So, the Mavic got me into drones, but more importantly it got me back into photography.

As a result I have an interest in learning video editing.  So, I decided to get a decent (ish) spec laptop last week for video editing.  It's an MSI GE62VR.  With i7 6700HQ processor, 16GB DDR4 RAM, NVMe SSD drive, and GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB onboard.

So, the only program I've tried to edit Mavic videos is DaVinci Resolve 12.5 and so far I'm massively underwhelmed. Rendering is very fast, but while I've tried to reduce the quality settings, playback is still this stuttery jerky nonsense that reminds my of why I turned my back on PCs years ago and moved toward games machines and iPads... Because the latter two products just work, whereas PCs seem to send me on this endless quest to match software with optimized software settings, with optimized hardware settings.  I just do not have time.

So, either I find the golden settings for resolve that allow me to edit 1080 with smooth motion at decent frame rates without having to 'guess' where I'm cutting a stuttery clip to the nearest 2 second point, or I find an editing program that works much better with this spec, based on those that have experience.  Googling the Resolve settings today I did find posts where it was alleged that Resolve relies much more on graphics card RAM than most programs and ideally prefers 8GB+ onboard??  That's not happening here.  I'm not getting back into DIY hardware upgrades again.  I'd rather switch to software that the experts believe would work better based on experience.

I'd appreciate any help you can offer.  I see these YouTube videos where people are editing and color grading on modest rigs where they just scroll seamlessly and stutter-free to an exact frame on a video and I'm left thinking "What am I doing wrong?  What are they doing right?"

Any help would be extremely appreciated.

Anyone with video editing experience able to help here?

Try to use Adobe Premiere

YOur computer is really great!

It's like a dog running Resolve.

So, Googling around it appears that Resolve tends to hammer the GPU more than Premiere Pro does in terms of the way it's coded?  4K in Resolve needs 8MB on the GPU which is not attainable for me.

I guess I can subscribe to Adobe Premiere Pro CC and if it's no better then it's only cost me a month's subscription.  Has anyone used both programs and noticed a difference?

I only have access to my work laptop right now, but for kicks tried setting everything I could find to make it play more smoothly during editing (use optimized media / Playback @ quarter res / 8 bit video depth vs. 10) but it still plays like stuttery junk.  I then notices the option to 'show all video frames' and when selected it goes all the way down to 6-to-8 frames per second, so my guess is none of these settings really help.

Run the video in Proxy I believe that will help in Resolve.

I think you can contact them direct on there forum and they will help you as I believe your machine is ACE!

Resolve worked OK for me when I was shooting 1080 video but I switched to PowerDirector after some frustrated hours trying to work with 4K (or even 2.7K) video. From what I have seen, I think the GPU is critical for resolve and mine was not up to the job.

I believe you can try Premiere for a month for free to see if it works better on your machine.

Yeah try premiere and make sure you have drivers installed for the nvidia card. I run a similar rig, 16gig@3000 > 6700k @ 4.5, gpu amd480 > 8gig ram, 4k 40" monitor (no freesync, using hdmi instead, was having trouble with putting the monitor to sleep with display port).

4.5 @ 1.265v and left the video card stock. Anyways, editing 4k video is nice. Premiere let's you use a slower rig by pre rendering sections of your work to see it in real time. With your rig that shouldn't be a problem though, you should be able to see clips rendered in real time. 1080 shouldn't be a problem at all. The 6700 has 4 cores, even at stock, I can't see it having issues. Make sure your running at least 2015 version of premiere. Older versions, I don't believe offer 4k as an option.

I used to be an Nvidia fan a long time ago, back when they were crushing everything with the 8800gtx, g80. But since then, ati was bought by amd, and they are actually much faster cards when it comes to using the gpu as a processor. Gaming, nvidia has always been gold because they work with game makers to optimize for their gpu. But put an nvidia and amd card in linux and run something like pyrit, you'll see no competition in raw parallel processing power. Folding was big for awhile, but it was found nvidia was key in keeping ati cards gimped (Huang went to Stanford, he knows the guys in the folding department. Heck he built a whole section of it with his own money). I only have amd cards anymore. Last nvidia card ever bought was the 460. If all did was game though, definitely go back to Nvidia.

Thanks a lot for all of the input, everyone!!

I was running Resolve in Proxy on my new rig at the weekend but it wasn't fixing the issue.  I only have my work laptop to test with right now (lower specs), but I tried adjusting additional settings in Resolve to see if I could see a frame rate improvement in playback (with the assumption that any gain would translate to an even greater improvement on my new rig).  In Optimized media I changed the format from 'Original' to 'One-Sixteenth' and I played with the optimized media format.  Also checked the box for 'Minimize interface updates during playback'.  In the Raw Settings I changed Decode Quality from 'Full' to 'Quarter Res'.  I also changed it to decode using 'project' vs. 'Camera Metadata'.  The upshot was I was a reduction in playback quality (though setting Proxy to Quarter-Res had by far the greatest affect on that), though only a small improvement in frame rate (got up to around 9 frames per second).

