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Davinci Resolve vs Lumetri and Media Encoder?
Not sure if this question is suitable for this forum, but I’ve asked everywhere else without an answer.
I want to know if Resolve uses different processing algorithms when making color changes. E.g. if I drop blacks, will Lumetri crush them before Resolve does?
I am aware of the YRGB, nodes and other advantages of Davinci, but all in all if I drop or lift the same slider in Lumetri and Resolve will Resolve process it better and preserve crushing or clipping.Also about rendering. I am asking this because all of the people I asked why they’re using Resolve said “it has much better output” or “uses better rendering algorithms”. But as far as my knowledge goes isn’t that the matter of which codec and what settings you use? How do render encoders differ from one another, if I set exactly the same settings in Resolve and Adobe Media Encoder with the same project in there, will the final render be exactly the same?
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3 Replies
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[David Lah] “I want to know if Resolve uses different processing algorithms when making color changes. E.g. if I drop blacks, will Lumetri crush them before Resolve does?”
No idea. Mostly because I am not familiar with Lumetri. What I can state is that Resolve performs all of its calculations in 32-bit float which should infer that its numerical approach is more likely able to accommodate almost any range of values that you throw at it. Resolve, as an evolution of the original daVinci system, was and pretty much remains one of the few grading applications that can operate in constant-luminance, inferring that an RGB re-balance will not adversely affect brightness/contrast impression of the resulting image. Its a subtle distinction, but massively important and more appreciated as experience with grading grows.
[David Lah] “if I drop or lift the same slider in Lumetri and Resolve will Resolve process it better and preserve crushing or clipping.”
Not sure what you mean by “preserving” crushing or clipping. To me, those are destructive consequences. If you are hoping that somehow pushing the limits of the exposure range in one part of a grade can be retrieved in a concatenated later process… that’s not how it works.
As far as Render goes… about all that I have observed is that the Rule of []Good []Fast []Cheap applies.
You get to pick 2 boxes, and no, you can’t check one of them twice.
If I was going to introduce one other factor, clients have commented very favourably on renders and compressions that I have exported out of Apple Compressor4, which is coming close to shading the above Rule.In the matter of *visually lossless* and *lossy* codecs, I do notice differences in exported media from AME as opposed to Resolve. A national broadcaster sent me some feedback not long ago indicating a preference away from Media Encoder. “too many short cuts” was the informal explanation, which does seem to underline Fast& Cheap. Excludes Good.
jPo, CSI
“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.
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According to several articles on NLE’s, I’ve read, the processing in Adobe After Effects is noticeably better than Resolve. I can’t comment on whether Premiere follows this advice. The superior quality of After FX, though, has a caveat in that the time to perform the render is considerably longer then Resolve. The articles were reporting, specifically, on the transcoding of RAW files to Prores. So, I can’t comment on other transcodes.
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premiere does indeed support 32bpc with maximum bit depth checked, although…
I don’t know if I’m wrong about this, but premiere doesn’t seem to handle 32bpc like AE does where you can perfectly reverse crushed white/blacks with an opposite effect slider.
Also, if you’re looking to grade professionally, premiere can’t change the RED raw settings as a batch all at once. or control cinema DNG color.(its burned in). Not to mention it doesn’t support wide gamut monitors in the first place. Most everything is force fed into rec.709.
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