User Manual

Performance Mode Improves
Overall Performance
Performance Mode, which is found in the Playback Settings of the User Preferences, analyzes
your computer’s configuration, the CPU, GPU, connected video interface, and so on, and
automatically tunes DaVinci Resolve’s under-the-hood image processing settings to provide
thebest interactivity on your machine. It’s set to Automatic by default, although you can
chooseto adjust its effect manually, or disable it altogether. When enabled, Performance
Modedramatically improves the experience of editing, mixing, and grading on less powerful
computers.
While Performance Mode is turned on, DaVinci Resolve still outputs to video, renders in the
Delivery page, and processes via the Media Management command at the highest quality. As a
result, using Performance Mode makes no compromise in the quality of your output, so creative
editors and audio mixers can leave this setting on always.
Finishing editors and colorists might notice subtle differences between the image on your
computer monitor on less powerful computers when Performance Mode is on versus when it’s
off, which is why this setting can be disabled, either entirely or in part using checkboxes in the
Playback Settings panel of the User Preferences for instances where GUI interactivity is less
important than your onscreen display.
Adjusting Performance Mode
A pair of radio buttons in the Playback Settings panel of the User Preferences let you choose
between Automatic (default) and Manual behaviors when you turn on Performance Mode in
DaVinci Resolve. Set to Automatic, Performance mode automatically optimizes a variety of
operations in a bid to balance performance with the necessary level of image quality, for fast
onscreen performance while always maintaining the highest level of quality for video output.
Set to Manual, there are three different settings you can choose to disable for instances where
a particular performance tradeoff results in an undesirably noticeable reduction in image quality
in Performance Mode:
 Optimized Sizing: Relates to how image resizing is handled.
 Optimized Decode Quality: Relates to how clip resolution vs. timeline
resolutionishandled.
 Optimized Image Processing: Relates to how image processing
operationsarehandled.
Proxy Mode Improves
EffectsPerformance
If you don’t want to either drop frames or play at slower than real time speed whenever the
GPUStatus indicator is in the red, an immediate way of improving performance is to turn on the
Use Proxies option in the View menu. Using proxies reduces processing demands by taking
advantage of the resolution independence of DaVinci Resolve to lower the resolution of your
clips on-the-fly, thereby increasing real time playback performance without the need to spend
time caching part or all of the timeline, or create optimized media (both discussed later).
Chapter – 6 Improving Performance, Proxies, andthe RenderCache 201