Octorox said:
I mean, you can’t gain quality but you can lose quality by recompressing, even if the file is higher bitrate than your source. I’m just trying to minimize the amount of generational loss.
This is definitely true. Bitrate is relative to the format, so just because Prores LT is a higher bitrate doesn’t mean it will capture 100% of the detail from an H264. LT can struggle on scenes with a lot of detail and fine grain. I think for safety, Hal, there’s nothing wrong with Prores 422 or HQ. You definitely don’t want to accidentally lose a bit of detail by choosing a lower bitrate.
FWIW, I usually export to Prores 422 or HQ and encode to H.264 with ffmpeg. One thing I will say about ffmpeg; though it is free, open-source, and not part of a professional suite, it is the only encoder I’ve seen produce H264 files that are visually identical to their Prores masters, even in scenes with a lot of grain. It’s really incredible. It is also very irritating to use!