An editing beast: DaVinci Resolve 14 is unleashed

Blackmagic Design has released its first full version of Resolve 14 after several public betas. The nonlinear editor and colour-grading suite includes a host of updates since v12.5 which was the last official release. These include:

• Substantially faster playback performance – 10x, says the firm
• Integral Fairlight audio engine for multi-track mixing and effects including up to 22.2 audio
• Multi-user collaboration with file locking and timeline comparison tools
• New effects, some of which are really snazzy

The software is available in two versions, the standard one being free (yes, really) and the other, called “Resolve Studio”, being $299 USD; the latter comes with additional effects including the enormously useful automatic face tracking and enhancement which is a must for … well, pretty much anyone but especially those doing corporate interviews. Clients always need to look lovely, you know.

The paid version also adds collaborative tools, over 20 new effects including the advanced face enhancement, full 4K (not just UHD) and 120fps project support, stereoscopic 3D, optical quality blur and mist effects, film grain, and de-noise tools.

Other than those effects and collaboration tools, the free version is barely limited in any way and is a must-download even if just to see what the fuss is about. Amazingly, Resolve is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

We tested one of the early beta versions a while back and weren’t too impressed but by Beta 9 (the last one) things had really changed. The software will now happily playback on our laptop editing system (Intel i7-4710HQ with 16GB RAM) and operation is smooth and stable. 4K XAVC-S files were a bit choppy but we’ve found that to be true with all editors and presume it’s our old laptop being incapable of keeping up.

There are “new” functions which, ’tis true, other software has had for a while but at least Resolve has now caught up, including slip and slide, saveable interface layouts and subframe audio editing.

As before you can choose to shell out a fair bit of money for a hardware control surface which now comes in three varieties – essentially it’s daddy bear, mummy bear and little bear.

We at Tubeshooter are long-term Sony Vegas users (now Magix Vegas) but with that package having disappointing updates for the last two generations, it’s time to switch and we reckon Resolve 14 is the one for us. We’re even likely to spring for the paid version for the face-tracking tool alone.

Get the full press release info at www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/media/release/20170907-02