UKH

I feel my time with Adobe Premier Pro has run its course. I like working with the software but I find the constant upgrades produce constant glitches and that I'm probably not using anything like the capacity I'm paying for.

I'd like to move away from the subscription model and buy an editing software that is good, robust and has some inbuilt longevity.

I know someone will suggest a free provider but my vids tend to be up to 15 minutes long and I find things like Go Pro's own editing software can't cope with that size of project.

Any suggestions? 

Final Cut is probably the obvious answer. You can get a long free trial too so it’s worth checking out at least

I tried it but stuck with Premiere just because of familiarity.

Thanks

Davinci resolve. 

Very powerful software and free! 

Thanks again, I'll give this a go. Seems too good to be true.

It is pro levels of features. Can look a bit overwhelming, but that's what the help is for. Plenty of stuff on line. 

Thanks again

Yup...

Resolve.

But with the free version, you'll loose some features. Then you can get the 300 Eur buy one Studio edition.

So I downloaded this and tried it but It doesn't seem to import the footage properly. It comes in grainy and plays back intermittently. Oddly any audio seems to work fine. I have followed the instruction vids so can't see that I'm doing anything wrong although these are for the 15 not the 16. Is there an import function I am missing or some sort of conversion I need to carry out?

Almost all footage is from a Go Pro Hero8

Any thoughts?

The best editing software by a country mile is Da Vinci Resolve. You can use the free version and it has nearly all the features of the paid for version that you would probably never notice.

I liked the software that much that I bought a licence for it. Its a big investment but its a one off payment. I also get any and all future updates.

Its got a big learning curve but once you crack the basics, you will never look back.

May I ask what format the footage is?

Is it h.264, h.265, MP4 or some other variant?

There may be a setting that you have not selected in the software because right out of the can GoPro footage should work flawlessly.

Your computer is up to the task? Editing HD footage can be pretty intensive. 

Here is a quick tutorial to get you up and running

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLFrKP9hyuU&list=FLr7dMldhojjSW2fCGvprs...

A couple of other people to follow are

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTmY-LBmbLugkJ0ryZfjZTQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdfDjoLF5L6lLuDCkJw0P3g

Computer is a full on gaming tool bought specifically for film editing so should be ok. 

The format is MP4

I agree, likely a setting I have not selected.

I'll look at those tutorials tonight. Thanks

There is a massive learning curve as this software was created for professionals that spent years on the job meaning that its not punter friendly with the terminology.

However the basics are transferable from other NLE software

So, when I look at this tutorial, my footage is doing exactly what the H264 example is doing. So I'll give this a go tonight and hopefully this will fix the issue.

Thanks again

If you happen to be an editing jedi, on the Adobe Pro side, any idea how I can make windows 10 recognise my 10bit monitor because I can only get a standard dynamic colour space and I want to display HDR?

The monitor is 10bit, my graphics card is 10bit and my camera records in 10bit. I thought all was working fine until I looked into this earlier today.

It all started a few days ago when I decided to use a new colour setting on my camera, which is a log profile. Nurdy stuff, granted but I do like to colour correct and grade my little projects.

I doubt anybody would notice with my little YouTubes but just like photography where images need to be titillated, the same goes for camera footage.

Sorry. I wish I was that man but alas, no. I just get by in Adobe premier pro which is why I'm getting out of it.

My only thought is that they have done an upgrade which has a glitch. I've seen this many times with APP. I have found that if you go through their actual help desk using the messenger link you will get a very good, real time answer.

My monitor woes are between Microsoft and Dell. I have a compliant monitor, a compliant graphic card which is over 3 years old, but they are not playing nicely.

Microsoft state that I need either a Display Port 1.4 or a HDMI 2 connection.

My monitor has a Display Port 1.2 which is not the required port. However this does allow my Graphics Card to recognise 10bit colour space.

When I plug in a HDMI cable and turn on HDMI 2 capabilities, then my Graphics Card only allows 8bit colour space.

Its not the end of the world because YouTube is an 8bit colour space anyway. Its just that I thought I had a HDR monitor when in fact I got a bog standard definition monitor to view my masterpieces.

Problem solved.

Its Dells ambiguous marketing and creative blurb saying the monitor is the best thing since sliced bread. Ho well. First World problems. 😀

Unfortunately mine isn't. I followed the youtube tutorial but it didn't fix the problem. I'll dig a little deeper.

do you have something like VLC installed.

Check what the actual codex is (H264, H265/HEVC or something else). Some of the packet codex are rather heavy on the machnine. Transcoding the media will help in that regard.

E.g. I can edit H264 (8bit from my GH4) directly in free Resolve,  but H265 (20bit from my GH5) does not work. I need to transcode (as I'm on a mac, I transcode to Prores something).

Judging by this article. https://havecamerawilltravel.com/gopro/gopro-hero8-black-hevc-h264/ you might be using H265 (8bit, also known as HEVC), which I believe still works on Resolve but does not play well. --> either transcode or create proxy/optimized media.

More background info on the matter:
https://www.richardlackey.com/avc-hevc-transcode-davinci-resolve/

Would it be possible to get a sample file for me to play with?

