Choppy output using Davinci Resolve

kodiak1120 · Nov 7, 2018

I love Davnici Resolve for editing, but for some reason when I watch the saved video, it is slightly choppy and not smooth. Here's an example:

I set the output to be the same resolution as the raw video and I encode with H264. I think it's a framerate issue because the stock framerate is like 29.97, but that's not an option to output in Resolve. Anyone know how to fix this issue?

EDIT: I fixed it by redoing the whole video and setting the frame rate to 29.97 before I started:

Thanks.

Aerial-Pixel · Nov 7, 2018

Definitely looks like a framerate issue. Make sure the framerate on your project is setup at 30fps before importing your video, you can't change it after you import your video. If your project is setup at 30fps you will be able to output at 30fps.

kodiak1120 · Nov 7, 2018

So I should create a new project and change the framerate setting to 30, and then redo everything?

kodiak1120 · Nov 7, 2018

I did some research and it looks like you cannot change the framerate in Davinci once you have imported any media. But here's a workaround I found on the Blackmagic forums:

hi, delete all your media, then go to the project settings and change the project frame rate to the desired. Save and close the settings tab. UNDO (cmd+z/ctrl+z) and the media that you deleted is restored but the change you made in the settings stays the same. This also works if you want to change the mixed frame rate option.

Hopefully that will work.

Aerial-Pixel · Nov 7, 2018

kodiak1120 said:
I did some research and it looks like you cannot change the framerate in Davinci once you have imported any media. But here's a workaround I found on the Blackmagic forums:

Hopefully that will work.

That is correct, unfortunately it has to be setup first prior to importing any video, there is no way of changing it after. It stinks to have to re-do it but that's the only way... Been there done that

kodiak1120 · Nov 7, 2018

Aerial-Pixel said:
That is correct, unfortunately it has to be setup first prior to importing any video, there is no way of changing it after. It stinks to have to re-do it but that's the only way... Been there done that

Thanks... did you read my last post? I've read that you can delete all of the media, change the framerate setting, close the settings menu, and then hit "undo", which puts all of your media back, and you're good to go. Ever give that a try?

Aerial-Pixel · Nov 7, 2018

kodiak1120 said:
Thanks... did you read my last post? I've read that you can delete all of the media, change the framerate setting, close the settings menu, and then hit "undo", which puts all of your media back, and you're good to go. Ever give that a try?

Oh cool! I haven't tried that, I'll give it a shot next time I screw up LOL.

kodiak1120 · Nov 7, 2018

Aerial-Pixel said:
Oh cool! I haven't tried that, I'll give it a shot next time I screw up LOL.

I'm going to give it a shot when I get home. I'll let you know how it goes. Also, I read that you can export an .xml file and then edit certain portions to reflect the new frame rate, and then import that into a new project.

kodiak1120 · Nov 7, 2018

Ok so I tried the method I posted above and it didn't work. I was able to delete all my footage, change the frame rate, and then undo my delete, but when I tried to export the video I got an error message. I ended up just redoing the project with the correct frame rate. FYI, anyone using Davinci Resolve... make sure you set the frame rate for the project to 29.97 BEFORE you import anything. I learned the hard way. The good news is the new video looks awesome. I'll post a link to the new YouTube video tomorrow when it is done uploading.

kodiak1120 · Nov 8, 2018

Here's a link to the new video:

Aerial-Pixel · Nov 8, 2018

kodiak1120 said:
Here's a link to the new video:

Much better! Last thing I'd recommend is using some ND filters when filming will help smooth it out even more giving you a nice motion blur. It's a shame the suggestion you came across with delete / change frame rate / undo didn't work. I've rebuilt a few Resolve timelines over the years.

kodiak1120 · Nov 8, 2018

Aerial-Pixel said:
Much better! Last thing I'd recommend is using some ND filters when filming will help smooth it out even more giving you a nice motion blur. It's a shame the suggestion you came across with delete / change frame rate / undo didn't work. I've rebuilt a few Resolve timelines over the years.

Thanks for the tip. It would be nice if Resolve had a warning box pop up when you start, explaining the framerate issue, or if it made you select a frame rate manually every time you started a new project.

PC1134 · Nov 8, 2018

Amazing footage, but coming from Australia, our laws would never permit flying in an urban CBD environment and also so close to buildings and potentially in helicopter flight paths. Be interested to know what the laws allow there (sorry for being off topic).

kodiak1120 · Nov 8, 2018

PC1134 said:
Amazing footage, but coming from Australia, our laws would never permit flying in an urban CBD environment and also so close to buildings and potentially in helicopter flight paths. Be interested to know what the laws allow there (sorry for being off topic).

