do you feel like your playback issues start at a certain point in your process? or are they there as soon as you drop a clip on your timeline? and what's your default resolution? if some standard stuff like basic noise reduction is part of your workflow and it's trying to process that live in full resolution issues on that hardware wouldn't be surprising. Resolve does have a host of tools to address that in a few different ways. Optimized media is just in-software transcoding, actual proxies to cut resolution and processing down, timeline proxy mode to only cut the display/preview resolution, and then the render cache to get proper preview files and guarantee smooth playback.
It is hard to get used to a different way of working. It is even harder if your computer can't deliver the power for smooth performance. In the end, we tend to take the path of least resistance. For you, Premiere Pro works. If it ain't broke... My favorite was Final Cut Pro 7. Then when they wrecked it, I went to Premiere. I started using Resolve about 10 years ago for color grading. Gradually, Resolve kept getting better and better as an editor. I found myself doing more and more in Resolve and finally stopped round tripping from Premiere and just did everything in Resolve. I am a very happy camper. One reason is that I edit with an M1 Max with 64GB of ram. That makes a difference. Having said that, using proxies works great on slower machines. The other thing for me is that I own a bunch of Blackmagic cameras and I love shooting, editing and color grading with Blackmagic Raw. Whatever your editing weapon of choice, it is amazing how far we have come when it comes to creative digital filmmaking.
@@TrentErwin There are some great You Tubers out there, like Casey Faris, Mr Alex Tech and Darren Mostyn to name a few who really make things easier to navigate. Happy discovery!
I have a 2017 iMac with essentially the same specs as yours and Resolve plays very smoothly. Check your render cache settings in the playback menu. Check out some videos on youtube for tuning resolve to get real-time playback. It should far exceed Premiere's ability to play back in real time. I also use Fusion all the time with the 3D tools that are very demanding. Never had it crash or lock up. Resolve is far from perfect to be sure. I have spent a fair amount of time screaming at it. Just as I did in Premiere :)
That’s good to know! I’ve been using DaVinci more on my 2021 MacBook and it’s ripping. Really loving it. Will have to get back on my iMac and test it now that I know how to optimize the software.
Another thing to keep in mind, Premiere is very CPU intensive, where Resolve is very GPU intensive. Premiere runs a lot better on MacOS than Windows. On my PC, I cannot get Premiere to playback anything in real-time, and After Effects usually crashes on a good 50% of my workflow - likely do to all the plugins I have had to acquire of the years to make it fit into my workflow, some of which are probably unsupported now and causing issues. That is the real killer for Premiere/AE combo - the need for plugins to really expand the programs to anything other than basic editing and motion graphics. I wouldn't trade Resolve/Fusion for anything now.
I find it funny how parallel our journeys can be at times! I bought DaVinci a few weeks back, but haven’t had the chance to dive into it as I’m not wanting to experiment with client projects. I plan on going through some sort of masterclass here soon and maybe try on some passion projects. Main reason is wanting to step up my production quality from a color grading standpoint, so we’ll see. Hopefully it’s smooth on the Mac Studio!
I know! And man I’m confident DaVinci will rip on the Mac Studio no problem. I’d bust out DaVinci for passion projects sooner than later because it really is nice when it works.
It can be that you're editing on a 4k timeline which is Davinci's default resolution. It's best to edit on a 1080 timeline with your render cache set to smart.
Fusion is a much more powerful replace for After Effects. After Effects requires a ton of plugins to make it anything more than just a small-time motion graphics design tool.
@@Photovintageguy I'd argue that many of the plugins that work in After Effects also work in Resolve - Mocha Pro, Sapphire, Continuum, along with plugins from Red Giant like Magic Bullet. There are also OFX versions of Dehancer and FilmConvert, etc. Really, the only thing Resolve/Fusion is missing is Red Giants particle system plugins - but then Resolve already has a very powerful built-in particle generator (that After Effects lacks standard).
