Re: What to use ProRes or ProRes HQ

It's no so simple. Not all H.264 has been smushed to the point where ProRes and ProRes HQ transcodes are indistinguishable. It depends on the bit rate of the H.264. If it is 1080 30p and exceeds 30 Mb/s then definitely go with HQ.

Don't be tricked by direct comparison with the ProRes data rate 147 Mb/s (for 1080 30p). ProRes uses no interframe compression. A codec like H.264 uses interframe compression and gains a compression factor of between 5 and 10 for this. That is, intraframe, ProRes at 147 Mb/s is comparable to H.264 at somewhere between 15 and 30 Mb/s. Intraframe, ProRes HQ at 220 Mb/s (for 1080 30p) is comparable to H.264 at somewhere between 22 and 44 Mb/s. It is desirable to transcode to a codec that uses less intraframe compression than the original.