Time for a Resolve Lite Editor's Version

I agree, at $300 USD, it's a bargain. I just don't know if it will run smoothly on my existing hardware.
It'd be very useful if BM offered a trial version of Studio. Then, all this would be moot.

Thanks all, for your input.

They do offer a trial version. It's the non-studio version and it's performance is almost identical to the Studio version and it's free forever.

They do offer a trial version. It's the non-studio version and it's performance is almost identical to the Studio version and it's free forever.

But it's not really a trial version for those who have needs for GPU acceleration in situations not provided by the free version. A time-limited trial Studio license would allow people to evaluate it and their hardware needs better before committing.

in the past Peter Chamberlain hast told us already many times, that resolves non-studio edition should not be understood just as "demo" of the real thing!

it's therefore more than natural, that users asks for a working realization of this kind of "resolve lite" resp. those essential core functionality, which should be seen as very common and indispensable for practical work nowadays, even in free [as in free beer] software.

support for hardware accelerated decoding of consumer formats and simple full screen preview are features, which IMHO indisputably fall under this category and not in the premium/luxury/high-end/exclusive/studio class.

support for hardware accelerated decoding of consumer formats and simple full screen preview are features, which IMHO indisputably fall under this category and not in the premium/luxury/high-end/exclusive/studio class.

I couldn't possibly disagree more with this. A lot of professionals don't even shoot in 4k yet, let alone consumers, even if they have cameras capable of it.

1. they don't want to pay for the faster and higher capacity media needed for the camera.
2. The don't want to buy more expensive higher capacity drives for their machines, or deal with raid.
3. One that always shocks me is how woeful their internet connection is.

Thus they don't really need hardware acceleration, because hd footage can be edited on a low power consumer machines perfectly fine without hardware acceleration.

If any thing what the free version needs is NR for all the badly shot consumer footage. Ironically I don't think I've ever hears a complaint that the free version doesn't come with it.

Maybe (if the $300 is not a barrier) there should be a $300 NLE-only feeder (port out the cut-page) called "BMD-CUT*TM" (or *R if you prefer) that will provide the compatible AAF or XML round-trip to the ONLINE service which is Resolve Studio. That would just be a continuation, part of the evolutionary process that has co-opted the world's leading color correction solution into being an NLE with some grading capability that most of its users now ignore. Or think is a virtually useless and confusing or intimidating tab. That they would prefer to shut off, because it takes too many resources.

As a colorist, I would love to see the NLE bias taken out of the mix. And get back to what the application used to do, as its prime directive. Only without the minefield that is, and will remain forever, roundtripping.

jPo, CSI

This!

If any thing what the free version needs is NR for all the badly shot consumer footage. Ironically I don't think I've ever hears a complaint that the free version doesn't come with it.

NR is indeed essential if you want to work with RAW footage and therefore a very useful feature for those, which anyway get a free license for resolve studio by buying one of BMDs affordable cameras. for more ordinary kinds of video editing i wouldn't see it as indispensable, and there are also some free OFX NR plugins available, if you still need it. but the already mentioned features, which i would see it as much more important resp. 'essential', simply can not be easily substituted by trivial workarounds.

support for hardware accelerated decoding of consumer formats and simple full screen preview are features, which IMHO indisputably fall under this category and not in the premium/luxury/high-end/exclusive/studio class.

I couldn't possibly disagree more with this. A lot of professionals don't even shoot in 4k yet, let alone consumers, even if they have cameras capable of it.

Thus they don't really need hardware acceleration, because hd footage can be edited on a low power consumer machines perfectly fine without hardware acceleration.

Actually, no. It can't. DR Free won't smoothly playback or scrub either the source monitor or the timeline with 1080P h.264 footage. My machine is not a "low power consumer machine". It's a Core i7 with GPU and 7200 rpm SATA drives.

My GTX 780 GPU is not the latest spec, but it's apparently irrelevant in this use case. According to other info here, the GPU is disabled for decompressing long GoP data in the free version.