Proxies and smart tenders are the solution. Yes, the intel chip is the problem if you’re not working with h.265. Also you totally described me in most of that intro. Lol
@@TrentErwin I have the exact same machine. MP4 doesn’t do all that well in premiere for me either. If I don’t shoot pro res via the ATOMOS ninja, I transcode to proRes either in full res or proxies. I’m also a photographer and will likely stay in the Adobe world but I’m enjoying Davinci at the moment. A lot.
I’ve only used Tiffen and PolarPro. Tiffen is going to be cheaper and still built well. PolarPro is going to be the most expensive but very well built and will probably last the longest.
I think maybe give it more than a week. The quirkiness that you describe is specific to your choice of tools. Even in 2019 an imac wouldn't be considered an ideal system for Resolve. You never mentioned your ram. A lot of people that used an Imac with Resolve used an eGPU. Also the design of Resolve requires that you work off a raid or fast SSDs - the import of files doesn't actually import the files - it only imports the path to your media ( and cache ) - so if you are working off a HDD - even if it is 7200 RPM HDD - you will get lag from the read and write speeds. The older ( pre M1 ) systems don't work well with long GOP )( h.264 and h.265 ) so it's a really good idea to right click the media and generate proxies after setting up the type and location in the project settings. Any intermediate codec like ProRes or Dnx will make your footage smooth as butter.
I put the details of the iMac up on the screen. It has 64GB of ram. I work off of SSDs. I’m not that much of a newb 😎 I don’t have to work with proxies in Premiere.
@@TrentErwin That's fine - 6 years on one - maybe give it a few more weeks before making up your mind. It is a first impression snd I understand that. I just suggested the proxies, if you are using "delivery" codecs and not actual "edit " codecs. Resolve is a lot better if you do., was the point.
If I have over $1000 worth of plugins for Final Cut, do you think it will be worth the switch? Good points in your video. Definitely things to consider.
Honestly if you’re that invested in Final Cut and it’s working for you, then no. I’d stick with it. If you’re wanting to get deep into color grading then maybe it’s a consideration, but if not I’d stick with what you got.
Davinci is great in many ways but it is very laggy and crashes often whereas PP is rather stable. It's definitely clunkier, but I'll take reliable any day.
It has crashed on me a few times already. People act like there are no stability issues but there are. I think overall though I’m creating better edits in Davinci and my color looks a lot better.
I think the people saying DaVinci is way more stable, than Premiere, outperforms the opposition 9:1. Its very rare to come across someone, with stability issues, in Resolve.
I'll always love premiere because it's the first professional NLE I ever used. But these days I wish lived up to the subscription we pay for it. Moved to resolve years ago, this year to the paid studio version. I still use premiere from time to time but definitely not as much these days.
Agree. Premiere is lagging behind. They need to make improvements. I just don’t see myself leaving soon. It’s still reliable for me and I am quickest with it.
Connect a samsung T5/T7 to your thunderbolt for your Cashe files and direct them over there. + For settings " The settings wheel down on the right side" Master Settings - : proxy media resolution to half theen proxy media to h.264. Recommend you to watch a video from Casey Faris called Everything about proxies.. " its a rly good video for setting up proxies on davinci and i bet your iMac can run the timeline smooth!
Honestly Premiere has been pretty stable since last summer and on the other hand Resolve has been crashing at times since version 17. There is no ideal software, but I see hope with Resolve because there are huge changes for the better in each new version, while Premiere is standing still. I keep thinking of Sony Vegas, which still has amazing features that other programs don't have. I'm also saddened by the complete forgetting of Edius, which is very professional.
All valid points. I’m still working on DaVinci with some projects to figure it all out and make a transition. By no means am I pushing it aside. Blackmagic is definitely working harder than Adobe to make the editor powerful.