I'm sure I'm doing something idiotic and just don't realize...

So, based on the feedback I have nothing to lose from trying Premiere for a month to see how it compares, at the same time learning more about Resolve and the (many, many) options and toggles to improve playback (I wish there was a cheat sheet).

I also agree with the comment that Resolve hammers the GPU, and I've seen related comments from others stating that some editing programs don't hit the GPU at all.

Interesting comments on Nvidia cards!

I will update at the end of thee week with my experience running Premiere as a comparison

So, after a few hours last night with Premiere Pro I can say that from my perspective it runs smooth as butter compared to Resolve.  I tried to re-edit some content that I'd tried with resolve and what had previously taken a couple of hours with Resolve took about 10 mins in Premiere.  Even 4K is no problem through just reducing the playback quality.  And because playback wasn't stuttering it was both more accurate to use and more enjoyable.  I'm getting a better product out of it as a novice.

Two issues I noticed that I'm not sure are specific to my experience:

1) When exporting, whenever I tried to copy what others did in tutorial videos and change the file name and destination folder prior to export it froze both Premiere and File Explorer in an unrecoverable manner.  I realized that when I didn't try to change those defaults that exporting worked every time.  I was also able to consistently replicate the error.

2) Auto-save doesn't appear to work.  The first time I tried editing PP seemed to periodically auto-save my project, however when I experienced the error described in 1) when I reopened PP and reopened my project it was completely empty!  It didn't even remember the source footage.  Everything was lost.  Subsequent attempts at manually saving worked just fine through, so lesson learned.

Overall very impressed with how this runs for me vs. Resolve, and I also find it easier to navigate too.  Very impressed with everything, except for the fact that I'll have to pay!

Thanks much for the feedback and help with this.

are you shooting in D-Log and running the colour profile LUT from the website?  It should load into either Premiere or Resolve...

I found Premiere better to use personally but i don't actually know anything about colour grading or how to get the best out of the video I'm just fumbling around picking up tid-bits here and there.

I'm just fumbling around too.  I'm not shooting in D Log only because some had said that - as of one of the previous firmware updates - that D Log had become mushy to the point that some of the detail could'r be recovered.

I'm not sure if that has since been fixed.  As a result I'm shooting in TrueColor as of last week until I'm able to pull the colors out better.

I have to admit to being useless at the whole color grading thing.  If I was better at it and was able to pull colors out magically like some seem to online then I'd probably stick with Resolve but sadly, no.

Makes me wonder if some of these elaborate reveals look so good mainly because the 'before' is in flat old D Log rather than because the end result was processed in the heavens using unicorn sprinkles and angel's tears...

Lots for me to learn, and I normally do that best with testing and comparing.

Makes me wonder... might be fun for somebody to post a RAW pic online and then have multiple people produce their best results from that one reference image to see how people do it, how styles compare, and what they can pull out of the image.

I like shooting raw hdr and then in Photoshop, it gives a lot of options on import. Think you can make really good photos like that. In a pano, you can adjust each pic in batch. Then equalize the picture too.

Photoshop is made by aliens. Serious.

Video, still need those nd filters. Without slowing the shutter speed, just pointless to try and play with it.

thehippoz Posted at 2017-1-8 05:58
I like shooting raw hdr and then in Photoshop, it gives a lot of options on import. Think you can make really good photos like that. In a pano, you can adjust each pic in batch. Then equalize the picture too.

Photoshop is made by aliens. Serious.

Funny!  Downloaded photoshop last night and will try playing with it on some DSLR photos today.

Great point re filters, which is why I'm excited to see the responses from Polar Pro (another thread) of the differences between their various series... That'll be my next purchase.

BuzzCut Posted at 2017-1-8 05:50
I'm just fumbling around too.  I'm not shooting in D Log only because some had said that - as of one of the previous firmware updates - that D Log had become mushy to the point that some of the detail could'r be recovered.

I'm not sure if that has since been fixed.  As a result I'm shooting in TrueColor as of last week until I'm able to pull the colors out better.

I wasn't aware of the "mush" when shooting in D-Log but I will do some tests against TrueColor and see how it turns out for me. The reason I originally asked was because I did notice a lot of inconsistencies when shooting in D-Log and applying the LUT.

I have the same frustrations that you have with trying to find how to polish the videos to look 100% and hardly anyone wants to discuss/elaborate/explain how to correctly process the video for best results.

I might be over simplifying it, or there might be "more than one way to skin a cat" but if anyone has tip, hints, tricks or links to good tutorial videos...Hook Me Up!

Drone_Hack Posted at 2017-1-9 00:40
I wasn't aware of the "mush" when shooting in D-Log but I will do some tests against TrueColor and see how it turns out for me. The reason I originally asked was because I did notice a lot of inconsistencies when shooting in D-Log and applying the LUT.

I have the same frustrations that you have with trying to find how to polish the videos to look 100% and hardly anyone wants to discuss/elaborate/explain how to correctly process the video for best results.