So, unless there's a trial version of the $300 software, I have no way of evaluating DR.

FWIW, Premiere Pro CC works quite well on the same hardware. I'm trying to cut the Adobe subscription leash.

FWIW.2 I was an Avid user in the nineties and a D-Vision owner soon after.

Actually, no. It can't. DR Free won't smoothly playback or scrub either the source monitor or the timeline with 1080P h.264 footage. My machine is not a "low power consumer machine". It's a Core i7 with GPU and 7200 rpm SATA drives.

It's something with your machine, because my machine is an i7 and it never had any issues with 1080p h.264 when I was using the free version. Even 4k h.264 took less than half a second to start playing.

what generation/model i7 is it?

what generation/model i7 is it?

Hi Dan.

Pasted from sysinfo:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz, 2794 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

It is about six years old, I believe.

It doesn't seem to be processor-bound because I only see about 60% utilization while playing or scrubbing. (I may be misinformed that this is a valid metric of DR Free performance)

I test drove some SD (720X480) MP4 files and performance was perfect. Granted, this is not a stressful data rate, but it does point to 1080-sized MP4 decompression as the bottleneck.

Hi Dan.

Pasted from sysinfo:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz, 2794 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

It is about six years old, I believe.

this is your cpu, it was launched in the first quarter of 2010. It's getting pretty long in the tooth for Resolve.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... l-qpi.html

It doesn't seem to be processor-bound because I only see about 60% utilization while playing or scrubbing.

I test drove some SD (720X480) MP4 files and performance was perfect. Granted, this is not a stressful data rate, but it does point to 1080-sized MP4 decompression as the bottleneck.

Something else is going on here. In the free version the CPU does all the decoding, so if the cpu was the bottleneck, it would be pegged at 100%.

My assumption would be you are bottlenecked by your disk, ram, gpu or a combination of the 3. If you are bottlenecked by your disk or ram, then hardware accelerated decoding would make no difference.

obviously if your gpu is the bottleneck, then hardware accelerated decoding would make the issue worse.

you might wan't to take a look at performance monitor and see what's going on.

Thanks for all that, Dan.

The disk shouldn't be an issue. It's a relatively new 4TB 7200 rpm.

Thanks for confirming that the processor not being pegged in Performance Monitor eliminates it as a problem.

RAM may be the issue, although Resource Monitor shows it at about 75% utilization. I have 12GB.

It may be that there's just not sufficient memory bandwidth in this six year old system to support glitch-free 1080P scrubbing. In which case, upgrading to the paid version of DR isn't gonna help much.

I guess that what was once a workstation-class machine is now a boat anchor.

Thanks again for your input.

Something else is going on here.

The GTX 780 GPU was fingered earlier on in this now hijacked discussion. 3Gb VRAM?

Not even close.

If you could wangle a 1080Ti or something with more like 8 GB you would see a difference... running the whole ball game on a single GPU is not really optimum, either.

If this is the Peter McL, the famous cinematographer that I know, ping me. I've moved. And taken up sailing boats.

jPo, CSI

First, please let me apologize for hi-jacking this thread. I had no idea it would wander so far off course.

I do think there's a place for a low-spec hardware version of DR for those who are just getting their feet wet in NLEs. If BMD could make this happen, I think they'd bring a lot more into the fold. DR looks and feels great, my hardware limitations notwithstanding.

Besides, anything to sever the Adobe umbilical. It's gotten downright usurious.

Thanks again to all who responded to my plaintive call for help.

Ok... I would like to also vote for a low spec, feature limited version of Resolve but I must insist that it cost at least $300. Can this thread die please ...

FCPX costs $300, so I would rather ask for $299 pricing.

Are you an Adobe employee? Because only such a person would complain that Resolve offers too much ...

