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Better to compress from Prores 4444 or 422?

Hey All,

If compressing to H264 720p is it better to go from a Prores 4444 file, or can I go from a Prores 422 (hq) file? Would the quality loss be negligible?

Thanks!
 
I don't believe it will make a lick of difference, since H264 is lower quality than both of them, and both of them are lossless formats.
 
It's unlikely that you'll notice the difference, though, since there will likely be steps between the ProRes transcode and the final encode (vfx, noise reduction, even grading), those steps may require the higher color sampling to avoid a less than stellar output.

Not often, but it can also depend on what you're shooting.

Test, test, test. One answer may not be right for every situation.
 
You can see details about the current encoding settings with ffmpeg.

Code:
ffmpeg -i [filename.extension]

There will be a line indicating that it's h.264, and probably yuv422, etc.

If it's already 422, going to prores 4444 isn't going to do much for you. There's also a big step from prores 422 to prores 4444. If you're really concerned though, split the difference and go with prores HQ. Most likely for most uses prores LT would be more than sufficient though.

EDIT: Didn't see the (hq) in the original post. Anyway, it's unlikely you're going to notice much difference either way. h.264 is gonna still compress the hell out of the prores original, whether that's 444 or 422, it's going to end up as fairly highly compressed 422. Where you'll see a difference in final output is what you choose for the h.264 bitrate, and number of passes the compressor makes on the footage.
 
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If compressing to H264 720p is it better to go from a Prores 4444 file, or can I go from a Prores 422 (hq) file? Would the quality loss be negligible?

I would agree with jax:

Is there any reason for you to not go straight from the 4444 file?

Either way, it shouldn't make too much difference, but test it out to be sure.

If the files originated as 4444, convert from that. No sense in more generations of conversion than necessary.

I don't believe it will make a lick of difference, since H264 is lower quality than both of them, and both of them are lossless formats.

Apple describe ProRes as "visually lossless" (which it pretty much is), but it is definitely not a lossless format.
 
sfoster - probably not enough to matter, unless you've been using LT or proxy. Even multiple generations of prores show very little degradation, especially if you started from something like DSLR footage which is already lower quality than what prores is capable of.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

So I actually have the project in Resolve. All files are DPX or R3D. Grading, noise reduction and the like has all been done. I've been exporting prores 422 (hq) for tests ( to see how the film looks ) and to marry it with my audio in Premiere. I forget what it is with Resolve Lite, but it doesn't allow me to export with audio (maybe it's a hardware thing on my mac). But either way, it doesn't let me. So until I get back to the colorist (who isn't available until late Sept.) for the final export this is what I have to live with - going out of Premiere.

In any event, there are some festival deadlines coming up before then so I have to get a copy on withoutabox, which wants h264 720p if I'm not mistaken. So I either can go back into Resolve, export a prores 4444 (which is completely doable) or stay with the cut I already have (422 hq). Either way I have to go down to H264 720p. That's why I asked if the quality is that much of a difference going from either one of those, because if it's not that big of a deal since I'm going to 720p anyway, then I won't bother. But if it will look better going from 4444, then I'll take the time and do it.

But if I were to get into these festivals I would be creating a DCP from DPX or TIFF or whatever straight from Resolve. So in that case I'd be going with the highest quality I could.
 
For sure Jax.

I actually just put it up on withoutabox... and it looks like crap.. haha.. So much pixelation and banding.

I think I'm going to start submitting via DVD instead of the online screener. The 2GB limit is a killer. Hopefully they take that into consideration when viewing your film, but I can't help but think that influences their opinion.
 
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