A few videos started to crop up mentioning D Log issues after one of the firmware updates.

I think (whatever consensus there is) is that D Cinelike is te next best substitute.  The only reason I use TrueColor is that I don't know how to pull the colors out appropriately yet, so I just use this as it looks 'OK' without post processing.

We are in the same boat, Sir, when it comes to understanding all this stuff!!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YgONo_9kmRU

BuzzCut Posted at 2017-1-9 02:53
A few videos started to crop up mentioning D Log issues after one of the firmware updates.

I think (whatever consensus there is) is that D Cinelike is te next best substitute.  The only reason I use TrueColor is that I don't know how to pull the colors out appropriately yet, so I just use this as it looks 'OK' without post processing.

Yeah after looking into after you mentioned it in the previous message.

D-Log definitely seems like a fail. Art is the best apparently and then D-Cinelike. Art has been removed as default so the only way to get it is with Litchi. Seems stupid but just finished testing the theory and it seems true.

Everyone seems to use the same LUT tho A7s CINE downloadable at a cost

the journey continues  

Tried rendering of original 4k Mavic-vids with Pinnacle Studio 20, DaVinci Resolve 12.5 and Adobe Premiere Elements 15:

Pinnacle studio does not give You much choice on quality at 4k: max. bitrate to adjust would be 40 Mbit/s (origninal footage is 60 Mbit/s), vids at 4k get pixelated especially when color-tweaks are applied.

DaVinci gives almost NO choice on render-format (except professional formats, which are unusable for the non-profi, we can have only .mov resulting in a not so good final quality with and without applied LUTs)

I achieved the best results with Premiere Elements 15 at 4k and medium quality set (100 MBit/s): videos are crisp and sharp and optimization is automatic)

This I rendered with Pinnacle Studio 20 at 4k (max. bitrate 40 Mbit/s):

Angelo26 Posted at 2017-1-9 04:43
Tried rendering of original 4k Mavic-vids with Pinnacle Studio 20, DaVinci Resolve 12.5 and Adobe Premiere Elements 15:

Pinnacle studio does not give You much choice on quality at 4k: max. bitrate to adjust would be 40 Mbit/s (origninal footage is 60 Mbit/s), vids at 4k get pixelated especially when color-tweaks are applied.

Interesting comparison.  You're making me feel even better about my choice of Premiere...

Drone_Hack Posted at 2017-1-9 04:25
Yeah after looking into after you mentioned it in the previous message.

D-Log definitely seems like a fail. Art is the best apparently and then D-Cinelike. Art has been removed as default so the only way to get it is with Litchi. Seems stupid but just finished testing the theory and it seems true.

The journey does indeed continue...

A LUT is basically just someone's preset for grading, right?  If so, I'll probably avoid until I've had a little more practice goofing around on my own.  I've found so many creative ways to spend money on this so far

BuzzCut Posted at 2017-1-9 05:17
The journey does indeed continue...

A LUT is basically just someone's preset for grading, right?  If so, I'll probably avoid until I've had a little more practice goofing around on my own.  I've found so many creative ways to spend money on this so far

Actually the presets in Premiere Elements (color, contrast, hue, gamma etc.) ARE LUT´s (in some way) and each of the presets can be changed in the drop-down-menu of each applied color-effect ...........

Angelo26 Posted at 2017-1-9 07:44
Actually the presets in Premiere Elements (color, contrast, hue, gamma etc.) ARE LUT´s (in some way) and each of the presets can be changed in the drop-down-menu of each applied color-effect ...........

Thanks for clarifying.  That's what I suspected from reading.

There are videos and articles online that talk about LUTs as if they have some sort of magical properties.  So much so that it led me to research the topic.  While I haven't had much success with my own manual editing so far, neither have I found a silver bullet in my limited experimentation with LUTs.

I guess there are crafts out there that still require skill and patience to learn.

When I was a complete newbie in video editing, I used this video editor for beginners. Its ease of use makes it possible  even for non-techies to create beautiful movies with cool special effects in minutes.

Good info!  Link didn't work for me, but I'll look into it.

BuzzCut Posted at 2017-1-10 12:05
Good info!  Link didn't work for me, but I'll look into it.

Make sure to try it out one more time! I'm glad you found it useful! Happy editing!

Angelo26 Posted at 2017-1-9 04:43
Tried rendering of original 4k Mavic-vids with Pinnacle Studio 20, DaVinci Resolve 12.5 and Adobe Premiere Elements 15:

Pinnacle studio does not give You much choice on quality at 4k: max. bitrate to adjust would be 40 Mbit/s (origninal footage is 60 Mbit/s), vids at 4k get pixelated especially when color-tweaks are applied.

May I ask what "project settings" you used for 4K in Premier Elements?

fans4c127145 Posted at 2017-3-10 00:50
May I ask what "project settings" you used for 4K in Premier Elements?

Individual settings: 4K 3.840, 25 fps (same as original footage), bitrate 80.000 MBit/s (slightly higher than original footage which is at 60.000), output .mp4