Scrolling through the vast pages and reading between the lines... Fundamentally what's being asked for is a low spec mode within Resolve for older/lower specced hardware to run Resolve as an NLE. Could be a ******* old Macbook or a new Surface Pro tablet on a train, plane or even a shoot.

Personally I've been looking for something like that to do quick rough cuts whilst on the move. Having it all within resolve would be a HUGE time saver.

Just spitballing... but It could be something as simple as seamlessly transcoding to 1/4 or 1/8 res "proxy" files... Perhaps re-enabling CUDA on sub Maxwell GPUs etc.

Not sold on the terrible idea for a separate "lite" version but would be interested in a streamlined mode a-la new cut page that's optimized for lower specs and speed.

Just maybe... If you're using decade old/unsupported/slow hardware then use something that runs on that. Weird huh?

Actually, no. It can't. DR Free won't smoothly playback or scrub either the source monitor or the timeline with 1080P h.264 footage. My machine is not a "low power consumer machine". It's a Core i7 with GPU and 7200 rpm SATA drives.

My GTX 780 GPU is not the latest spec, but it's apparently irrelevant in this use case. According to other info here, the GPU is disabled for decompressing long GoP data in the free version.

Actually, yes. I do so with an i7, 16GB RAM and the ONBOARD INTEL GRAPHICS.

Actually, yes. I do so with an i7, 16GB RAM and the ONBOARD INTEL GRAPHICS.

Smoothly? Without frame skipping? If so, I stand corrected and my admittedly old system is deficient.
My DR Free install is usable, just not excellent.

Are you an Adobe employee? Because only such a person would complain that Resolve offers too much ...

Oh, dayum!

Also, here is an easy to understand video demonstrating how to use Resolve with a crappy old laptop:

Really, there is no need for a "lite" version; it's just an attempt to get something cheaper. Unreasonably so, IMO.

Used to be people were embarrassed to ask for something for nothing. Then the internet came, and we got so used to (the appearance of) getting something for nothing, that now people get mad when they demand something for nothing and don't get it.

something like that to do quick rough cuts whilst on the move.

Isn't that what the cut page is for?

something like that to do quick rough cuts whilst on the move.

Isn't that what the cut page is for?

Well, yes, yes it is.

The gist of this thread is asking for a Stand-alone CUT. Without the other stuff, well, maybe EXPORT.

(And then the snake will eat its tail, and ask why CUT can't do some simple color grade, maybe sync some separate-system sound... ) And the sensei will simply smile serenely and hear the sound of one hand fapping.

Maybe the BRAW Player will evolve. Do I hear $299.95?

jPo, CSI

Also, here is an easy to understand video demonstrating how to use Resolve with a crappy old laptop:

Really, there is no need for a "lite" version; it's just an attempt to get something cheaper. Unreasonably so, IMO.

Used to be people were embarrassed to ask for something for nothing. Then the internet came, and we got so used to (the appearance of) getting something for nothing, that now people get mad when they demand something for nothing and don't get it.

Do you think after using DR since 2012, we really don't know these things? Do you know since which version Data Burn in went to the top menu? Do you know from which version DR did not need rebooting the software after changing anything in the Preference Pane?

These are redundant things to post IMO. We started using DR not as an NLE, but as a great grading software. Even now we don't use DR as an NLE (excepting using the Edit page for conforming -- that's how it had been since 2012), we don't use Fusion (excepting some Fusion titles), we don't use Fairlight (excepting laying 5.1 sound track made available to us from Sound studios running on Protools to check synch of the film).

But my question is, why? Protools runs fine on 2009 Mac Pro's, with 5870 cards, Fairlight doesn't. As NLEs Adobe CC 2019 and Avid MC run well on them, after initial dithering, {but after the internal render (no user render, smart render etc. involved unlike DR, they just DO it)} and FCPX is a breeze. I don't have much idea about the graphics softwares, not really into graphics.

My point was elsewhere. If all these edit softwares can run on old machines, why can't the NLE from Blackmagic?

