Solution to the HiDPI problem on Linux

Hi everyone.

I've installed Resolve 15.2 in a ubuntu 18.04 machine successfully, no without some problems. But the main issue has been the HiDPI display support.

Trying to work with a 15" laptop 4K display the UI has terrible small.

I found a wokaround to solve this problem.

The new QT 5 has some environment variables that config this kind of things.
Search in google for "qt5 hidpi" without quotes, for more information. I can't post links right now.

The solution is to define to variables previously to launch the resolve exec in the .bashrc file

export QT_DEVICE_PIXEL_RATIO=2
export QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=true

I think the last one is the really important one.

Or simply define them before the exec:

QT_DEVICE_PIXEL_RATIO=2 QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=true /opt/resolve/bin/resolve

Note to the linux dev team/member: Place a toggle or combo in the User interface form, and an option in the config.user.xml to change that will be more useful

Best Regards

I confirm it works.

For easy launching in HiDPI make these changes to the desktop shortcut, for example with nano editor:

Code: Select all

sudo nano /usr/share/applications/com.blackmagicdesign.resolve.desktop


change the Exec line value:

Code: Select all

Exec=bash -c "QT_DEVICE_PIXEL_RATIO=2 QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=true /opt/resolve/bin/resolve"


Ctrl+X to save and exit

on Ubuntu for me it works fine also setting like this in the .desktop file

Code: Select all

Exec=env QT_DEVICE_PIXEL_RATIO=2 /opt/resolve/bin/resolve

OMG! I am so excited to try out DaVinci resolve rendering of C4K. Rushing through the first ever C4K project to see how it goes.

When I saw the DaVinci splash screen displaying as 30% of my 4K screen, and then I saw the menus and toolbars, without any blur, I literally jumped on my chair.

In case someone else needs the details on how to do it, let me repeat the exact steps…

Edit the .desktop file for your DaVinci installation:

sudo vi /usr/share/applications/davinci-resolve.desktop

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=env QT_DEVICE_PIXEL_RATIO=2 QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=true /opt/resolve/bin/resolve
Icon=/opt/resolve/graphics/DV_Resolve.png
Name=DaVinci Resolve
Terminal=false
MimeType=application/x-resolveproj;
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Categories=AudioVideo

PS
I dropped my C4K .mov from Olympus OMD EM1.2 on the DaVinci Resolve | Master / Media area, and looks like DaVinci doesn’t think it is a video clip.
Am I too old and grumpy and asking for too much, or are video editors actually supposed to work with video clips? :dizzy_face:

Hi Sixpack,

On CENTOS 7.8 with a NVIDIA GTX1660 with a 4K monitor. I replaced my com.davinci-resolve.desktop file with your code but the painfully small font sizes on my DaVinci Resolve UI remain unchanged.

I'm just newbie to resolve coming over from final cut pro. Kindly help me out.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,
check for typos in the .desktop files (eg. missing spaces)
you can also try only setting the first variable (pixel ratio)
its working fine for me on ubuntu (gnome)

Can confirm this solution works for my in Pop!_OS 20.10 on a 4k TV being used as a monitor.

Registered just to thank you for the solution!

Hello, unfortunately it doesn't work for me. As soon as I add something or change something in the Exec= line Resolve won't start anymore. There is just a spinning loading mouse-wheel thingy for a few seconds and than it disappears again and nothing happens. Any ideas? Is there a logfile or something? I just installed the latest version of resolve on the lates version of Mint Cinnamon.

Maybe this is important for Linux Mint users using a 4k monitor.

I created in /opt/resolve/bin a bash file resolve.hdpi.sh which contains

#!/bin/bash
QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.4 QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=true /opt/resolve/bin/resolve

On desktop I added a new starter which points to /opt/resolve/bin/resolve_hdpi.sh
If doubleclicked, Resolve starts scaled. Scaling can be changed in 0.1 steps if necessary.

This works also for the most QT apps.

Hi, andre1964

Thank you very much!
With my little English, and no knowledge of Linux, I have been able to get the right dpi for my screen.
Wow! What a break!

Jaume

this is strange, since the 18.1.1 update all the forementioned workarounds for hdpi displays dont seem to work on my case. I m on a ubuntu based distro, on a 4k laptop and the program is basically unsuable without adjustment...

I can confirm what Kris Limbach said above... this solution is not working anymore on 18.1.1... please someone help! Thanks!

[Peter Chamberlain]

Try removing the custom QT scaling and after a restart try the preference setting options in 18.1.1

Peter, this works perfectly well now, thank you !!

Running Linux Mint 21.1 with Cinnamon desktop, DR 18.5.1 Studio and qt5. But none of the QT setting seems to influence the display at all.

Why programs like Blender (even with dynamic on the fly scaling and not restart required) and Lightwork can do the UI fonts well and only DR seems to be struggling?

I love to have a solution for this.


Regards,
Rob Oudendijk

The system I use is a MSI Gs66 with 1920x1080 resolution and NVidia RTX 3070 graphic card. Attached are screenshots of the UI from Blender, Lightworks and DR. Blender and Lightworks are usable, while the text on DR looks to small and too dark. Only if I crackup my brightness level on DR I can work. I also use Mac with DR and not issues there. Easy to real.

Blender UI can be scaled in 1%!!! And dynamically from the UI interface, no restart needed. The code for Blender is available as Open source and can be looked at how the Blender team made it. Maybe DR team should take a look how it can be done?

Regards,
Rob Oudendijk