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Professional video editing solution designed to take your projects to the next level

Professional video editing solution designed to take your projects to the next level

Vote: (1,433 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: Black Magic Design

Version: 18.0

Works under: Windows

Also available for Mac

Vote:

Program license

(1,433 votes)

Free

Developer

Version

Black Magic Design

18.0

Works under:

Also available for

Windows

Mac

Pros

  • Freeware
  • Powerful video editing suite
  • Windows, Linux and Mac

Cons

  • Steep learning curve
  • Requires a powerful PC

Davinci Resolve is a high-end all-in-one video editing suite for professional use.

Davinci Resolve is designed as an all-in-one solution for professional video editing. All-in-one is not hyperbole in the case. Prior to Davinci Resolve, studios had to use multiple programs—often a half dozen or more—and try to get them to play nice. This application, however, includes everything that a professional studio requires under a single umbrella, and it also features a robust plug-in architecture for in-house tools, third-party tools and third-party storage solutions. What is even more amazing is that Davinci Resolve is true freeware. You can use it as much and as often as you want at no cost, and there are no limitations on what you can do with the work that you have created with it.

There is, however, a paid version. Some may be thinking, “aha, I knew there was a gotcha!” But that is not the case at all. In fact, we think you will be rather amazed at everything included in the free version. We also think it is a rather ingenious decision. Blackmagic Design claims that Davinci Resolve is the most-used post-production tool in Hollywood, and making the bulk of the software free ensures that schools and students throughout the world have access to it. So, what do you get with Davinci Resolve Studio? It includes the DaVinci Neural Engine, more FX filters, enhanced support for audio plugins, greater support for video- and audio-editing hardware and more robust access to technical support.

Davinci Resolve has too many features to cover in a relatively brief review. What we will do instead is touch on the core “pages,” which is how the program organizes its various feature sets. The first of these is Edit, and the centerpiece of that page is a sophisticated non-linear video editor. It encourages a two-monitor arrangement and offers a familiar track layout with traditional workflow tools.

The Cut page is an alternative to the Edit page designed to turn around work fast. It is more streamlined, and if you intend to use Davinci Resolve as a casual user, this will probably be your favorite page. This page still has an extensive suite of smart editing tools, and you will still have access to the other pages for those one or two aspects that you want to get just right.

The Color page is used professionally to color and finish more feature films and TV shows than any other video editor on the market. This is an advanced color corrector with auto-adjust capabilities but also a wide range of manual sliders: contrast, mid-tone detail, saturation, temperature and so forth. For the latest version of Davinci Resolve, making this page more user-friendly was a point of emphasis.

Need to create cinematic visual effects or broadcast-quality graphics? This is achieved on the Fusion page. Here you will find a node-based workflow that helps you create effects, graphics and animations using a layered approach. It gives you access to hundreds of 3D and 2D tools in addition to camera tracking, advanced keyframe editors and a sophisticated animation curve.

On the Fairlight page, you will find hundreds of tools for the editing and post production of audio. Keyboard-based editing tools that have been used in the industry for decades are all here. With the latest edition, you can now work with up to 2,000 unique tracks at once to equalize, perform dynamic processing and add real-time effects. It also supports 5.1, 7.1 and the latest 3D audio formats.

The Media and Delivery page is dedicated to importing, managing and delivering projects. There are bins for such purposes found on the Edit and Cut pages, but this gives you a dedicated workspace. You can prepare footage, sync clips, organize content into various bins and add and edit metadata. You can also upload to YouTube, Twitter and many other social media outlets out of the box.

Davinci Resolve fully supports multi-user collaboration as well. Whether your team is all in the same office or scattered across the globe, you can all work on the same projects at the same time. This tech has also been much improved in the latest version. You no longer have to import and export files, for instance, which makes managing multi-user projects much easier and enjoyable.

Third-party support is also second-to-none in the industry. Whether you want it to work with a plug-in, a particular cloud-based storage solution or a specific piece of hardware, it can. Third parties can use the available APIs to offer advanced integration, and Blackmagic Digital is, of course, adding support for all of the file formats and software tools that become prevalent in the industry.

There really is not much bad to say about Davinci Resolve, so we will nitpick a bit. The first potential issue with this program is that it has a steep learning curve. In fact, Blackmagic Design hosts training sessions all over the world for those who want to master the program faster. If you are looking for a free video editor so that you can edit home movies made during the Christmas break, this is probably not the program for you. It demands an investment to use even at a basic level but will reward that investment.

Another issue to consider is PC requirements. Even the minimum requirements are above the average desktop and laptop computer, and it is worth noting that the minimum is just what is needed to get by. Davinci Resolve is a resource-intensive program. Some of the more intensive operations can take hours and will make your system practically unusable for other purposes. An ideal system will have at least an Intel Core i9, 32 GB of RAM, a GPU with 8 GB of VRAM and a solid-state drive.

Pros

  • Freeware
  • Powerful video editing suite
  • Windows, Linux and Mac

Cons

  • Steep learning curve
  • Requires a powerful PC