Thanks for the reply! I understand Vegas proxies are large uncompressed files which make them quick for decode, but large in size. Throw that up with 7 or 8 concurrent streams multicam and I am pretty sure Vegas will drop frames when editing in fast forward still.. processing or disk I/O or both.

That's why a single pretender of the 9-up would be ideal. If we're going to take the time to build proxies anyway, may as well be the most efficient one, ya?

I edit as many as 8 cameras at once using Vegas and a single SATA HDD streaming the media regularly. The proxies work great. The proxies are only 720p, so they're still small. They are also compressed, just not temporally. All I frame codecs require less CPU to decode, but are still far smaller than uncompressed.

I do like the idea of making one video with all the video thumbs in it, however using the existing method gives you the ability to not only have the individual streams in the preview window, but also a full screen higher resolution preview on an external monitor while editing.

I edit as many as 8 cameras at once using Vegas and a single SATA HDD streaming the media regularly. The proxies work great. The proxies are only 720p, so they're still small.

My source files are 1080p recorded between 18 MB/s and 35 MB/s (depending on camera), with 1-3 2K high bitrate (ProTune) GoPro thrown in. I guess "small" is all relative, eh? ;-)

Have you tried editing at 2x speed? For musical theatre and similar stage productions, of course we don't edit in fast forward, but for the rough cut during peak dance recital season we absolutely do.

They are also compressed, just not temporally. All I frame codecs require less CPU to decode, but are still far smaller than uncompressed.

I do like the idea of making one video with all the video thumbs in it, however using the existing method gives you the ability to not only have the individual streams in the preview window, but also a full screen higher resolution preview on an external monitor while editing.

I hear ya. Are you saying that in multi-cam mode, the selected camera is full screen on the other monitor when you have that enabled? I imagine that'd be really distracting since the focus is intensely looking at the 8 cameras and choosing the shot -- when do you find having that full-screen picture on the side to be helpful? (I've never found the quality of the full-screen preview to actually be especially good.. don't know why)

The proxies are only 720p, so they're still small.

So while I'm doing 10 other simultaneous things, I'm also building proxies for this project I'm going to try editing using Vegas's built-in multi-cam features instead of Excaliber.

One proxy down, 11 more to go. Looks like the Proxy is actually LARGER than the source! So far it's just working on the GoPro media:

• The source is 1080p, 45.0 Mb/s (variable), avc1, 59.94 FPS
• The proxy file is XDCAM EX35, mp4v-61 codec, 22.9 Mb/s variable, max bit rate 35 Mb/s, 720p

So perhaps it's more efficient, but it's not any smaller than the source (e.g. disk I/O will be the same, or greater (so it seems). Anyhow, I'll let this continue to see how smooth things are with the proxies, and will report back :)

UPDATE: 2 hours 10 minute to build proxies on this one. On my main desktop it's performing OK in both Preview AND Good quality, albeit it looks like it's dropping to half instead of full frame. Seems to go full frame rate (29.97) just past 2x FF... getting closer to 3 it starts to slow down. I'll see how things perform on my laptop which was really my main concern.

AND.. I totally see your point about full-screen preview on external monitor now. If you keep the multi-view up when tweaking edit points it might reveal options not yet considered... looking forward to giving it a whirl!

I do edit in fast forward sometimes, especially for simpler projects. Most of what I do is 10 bit 4k, mostly concerts, festivals, and a wedding or two from time to time. Recitals are a good candidate for fast editing, as are mardi gras parades and balls, all of which have very predictable camera cutting patterns.

Eventually we'll have AI that can analyze our previous videos and use them as guides to auto-edit similar videos.

With XDCAM, faster compression means larger files.

Smaller files mean longer encodes and poorer performance.

I do edit in fast forward sometimes, especially for simpler projects. Most of what I do is 10 bit 4k, mostly concerts, festivals, and a wedding or two from time to time. Recitals are a good candidate for fast editing, as are mardi gras parades and balls, all of which have very predictable camera cutting patterns.

Definitely! (comment about recitals) Unlike Musical Theatre which sometimes has us carefully looking at the different cams to see which got the cutaway line, or is best suited to progress the retelling of their story, recitals have less surprises (except obviously an occasional unknown entrance which the wide cam caught).

I'm impressed you're shooting those recitals 4K 10bit. What cameras are you using, and what's your end-point delivery format? My dance school demographics are all over the place -- some still are *heavily* weighted towards DVD, others 50/50 HD vs DVD, and one school heavily weighted towards Blu-ray still... all schools within a 25-mile radius of each other!

Eventually we'll have AI that can analyze our previous videos and use them as guides to auto-edit similar videos.

I've pondered on shooting 4K or 8K only (for recitals, which are mostly center choreographed) and building automated tools to push and cut back to wide when needed... sort of like what MEVO is trying to do.

That said -- I still adore having stage-level side cams for break outs and soloists.. nothing like the intimacy of that vantage point :-)

I'm impressed you're shooting those recitals 4K 10bit. What cameras are you using, and what's your end-point delivery format? My dance school demographics are all over the place -- some still are *heavily* weighted towards DVD, others 50/50 HD vs DVD, and one school heavily weighted towards Blu-ray still... all schools within a 25-mile radius of each other!

I actually haven't shot any recitals since I went full 4k 10 bit, but usually when I do events like that, I get about 1/3 DVD, 1/3 Blu-Ray, and 1/3 digital 4K, which I send them via download link after my physical copies go out.

I usually have one wide, one center close, and at least one up front, I prefer to have 2. Those focus on close-ups to avoid showing kids waiting in the wings as often as possible, which the instructors hate.