DaVinci Resolve 19.1.4 Produces Poor Quality YouTube videos

Hi everyone,

I recently upgraded to DaVinci Resolve 19.1.4 (Build 11) – Free version. Since the update, I've noticed that my rendered videos, when using the built-in YouTube settings, appear blurry, jittery, and at times, unnatural or “ghostly.”

This issue did not occur in previous versions (17 and 18) of DaVinci Resolve. It only started after upgrading to version 19.1.4.

I record my footage with:

GoPro Hero 10 Black at 4K, 30fps

Samsung S24 at 16:9, H.264, FHD, 30fps

The issue is not with the original footage. I've always used the default YouTube HD render settings provided by DaVinci (screenshot attached).
Since much of the footage is detected as 29.97 fps, I tested timelines set to both 30 fps and 29.97 fps, but the result was the same.

I’ve watched multiple YouTube tutorials on optimal render settings for YouTube, but nothing has worked so far. I also tried rendering in QuickTime instead of MP4, then converting to MP4 using HandBrake (as one tutorial suggested), but this process is far too time-consuming.

Additional things I’ve tried:

Increased resolution from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160

Tested various “Restrict to Quality” values: 10,000 / 40,000 / 80,000 kbps

Unfortunately, none of these adjustments improved the output.

I understand there are dozens of rendering parameters that can be tweaked. I’d really appreciate any advice, feedback, or recommended master project settings and Render tab settings specifically optimized for YouTube.

If you need more details, screenshots, or sample videos, I’m more than happy to provide them.

Thanks in advance!

I've always rendered and then uploaded to YT as the bit rate of the built in settings to me is too low. There is no problem using Quicktime instead of MP4 as YT is happy with both, and a lot of other codecs as well. I take it you are letting YT do its processing before viewing.
I shoot in HD and upscale in Resolve to UHD and have no problems with the final YT footage.
These are my render settings in Resolve for rendering for YT.

Render Settings.jpg (377.39 KiB) Viewed 679 times

This is the video using these settings, on YT.

Youtube will accept DNxHR HQX or Prores 422 files just fine. These render fast from Resolve and are practically lossless quality. But your internet connection will need to be quite fast to make the 700 mbit/s files palatable.

H.264/5 export from resolve has a long history of problems, I and many other users recommend you simply ignore it. I personally export DNxHR HQX and transcode to H.265 with x.265 in handbrake.

I did VMAF testing of YT quality here;
https://www.reddit.com/r/videography/comments/xxprwo/best_settings_to_upload_to_youtube_vmaf_analysis/?rdt=48182

4k h.265 at 80mbit should be sufficient.


There is a separate discussion of Nvenc/VCE/Quicksync vs CPU encoding. This might be producing your quality problems. Stop using hardware encoding and see if it is fixed.

Shadows look horrible on YT. I have found now solution to this;
https://www.reddit.com/r/videography/comments/1376qzw/you_tube_image_quality_part_3_blocky_shadows/


BM has changed the quick export presets over the years and thrown users for a loop. I would suggest ignoring them. Use a custom export with the settings you know work for you and save that for resuse with every project.

I render using the NVENC H265 set to "best" and everything looks fantastic.

Normalizing the audio to the "YouTube" setting is a good idea as well but apart from that there are no secrets. I didn't use the pre-defined YouTube setting I just made a custom one.

I've always rendered and then uploaded to YT as the bit rate of the built in settings to me is too low. There is no problem using Quicktime instead of MP4 as YT is happy with both, and a lot of other codecs as well. I take it you are letting YT do its processing before viewing.
I shoot in HD and upscale in Resolve to UHD and have no problems with the final YT footage.
These are my render settings in Resolve for rendering for YT.

The attachment Render Settings.jpg is no longer available

This is the video using these settings, on YT.

Hello Charles,

Thank you very much for your effort and assistance — I truly appreciate your help. I assume you're using the paid version of DaVinci Resolve, as I wasn’t able to find some of the settings you mentioned (please see the attached screenshot). I worked with what I believe is available in the free version.

I have a few concerns, and I’m not sure if I might be doing something wrong:

I rendered a 36-second video, and the output file was 1.728 GB, which seems extremely large to me. Is that normal? Could you advise on what I might have done incorrectly and how I can reduce the file size?

I haven’t uploaded the video to YouTube yet, but I tested the rendered file on three different TVs (not very recent models), and it didn’t play on any of them. How can I ensure compatibility for viewers who may be using older TVs?

For comparison, one of my previous videos was about 2.19 GB for a 30-minute runtime, and I was quite happy with the quality. Here's the link for reference:

Thanks again for your guidance.

Best regards,
Rico

Youtube will accept DNxHR HQX or Prores 422 files just fine. These render fast from Resolve and are practically lossless quality. But your internet connection will need to be quite fast to make the 700 mbit/s files palatable.

Hello Zrgardne,

Thank you for your reply, as well as the detailed explanation and testing. I really appreciate the effort you've put in.

Unfortunately, I have to admit that most of the technical information is beyond my current understanding. As I’ve also mentioned to Charles, I’m simply looking for a straightforward solution that works for me. My goal is just to share some of my travel videos with my family and anyone else who’d like to watch.

I’m an older guy and not too deep into technology anymore—but I’m trying to learn and keep up. I was doing alright with previous versions of DaVinci, but things became more difficult after upgrading to version 19.

If you have a simple and reliable set of settings that you can recommend, I’d really appreciate it. I tried using some of the settings you mentioned (at least the ones I could follow), but the result was an error message:
"This item was encoded in a format that’s not supported."
—Sorry about that.

Thanks again,
Rico

Yes I'm using the Studio version which does have more options. You should still be able to render descent footage though. In the free version you are limited to a maximum resolution of 3840x2160 for renders.
As to your TVs, it may be a compatibility issue such as frame rate or H264 vs h265, or MP4 vs MOV. If the TVs can play YouTube then there won't be a problem.
File sizes are affected by bit rate. I've just finished a 17.5 minute video. The final size of the h265 UHD 50fps at 80Mb/s with PCM audio render is 10.3GB.