Davinci Resolve Review
With more and more people choosing to post video content on sites like YouTube and Vimeo, there is an increasing number of video editors in the market designed to meet the need to create better videos. But with so many choices in the market at varying price points, you may be wondering which one is best for you. One of the many options out there is the DaVinci Resolve editor.
The Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve comes with a lot of features that the novice and the professional video editor alike would find very useful. Let's take an in-depth look at this program to determine if the right program for you.
Key Functions of the DaVinci Resolve Editor
To get a clear idea of whether this program is an ideal tool for you, it is important to take a look at its main features. These include the following;
Color Correction
One of the features that make this tool as popular as it is, is the color management tools and the fact that it makes color correction easy. In fact, most people switch to DaVinci Resolve because of the numerous options you get for color correction.
Functionality for color management is also far superior when compared to other similar tools. You can easily keyframe, GPU accelerated scopes, and color balancing among others.
Audio Editing
Aside from allowing you to record stellar audio, DaVinci also comes with Fairlight audio designed to help you edit the audio to perfection. To begin with the controls, you can access this audio editor are numerous, giving you a wide range of options when it comes to audio editing.
Using the Audio editing suite of tools in DaVinci Resolve, you can mix, buss, sweeten, and even master multiple videos at the same time. It is also worth pointing out that Resolve has the capability to record 96 channels at a time and it comes with a pretty powerful playback tool.
Visual Effects
It wouldn't be a very popular video editing tool if it didn't have the best visual effects in the business. Users can very easily access the very many visual effects and filters to create stunning videos. Some of these filters include mosaic, lens flares, blurs, and film grain among other effects.
Facial Recognition
One of the most popular tools in Resolve's visual effects arsenal is the face refinement tool. It is useful when you want to improve the facial details in the videos you are editing, a feature that can come in handy when some aspects of the video are not very clear.
Faster, Smarter Encoding
With the new Blackmagic RAW that resolve uses you get efficient, faster, and smarter encoding and smaller file sizes. This RAW encoder is much more efficient than other varieties since it combines image data with the unique characteristics of the camera's sensor, giving a better image quality at even the highest compression settings.
Blackmagic RAW also provides extensive metadata support that includes sidecar metadata files that you can easily customize along with additional encoding options to ensure the quality and bit rate remains consistent.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor
- Record desktop screen and webcam simultaneously
- Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
- Built-in plentiful templates and effects
- Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats
Price of DaVinci Resolve Editor
DaVinci Resolve comes in both free and paid varieties and can be installed on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. As you can well guess, the free version allows you to access the basic features including creating a project, adding a soundtrack to the project, trimming, and even combining clips to create a video.
But the more advanced can only be accessed on the paid version of the program. Among the additional features, you will get with the paid version of the program include noise reduction tools, mist effects, most of the FX tools, and the ability to export the video in 4K. You can purchase the new version of DaVinci Resolve from $299.
Supported File Formats of DaVinci Resolve Editor
As you well expect, DaVinci Resolve supports thousands of video formats that its superior encoder can compress in either Windows, Mac, or Linus operating systems. The following is a breakdown of some of the most popular file formats that the program supports;
Format |
Code |
Decode Mac OS |
Encode Mac OS |
Decode Windows 10 |
Encode Windows 10 |
Decode Linux |
Encode Linux |
ArriRaw (ari and mxf) |
ARRI 12 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
AVC HD |
Canon C100 8 bit, C100 Mk2, XA15, XA11, XA35, XA30 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
AVC Intra HD |
Canon C100 8 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
AVCHD |
Panasonic P2 8 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
AVI |
Cineform YUV 10-bit, Uncompressed RGB 10 bit and Uncompressed YUV 8 & 10 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
CINE |
10, 12 & 14 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
Cinema RAW Light |
Canon RAW Light |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
JPEG |
8 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
CinemaDNG |
Compressed & uncompressed 12 & 16 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
JPEG 2000 |
2K & 4K DCI, Scope, Flat 12 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
MPEG 2 (both mts and m2ts) |
AVCHD |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
MP4 |
H.264 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
MXF OP-Atom |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
MXF OP-Atom |
Apple ProRes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
MXF OP-Atom |
DNxHR 444, DNxHR High Quality 10 bit, DNxHR High Quality 8 bit, DNxHR Low Bandwidth, DNxHR Standard Quality, NTSC Avid 1:1 8-bit, PAL Avid 1:1 8 bit, RGB 1080i Avid 1:1 10 bit, RGB 1080p Avid 1:1 10 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
MXF OP-Atom |
Uncompressed RGB MXF (1:1) 1080i 10-bit, Uncompressed RGB MXF (1:1) 1080p 10 bit and Uncompressed YUV 1080i UYVY 8 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
MXF OP-Atom |
Uncompressed YUV MXF (1:1) UYVY 10 bit and Uncompressed YUV MXF (1:1) UYVY 8 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
MXF OP-Atom |
Uncompressed YUV NTSC UYVY 8-bit, Uncompressed YUV PAL UYVY 8 bit, XDCAM MPEG2 and 1080i Avid 1:1 8 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
MXF OP1A |
Apple ProRes, Alexa Mini and Canon EOS C300 8 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
MXF OP1A |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
MXF OP1A |
RGB 1080i Avid 1:1 10 bit and RGB 1080p Avid 1:1 10 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
MXF OP1A |
Panasonic XAVC-I 4K Varicam 35 MPEG4 10 bit, Sony F55, X-OCN LT, Sony F55, X-OCN ST and Sony FS700, Z100 8 & 16 bit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|||
MXF OP1A |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Other supported formats include QuickTime (MOV), RED, and TIFF.
With so many supported formats and Codec, it is little wonder why DaVinci Resolve is useful to both professional filmmakers and amateurs alike. We must mention though that the paid version may be slightly more difficult for the average user to use.
David
chief Editor
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