Blackmagic Forum

I am totally new to Resolve so I hope that this is not a hardware issue because I'd love to keep using it. Here is what I do:

- I drop two simple H264, 1080p video clips on my timeline. I select "match settings".
- I apply something like the "Glow" effect to one of the clips
- Playback becomes extremely slow/choppy

I tried optimizing the media for ProRes LT and I also tried switching "render cache" to "smart" and waiting for the red bar in the timeline to turn blue but playback is still very slow. So then it got me thinking - maybe my mac is just not compatible with DaVinci Resolve? A screenshot of my mac specs is attached. I know it's an older model but both Premiere and FCPX have no problem handling 1080p footage with basic effects and transitions. Is my Mac and graphics card not compatible with Resolve? I am running the latest version of DR Beta 15.

Also, you know how in Premiere you can drop the playback resolution to half so it plays back smoother? Is there an equivalent to that in Resolve?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

The GPU is very under powered for Resolve which uses GPU for video processing.
The Glow is not a simple or basic transition so it’s hard work for that GPU.

Make sure your timeline is set to HD resolution.

Hey Peter, thanks for your help. I understand that my iMac is not the fastest machine around but this is what Apple was setting just a little over two years ago so I assumed I won't have any problems with DR
I did make sure that my timeline was in HD and I generated optimized media. What if I edited in 720p - would that help? Any other tips or tricks I could use to make DR work on my Mac? I'd really love to make it work. There is NO way I'm going back to Premiere!! lol

Yes, 720p might work. Or going back to version 12.5 (still under the downloads), it's a bit less demanding.

If you were aiming for DR, you should have ordered that iMac with a better GPU. We use one from 2015 with the 4 GB (M395X) and it even does some limited 4K. I know, that doesn't help you much now, but others be warned.

Since Apple computers tend to sell better than PCs on the second-hand market, it might be a solution to sell yours and get another one. But the 2017 models have far better GPUs, the 2015 ones were more or less laptop models.

Hey Uli, thanks for your help. I've pretty much come to the same conclusion as well but it's good to have that 2nd opinion. I am tired of both Adobe and Apple. I don't know what it is with companies wanting tons of money without even listening to what their clients want. I heard BMD was nothing like that which was honestly my 1st incentive to switch to DR. So I'm looking at getting a PC for 4K editing which is significantly cheaper than one of those iMac Pros and as soon as I get it I will be installing DR first thing on it.

Thanks!

If you can warm your heart for a PC, it's definitely better bang for the buck.

But you don't really need the overpriced iMac Pro, I use an iMac 2017 with the best GPU and it works quite well even in 4K. Some hiccups with H.264 or H.265 (only in 4K), but with transcoded clips it flies. And if you assemble a similar PC with an excellent screen (and I mean excellent!) the price difference is not that much.

Though, if you are aiming higher, maybe even for 8K one day, a beefy PC is the way to go at this point in time.

Under playback - try Optimise Performance (reduces resolution on playback)

Or in the Same menu : Select proxy Quarter resolution (1/16 of the pixels will need to be processed & displayed).

AJ