DevonChris Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 i have just moved from an ageing MacBook Air to a new Windows based PC, and thought I'd try Davinci Resolve LIte to replace FCP. Resolve Lite looks like a great product, particularly as it is free, but I cannot get it to run properly. There is a delay in playing back the video clip when I move the play head, as though Resolve is rendering or doing other processing in the background. In contrast, Premiere Pro CC runs really well with instant responses. My Win PC is pretty powerful, though the graphics card might not be good enough for Resolve. These are the specs: i7-4790 processor 32Gb RAM 256 Gb SSD 3 TB 7200 HDD AMD R9 270 2Gb RAM Win 8.1 I set up resolve to use the SSD for cacheing and project files etc, but that did not cure the poor responsiveness. Has anyone else experienced these issues, or got any suggestions about configuring the PC and/or Resolve for reasonable performance? Thanks Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrgl Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Are you working with h.264 files? If so, re-encode them to ProRes or DNxHD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbCinC_12 Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 So, in order to use h.264 files on a Windows machine, it has to be converted to ProRes? Is there a tool that can do that (convert or re-incode to ProRes)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrgl Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 You don't have to. I've used a few systems that could handle h.264. Mine however, and most other machines I've worked from, typically suffer from laggy h.264 playback. If you're using a Windows based machine, try DNxHD. It's available as an export option in Resolve under Video Format > QuickTime. Then under Codec choose any of the DNxHD profiles. Not to be obnoxious. But the Blackmagic subforum for Davinci Resolve could net you more accurate answers. :) (Though sometimes you get none.) DevonChris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbCinC_12 Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 I'm trying to upgrade my video graphics card since I'm using Intel HD Graphics and Resolve seems to rebel against it... it's that or it's back to Vegas. Thanks for the input, andrgl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonChris Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 Are you working with h.264 files? If so, re-encode them to ProRes or DNxHD. Yep. I'll try encoding the files to DNxHD. Thanks for the suggestion :) Not to be obnoxious. But the Blackmagic subforum for Davinci Resolve could net you more accurate answers. :) (Though sometimes you get none.) I thought I might get a more balanced, non partisan, view by posting in this forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrgl Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Yep. I'll try encoding the files to DNxHD. Thanks for the suggestion :) Great, hope it helps. I'm trying to upgrade my video graphics card since I'm using Intel HD Graphics and Resolve seems to rebel against it... it's that or it's back to Vegas. Yeah, unfortunately Resolve will not run on integrated graphics. jb, if you're still shopping around for a graphic card, consider one with the most video ram. DaVinci thrives on lots and lots of vRAM. My 290x only has 4GB. There are a few sub $600 cards with 6GB, mostly GTX 780s. But before you plunk down any cash, try and play with resolve if you can. It's not the best editor. I haven't used Vegas in years and years, but my opinion is that FCP and Premier are far superior at editing together footage. Davinci is amazing at grading. It can also be used for very light compositing too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fraser Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 My Win PC is pretty powerful, though the graphics card might not be good enough for Resolve. These are the specs: AMD R9 270 2Gb RAM It's not so much that your graphics card is not good enough, more that Resolve works hand in hand with Nvidia Cuda cores. If you power supply and wallet can handle any of the GTX 760, 770, 780 they would all do great. Each of these require an additional power lead from your power supply as they each draw at least 160W. If I was on a budget, I would be tempted to try the GTX 750, only 60W and draws power only from the PCI-e slot. The Palit Geforce GTX 750TI StormX Dual 2GB is the one I would go for, but then I'm pretty tight with my money. The Card that would best match your other components would likely be the GTX 770 or 780. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkor Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 I'm trying to upgrade my video graphics card since I'm using Intel HD Graphics and Resolve seems to rebel against it... it's that or it's back to Vegas. Thanks for the input, andrgl. Ehm, in your first post you said you have a AMD R9 270 2Gb RAM... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonChris Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 Ehm, in your first post you said you have a AMD R9 270 2Gb RAM... Hi araucaria - you are getting me confused with jbCinC_. I'm the OP and yes my system does have the AMD R9 270. Anyway I tried re-formatting the video from h.264 to various DNxHD formats but Resolve crashed every time, even though Resolve was the only app running. I've been playing around with Premiere and it's running really well on my PC so I think it is not worth my time to battle with Resolve any more. As andrgl said, Premiere is a better editor anyway, but not as good as Resolve for grading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkor Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Oh yep. I know it might be a stupid question but since you're coming from a mac, do you have updated the graphic drivers? amd.com I also remermber something about resolve 9 not working with ATI cards, but I'm not shure if that's still the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrgl Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 It's not so much that your graphics card is not good enough, more that Resolve works hand in hand with Nvidia Cuda cores. If you power supply and wallet can handle any of the GTX 760, 770, 780 they would all do great. Each of these require an additional power lead from your power supply as they each draw at least 160W. Moot point considering Resolve has been optimized for OpenCL since late 2013 and the OP is using an AMD card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonChris Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 Lots of great help in this thread. Thanks :) I wasn't considering Resolve when I bought the Win PC, but remembered it afterwards and thought I'd give it a go. So I didn't check the Resolve hardware specs too carefully. I haven't updated the AMD drivers so I'll do that tomorrow, but it looks like that GPU isn't good for Resolve anyway. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbCinC_12 Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Lots of great help in this thread. Thanks :) I wasn't considering Resolve when I bought the Win PC, but remembered it afterwards and thought I'd give it a go. So I didn't check the Resolve hardware specs too carefully. I haven't updated the AMD drivers so I'll do that tomorrow, but it looks like that GPU isn't good for Resolve anyway. Chris I have often wondered that Resolve takes only NVIDIA CUDAs (how many cores is anybody's guess), but again, I haven't even delved in their system specs. Yet, they don't even put in the system specs in their Resolve site, but with one their configuration guides, and still I can't put my finger around it. I managed to get Resolve 11 on my computer system (then the OpenCL reliant/need of hight GPU error popped up), let it work on my C drive, logged in, select my project, locate my clip (in ProRES), and like you, BOOM crashed. So, I'm at a crossroads of finding a good editor/grading system. How's Premiere's Color Correcting system -- any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael1 Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Are you running 2K or 4K? 4K requires more video RAM. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevonChris Posted August 5, 2014 Author Share Posted August 5, 2014 So, I'm at a crossroads of finding a good editor/grading system. How's Premiere's Color Correcting system -- any good? I'm still exploring Premiere, as I'm migrating from FCP. So far colour correction and grading in Premiere looks good. I was also pleased to see that you can use green screen in Premiere, as I thought that was only in After Effects. Are you running 2K or 4K? 4K requires more video RAM. I was trying to edit 2K with Resolve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.