Hi all,

I'm happily using DaVinci Resolve (free) to edit my videos, I'm happy to stick to lower resolution output options with the free version to export my final products at lower resolutions.

Question: Is there any software that will let me trim my original 4k files to remove the junk elements but keep the clips at original 4k? It seems a real shame to lose the 4k originals but I don't want to keep loads of huge files with lots of junk footage just in case I need them. I don't want to do anything other than crop out all the footage I don't need and leave the useful bits in full 4k 60 format.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Hello there. Thank you for reaching out and for these information you have given.  Since this is a 3rd party software in editing your footages that you have captured using your DJI Osmo Action. I hope that you will get the best recommendation from our fellow DJI members on what editing software they are using and with regards to this matter. Thank you and please stay safe always.

With Davinci Resolve Free version, you can export in 4K, but you need to choose DNxHR codec. The reason you can't export in 4K MP4, is because it uses CPU instead of GPU and need a really fast CPU so it usually fail. I have the Studio version and it uses GPU for all export and editing, so no problem exporting in MP4 4K.

Great, thank you.

I'll give that a go, I'm using a laptop with reasonable specs (not great) so hopefully it won't be too slow

Initially I was naively assuming that just cutting bits out of a file and leaving the rest as is would be a quick and simple job but I guess everything has to be rendered again

itchyeyeballs Posted at 1-25 04:34
Great, thank you.

I'll give that a go, I'm using a laptop with reasonable specs (not great) so hopefully it won't be too slow  

Don't think it will be too slow for DNxHR, but remember it's lossless format so you will get really big files.
I could recommend buying the Studio version if you make videos more than now and then, and Davinci Resolve Studio is cheaper than Premiere Pro since you pay once and have it forever.

itchyeyeballs Posted at 1-25 04:34
Great, thank you.

I'll give that a go, I'm using a laptop with reasonable specs (not great) so hopefully it won't be too slow  

Did you try in the Resolve the "bypass re-encode" option in advanced settings of delivery page?
If it did not work, it is possible to try avidemux for trim.

I use the free version of Davinci Resolve as well and let it run through a programm called Handbreaker afterwards. This makes more reasonable file sizes (still big on 4k, but that's normal at this high resolution) and for my personal perception a better quality compared to the direct handling of Resolve.

In addition I can tell that the presets for YouTube and Vimeo give terrible video quality for me, in any case you should use custom render settings in Resolve!

Have a look at LosslessCut. It is fast and without any loss in quality. See here:

https://www.videohelp.com/software/LosslessCut

Thank you for the responses, they have all been really helpful, I will check out those Resolve tips and also LosslessCut looks really interesting.

I've realised I'm going to have to stick to a workflow process to get videos off SD card after each session so that I don't end up with a backlog of hundreds like I have now!

When I used the Free version of Davinci Resolve, I used EaseFab Video Converter https://www.easefab.com/video-converter/
for converting DNxHR files to MP4 before upload to youtube. It is faster than Handbrake, because this one use your GPU for converting.
You can also cut with it, but it is terrible for cutting.

Regarding export settings for youtube in Davinci Resolve, I use 100Mbits and CBR High Quality (VBR gives artifacts in shadows).