Using proxy video files with different names

tim-neighbors wrote on 6/10/2021, 2:59 PM

I used my new Sony FX6 for a rather large shoot for it's first outing and my computer/vegas is struggling a bit with it's footage. I had the camera recording low-res proxy files throughout the shoot, but they have a different name than the 4K primary footage (Same name but with "S03" added to the end of the filname and a different extension). Does anyone know how best to make use of these proxy files with Vegas? I've been trying to use Vegas's internal proxy method to render out it's own proxies, but it's taking forever to render them out and for some reason I'm still getting a big lag (around 2 seconds) when trying to play back the footage off the timeline even with those (lag from when I press spacebar to when the playback head starts to move. I'm editing off of a SSD, so I don't think it's a HDD lag).
The "swap video files" method doesn't seem to work because it's looking for files with the same name as the primary footage. Is there a way to use the proxies without having to bulk rename them all to match the primary files?

I also have Vegasaur and haven't yet tried their proxy tools -maybe there's something there?

Comments

Vdanny wrote on 6/10/2021, 4:07 PM

Hi,

I had a similar issue with proxies and used a utility called "renamer" which can be used for changing part of the filename as well as extensions. If you search for "renamer" or "advanced renamer" I am sure you can find it.

wwaag wrote on 6/10/2021, 4:09 PM

@tim-neighbors

I have a script that extracts the proxy file and adds it as a take to the original file for Zcam footage. Here's a demo.

If you could upload a sample of FX6 footage that I could download that contains a proxy, I'll take a look to see if it works.

Last changed by wwaag on 6/10/2021, 4:20 PM, changed a total of 1 times.

AKA the HappyOtter at https://tools4vegas.com/. System 1: Intel i7-8700k with HD 630 graphics plus an Nvidia RTX4070 graphics card. System 2: Intel i7-3770k with HD 4000 graphics plus an AMD RX550 graphics card. System 3: Laptop. Dell Inspiron Plus 16. Intel i7-11800H, Intel Graphics. Current cameras include Panasonic FZ2500, GoPro Hero11 and Hero8 Black plus a myriad of smartPhone, pocket cameras, video cameras and film cameras going back to the original Nikon S.

tim-neighbors wrote on 6/10/2021, 4:55 PM

Thanks for the offer wwaag. Though I am curious about that, I went ahead and used my bulk file renamer to make all the names match between proxy and primary files and used the 'swap video files' feature in vegas. That swaps them all out at once. Unfortunately it looks like I somehow didn't record proxies for half of one of the shooting days. I'll just do Vegas's internal proxy method for those files.

tim-neighbors wrote on 6/10/2021, 4:58 PM

Hi,

I had a similar issue with proxies and used a utility called "renamer" which can be used for changing part of the filename as well as extensions. If you search for "renamer" or "advanced renamer" I am sure you can find it.

This is what I did as well. ...though having a different extension could prove to be a blessing in the end. it'll prevent any confusion down the road about what file I'm looking at and allows me to see at a glance what files are proxied and which are not.

tim-neighbors wrote on 9/29/2021, 7:13 PM

I'm just wrapping up working on this project and I'm now trying to swap the proxy video files for the full res files using the "swap video files" option when right clicking on a media file in the project Media. Nothing happens and the proxy is not swapped out. I can confirm that the folder I'm navigating to for replacement files does contain the full res UHD files and their filenames are exactly the same as the proxy, but with a different extension. What am I doing wrong? It's going to take me all day to go through and swap out each file one by one.

I'm currently working in VP18 Build 527

Last changed by tim-neighbors on 9/29/2021, 8:06 PM, changed a total of 1 times.

Tim Neighbors
Owner, Invisible Harness Media Production

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RogerS wrote on 9/29/2021, 7:38 PM

Not sure if this will work but in the future can you take the camera proxy files, rename them so as to be identical to the source video footage and then change the extension to MP4.sfvp0 or MOV.sfvp0 which is what Vegas is looking for in regards to proxy files? That avoids using the swap video files feature.

