TImeline viewer ahead of Timeline cursor

Hello,
Has anyone experience with the timeline viewer consistently being several frames ahead of the timeline cursor on the edit page of Resolve 17? I didn't have this happen in 14.
None of the manuals addressed this. Thanks!

I have never seen that problem. Later versions of Resolve are more demanding on the computer system, especially GPU wise.
Free or Studio version? What are your computer specs including the OS and GPU? Is your GPU driver up to date? What resolution is your timeline, and what is the codec and resolution of your video clips? Do you have any video or audio plugins in use? Does this only happen on this project or all of them?
The more information you can give will help us to help you.

I struggle to think how that would even be possible, and end up falling back to Occam's Razor here.

The observation is faulty.

One way to check that is with Match Frame. If you hit F with the timeline panel active, you will load that clip into the Source Viewer. Does it show the same frame as the Timeline Viewer?

Hi,
Thanks for replying! To answer two of your ?s, yes, it happens with all projects and whether I am working with a file from my laptop or from an external hard drive. As to the resolution and codec of the files, they were all prepared by an editor who uses DaVinci Resolve in his business, so they are ok.
The GPU et al questions I have forwarded to the makers of my laptop who are very helpful with technical questions.
I can tell you that I just increased the laptop memory from 16 to 32 and updated the Nvidia card because when I first opened 17 it froze up the laptop. Now it opens fine, I can import etc, but this issue cropped up.
I did try the F key. The images in both viewers are the same but the timeline image still does not match where the actual cursor is. Now it is either still ahead or goes behind the cursor.
Thanks! Maureen

You still haven't said whether it is the Free or Studio version. Also resolution and codec of the media is relevant. Coming from another Resolve system is not a guarantee that it will work on your system. Is it HD 1920X1080 or UHD 3840X2160? Codecs such as h264 and h265 are more demanding of your computer's CPU, unlike ProRes.

The images in both viewers are the same but the timeline image still does not match where the actual cursor is.

Those two statements are incompatible. They cannot both be true. (Or at least, I can't see how.)

Can you post a screen shot? Let us see what you see.

Thank you for replying.
The files are 1920x1080. They are Pro Res. I have installed the free version of 17.
Maureen

If it is not selected try selecting Show All Video Frames.

Show All Video Frames.jpg (30.07 KiB) Viewed 2501 times

This is what it does.

Show All Video Frames2.jpg (46.28 KiB) Viewed 2501 times

Thank you for this reply!
Under which heading do I find this option? I checked all those on the top of the edit page. Thanks again, Maureen

Click on the 3 dots menu as indicated by the yellow arrow. Here's a wider shot of the Edit page..

Screenshot (716).png (796.82 KiB) Viewed 2357 times

Thank you!
I did that and the timeline cursor is now 1/2 way through the next frame before the viewer shows that frame...? I tried starting at the very beginning with one frame of leader and then at the beginning of the very first shot. Same thing happened.
The support people for my laptop say it has all the specs required for 17, so...
Maureen

Despite what the "support People" say, it looks as if your computer is not up to running Resolve properly. I asked for the specs of your computer as it helps forum members to diagnose problems. If you don't know the specs, what make and model of computer do you have?
What exact version of Resolve 17 are you using? Click on the words DaVinci Resolve top left and click on About DaVinci Resolve. It will show a screen like this.

Resolve Version.jpg (198.65 KiB) Viewed 2327 times

Also, highlight one of the clips in the timeline and click on Metadata at the top right, and post a screen shot of it.

Maureen, it looks like you might be thinking the thumbnails on the timeline are somehow accurate to the video clip.

They're not.

Try this. In the Timeline View Options, switch from Filmstrip View to Thumbnail View. That gives you a thumbnail only at the head and tail of the clip, and may help avoid confusion.

Report back.

Maureen, it looks like you might be thinking the thumbnails on the timeline are somehow accurate to the video clip.

They're not.

Try this. In the Timeline View Options, switch from Filmstrip View to Thumbnail View. That gives you a thumbnail only at the head and tail of the clip, and may help avoid confusion.

Report back.

You beat me to it! I was going to suggest the same thing. BTW I tried to "thank" or "upvote" your reply but am still learning this forum software and could not locate those options.

Steve

Steve, this is what you are looking for.

Timeline View Options2.jpg (71.14 KiB) Viewed 2181 times

As an aside to the conversation I have none of these inaccuracies. The viewer picture always changes at the cut, never before or after.

Playhead at Cut.jpg (272.36 KiB) Viewed 2181 times

Though I am running the Studio version it was the same when I used the free one. I can only put that down to having a discrete GPU.

I tried to "thank" or "upvote" your reply

This forum does not offer those options.

"Use your words", as they say.

Thank you all for replying.
Here are the sceren shots as well as the receipt for the laptop which shows some of its specs. it now has 32GB RAM and the Nvidia card was just updated 3 weeks ago.

Screenshot #2

Receipt with some specs

Thanks for the pics, Maureen. One thing stands out in the Metadata. The clips are shown as having a 10bit bit depth. 10bit is not supported in the free version, normally it's only 8bit, and usually you would not see any pictures. Also the file is shown as being 1024X760 and not 1920X1080.
However, sometimes 10bit clips will show in the free version but will have problems such as color artifacts. This is possibly the problem which is causing the errors you see.

Maureen, I would suggest you look at the free Blackmagic Resolve training materials which you will find here. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/products/davinciresolve/training
They contain project files for practice and include 8bit video files to download.

Before you consider springing for the Studio version of Resolve (a natural leap from Charles' comment regarding 10-bit support), that laptop is quite underpowered and may not perform well even with the Studio version (actually may perform worse in some cases because it will try to use the GPU for more things than will the free version and that may lead to instabilities).

