Recommended way to create proxies with an external app?

I've basically got many many hours of footage that I would like to create proxy files for. And while I'm happy that resolve does create these, it means the app is tied up while it creates these.

It would be nice to continue to edit while these are created in the background with an app like handbrake.

Has anybody tried to do this? What are the best workflows? I generally create proxies with dhxhr.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Use a second computer with Resolve is best.

Today I found myself attempting to create proxy files with Handbrake with no luck.

I guess the shepherd and the flock will suggest me to use Proxy Generator app, but it is limited to 1080p which is not enough to reframe (transform> zoom & X&Y) 4K and 8K footage while checking if the result is sharp or too blurry, I simply can't handle it with 1080p proxies, but the footage needs to fit on my laptop as I'm away home.

However the files created with Handbrake are not recognized by DVR (Error: Select a proxy file with a matching framerate and overlapping timecode").

Can this issue be handled with Handbrake?
I've used Handbraker's "Production-> Production Proxy" presets with no luck.

Currently I'm using DVR to generate proxys at original resolution, but I would like to fine tune it beyond selecting the plain H264 profile at Project Preferences.

I wouldn’t judge any kind of quality from proxies except color. You can use them on any timeline resolution without problems. My workflow uses the dailies stage to make sharpness judgements on individual shots.

The new way of generating proxies, is to use the Proxy Generator app which is installed in the Resolve folder in your applications folder.

Launch this before launching resolve and importing footage.

Select your source media /or a watch folder.
Select a destination by default Proxies are stored in a folder inside of the the source media folder.
Be warned depending on codec chosen the editing proxy may be significantly (5x 10x 20x the size of your source media) so make sure that drive has enough storage space (because the transcode process will now be done in the background.
Select one of the few proxy formats to suit your hardware, and cloud intentions.
Action the task.

Now. Open Resolve and import your original source media as the HQ media.
Begin editing.

The proxy files being generated will link in the background to the HQ source. You can right click on media in the media pool to switch between HQ Source and Proxy media at will. Or use the HQ/proxy button to the top right of the timeline viewer.

Note: the fusion and Color pages default to using the HQ source so Proxies, because these pages benefit from the better quality image.

You can edit while the proxies are being rendered in the background. I know this feels weird.

Use a second computer with Resolve is best.

And if you want to use the Proxy Generator, and like those proxies to be easy on your workstation, use a Mac mini.
Unfortunately, only the MacOS version offers a codec like ProRes. I wish they'd offer DNxHD/HR or Cineform on the Windows side.

The new way of generating proxies, is to use the Proxy Generator app which is installed in the Resolve folder in your applications folder.

Launch this before launching resolve and importing footage.

Select your source media /or a watch folder.
Select a destination by default Proxies are stored in a folder inside of the the source media folder.
Be warned depending on codec chosen the editing proxy may be significantly (5x 10x 20x the size of your source media) so make sure that drive has enough storage space (because the transcode process will now be done in the background.
Select one of the few proxy formats to suit your hardware, and cloud intentions.
Action the task.

Now. Open Resolve and import your original source media as the HQ media.
Begin editing.

The proxy files being generated will link in the background to the HQ source. You can right click on media in the media pool to switch between HQ Source and Proxy media at will. Or use the HQ/proxy button to the top right of the timeline viewer.

Note: the fusion and Color pages default to using the HQ source so Proxies, because these pages benefit from the better quality image.

You can edit while the proxies are being rendered in the background. I know this feels weird.

I tried the BM Proxy Generator app, just to say for me the color page didn't default to HQ source, proxies were displayed and seemingly entirely dependent only on what was set in the color page Playback > Proxy Handling menu.

I was in a UHD project and with only HD proxies, expected to see a shrunken picture on my 4K Eizo monitor (always set to "Dot by Dot" picture expansion) but surprised to find the images were not small. Hmm?