My PC is a little bit Older than Yours ( Ryzen7 2700x (2018) + GTX 1080ti (2017) ) And It Still Run Davinci Resolve Smoother than the Premiere Pro 2023 which always Lag & Ready to Crashed anytime. If Premiere Pro Can Run Smooth as Davinci Resolve do, There Are No Reason I have to Switch. It's Like I Throw My ~10 Years of Editing Skill & Shortcut Key's Muscle Memory off. But I thinks Everyone Know, That Smooth Premiere Pro Version which everyone Expected Is Not Gonna Happen Soon. After We all Face the Same Problem ( Lag&Crashed ) for Many Years. Even I'm Still Newby for Editing in Davinci Resolve and Sometime Can't figure it out How to Make the Effects/tricks which I Used to Do in Premiere Pro, But the Davinci Resolve Can Be More Reliable that give me the Good Experience when using it.
This video does not accurately reflect the vast majority of us out there who made the switch. You should really consider ditching that iMac with that old Intel chip in it. Using Resolve on an M1 Pro or M1 Max it absolutely cruises through the timeline. Somewhere in your setup you’ve bottlenecked yourself or the codec of your footage is highly unfriendly for editing. I can absolutely chew through 6K raw with grades and effects without any issues.
I get it. But the video is also labeled “My” first impressions. I’m not trying to represent everyone out there. Just giving my honest take with the current setup I have. Comparing the two different devices I have with different chips.
I know you tried to come across as giving the software a fair shot, but you really came across as a premier fanboy. You open the video by calling people who don't like it haters, and then you pretend all the problems people have with it don't exist. You acknowledge that there's a of people who say that they have problems, but you discount their opinions by stopping yourself from saying that they actually have problems. You stopped yourself in the middle of it and say instead that they only say that they have problems. You don't have those problems right now though in the last 2-3 years so just ignore all those people who have been switching even during that time. Why stop yourself from saying that they actually have problems if you don't believe them? Then you talk about all this "pressure" to switch as if there's some of mob out there making people switch. In what way are all these big youtubers pressuring you? If they're not then why say there's pressure unless you're just trying to make the userbase look bad? When talking about color grading you praise Davinci and then you say that in premier the colors never come out the same. To me that sounds like a pretty big problem that would encourage any non-fanboy to switch immediately, but you can't think of any issues that would make you switch so I guess unusable colors isn't that big of a problem to you. Point is, this also makes you seem like a premier fanboy. You have your issues with Resolve though. That being performance on your imac with "good graphics" and that you can't pinch to zoom. Vega 48 is not "good graphics" regardless of how much ram you have. And I don't use resolve on a laptop so I don't know about the pinch to zoom thing but being the "hater" that I am, I'm just going to tale a page from your book and assume it's just an issue that you say you have and not one that you actually have.
The issues you're having with Resolve come down to your outdated mac. Even on M1 macbook air, davinci is running like butter and it's fast it not faster than FCP in a lot of cases. Resolve heavily utilizes your GPU, more than the CPU which is good because GPUs have gotten way way faster than CPUs lately which makes Resolve a breeze to work with. And the quirks you are talking about like not being able to pinch to zoom, you can just change that so it's not like you're stuck like that so it's like you problem and not resolve's problem. Yeah man, the software which is being used to grade billion dollar movies since the 90s is unreliable 🤣🤣
do you feel like your playback issues start at a certain point in your process? or are they there as soon as you drop a clip on your timeline? and what's your default resolution?
if some standard stuff like basic noise reduction is part of your workflow and it's trying to process that live in full resolution issues on that hardware wouldn't be surprising. Resolve does have a host of tools to address that in a few different ways. Optimized media is just in-software transcoding, actual proxies to cut resolution and processing down, timeline proxy mode to only cut the display/preview resolution, and then the render cache to get proper preview files and guarantee smooth playback.
Pretty much as soon as I drop it in the timeline. Timelines are set to 1080p but using 4K footage (MP4 422 out of the C70).