And please, don't bring in Windows again. I know many studios who are still using 2009 Mac Pro's EFI upgraded to 2012. I don't know for sure, but a Windows machine probably would have died by now. We use 2012 Mac Pro's in three of our machines, two are 2013 iMac. They all are healthy so far, till the time the logicboard dies, I don't think we need to change anything.

My point was not that. My point is, we still don't use Resolve's edit, though it has come a long way. And actually can compete with any NLE that's available. But, it cannot run on an old machine the way Avid, Premiere Pro and of course FCPx can.

I am not talking about price also. We never requested that BMD brings down the price of Resolve from $995 to $295. They did it themselves. Pricing is their domain.

And please, don't get into that "people from those countries, who can't even afford to buy a high end machine" crap as someone did on this thread. That hurts.

I happen to come from India, which has a high fertility rate. At the same time, it produces more cinema than any other country in the world.

something like that to do quick rough cuts whilst on the move.

Isn't that what the cut page is for?

Well, yes, yes it is.

The gist of this thread is asking for a Stand-alone CUT. Without the other stuff, well, maybe EXPORT.

(And then the snake will eat its tail, and ask why CUT can't do some simple color grade, maybe sync some separate-system sound... ) And the sensei will simply smile serenely and hear the sound of one hand fapping.

Maybe the BRAW Player will evolve. Do I hear $299.95?

jPo, CSI

MEDIA, CUT and EDIT. And DELIVER. Nothing else.

Any snake tries to eat its tail (probable exception Rattle snake). But that's a different story.

What if.

I give you the cut page, CPU only, (no gpu) so it works on every machine or tablet out there?

What if.

I give you the cut page, CPU only, (no gpu) so it works on every machine or tablet out there?

Please give the Edit page also. Magnetic timeline and without it. Editors churn out .drp, no XML or EDL required. And .drp would be the new standard in NLE, brushing aside .XMLs and EDLs and even AAFs.

Awesome it would be.

Editors churn out .drp, no XML or EDL required. And .drp would be the new standard in NLE, brushing aside .XMLs and EDLs and even AAFs.

no! -- exchange and reliable cooperation with other software is IMHO the most important feature in case of more specialized little tools! that's one of the aspects, which resolve always handled rather well in the past. supporting OpenTimelineIO instead of proprietary exchange formats would make it even better.

And please, don't get into that "people from those countries, who can't even afford to buy a high end machine" crap as someone did on this thread. That hurts.

Not me, so don't try to tar me with THAT brush!

I respect that you are arguing your case vigorously, but don't get so caught up in the chase that you start taking cheap shots.

I really, REALLY, don't have any bias about where you call home. In fact, I spent 6 weeks on Holiday in India, and had a great time!

What if. I give you the cut page, CPU only, (no gpu) so it works on every machine or tablet out there?

Will it work with 8K Raw? How about 60fps?

I respect that you are arguing your case vigorously, but don't get so caught up in the chase that you start taking cheap shots.

I really, REALLY, don't have any bias about where you call home. In fact, I spent 6 weeks on Holiday in India, and had a great time!

Thank you so much. My rant was not directed towards you. In any case, I should have ignored the comment made previously in this thread. Or maybe, he didn't mean it that way, I over reacted!

I apologise if I have hurt you or anyone in any way.

no! -- exchange and reliable cooperation with other software is IMHO the most important feature in case of more specialized little tools! that's one of the aspects, which resolve always handled rather well in the past. supporting OpenTimelineIO instead of proprietary exchange formats would make it even better.

I was just joking! Because Walter wanted me to edit on my tablet.

If all these edit softwares can run on old machines, why can't the NLE from Blackmagic?

I don't think it matters much.

You need new hardware. Just buy it and be done with this 'problem'.

I don't think we need to change anything.

If the machine can't run your software, then...you do.

it cannot run on an old machine the way Avid, Premiere Pro and of course FCPx can.

For anyone who edits professionally, that's just not a problem.