This is the main reason I bought a Resolve licence. I did not like converting the GH5 footage before I could use it in the free version of Resolve. I know that I could convert the H.265 footage before I could use it in the Free Resolve and this would have taken a little time but it was a step that I did not want to perform.

Thanks guys. I'll take a look tonight. My gut says I'm using H264 but I'll check.

Not sure how I would get it to you? In any cast, not from this computer but possibly from the one at home.

Yousendit, dropbox, cloudshare, Google drive spring to mind. Then send the share link to Lemming via the email user function.

oh, one other thing. I hope you’re running fast SSD, not a spinning one. And certainly trying not to edit from the SD Card directly. 
 

these would explain the jerky optimized (so proxy) video. 

How do I check this? apologies if I appear thick but I honestly don't know. I've been running Adobe premier pro and it has been fine. Would running Resolve have changed something?

Dropbox or Google Drive maybe?

What's under the hood of your gaming computer?

I'd have to get back to you. Its probably 3 yrs old but was up to spec at the time.

Nope.  But Resolve might be optimized for faster drives than Premier (which might be made to utilize your RAM).

So They’ll behave differently. 

How do I check?

To answer my own question. I think I've caught up with you. No, I'm not running straight off a card. Everything is downloaded but might be on a cloud rather than a hard drive. Would that make a difference?

Yes. Cause If it is the cloud, it your internet connection speed. 
 

download blackmagic speed test and see How fast yer drive actually is. Spinning disks are slow. SSD is fast and even spinning disk will be fast compared to the cloud. 

I've been using Cyberlink PowerDirector for years now (upgraded it over than time).

https://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector-video-editing-software/fea...

Both one-off and subscriptions available now.

You have mail sir

That makes sense. 

Thanks. I'll get to it later and send you a reply.

I have an intel core i7 processor with NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX graphics. I wonder if it's a RAM thing? Premier Pro worked fine but perhaps that is because it runs off its own cloud? Perhaps the Resolve is trying to run off the computer's hard drive which can't cope? I also note that the resolve project server has not downloaded. I wonder if this is the problem?

I doubt that you're really running or editing off the cloud (because then the connection latency and speed will cripple ya).

That being said, I think the issue is perhaps with your HDD. You could download the latest BlackMagic Desktop Video (11.6), as part of it is the BlackMagic Drive Speed Test utility. Run that on the location where you store your videos (same folder) and see what kind of values you get.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/fi/support/download/d399ada95c2b49ffad3031...

If you have a spinning disk (bad), you'll be looking at 80 to 160  MB/s (both read & write). For SSD (better) it's more like 200 to 500 MB/s. And even faster SSDs are also on the market clockin' nearly 1000 MB/s.

Faster is better for Resolve.
The faster drive you have, the better, best to have over 400 MB/s (

Thanks. I'm intrigued by Resolve so I'm going to keep trying to figure this out.

I appreciate your help.

With Resolve, its best to have at least two internal drives.

One drive for the operating system and one for the video footage and a place for Resolve to store its working files.

From my very limited technical knowledge Resolve uses CPU power mainly when rendering MP4 projects in H.264.

And Resolve mainly uses the GPU when rendering MP4 projects in H.265.

I don't exactly know why, but this is what I see when I render projects. I have found that file sizes can be up to 4 times smaller using H.265 with the same image results of H.264.

You could try the Black Magic Forums for some help and advice.

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=f9d7d53d421ef7...

Again, thanks for all your help on this. I will get there in the end

No worries.

Its all one huge learning curve. I have fallen down the Alice and Wonderland rabbit hole of colour profiles and which I should use, HLG or Vlog. One is free and the other costs £100 to be used on my camera.

My old camera had Vlog out of the box but I never used it because the camera could only record in 8bit. This made using Vlog pointless as it ruined the footage. However now that I have a new toy that can capture in 10bit, I've fallen down that rabbit hole again .

HLG

nuff said

Oh and GPU decoding/encoding only works on the paid Resolve.

one option is also to simply transcode the original media to a more suitable format. As I have the free Resolve and use a feeble old 12 MacBook, I transcode to Proress from 10bit h265 (from GH5).

My brain is hurting on this one. You really rate HLG?

I would very much appreciate your views and thought on HLG and Vlog.

This is the reason I pulled the trigger and bought a copy of Resolve. I was getting frustrated transcoding my GH5 footage just so that I could work with it in Resolve. I did not like the idea of losing information in a conversion process only to have that information further reduced when I finished my project in Resolve.

well, I still have GH4r (so vlog) and GH5 (HLG).

simply put, I can push vlog a bit more (if I use an external recorder... which I don't ) in the dark or bright conditions. But HLG is just convenient (and looks OK out of the camera, unlike vlog).

as for transcoding, you dont' loose anything if you have a matching format to which you transcode. E.g. I use ProRes 422 which gives me about the same quality as the native h265 from GH5 (but is not packed), plus as said it works on me feeble laptop.

It's an additional step though, the transcoding. But I use it to cut out un wanted parts.

Cheers for that. I shall be sticking with HLG and not paying the Panasonic tax.

The Leeming LUT wot I just bought, for the initial titillation, makes it look jolly good in Resolve