It is hard to get used to a different way of working. It is even harder if your computer can't deliver the power for smooth performance. In the end, we tend to take the path of least resistance. For you, Premiere Pro works. If it ain't broke... My favorite was Final Cut Pro 7. Then when they wrecked it, I went to Premiere. I started using Resolve about 10 years ago for color grading. Gradually, Resolve kept getting better and better as an editor. I found myself doing more and more in Resolve and finally stopped round tripping from Premiere and just did everything in Resolve. I am a very happy camper. One reason is that I edit with an M1 Max with 64GB of ram. That makes a difference. Having said that, using proxies works great on slower machines. The other thing for me is that I own a bunch of Blackmagic cameras and I love shooting, editing and color grading with Blackmagic Raw. Whatever your editing weapon of choice, it is amazing how far we have come when it comes to creative digital filmmaking.
Absolutely! I've actually used only Resolve over the last week and am loving it. Feel much more confident in it and see how powerful it is.
@@TrentErwin There are some great You Tubers out there, like Casey Faris, Mr Alex Tech and Darren Mostyn to name a few who really make things easier to navigate. Happy discovery!
I have a 2017 iMac with essentially the same specs as yours and Resolve plays very smoothly. Check your render cache settings in the playback menu. Check out some videos on youtube for tuning resolve to get real-time playback. It should far exceed Premiere's ability to play back in real time. I also use Fusion all the time with the 3D tools that are very demanding. Never had it crash or lock up. Resolve is far from perfect to be sure. I have spent a fair amount of time screaming at it. Just as I did in Premiere :)
That’s good to know! I’ve been using DaVinci more on my 2021 MacBook and it’s ripping. Really loving it. Will have to get back on my iMac and test it now that I know how to optimize the software.
Another thing to keep in mind, Premiere is very CPU intensive, where Resolve is very GPU intensive. Premiere runs a lot better on MacOS than Windows. On my PC, I cannot get Premiere to playback anything in real-time, and After Effects usually crashes on a good 50% of my workflow - likely do to all the plugins I have had to acquire of the years to make it fit into my workflow, some of which are probably unsupported now and causing issues.
That is the real killer for Premiere/AE combo - the need for plugins to really expand the programs to anything other than basic editing and motion graphics.
I wouldn't trade Resolve/Fusion for anything now.
Absolutely, all very valued points. And why I’m experimenting more with Davinci.
I find it funny how parallel our journeys can be at times! I bought DaVinci a few weeks back, but haven’t had the chance to dive into it as I’m not wanting to experiment with client projects.
I plan on going through some sort of masterclass here soon and maybe try on some passion projects. Main reason is wanting to step up my production quality from a color grading standpoint, so we’ll see. Hopefully it’s smooth on the Mac Studio!
I know! And man I’m confident DaVinci will rip on the Mac Studio no problem. I’d bust out DaVinci for passion projects sooner than later because it really is nice when it works.
It can be that you're editing on a 4k timeline which is Davinci's default resolution. It's best to edit on a 1080 timeline with your render cache set to smart.
Yes! I discovered that since publishing this video. Appreciate it 🤘🏼
Fusion is a much more powerful replace for After Effects. After Effects requires a ton of plugins to make it anything more than just a small-time motion graphics design tool.
Yeah I can already see the potential in Fusion
After effects does have a larger amount of 3rd party plugins. But yeah fusion is just better besides the legacy library.
@@Photovintageguy I'd argue that many of the plugins that work in After Effects also work in Resolve - Mocha Pro, Sapphire, Continuum, along with plugins from Red Giant like Magic Bullet. There are also OFX versions of Dehancer and FilmConvert, etc.
Really, the only thing Resolve/Fusion is missing is Red Giants particle system plugins - but then Resolve already has a very powerful built-in particle generator (that After Effects lacks standard).
Proxies and smart tenders are the solution. Yes, the intel chip is the problem if you’re not working with h.265.
Also you totally described me in most of that intro. Lol
Yes proxies and smart render for sure. Still pretty unusable on my iMac which sucks, but I guess that machine is on its way out for me.
@@TrentErwin I have the exact same machine. MP4 doesn’t do all that well in premiere for me either. If I don’t shoot pro res via the ATOMOS ninja, I transcode to proRes either in full res or proxies.