Because RGB 32 bit float compute in Resolve vs. 8 bit, 10 bit, 12 bit, 14 bit, or 16 bit YUV compute in other editing apps. Give it a rest Krishna, it ain't gonna happen. BMD have been working over the last few years in the opposite direction that you want them to go...

Hmm. This is it probably, Peter.

Peter haven't they been doing 32-bit for a lot longer than a few years?

As I mentioned previously this is the type of thing that's considered fundamental, functionality and that never changes.

no -- you can't blame the FP32 processing on the GPUs for this waste of computing resource and hardware capabilities.

just take a demo version of sgo mistika -- because that's a software, which handles similar task in a comparable manner as resolve --, install it on the same machine and look for the differences concerning resource usage and actual editing resp. preview performance.

really good software for extremely demanding jobs is very often so much streamlined and optimized that it will also handle simple tasks on more limited hardware very well. that's why you 'll find linux working at high performance cluster computing centers just as on little raspberry pis.

really good software for extremely demanding jobs is very often so much streamlined and optimized that it will also handle simple tasks on more limited hardware very well. that's why you 'll find linux working at high performance cluster computing centers just as on little raspberry pis.

Umm, no that's not even close to right.


The main reasons a company/organization uses Linux/unix in the sever center is usually one or more of the following.

1. It was designed to be multi user from the beginning
2. Its modular so you can turn everything off that you don't need (within reason), and you can write custom modules.
3. it's open source ($$$)
4. it was designed for cli and is predominantly run headless in the server center ($$$)
5. related to the previous point, it doesn't require a gui, and that is where a lot of an applications bulk resides.

Umm, no that's not even close to right.
The main reasons a company/organization uses Linux/unix in the sever center is usually one or more of the following...

you didn't take all the linux based android devices out there into consideration, which are neither completely negligible cause of their quantity, nor lacking graphical user interfaces, nor utilizing typical server centered high end hardware....

and btw. i'm nearly exclusive using linux on my desktop for decades now for all my practical work, like most of my colleagues... in some working fields and communities that's just as common as owning an iphone in other circles.

but we are here to talk about the insufficient performance of resolve under less optimal circumstances...

I don't think it's too much to ask for people to upgrade their systems from time to time especially if you are doing this for pay. Maybe Blackmagic will release a trimmed version for slow computers but I would not hold my breath and I personally really like the direction they are going. It's not perfect software but the speed at which they develop and improve the software as well as the attitude they have toward their customers is the best I've seen.

I'd also like to see Resolve perform better on my system so I just bought an Nvidia 2070 Super. Will install this weekend and have high hopes coming from a Radeon 480 as it seems the GPU was the main bottleneck of my system.

you didn't take all the linux based android devices out there into consideration, which are neither completely negligible cause of their quantity, nor lacking graphical user interfaces, nor utilizing typical server centered high end hardware....

because they would all fall under the modular, and open source bullet points.

and btw. i'm nearly exclusive using linux on my desktop for decades now for all my practical work, like most of my colleagues... in some working fields and communities that's just as common as owning an iphone in other circles.

I'm a software developer by trade specializing in server side. Everything I write runs on linux server(s). Sitting to my right is my windows box, and my personal Linux test server.

I don't think it's too much to ask for people to upgrade their systems from time to time especially if you are doing this for pay. Maybe Blackmagic will release a trimmed version for slow computers but I would not hold my breath and I personally really like the direction they are going. It's not perfect software but the speed at which they develop and improve the software as well as the attitude they have toward their customers is the best I've seen.

.

Many people are trying to turn to Resolve because Resolve is free and they're not being paid. Asking to upgrade their current machine, if it's fair is beyond the point, especially if they have a laptop they can't upgrade.
If resolve is "slow" or laggy, there is no guarantee it wouldn't be slow in the trimmed-down version because, if you did optimise for speed you'd implement it in the full version as well, right? If you don't touch other pages except edit and deliver, or apply any effects, and use the same timeline res as your source, or try something crazy like editing 8K redraw, Resolve can be used with relative ease. I don't see how other NLE's are significantly more responsive when you start throwing stuff at them ...

