Blackmagic Forum

When I use DVR Studio 17.08 Bild 23 (beta) and go to "help" -> "Davinci Resolve Reference Manual" the manual does not appear. What you get is a "new Features Guide" This seems to assume that all users of DVR 17 are fully up to speed with DVR 16 and very little help to anyone who isn't.
The "Davinci Resolve Reference Manual" menu selection should bring up that document. . If an "new features" document is needed then that should be a separate menu entry. I can't find a DVR17 manual anywhere. I did find a DVR16 reference manual but no DVR 17, beta or otherwise, manual.

The full manual will come when the software is final.

For the moment you should consider the 17 New Features Guide as an addendum to the version 16 manual. The full 17 version manual is unlikely to appear before the release version of Resolve 17 becomes available.

Charles Bennett wrote:For the moment you should consider the 17 New Features Guide as an addendum to the version 16 manual. The full 17 version manual is unlikely to appear before the release version of Resolve 17 becomes available.

Having not used DVR V16 I don't have a V16 manual.
The V16 and V17 Addendum should be part of the V17 Beta download. You can't assume that V17 users have used V16 or have access to it.

BTW I can't see why there isn't a (draft) V17 manual anyway.

You can download the Resolve 16 manual from the BMD support page. It was made available on Sept. 16.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion

xunile wrote:You can download the Resolve 16 manual from the BMD support page. It was made available on Sept. 16.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion

As usual everything with Resolve is counter intuitive and a hassle, a far better solution would be to put the V16 Manual in the help menu and have an "addendum" entry just under it when you install the beta.

There will always be an addendum or release notes for every version or minor update. so this system would work all the time.

I agree with you, Chris. A simple renaming of what the document is would be helpful since it's current description is inaccurate and yeah, (haha) another BMD hoodwink.

I think part of the problem with BMD is a lot of their software development comes from the Pac-Asia region, so there's always a bit of "lost in translation" going on.

The Help entry is just a link to the PDF, which in the Beta happens to be a New Features guide rather than the full manual.

This is no big deal.

Jim Simon wrote:The Help entry is just a link to the PDF, which in the Beta happens to be a New Features guide rather than the full manual.

This is no big deal.

MAJOR BIG DEAL What use is the "New" features when you don't know what the old features are?

The Help entry should be either the V17 draft or the V16 full manual with the addendum new features manual as the entry below.

As it is is just poor design. BMD seem to be catering for one very narrow group of users.

It's a Beta, Chris. Not done yet.

This is no big deal.

Jim Simon wrote:It's a Beta, Chris. Not done yet.

This is no big deal.

It IS a big Deal

The menu says it is the manual, it isn't then it is a Defect. I take it you don't design software?

As you can't have both V16 and V17 loaded at the same time it should have the V16 manual and the the Addemdum of differences. Simple enough?

Otherwise those who have loaded V17 have no manual to work from.

Like I said before, your observation follows logic completely. But to fuss over this detail will fall on deaf ears with BMD.

This lack of attention to detail pervades throughout the BMD lineup of products, not just Davinci, and it seems to be part of the BMD culture: Offer great products but full of little niggles and details that weren't totally thought out or overlooked, and don't have enough priority to be fixed.

Unless it's a total failure across the board and prevents Davinci from working properly small things like this get ignored by BMD completely. Trust me, myself and others who've posted dozens of head-scratching issues like this over the years have never seen them addressed, and some are actual functionality issues.

producerguy wrote:Like I said before, your observation follows logic completely. But to fuss over this detail will fall on deaf ears with BMD.

This lack of attention to detail pervades throughout the BMD lineup of products, not just Davinci, and it seems to be part of the BMD culture: Offer great products but full of little niggles and details that weren't totally thought out or overlooked, and don't have enough priority to be fixed.

Unless it's a total failure across the board and prevents Davinci from working properly small things like this get ignored by BMD completely. Trust me, myself and others who've posted dozens of head-scratching issues like this over the years have never seen them addressed, and some are actual functionality issues.

A pity, Eventually this attitude will be their downfall.
It has taken out far bigger company's

BTW I can recommend the book "In Search of Stupidity" Here is a review of it
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2003/08/01/rick-chapman-is-in-search-of-stupidity/

Don't expect BMD's business model to ever change, it's been this way for over a decade. Case in point:

Back in the mid-2000's there were only two options to get I/O from a Mac tower, cards from AJA or Blackmagic.

The AJA cards (KONA) were more expensive than the BM offerings, and their firmware/software updates were few and far between, sometimes newer software wasn't available until a newer model came out. But they were (and are) rock solid and every feature worked, 100% percent, reliably.

By contrast BM cards were more affordable but full of little bugs and software updates were about as frequent as they are now. It became known that if you got a BM card that you'd save some cash, but to expect niggles in operation.

Fast-forward to today and nothing's changed; great product offerings across the board but *all* with things that either don't work properly or unreliably.

If FCPX wasn't so damned goofy I'd be cutting on that, and I refuse to pay Adobe's "we got you by the balls" pricing strategy so... what's a guy to do but put up with DR's bugs.

producerguy wrote:If FCPX wasn't so damned goofy I'd be cutting on that, and I refuse to pay Adobe's "we got you by the balls" pricing strategy so... what's a guy to do but put up with DR's bugs.

