Davinci Resolve Studio is worth it (to me)!

[mambadude]

I've been using the free version of Davinci Resolve on my first few videos (got my mavic 2 pro a month ago). I think its amazing they offer such a powerful package for free, but after getting frustrated with the time wasted dealing with choppily scrubbing through videos trying to select the perfect frame for an edit, I decided to take the plunge and buy the studio version, hoping the hardware acceleration for H.264 and H.265 in the studio version would help.

It installed over the free version without any issues (Windows 10) and my existing projects were still there (I did back them up via the "archive project" option just in case). I was immediately very happy with my decision to spend the money. Nice, smooth, frustration free-playback and scrubbing. Rendering time is about 30% faster too. I also love the quick distortion correction and de-haze filters. So I can whole-heartedly recommend getting the studio version, you'll spend more time being creative and less time waiting!

BTW, been a lurker here for many months, watched a ton of inspiring videos and learned a lot before getting my mavic (especially how to avoid crashes) and really appreciate all the great advice available here.

 

[brett8883]

I've been using the free version of Davinci Resolve on my first few videos (got my mavic 2 pro a month ago). I think its amazing they offer such a powerful package for free, but after getting frustrated with the time wasted dealing with choppily scrubbing through videos trying to select the perfect frame for an edit, I decided to take the plunge and buy the studio version, hoping the hardware acceleration for H.264 and H.265 in the studio version would help.

It installed over the free version without any issues (Windows 10) and my existing projects were still there (I did back them up via the "archive project" option just in case). I was immediately very happy with my decision to spend the money. Nice, smooth, frustration free-playback and scrubbing. Rendering time is about 30% faster too. I also love the quick distortion correction and de-haze filters. So I can whole-heartedly recommend getting the studio version, you'll spend more time being creative and less time waiting!

BTW, been a lurker here for many months, watched a ton of inspiring videos and learned a lot before getting my mavic (especially how to avoid crashes) and really appreciate all the great advice available here.

I wonder why the rendering is faster? That’s was my biggest complaint about Resolve 15. Took forever

 

[BluePuffin]

I never realized the studio version offered hardware decoding. Choppy editor playback is my main issue. I might consider upgrading hearing how much of an improvement you experienced. What graphics card are you using? I am only using Intel integrated graphics, and it has been working surprisingly well, but I was looking to get something a bit more powerful.

 

[mambadude]

I have an Nvidia 1080, I'm not sure if they have hardware support for the intel integrated graphics, it might only be available for discrete cards.

The rendering is hardware accelerated too, as are many of the effects (they have a little gpu indicator next to them in the list if they are - don't remember seeing that in the free version). I was hoping for a bigger boost in the rendering speed, but I'll take what I can get.

 

[Thomas Fields]

How does Davinci Resolve compare with Adobe Premiere Elements?

 

[fly4fun]

I am having the same problem with Power Director 17 and a very choppy processed video. The original MP 2 Pro video in 4 K, 25 fps, D-Log H265 is silky smooth. Power Director does render H. 265 video but it takes forever. I have new Dell laptop and desktop and computers with upgraded graphics cards and 4k monitors. Any information on how to correct the choppiness would be appreciated. Or should I use a different video program?

 

[mambadude]

I am having the same problem with Power Director 17 and a very choppy processed video. The original MP 2 Pro video in 4 K, 25 fps, D-Log H265 is silky smooth. Power Director does render H. 265 video but it takes forever. I have new Dell laptop and desktop and computers with upgraded graphics cards and 4k monitors. Any information on how to correct the choppiness would be appreciated. Or should I use a different video program?

I don't know about Power Director, but I did find this info on their website that would indicate they do support hardware acceleration: Customer Support - How do I enable hardware acceleration feature in CyberLink PowerDirector? | CyberLink Maybe you need to enable it, but also they might only support H.264 and not H.265.

 

[mambadude]

How does Davinci Resolve compare with Adobe Premiere Elements?