I second that it may be good to test that hardware with compatible clips before investing.
But it should be usable for editing and light grading in a 1280 by 720 timeline. Switching to HD and rendering into DNxHR should be OK too. Finally, separate encoding into the desired codec.

Thank you all for your replies!

I have attached a screenshot of a short practice video I did in 14 years ago, with the metadata. it is 8 bit & 1920x1080. BUT it does the same thing as the other clips. So...

As to the laptop not having enough power, could you be more precise about that? Specifics?

Thank you for the link to the practice videos. I taught myself 14 several years ago using tutorials and the manual & got down the basics which is all I was planning to do with 17 until this occurred.
Maureen

These links may help, regarding hardware:
https://www.richardlackey.com/davinci-r ... uirements/
https://minsoftwarerequirements.com/dav ... uirements/
https://blog.frame.io/2020/02/24/davinc ... rformance/

In general, laptops are not really great for DR. If it must be a laptop, get a Mac or a high-end gaming laptop for Windows. But price/performance is much better with desktops.

As I wrote yesterday, the timeline viewer is ahead of the cursor regardless of BIT size, that is, even with 8 BIT and 1920x1080. So it does not seem that that is the issue.
Also, the Nvidia card driver was just updated on 3/10/24 & I am now automatically notified of updates available.
As to having a gaming laptop. I do.
Thanks very much!
Maureen

Apologies if I've misunderstood the issue. You can think about it like this;

The viewer shows an exact moment in time.

The thumbnails in the clips on the timeline show an approximation of where something is. Why an approximation? Because in order to show you the clip thumbnail image (an image that has a particular width depending on how tall your tracks are), the width of the image itself will make it impossible to show it at the exact horizontal position unless you are zoomed in far enough. Essentially you're expecting something that's impossible.

The thumbnail images on the timeline are meant as a convenience for you to see what's in the clip, not something you make cut decisions from.

Hi, go by the viewer not the thumbs I am told, and a thumb can be two frames.
I am learning that.
and with top spec its not spec. Nvidia GTX3070 64Gb DDR4 ram etc, Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 8-Core Processor, 3401 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)


...and so I am cutting on last frame of subject A using viewer and then ending up with one frame of A at start of subject B.

so something odd is going on.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=198936

Nothing to do with spec.

DBenz003

I am cutting on last frame of subject A using viewer and then ending up with one frame of A at start of subject B.

That's normal. The playhead always looks forward. So if you can see the last frame of A, then you will end up with that one frame as part of B.

Move the playhead to the first frame of B and then make the cut.

I would like to second Charles' suggestion to do some training before working on real projects. I found it enormously helpful.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... ning#books

Screenshot (738).png (223.28 KiB) Viewed 1270 times

On the advice of an editor I uninstalled Davinci Resolve 17 free version & reinstalled 14. However, this came up on my screen after the installation was completed.
I am not quite sure what it means. it didn't happen at any previous installations.

Sorry that was the wrong screenshot though I'd like to know why that happened as well!

Maureen, from where are you downloading Resolve?

Screenshot (739).png (459.47 KiB) Viewed 1070 times

From the Black Magic Design website with all the products on it, Charles.

14 downloaded but then said that
"local database" database is incompatible.
Incompatible (not upgradeable) database 17.0.0.001, application requires14.3.0.005

So I tried using an external hard drive, then one file on my desktop. neither connected.

A piece of software missing?....
Here's what downloaded from DR yesterday.
Thanks!

Libraries/Databases are not backwards compatible.

You cannot use anything newer than a version 14 Database in version 14 Resolve.

Why would you want to go back so far?

Sorry, Maureen, I'm stumped. I just cannot reproduce this problem whatever I try.

I went back to 14 because no one could solve the timeline being behind the viewer in 17.

Thank you, Charles. I deleted 14 and tried reinstalling 17 which worked ok. I experimented with dragging a file straight from the desktop to see if that would help with the viewer being ahead of the timeline. But no. That problem is still unsolved. And editors that have used Davinci Resolve say they never hear of such an issue!
Thanks again for your help. If the issue is ever solved I will let you know!
Maureen

I still think the core issue here is a misunderstanding on your part, Maureen. The playhead and the Viewer are always perfectly in sync, confirmed by your own test back on March 30th.

Have you had a chance to do this yet?

"In the Timeline View Options, switch from Filmstrip View to Thumbnail View. That gives you a thumbnail only at the head and tail of the clip"

Maureen, a breakthrough. I take it that the video in your timeline is an already edited one, that is a continuous single file. If so it is treated as a single clip. When the view is set to show the whole timeline only thumbnails at various points are shown. If however, you zoom in most frames are shown. This is what is giving the effect you see.
This is no doubt exaggerated when using GOP formats such as h264.
What you see in the timeline should be taken as a positional guide, and the viewers as the actual position.

What may help you for editing purposes is Detect Scene Cuts which is in the Timeline drop down menu. It doesn't always detect all of them, but may be useful, especially if you put actual cuts at those points.

Thank you both for your ideas!
Charles, you are correct. The files are as the lab that digitized our 16mm film sent them. The lab uses 200' reels only until there are only a few rolls of film less than 200' left to digitize. So DR 17 is treating each whole file as one clip. Unfortunately the lab did not digitize the film in any order, chronological , seasonal etc., so all the scenes are mixed up making it harder to edit. Luckily I have my notes from 50 years ago when we shot the film & most of it is outdoors . Both of those help determine season, year, order, etc.
I found the thumbnail/filmstrip toggles but could not locate the Detect Cut one.
Thanks very much!
Maureen

You will find it here.