Thanks. There's a discussion of the legality under U.S. laws here:

Philadelphia City Hall

Harro · Nov 8, 2018

It is not uncommon for cameras to say they are shooting 30 fps whereas in reality it is 29.97 fps. In your editing software it is generally required to match source and timeline fps, so if your timeline is set to 30 fps and your source is actually 29.97 (you thought it was 30 but in reality it is not 30 fps) you have a problem. This is for US systems, In PAL it is not a problem as we have 25 fps and it is 25 fps.

kodiak1120 · Nov 9, 2018

Harro said:
It is not uncommon for cameras to say they are shooting 30 fps whereas in reality it is 29.97 fps. In your editing software it is generally required to match source and timeline fps, so if your timeline is set to 30 fps and your source is actually 29.97 (you thought it was 30 but in reality it is not 30 fps) you have a problem. This is for US systems, In PAL it is not a problem as we have 25 fps and it is 25 fps.

Yeah, I had the project set to 24 fps, but the footage was 29.97 fps, which was the problem. I fixed it be redoing the project and setting the frame rate to 29.97 from the start. Much smoother now.

RonanCork · Apr 29, 2019

Hi Guys,

Coming to this late but I just found a great tutorial on how to speed up playback in Da Vinci Resolve v15 (though I guess it would still work with later version). My laptop is woeful and this worked for me so it's promising.

Firstly - the credit it due to the "Learn Color Grading Channel" -- there video is here.

I hope they don't mind but I've distilled it (for easy text reading to the below). If they do mind I'll of course remove the below details:

Before importing your media:
- In Settings - > Master Settings, change the below (for PC, Mac is slighty different) two to be "DNxHR SQ"
Optimized Media format
Render Cache Format
- In main Playback menu (at the top of the application), set "Use Optimized Media if available" to true
- Now import your media as normal into your timeline and right click on it in timeline and choose "Generate
Optimized media"
- Result I found is that playback is smooth / non-stuttery and not jerky - incredible

Note: generating the optimized media creates behind the scenes large files so make sure to delete your old DVR projects that you no longer need.

Hope this helps as DVR is a really great application

Thank - Ro.

jason38 · Apr 30, 2019

RonanCork said:
Hi Guys,

Coming to this late but I just found a great tutorial on how to speed up playback in Da Vinci Resolve v15 (though I guess it would still work with later version). My laptop is woeful and this worked for me so it's promising.

Firstly - the credit it due to the "Learn Color Grading Channel" -- there video is here.

I hope they don't mind but I've distilled it (for easy text reading to the below). If they do mind I'll of course remove the below details:

Before importing your media:
- In Settings - > Master Settings, change the below (for PC, Mac is slighty different) two to be "DNxHR SQ"
Optimized Media format
Render Cache Format
- In main Playback menu (at the top of the application), set "Use Optimized Media if available" to true
- Now import your media as normal into your timeline and right click on it in timeline and choose "Generate
Optimized media"
- Result I found is that playback is smooth / non-stuttery and not jerky - incredible

Note: generating the optimized media creates behind the scenes large files so make sure to delete your old DVR projects that you no longer need.

Hope this helps as DVR is a really great application

Thank - Ro.

Yes, it works, I saw this too in a video.
But maybe I missed something, because when I generate optimized media, I need to let my PC do the work and wait for a while... Even for one little video, I need to wait for 1 hour at least, and a lot more for a few vids... However, my PC is not that bad....
Really worth it!?

RonanCork · Apr 30, 2019

Hey.

Eek I didnt see it that long for mine. A 1gb video took 15mins to optimize for me approx. Nope 1hr is way too long. Is the video on your local disk n not on usb/external disk? As local would be a little quicker. Guessing it is local though.

Maybe if there are any DVResolve experts on the group they could advise as I've only been using it for a few months.

Thanks Ro

jason38 · Apr 30, 2019

Yes, I always work from my local HD ...
Maybe should I change my HD, its an old one ...
I was very disapointed about that, because I'm almost unable to read a video while editing... So I need to render, watch and then edit again... Super heavy...
Hope it will work better with a new one..
However, the time it takes to optimize a 1gb video (like you said) , seems very long ! Imagine that you need to load and optimize ten 1gb videos... You'll need 2,5h before being able to edit... If you only need to cut a 30 seconds part of each video, you still need to optimize the whole video just to be able to watch it properly un edition mode... For me it's really long, and I wonder if it worth it at the end...?

RonanCork said:
Hey.

Eek I didnt see it that long for mine. A 1gb video took 15mins to optimize for me approx. Nope 1hr is way too long. Is the video on your local disk n not on usb/external disk? As local would be a little quicker. Guessing it is local though.

Maybe if there are any DVResolve experts on the group they could advise as I've only been using it for a few months.

Thanks Ro