I’m also a photographer and will likely stay in the Adobe world but I’m enjoying Davinci at the moment. A lot.
Hey quick question. What is the best circular polarizing filter, (controls reflections the best), in your opinion. Looking to purchase one.
I’ve only used Tiffen and PolarPro. Tiffen is going to be cheaper and still built well. PolarPro is going to be the most expensive but very well built and will probably last the longest.
The problem with your iMac is your GPU, davinci will utilize the GPU over the CPU so if its not a reasonable GPU you will have issues.
I know, just sucks that my iMac can’t keep up well with DaVinci
I think maybe give it more than a week. The quirkiness that you describe is specific to your choice of tools. Even in 2019 an imac wouldn't be considered an ideal system for Resolve. You never mentioned your ram. A lot of people that used an Imac with Resolve used an eGPU. Also the design of Resolve requires that you work off a raid or fast SSDs - the import of files doesn't actually import the files - it only imports the path to your media ( and cache ) - so if you are working off a HDD - even if it is 7200 RPM HDD - you will get lag from the read and write speeds. The older ( pre M1 ) systems don't work well with long GOP )( h.264 and h.265 ) so it's a really good idea to right click the media and generate proxies after setting up the type and location in the project settings. Any intermediate codec like ProRes or Dnx will make your footage smooth as butter.
I put the details of the iMac up on the screen. It has 64GB of ram. I work off of SSDs. I’m not that much of a newb 😎 I don’t have to work with proxies in Premiere.
@@TrentErwin That's fine - 6 years on one - maybe give it a few more weeks before making up your mind. It is a first impression snd I understand that. I just suggested the proxies, if you are using "delivery" codecs and not actual "edit " codecs. Resolve is a lot better if you do., was the point.
I appreciate that. All valid points! Thanks for the comment 🤙🏻
If I have over $1000 worth of plugins for Final Cut, do you think it will be worth the switch? Good points in your video. Definitely things to consider.
Honestly if you’re that invested in Final Cut and it’s working for you, then no. I’d stick with it. If you’re wanting to get deep into color grading then maybe it’s a consideration, but if not I’d stick with what you got.
Davinci is great in many ways but it is very laggy and crashes often whereas PP is rather stable. It's definitely clunkier, but I'll take reliable any day.
It has crashed on me a few times already. People act like there are no stability issues but there are. I think overall though I’m creating better edits in Davinci and my color looks a lot better.
I think the people saying DaVinci is way more stable, than Premiere, outperforms the opposition 9:1.
Its very rare to come across someone, with stability issues, in Resolve.
Davinci Resolve requires dedicated gpu system to show it's full potential.
I fully agree! Just wish it would work better on my iMac. Is that too much to ask? 😂
I'll always love premiere because it's the first professional NLE I ever used. But these days I wish lived up to the subscription we pay for it.
Moved to resolve years ago, this year to the paid studio version. I still use premiere from time to time but definitely not as much these days.
Agree. Premiere is lagging behind. They need to make improvements. I just don’t see myself leaving soon. It’s still reliable for me and I am quickest with it.
Connect a samsung T5/T7 to your thunderbolt for your Cashe files and direct them over there. +
For settings " The settings wheel down on the right side"
Master Settings - : proxy media resolution to half theen proxy media to h.264.
Recommend you to watch a video from Casey Faris called Everything about proxies.. " its a rly good video for setting up proxies on davinci
and i bet your iMac can run the timeline smooth!
I appreciate that insight!
Did you use the free version? It has very limited GPU acceleration.
At the time I was
Honestly Premiere has been pretty stable since last summer and on the other hand Resolve has been crashing at times since version 17. There is no ideal software, but I see hope with Resolve because there are huge changes for the better in each new version, while Premiere is standing still. I keep thinking of Sony Vegas, which still has amazing features that other programs don't have. I'm also saddened by the complete forgetting of Edius, which is very professional.
All valid points. I’m still working on DaVinci with some projects to figure it all out and make a transition. By no means am I pushing it aside. Blackmagic is definitely working harder than Adobe to make the editor powerful.