Kinvermark wrote on 9/29/2021, 8:07 PM

Hmmm... just tested this with v19 and all is working fine - can swap back and forth "ad nauseum" with or without Vegas "internal" proxies. At the end of the day they are just files so you can force a replacement by renaming the folder Vegas is currently looking in (e.g. xx_mymedia) and then pointing it at the new file folder when you open the project. Alternatively vegasaur and HOS can find & replace as well.

tim-neighbors wrote on 9/29/2021, 8:22 PM

Hmmm... just tested this with v19 and all is working fine - can swap back and forth "ad nauseum" with or without Vegas "internal" proxies. At the end of the day they are just files so you can force a replacement by renaming the folder Vegas is currently looking in (e.g. xx_mymedia) and then pointing it at the new file folder when you open the project. Alternatively vegasaur and HOS can find & replace as well.

But the extension is different on the original source (.MXF) vs. the proxies used in the edit (.MP4).

Kinvermark wrote on 9/29/2021, 8:33 PM

IIRC should still work. Did you try it? (I don't have time right now to make proxies with diff. extensions to confirm) Also, Vegasaur can explicitly swap files with specified extensions i.e. MXF for MP4.

IMO you are missing something obvious, so keep trying and I am confident you will get it working :)

 

tim-neighbors wrote on 9/29/2021, 8:36 PM

Not sure if this will work but in the future can you take the camera proxy files, rename them so as to be identical to the source video footage and then change the extension to MP4.sfvp0 or MOV.sfvp0 which is what Vegas is looking for in regards to proxy files? That avoids using the swap video files feature.

I can change an .MXF extension to an .MP4 extension and it will work?

tim-neighbors wrote on 9/29/2021, 8:41 PM

IIRC should still work. Did you try it? (I don't have time right now to make proxies with diff. extensions to confirm) Also, Vegasaur can explicitly swap files with specified extensions i.e. MXF for MP4.

IMO you are missing something obvious, so keep trying and I am confident you will get it working :)

 

I'm not sure what IIRC means. (ah acronyms). I now have the project open in VP 19 build 361 and it's doing the same thing. I right click on one of the MP4 proxy files in it's project media bin, select "swap video files", then navigate to the folder where the source footage is that should replace the file I right clicked on as well as most of the other clips in that bin, click ok, Vegas thinks for a sec, then leaves everything as it was.

Last changed by tim-neighbors on 9/29/2021, 8:42 PM, changed a total of 1 times.

Tim Neighbors
Owner, Invisible Harness Media Production

Boxx Apexx, Intel Core i9-9900 CPU @3.6GHz (overclocked to 5GHz), 8 Cores, 16 logical processors, 64Gb Ram, running Windows 10 Pro. NVidia Quadro P4000

tim-neighbors wrote on 10/4/2021, 11:49 PM

Just an update for whom it may concern: I never could get VP's "swap video files" to work (I'm using UHD .MXF files from a Sony FX6), but I used Vegasaur's "Replace Media" feature and it did the trick.

paul-marshall wrote on 10/5/2021, 4:20 AM

Not sure if this will work but in the future can you take the camera proxy files, rename them so as to be identical to the source video footage and then change the extension to MP4.sfvp0 or MOV.sfvp0 which is what Vegas is looking for in regards to proxy files? That avoids using the swap video files feature.

I tried exactly that but it didnt work. As wwaag pointed out in this thread https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-19-doesn-t-see-proxy-files--132021/ "beginning in V18, sfvp0 proxies cannot contain audio--they must contain a video stream only."

 

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gary-rebholz wrote on 10/5/2021, 11:26 AM

@tim-neighbors, we have been unable to repro your Swap Video Files problem.

Wium-Dornbrack wrote on 3/3/2022, 3:21 AM

I'm having the same issue. Build a collection of PROres proxies but unable to swap the MXF files in vegas. After selecting the folder with "swap video files", Vegas just does nothing. The files can be replaced manual and work fine, but I'm not doing that with 600 files.

tim-neighbors wrote on 3/3/2022, 9:08 AM

I'm having the same issue. Build a collection of PROres proxies but unable to swap the MXF files in vegas. After selecting the folder with "swap video files", Vegas just does nothing. The files can be replaced manual and work fine, but I'm not doing that with 600 files.

If you haven't already, purchasing Vegasaur is a no-brainer for regular Vegas users. It solves this problem and more.