If FCPX ran on the PC I wouldn't be using Resolve.


I come back to the book "In Search of Stupidity" BMD is big enough to succumb to a demise as many others have.

Why not get a Mac then? They are back to speed again and FCP-X is rock solid.
It helps if hardware, OS and application are from one company.

Uli Plank wrote:Why not get a Mac then? They are back to speed again and FCP-X is rock solid.
It helps if hardware, OS and application are from one company.

I have 4 Mac's however they are older Intel Macs. The recent Mac's over the last 5-7 years have not been very good and Apple is heading in the wrong direction. I would not buy into the New M1 Mac's due ot the changes in the way Apple does things now. Using PC's gives me a LOT more flexibility and I an not tied to any manufacturer.

If Resolve was as solid as FCPX and had it's details sorted it would be great. It's not just the manual it's lots of little things were BMD are not listening to the majority of Users (just a small group of historical from here they started it seems) l

I dare to contradict. Yes, Apple's computers were not really competitive over the last few years anymore, and I already decided that I would go for a PC for myself as soon as I need more power for DR and Fusion. Even if I hate Windows and all the trouble we have in our student labs (about 40 PCs) with drivers and general stability.

But then came M1. We only bought the basic MB Air as a replacement for my wife's older MB Pro 13", which recently developed intermittent screen troubles. Once she started to use it, I only got very limited access to do a few tests with Resolve and Fusion (she loves the keyboard and the screen). I'm very impressed by the power and the low energy consumption of this entry-level model. And, believe me, I'm not easily impressed by new technology any more. But this time, Intel is going to have a hard time and Apple is back to the show.

And I already thought they are a phone company now and give a damn about computer users.

Sorry for derailing the thread.

xunile wrote:You can download the Resolve 16 manual from the BMD support page. It was made available on Sept. 16.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion

Sooo...dumb question from a new user to DaVinci Resolve Studio 17...

V16 was released in August, 2019; the date on the Reference Guide is August 2020 (and the blog post in Support says Sept 2020).

Please tell me it doesn't take BMD ONE YEAR to release a reference manual...?

I'm hoping that's the document's "last edited date"...?

(I do have v16 Ref Guide in the meantime...just curious.)

Thanks!

EyeInTheSky wrote:

xunile wrote:You can download the Resolve 16 manual from the BMD support page. It was made available on Sept. 16.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion

Sooo...dumb question from a new user to DaVinci Resolve Studio 17...

V16 was released in August, 2019; the date on the Reference Guide is August 2020 (and the blog post in Support says Sept 2020).

Please tell me it doesn't take BMD ONE YEAR to release a reference manual...?

I'm hoping that's the document's "last edited date"...?

(I do have v16 Ref Guide in the meantime...just curious.)

Thanks!

I have DVR Studio Released version (February 2021) and it has a reference manual dated August 2020 that does NOT mention V17. Didn't the V17 Beta's appear after this date so it must be a V16 manual? There is no "V17 new features guide" there was in the Beta

Confused? I think most of us are.

jamedia wrote:

EyeInTheSky wrote:

xunile wrote:You can download the Resolve 16 manual from the BMD support page. It was made available on Sept. 16.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion

Sooo...dumb question from a new user to DaVinci Resolve Studio 17...

V16 was released in August, 2019; the date on the Reference Guide is August 2020 (and the blog post in Support says Sept 2020).

Please tell me it doesn't take BMD ONE YEAR to release a reference manual...?

I'm hoping that's the document's "last edited date"...?

(I do have v16 Ref Guide in the meantime...just curious.)

Thanks!

I have DVR Studio Released version (February 2021) and it has a reference manual dated August 2020 that does NOT mention V17. Didn't the V17 Beta's appear after this date so it must be a V16 manual? There is no "V17 new features guide" there was in the Beta

Confused? I think most of us are.

Not sure if you're using macOS or Windows, but when I open the 17.0 Studio release package (.dmg), the New Features guide is in there. As we as the V16 Reference Guide. I've heard on these forums the V17 Ref Guide is still being updated/completed.

EyeInTheSky wrote:

jamedia wrote:
I have DVR Studio Released version (February 2021) and it has a reference manual dated August 2020 that does NOT mention V17. Didn't the V17 Beta's appear after this date so it must be a V16 manual? There is no "V17 new features guide" there was in the Beta

Confused? I think most of us are.

Not sure if you're using macOS or Windows, but when I open the 17.0 Studio release package (.dmg), the New Features guide is in there. As we as the V16 Reference Guide. I've heard on these forums the V17 Ref Guide is still being updated/completed.

I am on windows.(gave up on Mac's after 20 years of using them)
There was no V16 manual In the V17 Beta only the :new features" which is zero use to anyone starting with V17. Especially as you can't load both V16 and V17 and the manuals don't seem to be available separatory to the download/install file,

As for "the V17 Ref Guide is still being updated/completed." It should have been in the V17.0 Release. Otherwise it should not have been released. that the manual wasn't read does not reflect well on BMDs development process.