Let's stop referring to "reference files" as "proxies".

[I Bloom]

I spend a large amount of my day communicating with people about RED workflow. I find that the most confusion comes from the notion that Redcode quicktime reference files are proxies.

We currently user the word "proxy" to mean two very different things. I think it's better to be very specific and only use the word proxie to mean a self contained video file transcoded from the original, whose frames map to the original frames. Thus a stand-in or a proxy.

A quicktime reference file does not work unless the raw R3D file is present in the same directory. So it isn't much of a proxy really, it's more of a window into that file, a pathway that we call a reference.

This may seem like I'm nitpicking over small things, but I notice tons and tons of conversations where there is constant confusion about what we are talking about, especially between veterans and the uninitiated. It's too much energy being wasted for me.

So my suggestion, let's start saying "reference file" when we are talking about the redcode quicktime component files and reserve "proxy" for transcoded ones. Let's add some much needed precision to our evolving terminology.

[Shawn Nelson]

Amen!!!!

I have to clear this up repeatedly as well. Isn't it Red who calls them, repeatedly, the 'proxies'? I think Ted, Rob, Stuart, etc need to sign on as well :-)

[Mark L. Pederson]

YES YES YES YES

lots of folks call offline edit transcodes (self contained QTs) as proxies.

[Cüneyt Kaya]

i am singing that song too...
now i know how depressed a singer can get.

[Alex Carr]

I just mentioned this a few hours ago? People don't realize that they are Reference files, and want to do silly things with them.

[Hans-Georg Daun]

I'm with you, Ian. Just changed all occurences of "proxy" in my documentation for Clipfinder to "reference file".

Cheers
Hans

[Gunleik Groven]

I guess it came out of RED calling them camera proxies.


Totally agreed, though.

[Tai Wah Lim]

Originally Posted by Offhollywood

YES YES YES YES

lots of folks call offline edit transcodes (self contained QTs) as proxies.

I beg to differ. That does not mean that they are right. Literally, a proxy is a representative. Lim

[Deanan]

Proxies is a broader term of which reference QTs and transcoded QTs can be subsets of 'proxies'

The flip side is that transcoded QT's can be final quality and not proxies at all. Likewise reference QTs be used for final quality output depending on the application and the output path (ie. through rendering).

I personally always 'try' to say transcoded QTs or proxies and ref QTs or proxies but it's easy to slip up. At the end of the day there is no simple answer because of all the different options.

[Jason Diamond]

i agree with ian. people also associate quality judgements with specific terminology and phraseology, so giving these files these newer deserved proper names helps clarify what they are and what they can do.

my 2sense