Playhead jumps to start of clip when the clip is selected

In the color page, why does the playhead jump to the beginning of a clip when I select it?
I am very confused by this behavior. Is there any way to make the playhead retain its position
when I select another clip?

I have brought this up before.
I believe the playhead should always be in the same place until you wish to change it. Assuming you want to jump to the head of a selected shot is not helpful. Grading across a vertical stack of media is greatly compromised by this behaviour.

There is a feature request here
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=165305

Is there any way to make the playhead retain its position when I select another clip?

Well, no. The playhead determines what you see in the Viewer. If you select another clip, the playhead HAS to move so you can see that other clip.

The only exception is with clips stacked vertically. You can Disable top layer tracks and that will show you the clip underneath without moving the playhead.

The only exception is with clips stacked vertically. You can Disable top layer tracks and that will show you the clip underneath without moving the playhead.

Doesn't work with several clips that are composited together though. And it's very cumbersome to have to disable top layer tracks in order to prevent the playhead from jumping around.

it's very cumbersome to have to disable top layer tracks in order to prevent the playhead from jumping around.

Well, that's a subjective assessment. I don't find it such, myself.

Doesn't work with several clips that are composited together though.

How are they composited? Compound clip? Fusion clip? Some other way I'm not thinking of?

Composited on the Edit page by multiple video tracks. E.g. for green-screen layers, split-screen talking heads, picture-in-picture clips, adjustment clips, etc. pp.

If composited in layers then, in the Color Page, you can option / alt click on the track header in the mini Timeline view (track header will turn red) to access / manipulate the nodes on underlying clips without moving the playhead... which is just to point out that it can be done, not to suggest its a great mechanism.

Interesting. BM could add that same ALT/OPT trick to the clicks on the thumbnails (for those users that hide the timeline to get more space).


Edit: I just tried OPT-clicking clips on the timeline; the playhead still jumped to the start of the clip (Resolve 17, Mac).