Is DaVinci Resolve worth the expense?

roxics

roxics

Veteran
Seems like you need a really beefy system to even run this software let alone get decent performance out of it. Which can mean expensive hardware.

I've been running Premiere Pro CC for years now and it even works ok on my old late 2008 macbook with a core2duo in it. Helpful in a pinch. Point is, PPCC can run on pretty much anything. No huge expensive system requirements.
That said, I have yet to dive into 4K or any kind of raw shooting. I'm shooting mostly with Canon DSLR/C100 and GH cameras. Unless I pick up a BMPCC which I've thought about but continue to lean away from, I'm most likely to upgrade next to either a 5D4 or GH4/5.

What are the real benefits of Resolve compared to Premiere Pro CC for someone like me? Is there any?
 
None of my machines will run it. That's why I ask if it's worth it before spending a ton of money getting a machine that can versus everything else that is cheaper that can run PPCC just fine.
 
If all you need is a light weight NLE that can run well on lower end computers, then Premiere is probably better. But given how fast technology is changing I wonder how long your older machines will effectively run upgraded current versions of any NLE.
The primary reason to run Resolve is access to sophisticated color grading tools. That comes with a significant learning curve. Even with 12.5, I don't particularly care for it as an NLE, though it has improved a lot.
 
Razz16mm said:
If all you need is a light weight NLE that can run well on lower end computers, then Premiere is probably better. But given how fast technology is changing I wonder how long your older machines will effectively run upgraded current versions of any NLE.
The primary reason to run Resolve is access to sophisticated color grading tools. That comes with a significant learning curve. Even with 12.5, I don't particularly care for it as an NLE, though it has improved a lot.
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The real reason I ask is because I'm considering buy a new 13" macbook pro. But I'd rather spend $1300 versus over $2500 for one with a dedicated GPU. However I've been curious to try Resolve which really needs that more expensive machine. But if Resolve isn't heads and tails above PPCC, then why spend all that extra money?

I know Resolve is mostly for color grading, but how much better is it really compared to PPCC for the type of cameras I'm shooting with?
 
roxics said:
The real reason I ask is because I'm considering buy a new 13" macbook pro. But I'd rather spend $1300 versus over $2500 for one with a dedicated GPU. However I've been curious to try Resolve which really needs that more expensive machine. But if Resolve isn't heads and tails above PPCC, then why spend all that extra money?

I know Resolve is mostly for color grading, but how much better is it really compared to PPCC for the type of cameras I'm shooting with?
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I wouldn't get any laptop for editing that didn't have a dedicated GPU. If you're looking to spend less consider a PC rather than a Mac, unless you have a need to deliver in prores
 
most anyone driveing Resolve for a living is using at a minimum 20k in hardware underneath them, i'm closer to 100k for my suite, and yea Resolve runs just fine all day long with my computer's, surface, disk arrays, NAS, monitors, callibration system, LUT box's, software, plug-in's, SDI router, external recorder, external scopes, custom desk, bias lighting on and on

What i get for all that investment is a room the runs like a swiss watch 24/7, and produces enough billable hours to make the return on the investment worthwhile.

A far cry from trying to run Resolve on a lappie....

the color tools in Pr are getting better, and it now supports the Tangent surfaces, poorly and with a ton of lag, but one can hope that it gets better over time.... i'd probbaly stay with Pr or shift to Avid + BLE and get amazing color tools that put Resolve to shame in many ways
 
roxics said:
because I'm considering buy a new 13" macbook pro. But I'd rather spend $1300 versus over $2500 for one with a dedicated GPU.
Click to expand...

CPU manufacturures, Intel and AMD have had a great deal of difficulty getting their fabrication to move up to the next level over the past several years. They have finally done it and the processors are going to be entering the mobile market soon. DO NOT buy a laptop this summer, especially a Mac. Wait until the truly new models come out this fall. Decent GPUs are being put into laptops now that can cope with Resolve. The new GPUs JUST came out a few weeks ago. Again WAIT for the new models to come out.

EDIT:

If you are doing HD editing and output and you are using only a couple of nodes in Resolve and no noise reduction, you should be able to render out in a reasonable length of time in Resolve on one of the to be released laptops. 4K and above that is just silly unless you are going to throw a LOT of money in NAS, RAID and so on. Decent monitor and calibration tools should be in the mix as well. If your focus is on editing which it seems to be Premiere is, in my opinion, your better bet when you do the cost benefit analysis. If you are toying with the idea of using Resolve with a laptop, again to my earlier point, wait to jump in with another laptop purchase. The computing leap later this year will be significant by an order of magnitude in relation to what we have seen in several years, just like we are seeing now with GPUs.
 
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Dermot said:
most anyone driveing Resolve for a living is using at a minimum 20k in hardware underneath them, i'm closer to 100k for my suite, and yea Resolve runs just fine all day long with my computer's, surface, disk arrays, NAS, monitors, callibration system, LUT box's, software, plug-in's, SDI router, external recorder, external scopes, custom desk, bias lighting on and on

What i get for all that investment is a room the runs like a swiss watch 24/7, and produces enough billable hours to make the return on the investment worthwhile.

A far cry from trying to run Resolve on a lappie....

the color tools in Pr are getting better, and it now supports the Tangent surfaces, poorly and with a ton of lag, but one can hope that it gets better over time.... i'd probbaly stay with Pr or shift to Avid + BLE and get amazing color tools that put Resolve to shame in many ways
Click to expand...

Thanks. You make me feel almost silly for asking. lol Though I assume most people editing footage from Blackmagic cameras aren't in a setup like you have. Plus I've heard of plenty of people using Resolve on 15" Macbook Pros and so on. But you kind of make a good point, is Resolve even worth it if you're not in a setup like you have? If you're just a guy like me editing some client videos at home on a desktop/laptop machine should I not even bother with it? How would using it benefit someone like me over using something like Premiere?

Andrew Stone said:
CPU manufacturures, Intel and AMD have had a great deal of difficulty getting their fabrication to move up to the next level over the past several years. They have finally done it and the processors are going to be entering the mobile market soon. DO NOT buy a laptop this summer, especially a Mac. Wait until the truly new models come out this fall. Decent GPUs are being put into laptops now that can cope with Resolve. The new GPUs JUST came out a few weeks ago. Again WAIT for the new models to come out.

EDIT:

If you are doing HD editing and output and you are using only a couple of nodes in Resolve and no noise reduction, you should be able to render out in a reasonable length of time in Resolve on one of the to be released laptops. 4K and above that is just silly unless you are going to throw a LOT of money in NAS, RAID and so on. Decent monitor and calibration tools should be in the mix as well. If your focus is on editing which it seems to be Premiere is, in my opinion, your better bet when you do the cost benefit analysis. If you are toying with the idea of using Resolve with a laptop, again to my earlier point, wait to jump in with another laptop purchase. The computing leap later this year will be significant by an order of magnitude in relation to what we have seen in several years, just like we are seeing now with GPUs.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to figure out what chips you're talking about. Skylake? If so I planned to wait anyway because I'm interested in its 4K HDMI output capability and better H.265 support.
 
If your laptop is going to be your primary editing computer, then you need the high end version with Nvidia GPU to handle 4k video with a reasonable degree of efficiency. It will be barely adequate for Resolve. H.265 is likely to be a very poor codec for editing directly due to being even more compressed than H.264. Compressed long GOP codecs are convenient for storage and streaming, what they were designed for. But they are extremely processor and ram intensive to decode for editing in an NLE. You need the maximum ram that laptop will accept.
 
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