User Manual

Table Of Contents
Video bit depth: Choose the bit depth that corresponds to the capability of your
display. You can choose between 8-bit and 10-bit. Monitoring in 10-bit is more
processor intensive, but preferable to avoid the appearance of banding that may not in
fact be in the image data being processed by DaVinci Resolve.
Monitor scaling: Defaults to basic, and is only enabled to smooth the edges of video
being viewed on a projector with very large screens. These settings minimize high
frequency artifacts that may be seen. This may also be noticeable if you have a 2K or
HD project but are monitoring on an SD monitor. The other option, Bilinear, has different
effects on the monitored image depending on your display device, so you may need to
check to verify that it’s appropriate for your environment.
Use Rec601 Matrix for 4:2:2 SDI output: Don’t use this checkbox unless you know
what it does. You know who you are.
Enable HDR metadata over HDMI: (only available in Studio version) Turning on this
checkbox outputs the metadata necessary to send High Dynamic Range signals over
HDMI 2.0a and have it be correctly decoded by an HDR-aware video display. When this
checkbox is enabled, it’s recommended to also enable the “HDR mastering is for X nits”
checkbox in the Color Management page, and set the “nit” level (slang for cd/m2) to
whatever peak luminance level your HDMI connected HDR display is capable of.
Optimized Media and Render Cache
These settings govern the resolution and codec of optimized media that DaVinci Resolve can
generate in order to facilitate greater real time performance, as well as cached media that’s
generated by the Smart and User Cache.
Optimized Media Resolution: Radio buttons let you choose whether to generate
optimized media at each clip’s Original size, or at Half, Quarter, One-Eighth, or
One-Sixteenth the resolution of the original media.
Optimized Media Format: Specifies the format in which optimized media files will be
written. You can choose from among a variety of Uncompressed, ProRes, and DNxHD
formats, depending on your requirements.
Render Cache Format: Specifies the format in which render cache files will be written.
You can choose from among a variety of Uncompressed, ProRes, and DNxHD formats,
depending on your requirements.
Enable background caching after X seconds: Specifies the duration of inactivity after
which automatic background caching will begin.
A series of checkboxes let you force specific types of effects to be cached when
you use the User Cache, which is a more selective manner of caching than the
SmartCache.
These include:
Automatically cache transitions in User Mode: If you’re using User mode and you
find that your workstation does not have adequate performance to play transition
effects in real time, you can force these categories of effects to be automatically
included in the Sequence Cache and cached when you’re using the User mode
of caching.
Automatically cache composites in User Mode: If you’re using User mode and you
find that your workstation does not have adequate performance to play composite
mode or opacity effects in real time, you can force these categories of effects to be
automatically included in the Sequence Cache and cached when you’re using the
User Mode of caching.
Chapter – 4 Project Settings 150