Mon Jan 24, 2022 11:28 pm
It's a complex issue, and I'm not sure I have all the nuances, but here's what I got. Most patent-protected, proprietary codecs charge for licenses that become cost-prohibitive for software like Resolve which is widely distributed free (but DaVinci would have to pay a per-user royalty), or to a relatively small paid userbase, which forces DaVinci to pick and choose which codecs are most important to license, rather than just licensing them all.
On Windows / Mac, I believe they are able to supplement their codec list with functionality that is provided by the OS (i.e. Microsoft / Apple pay the royalties on behalf of their users). On Linux, this functionality is commonly provided by ffmpeg / libavcodec, which are free/libre software, and are not license-compatible with proprietary software like Resolve, so resolve cannot ship with it, and for some reason, DaVinci (or their lawyers) have judged that they can't use the OS codecs in Linux.
Long story short, ideals nonwithstanding, free/libre software doesn't always play nicely with proprietary software like Resolve.
Devon Cooke
The Hands that Feed Us
www.thehandsthatfeedus.ca
Resolve Studio 18.6.4