Best Proxy setting ?- correction 1920x1080

CORRECTION & APOLOGY - I must have been blind when I posted this last night as I wrote 1900x1280 repeatedly instead of 1920x1080. It was around 2AM so that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. Corrected post:

I am about to start a 5 camera Multicam concert project in Resolve 16.2.7. Four are UHD and one is HD (1920). All originals have been transcoded to ProRes 422 or 422 HQ. I am going to finish in HD 1920x1080 so figure I would cut in a 1920x1080 timeline though I'm open to considering 1280x720 for editing.
After making a Multicam timelines for the full set in the concert, I expect I will cut the timeline into pieces for each tune for editing so they will be less than 10 min each. I want to do some layering with superimpositions and masks but nothing too complicated (mostly just 2 video levels unless i go nuts) and prefer to do my basic color correction while working with the proxies. For this reason and also because there will be focus issues as well as push ins, I want the proxies to look pretty good and need smooth motion to evaluate instruments for editing.

My setup should be below - 2017 top of the line 27" 5K iMac with 8G graphics card, a secondary 27" Apple monitor and a 1920v1080 Flanders video monitor connected with Ultrastudio Mini Monitor. The files are on Raid using regular 3.5" hard drives connected by Thunderbolt 2.

So my question is what will give me the best balance of a smooth editing experience with decent looking images to evaluate what I'm doing without constantly having to check back to my originals.

I tried using Resolve Optimized Media ( half quality and ProRes 422) and I thought the video quality was horrendous. I have already made proxies in 1280x720 ProRes 422 and they seem to work pretty well as well as looking good for my purposes, however I've only been experimenting and don't know if it will bog down later. The only thing I don't like about the 1280 proxies is that they don't fill up the screen on my Flanders video monitor.

So here are too many questions (with room for short answers):
1- Is there anything wrong with my solution so far? Is it likely to slow down in the middle of the project?

2- Does it stress the timeline to cut in a 1920 timeline but be using 1280 proxies?

3- Would I be better off using a 1280 timeline ? If I cut in 1280 I can change the timeline to 1920 for export right?

4. Alternatively would 1920 proxies work as well or better in a 1920 timeline?

5. Should i have tried Optimized media at Original Resolution before giving up on it?

6- What's more important for the proxies -Resolution or Codec i.e. Would I be better off using a lighter version of ProRes (422 LT or 422 Proxy) and maybe staying 1920x1280 so my Flanders had a full sized picture?

7- What about Vimeo? Could I just finish in 1280 and send that to vimeo if its only for the web and would this make things easier both to download for viewers as well as for my editing?

Thanks for your help. Don't know where I'd be without this forum.

Lenny Levy

first of all 1900x1280 sounds like a really weird resolution for a "regular" concert registration.

mostly if i have to deal with multi camera, then 5 cameras would not really make me wanna go to a lower resolution. I use windows, so i don't make prores-proxies, but mostly mxf 36mb - 8bit. and for only 5 angles that will probably result in a buttery smooth playback. your storage speed is important, you might want to double check that.

also, i used optimized media a few times, and it was a pretty random experience. I had the feeling that sometimes resolve just ignored it, even though all the settings were set correctly. So i ended up transcoding the footage manually. Resolve 17 has some very neat new features when it comes to creating proxies, maybe you wanna check that out. from my experience, these new features work really well so far.

All originals have been transcoded to ProRes 422 or 422 HQ.

What format are the originals?

Jim, I'm sorry as mentioned above I must have written 1900x1280 in a sleep deprived fog. Meant 1920x1080. Originals were 2 FS7, 2 A7iiis and an EX-1 but I don't think that matters anymore as all are Pro Res now. It was a low budget shoot and I did what I could.
I have made the proxies and they work fine. My question is whether my choice of resolution for the timeline and proxies is the best as I embark on a project that will have color correction and overlays happening within the multicam?

Alright.

Create Optimized Media at 1/4 resolultion (ProRes is fine, on Windows I use Cineform) and edit in a 1080 timeline.

You can use the OM for Color work as well.