Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:24 pm
Well damn, all this time I thought the "Release video I/O hardware when not in focus" option only related to external video output (much like how After Effects or Premiere's "Disable video output when in the background" option works), and the not the actual playback state itself. Thanks for the tip, Peter.
That said, this option definitely needs to be renamed to something more specific, as the desire to continue playback in the background is often different from the simple desire for Resolve to actually "release" the hardware when it's in the background so other apps like Premiere or After Effects can send video out through the Decklink device.
Adobe's implementation is actually what I feel is the preferable one, as it is a general toggle that disables/enables video output, regardless of whether the app is in the FG or BG. The Premiere timeline will always continue to play back if it gets sent to the BG, but if the video output option is set to "disable when in the background", the external video output will turn off while the timeline continues to play back in the BG.
There are many times that I wish I could disable the video output from Resolve while I'm still working in the UI, so I can do non-color oriented tasks (roto, tracking etc etc) without my client getting distracted by the output when I dont want them to be looking at it. This is a feature I've been asking for in Resolve since version 9.0, and while you can disable video output by selecting "None" in the "For capture and playback use:" option, this option requires you to restart Resolve, which effectively negates its usefulness for this type of use case.
Resolve's preference is confusing, because it conflates background timeline playback with background video output. It's effectively the opposite of Premiere, which always plays in the background, despite the video output settings, and doesn't give you a preference for controlling BG playback behavior. Resolve, on the other hand, gives you the option for controlling BG playback behavior, but does not allow you to control the video output state on the fly, without restarting the app.
I guess this my roundabout way of requesting that they rename/modify the current "Release video I/O hardware when not in focus" preference to a more logical "Allow playback when not in focus", and unbind the actual video output state from this preference. Then add the ability for Resolve to dynamically toggle the video output state using a keyboard shortcut (and/or an associated icon in the Viewer), instead.
Resolve Studio 18.0.2 / Decklink Mini Monitor / 14" 2021 Macbook Pro Max (macOS 12.5.1, M1 Max) / 32GB RAM