for ProRes/R3D switching?

[JudgeNick]

If Red can record R3D and ProRes proxy formats at the same time, why do other ProRes formats require a reboot? It would be really nice if we could switch without a reboot. Does anyone know why that particular requirement exists? Is it something that could possibly be changed with firmware?

 

[Phil Holland]

Likely two fold.

1. Potentially a hardware/software relationship for the dedicated modes/image pipelines as in dedicated ProRes mode their are additional codecs and encodes.
2. Prevent user error when choosing one mode or another.

 

[JudgeNick]

I understand the pipeline may be different. But I still don't understand why that would require a hard reboot. There are many cameras which don't require a reboot when switching from RAW to various compressed codecs. Why would RED in particular require this frustrating limitation?