Anyway, all in all, if only the encode speed could be improved I could be tempted to use the BM proxy generator instead of my usual way of converting my XAVC S-I clips to ProRes LT in a 3rd party program, however I found the BM generator too slow to make these h.264 files with my CPU at only 50%.

Today I found myself attempting to create proxy files with Handbrake with no luck.

I guess the shepherd and the flock will suggest me to use Proxy Generator app, but it is limited to 1080p which is not enough to reframe (transform> zoom & X&Y) 4K and 8K footage while checking if the result is sharp or too blurry, I simply can't handle it with 1080p proxies, but the footage needs to fit on my laptop as I'm away home.

However the files created with Handbrake are not recognized by DVR (Error: Select a proxy file with a matching framerate and overlapping timecode").

Can this issue be handled with Handbrake?
I've used Handbraker's "Production-> Production Proxy" presets with no luck.

Currently I'm using DVR to generate proxys at original resolution, but I would like to fine tune it beyond selecting the plain H264 profile at Project Preferences.

When I upgraded the 3rd party program I used to make PreRes proxies they no longer worked in Resolve being rejected with the same error message as yours. I traced the cause to a bug in the new version of the program, there was no longer any timecode in the files. I had to revert to the earlier program which I still use. It's the timecode that Resolve needs to be able to be used as proxies.

Regarding Handbrake, apart from possible timecode issues (not sure), it does not allow for Full range, the output is always Video level and that was no good to me.

Regarding Handbrake, apart from possible timecode issues (not sure), it does not allow for Full range, the output is always Video level and that was no good to me.

Why? Are your sources full range?

If you'd like a watch folder, try Shutter Encoder. Of course, it preserves TC, which you can even burn in.

If you'd like a watch folder, try Shutter Encoder. Of course, it preserves TC, which you can even burn in.

Wow, I've just discovered this app, which seems like a solid replacement to BMD proxy generator. I will give a try,

Regarding Handbrake, apart from possible timecode issues (not sure), it does not allow for Full range, the output is always Video level and that was no good to me.

Why? Are your sources full range?

If you'd like a watch folder, try Shutter Encoder. Of course, it preserves TC, which you can even burn in.

I can answer 'yes' to that question for Canon CLog3 files. I use Shutter Encoder (nice suggestion, Uli) but not for proxy generation. I will give this a try with my Canon CLog3 footage to see if it can generate full range proxies. Cheers.

But it doesn't process RAW.

Uli, when you create proxies with Shutter encoder, where do you put them? Is there an automatic way to put them in the source / proxy subfolder when working with a watch folder or do you put them into a top-level proxy folder retaining file path?

I used Shutter Encoder to convert XAVC HS Intra from Sony A7S3 to ProRes LT. You can put them where you like since you use them in Resolve by linking them to the source files, though it's logical to put them in a sub folder of the source folder to keep them together.

The ProRes levels were wrong and I had to remake them using Shutter Encoder's optional Convert
Levels.

16-235 > 0-255
or
0-255 > 16-235

Unexpectedly I found the 0-255 > 16-235 was the one that worked?

and anyway they are 10 bit !!!

Strange..

Really, there should be no reason to transform the proxy data levels but I suppose there is no way to tell Resolve how to interpret the proxies (and ProRes is always interpreted by default as video levels). Challenging for sure. Another hiccup of proxies is that if you use audio-based timecode such as that coming from the Deity TC-1 or Tentacle SyncE, there is no way that I have found (still playing with it) to bring the proxies in with an external app unless they have already had their timecode updated.

There is a distributed video transcoding application for Davinci Resolve available here:
https://github.com/in03/proxima

Launch the worker on as many computers as you have free and it'll pool all the free CPU threads together to encode multiple proxies at once. Only have the one computer? Encoding runs entirely on the CPU, leaving GPU-heavy Resolve with plenty of resources to continue editing while you pump out proxies. Once they're finished, they're automatically linked.

Haven't tried it yet though.