High DPI monitor support for Windows

Is there any word for when Resolve will properly support high DPI displays on Windows?

Currently, the options are:

• Set Windows to 100% scale, which makes the entire OS too tiny to use, including Resolve. Possibly only an option on an enormous screen - something like a 42" display, which most people aren't running (I think that's a safe assumption).
• Use the comfortable Windows setting of 150% scale, and have a crisp UI in Resolve, but with absurdly large text and icons. It makes Resolve look like it's running in some accessibility mode for impaired vision.
• Override the scaling, and have a normally scaled UI, but one that looks extremely pixelated, defeating a lot of the purpose of a high resolution display.

I normally wouldn't be too fussed over the 3rd option - the text and icons, while blurry, are readable and usable. The deal breaker is that the viewers are also pixelated - so any text or graphics cannot be viewed correctly, and appear pixelated when they are not.

The bottom line is that Resolve, currently, is close to unusable in Windows on a high DPI display, and this has been an issue for a while. I've found threads on this forum discussing this back in 2015! It's remarkable that this hasn't been addressed yet. Is there any word on when a fix is coming?

And that's why I use an iMac as my main workstation, despite the fact that I also have 2 beefed up HP Z6 workstations with 4K displays. That, and ProRes...

Set Windows to 100% scale, which makes the entire OS too tiny to use

Then you need a larger monitor.

The sole purpose if higher resolution monitors is more screen real estate. You negate that by setting Display Scaling over 100%

It's like shooting, editing and delivering in 4K, but watching on an SDTV. It's pointless.

I have a 40" 4K monitor running at 100% scale. When I changed it to 150% scale and ran Resolve, it said that I had changed my screen resolution and asked if I wanted to reset the UI. Saying yes, everything looked pretty good to me. This is your #2 scenario, but I am not seeing large icons and buttons. Yes they are large for my 40" monitor, but if my monitor was 28-32 inches, I believe the icons would be the same size as they are when I am at 100% on my larger monitor. I could take a screen shot and scale the image to .75 to be sure, but that is my initial impression. We are talking about Resolve 15.2 and the latest commercial version of Windows 10 - correct? And just to be sure, are you leaving your resolution at the monitor's native setting and only changing the scale? Windows also likes you to sign out/in after you make a scale change. Finally, in the advanced scaling settings, do you have "Let Windows try to fix apps so they're not blurry" set to yes? Sorry for all the "is it plugged in" questions, but I want to make sure we are at the same baseline.

I understand what you are trying to achieve, exceptionally crisp text and UI with the video viewer's displaying at the monitor's native DPI. If you are editing an HD timeline, a 24-32 inch scaled 4K display should make for a very pleasant environment.

I just started evaluating Resolve and experienced this issue. I had to join the forum to share in the hopes it may help others who stumble across this thread. I found this solution when I had the same problem with an Adobe product, tried it with Resolve and bingo! Maybe it will work for you, too.

I don't have url posting privileges yet, so search 'Adobe app scaling on high dpi displays fix' by Dan A.

Just follow the instructions, download the sample, rename it to resolve.exe.manifest, and put it in the program files directory for resolve. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

I just started evaluating Resolve and experienced this issue. I had to join the forum to share in the hopes it may help others who stumble across this thread. I found this solution when I had the same problem with an Adobe product, tried it with Resolve and bingo! Maybe it will work for you, too.

I don't have url posting privileges yet, so search 'Adobe app scaling on high dpi displays fix' by Dan A.

Just follow the instructions, download the sample, rename it to resolve.exe.manifest, and put it in the program files directory for resolve. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

This problem doesn't affect me, but I read the article at:

https://www.danantonielli.com/adobe-app ... plays-fix/

Looks like the manifest is no longer needed according to an update Dan posted:

Dan Antonielli
April 8, 2017 at 8:30 am

UPDATE!

There is no need for this ‘fix’ with the Creators Update.

Microsoft has now baked this into Windows. After right clicking and selecting ‘properties’ for the application you want to scale…. You will find ‘Override high DPI scaling behavior.’ under the ‘Compatibility’ tab. Select ‘System’ from the drop down.

Brilliant! That works, too, and is even easier. Thanks; I learned a new trick.

Then you need a larger monitor.

You should consider stopping telling people that they need larger monitors to view UHD content - it's misinformed (I'm guessing you won't, but if you're an objective person, perhaps consider it).

Higher resolution monitors are for...higher resolution. This should be mindbogglingly obvious from the term itself, but you seem to believe it instead means "more real estate", and I simply cannot fathom why.

The whole Apple "Retina" pitch was to peddle the concept that the resolution was high enough that a human eye wouldn't be able to discern screen pixels. It definitely wasn't a pitch for being able to have more content on a screen at once. Because that would be absurd.

I use a 28" monitor and, at UHD, my old eyes, without glasses, can still see pixels on it. Right now, as I type this, I can see significant staircasing on the 'Italic' button above in this text editor.

Do you know why? It's because the PPI at UHD 4K on 28" is only around 160, about half of what is estimated that a human eye can handle.

On a 32" monitor, at a much lower PPI, it would be a significantly worse issue, and your recommendation is certainly not a solution, but a compromise - a compromise to accommodate Resolve's dated UI coding.

These PPI numbers should tell you that there is scope to cram even more pixels into these monitors to get even sharper imagery. It does NOT mean that people should get larger monitors because Blackmagic hasn't yet updated their software to handle the current (and future) generation of hardware.

What are you going to do when 8K UHD rolls around? Use a 65" monitor on your desk?

(I'm not one to generally use smilies, but I really wanted my amusement to come across there.)

Back on topic, Resolve uses a legacy interface that is unable to scale to any resolution required of it, and it is behind the times. I'd be astonished if they weren't actively working on it, but they are definitely taking their sweet time with it, when pretty much every other professional application has already moved on from this and it's a complete non-issue.

Cheers.