Hi Trent :) Have you tried setting the timeline proxy resolution to half on the iMac and checking it's performance ? :)
I’m pretty sure I did, but I’ll double check that for performance. Thanks for that!
My M2 Pro is a great partner for Resolve.
Don’t doubt it! My M1 handles it pretty well. New chips are legit 🤘🏼
My PC is a little bit Older than Yours
( Ryzen7 2700x (2018) + GTX 1080ti (2017) )
And It Still Run Davinci Resolve
Smoother than the Premiere Pro 2023
which always Lag & Ready to Crashed anytime.
If Premiere Pro Can Run Smooth as Davinci Resolve do,
There Are No Reason I have to Switch.
It's Like I Throw My ~10 Years of Editing Skill
& Shortcut Key's Muscle Memory off.
But I thinks Everyone Know,
That Smooth Premiere Pro Version
which everyone Expected
Is Not Gonna Happen Soon.
After We all Face the Same Problem
( Lag&Crashed ) for Many Years.
Even I'm Still Newby for Editing in Davinci Resolve
and Sometime Can't figure it out How to Make
the Effects/tricks which I Used to Do in Premiere Pro,
But the Davinci Resolve Can Be More Reliable
that give me the Good Experience when using it.
I’ve used Resolve exclusively over the last week 😎 so I’m buying into it
This video does not accurately reflect the vast majority of us out there who made the switch. You should really consider ditching that iMac with that old Intel chip in it. Using Resolve on an M1 Pro or M1 Max it absolutely cruises through the timeline. Somewhere in your setup you’ve bottlenecked yourself or the codec of your footage is highly unfriendly for editing. I can absolutely chew through 6K raw with grades and effects without any issues.
I get it. But the video is also labeled “My” first impressions. I’m not trying to represent everyone out there. Just giving my honest take with the current setup I have. Comparing the two different devices I have with different chips.
I know you tried to come across as giving the software a fair shot, but you really came across as a premier fanboy. You open the video by calling people who don't like it haters, and then you pretend all the problems people have with it don't exist. You acknowledge that there's a of people who say that they have problems, but you discount their opinions by stopping yourself from saying that they actually have problems. You stopped yourself in the middle of it and say instead that they only say that they have problems. You don't have those problems right now though in the last 2-3 years so just ignore all those people who have been switching even during that time. Why stop yourself from saying that they actually have problems if you don't believe them?
Then you talk about all this "pressure" to switch as if there's some of mob out there making people switch. In what way are all these big youtubers pressuring you? If they're not then why say there's pressure unless you're just trying to make the userbase look bad?
When talking about color grading you praise Davinci and then you say that in premier the colors never come out the same. To me that sounds like a pretty big problem that would encourage any non-fanboy to switch immediately, but you can't think of any issues that would make you switch so I guess unusable colors isn't that big of a problem to you. Point is, this also makes you seem like a premier fanboy.
You have your issues with Resolve though. That being performance on your imac with "good graphics" and that you can't pinch to zoom. Vega 48 is not "good graphics" regardless of how much ram you have. And I don't use resolve on a laptop so I don't know about the pinch to zoom thing but being the "hater" that I am, I'm just going to tale a page from your book and assume it's just an issue that you say you have and not one that you actually have.
Guess I’ll just be a Premiere fanboy 🥺
The issues you're having with Resolve come down to your outdated mac. Even on M1 macbook air, davinci is running like butter and it's fast it not faster than FCP in a lot of cases. Resolve heavily utilizes your GPU, more than the CPU which is good because GPUs have gotten way way faster than CPUs lately which makes Resolve a breeze to work with. And the quirks you are talking about like not being able to pinch to zoom, you can just change that so it's not like you're stuck like that so it's like you problem and not resolve's problem. Yeah man, the software which is being used to grade billion dollar movies since the 90s is unreliable 🤣🤣
Ha I didn’t say it’s completely unreliable. I was just offering my first impressions. Emphasis on “my”.