Resolve only makes sense when it's a complete, one-stop solution, IMHO. Especially for non-professionals.


Sent from my GM 5 Plus d using Tapatalk

Asking to upgrade their current machine, if it's fair is beyond the point, especially if they have a laptop they can't upgrade.

I think its exactly the point.

• They chose an under powered machine
• They chose to hold onto a machine well past it's usefulness date
• They chose a machine that can't be upgraded
• They chose to use an NLE that's more demanding of its hardware

See the constant, its all because of something they chose.

Honestly, this thread smacks of one of the things I hate most about modern society. People make poor choices, and instead of owning up to it and dealing with it themselves, they want someone/anyone else to bail them out!

... one of the things I hate most about modern society. People make poor choices, ...

you really should try to respect the differing individual perspectives and personal choices of other people!

software, which simply dictates, what's the one and only acceptable choice, because all other options are not supported and will not work, isn't always very helpful to support creativity and individual freedom.

i don't argue, that we shouldn't respect reasonable limits and unavoidable technical obstacles, nevertheless i would criticize it as rather questionable, if a small elitist minority tries to define, what's good and adequate for everyone else.

From what I gather reading this thread is that DR converts the video to 32-bit RGB uncompressed. And I think other NLEs do not do this conversion. They may edit faster but then they won't do all the Fusion and color grading that DR does. Changing DRs graphic engine would probably mean that BM would have to pull out a lot of features, and figuring out which ones would be a chore in itself.

I wonder if giving the option to perform operations in 16-bit float instead of 32 bit would be a better path. I suspect that 16-bit computations might be good enough for most usage cases, maybe any degradation in image quality would be visibly undetectable. That would be a win for those with GPUs capable of crunching 16-bit numbers and also a win for those who have no GPU at all because both would get faster performance.

software, which simply dictates, what's the one and only acceptable choice, because all other options are not supported and will not work, isn't always very helpful to support creativity and individual freedom.

What? Resolve doesn't dictate one choice. Resolve runs on all 3 major operating systems (cough cough FC). It supports all the major CPU and GPU manufactures. Hardware choices aren't limited they are wide open!

i don't argue, that we shouldn't respect reasonable limits and unavoidable technical obstacles, nevertheless i would criticize it as rather questionable, if a small elitist minority tries to define, what's good and adequate for everyone else.

lol, the developers aren't an elitist minority. They wrote the application and know whats required, ignoring what they say is pure stupidity.

They even provide a configuration guide with every major release.
https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ ... _Guide.pdf


Since the OP has brought up Apple products multiple times, here is the lowest powered option recommend. This isn't a high power expensive monster. It's on Amazon right now for under $900 with free shipping.

• "Limited performance for more than HD ProRes"
• mid 2017 12" MacBook
• 1.3Ghz dual core i5
• 8GB ram
• 512GB PCIe drive
• Intel HD Graphics 615

good enough

https://www.broadcaststore.com/store/mo ... m?id=20440

was "good enough" in 1994. $USD750,000

8:8:8 translates to over-sampled (Nyquist Threshold x4) and it has been *the daVinci way* since the first Leo controller was offered to telecine artists. All the rest are "games", the way Hemingway described pastimes that aren't "sports".

Other NLEs that claim sustained playback framerates of very high bit-density are doing it as Player software; the same way Quicktime does it... either by background proxy, or visually lossless reduced resolution. How many editors work with full-screen secondary displays? Usually the case is a 1/4 or 1/8 (or less) resolution timeline window. You won't notice that every other, or every other two or more pixels are not being output. NLE doesn't have to map it. But if you really want to dig in... you're going to need "a bigger boat." To borrow a mixed metaphor.

jPO, CSI