Hey guys,
Just getting to grips with video using the P3P.
I'm coming from still photography and finding it quite a steep learning curve.

I'm statring to get used to Davinci resolve 12 free. I can now do simple editing and colour work thanks to videos from Jim Hare and others.  
I'm finding my i7 laptop with intel HD 4000 & Nvidia GeForce GT650M struggling at times, I guessed this would happen.
How can I check to make sure Davinci is using the faster card? ........... Would it do this automatically, I'm guessing it does but confirmation would put my mind at rest.

Also to help with this I've been setting "Timeline resolution to 1280 x 720 HD 720P is this ok? ...... If someone could suggest other settings for a slower PC that may be better I'd appreciate it.

I shoot with the P3P at 3840 x 2160 25fps .......... At the moment I have no ND filters for it so using manual at what ever settings are required, trying to keep ISO as low as poss.

As in my thread title would it be better to transcode first to Avid DNxHD (*.mov) or is that no longer a requirement for smooth workflow in Davinci 12?

Oh, nearly forgot, video files from the P3P micro SD are transfered to a file my primary SSD, the fastest drive. .... PC Windows 8.1

Did a quick search but found little, I'm hopeless with the search controls though. Your help would be greatly appreciated as I'm feeling my way around Resolve.

Like to help you out,  but I can't even run the program.   Waiting on delivery of a new video card.   ( the manufacturer date on old is 2008 lol)

CaveDrone Posted at 2016-1-4 18:32
Like to help you out,  but I can't even run the program.   Waiting on delivery of a new video card.  ...

Thank you. ... I hope your new card arrives soon, yes technology does move on somewhat quickly, 2008 would be a dinosaur! lol ......... I remember when I started tinkering with computers I used to dream of a 150Mhz processor!   

styks08 Posted at 2016-1-4 12:09
Thank you. ... I hope your new card arrives soon, yes technology does move on somewhat quickly, 200 ...

150mhz.  You must be new.  My first computer was 4.7 mhz.  640k of ram.  256k Orchid VGA video card, ( I splurged,  it could do 256 colors) and a 10 meg hard disk.  And 2 5 1/4 inch floppys to go with my 300 baud modem.  And yet,  I am barely 21.

Da Vinci Resolve will not even start up unless it figures your graphics card is up to the job. However, once there it can also be painfully slow unless the computer has enough horsepower. The idea of 4K has been a problem for the reason that sensor chips that can provide 4K images are easy to get, but the computer owned by the average user is not able to handle 4K.

A lot of factors need to be considered for successful 4K processing, if you go to the Blackmagic site and read the minimum requirments for Resolve, you will find your laptop is under those specs. If you want to be able to deal with 4K, then your best course of action is to upgrade to a computer that meets the specs in the Blackmagic document, or reduce your expectations and shoot at 1080p in the Phantom camera. You laptop should be able to handle that.

Kneepuck Posted at 2016-1-5 07:59
150mhz.  You must be new.  My first computer was 4.7 mhz.  640k of ram.  256k Orchid VGA video car ...

Barely 21?  Ha!

Kneepuck Posted at 2016-1-4 20:59
150mhz.  You must be new.  My first computer was 4.7 mhz.  640k of ram.  256k Orchid VGA video car ...

Ha Ha ...... Well I guess I was fairly new in to computers, 1996. ...... Now come on, barely 21 and only 4.7mhz in the beginning, was it a hand down from your Granddad! lol

Geebax Posted at 2016-1-4 22:29
Da Vinci Resolve will not even start up unless it figures your graphics card is up to the job. Howev ...

Not exactly what I was hoping to hear but I guessed that may be the case. Yes I should've read system requirements, hands up to that one. OK I'm working with it but the results are not good so I will take your advice and work in 1080P until I can afford to step up to a better PC. I'll go read system requirements.
Thanks for your reply.

I don't how it is when editing in DaVinci, but maybe think about transcoding all clips before you start your edit process. For example I have pretty old hardware Macbook Pro i5 2,5 gHz, 8 GB Ram, 512 SSD... and I I am able to  more or less comfortably edit my 4k clips - but it is a must to transcode these media prior in Final cut (during import) so they are in the friendly to edit Proress format. Generally Final Cut is brilliant edit software for users with not powerful computers.

My guess is that transcoding media should help a lot. 720 p Timeline is bit low, I can easily handle with 1080p even my PC spec is lower so I guess the reason why you computer slows down is that your files that you edit are straight from the Phantom.

Best regards :-)

styks08 Posted at 2016-1-5 02:52
Ha Ha ...... Well I guess I was fairly new in to computers, 1996. ...... Now come on, barely 21 and ...

Merely a bit of time travel.  I used that computer to build a time machine,  and here I am.

I can remember running machines at work with dual 5 1/4 floppies ...  and didn't know what a hard drive was ......does this age me?????

Just installed my new Geforce GTX 960 4GB video card, It's not the bestest (spelling intentional) and greatest available but it is leaps and bounds better than my 512mb card LOL.   My  Copy of Davinci Resolve now works!  Thanks for referring to  JIm Hare's Video for learning.  I will check out that question regarding transcoding, but you're ahead of me... LOL

Based on my experience, I'd like to transcode P3P video to DNxHD before editing in Davinci Resovle. It works more efficiently.

See a tutorial on how to convert videos to DNxHD codec.