Resolve is considerably more capable than Premiere Elements, but it is also considerably more complex to learn and use. I've watched hours of tutorial videos on youtube and frequently have to google how to do things when I'm using it, but I'm slowly expanding my knowledge of it. Premiere Elements is so much easier to start to use with guidance and auto modes whereas Resolve is daunting - no guides, no auto anything! I use it because I care a lot about color grading and it is the king at that. I love its powerful node-base approach to applying corrections (think Photoshop layers on steroids), but it takes a big investment in time to learn.

 

[fly4fun]

I don't know about Power Director, but I did find this info on their website that would indicate they do support hardware acceleration: Customer Support - How do I enable hardware acceleration feature in CyberLink PowerDirector? | CyberLink Maybe you need to enable it, but also they might only support H.264 and not H.265.

Thanks much! I will try that. Power Director does support H. 265. That was why I bought it. If this does not work I am back to using Davinci Resolve.

 

[ShermanFlyer]

I've been using the free version of Davinci Resolve on my first few videos (got my mavic 2 pro a month ago). I think its amazing they offer such a powerful package for free, but after getting frustrated with the time wasted dealing with choppily scrubbing through videos trying to select the perfect frame for an edit, I decided to take the plunge and buy the studio version, hoping the hardware acceleration for H.264 and H.265 in the studio version would help.

It installed over the free version without any issues (Windows 10) and my existing projects were still there (I did back them up via the "archive project" option just in case). I was immediately very happy with my decision to spend the money. Nice, smooth, frustration free-playback and scrubbing. Rendering time is about 30% faster too. I also love the quick distortion correction and de-haze filters. So I can whole-heartedly recommend getting the studio version, you'll spend more time being creative and less time waiting!

BTW, been a lurker here for many months, watched a ton of inspiring videos and learned a lot before getting my mavic (especially how to avoid crashes) and really appreciate all the great advice available here.

I also have been using the free version and after watching a few YouTube videos managed to fix the choppy scrubbing. Right click media, select "Generate Optimised Media" This solved the issue for me. I have considered upgrading for two reasons.
1. Allow me to render in 4K
2. Use of the dehaze plugin
I don't want to spend $300 for the Studio in case I have issues running it on my PC.

 

[mambadude]

I also have been using the free version and after watching a few YouTube videos managed to fix the choppy scrubbing. Right click media, select "Generate Optimised Media" This solved the issue for me. I have considered upgrading for two reasons.
1. Allow me to render in 4K
2. Use of the dehaze plugin
I don't want to spend $300 for the Studio in case I have issues running it on my PC.

Oh wow, I did not know about that optimized media trick, that's good to know!

I was able to render in 4k in the free version, even for youtube (the preset is for 1080p, but you can change it).

 

[ShermanFlyer]

Thanks for the clarification on the 4k, never knew that. Just tried it and worked like a dream.

 

[Harro]

As mentioned by others, Resolve has a steep learning curve, and has the best colour grading. I have been using Edius a lot (as well as Premiere Pro and Vegas Pro) but am moving towards Resolve as it is so much more versatile. I have purchased Resolve Studio and have no regrets. Great value for such powerful editing and colour grading software.

 

[mambadude]

I was hoping for more rendering performance switching to studio. Today I discovered that I need to use the nvidia rendering engine, now my videos render at near realtime, double what I was getting before and almost 3 times faster than the free version.

BTW, Resolve 16 is to be announced on Monday, I'm looking forward to see what new stuff they bring.

 

[mealers]

I've been holding back on getting the Studio version for a while, its alot of money to spend on and to be honest most of the advanced features that Studio offer are... well ...very advanced for my editing abilities shall we say! haha
The biggest attraction of it for me is the Distortion Correction and possibly Noise Reduction.

Thanks for adding your thoughts on this @mambadude I'm going to see what Blackmagic give us on tomorrows update and think on it some more then.