How can I expect a smooth workflow between HEVC media and DaVinci Resolve? If you get stuck in editing HEVC x265 video files in DaVinci Resolve, you may wish to read this post. It displays a workaround to get DaVinci Resolve recognizing HEVC H.265 files without any hassle.
To be able to import HEVC footage into DaVinci Resolve, you need to know the following things:
1)HEVC H.265 is only working in the paid version of DaVinci Resolve, not the free version. You need to purchase a license to get HEVC support in Resolve, or convert the HEVC files to a format that is compatible with DaVinci Resolve first.
2)
If you run a version older than DaVinci Resolve 14, you may run into incompatibility issues working with HEVC files. To solve the issue, you need to upgrade to the new version, or transcode them to files that are usable in Resolve.
3)
Currently, DaVinci Resolve works well with HEVC H.265 files packed in MP4, but not in MOV container. If for whatever reason you are unable to use HEVC footage in Resolve Studio smoothly, transcoding the HEVC H.265 footage to an intermediate format like Apple ProRes or DNxHD would be a workable solution.
For those who need to convert HEVC H.265 video for use in DaVinci Resolve fluidly, you can follow the guide below to learn how.
How to convert HEVC H.265 video to DNxHD/ProRes for DaVinci Resolve?
Software requirement
HD Video Converter (simply download the proper version depending on your computer’s OS)
The steps:
Step 1: Start up HD Video Converter as an HEVC Converter for DaVinci Resolve. When its main interface pops up, click ‘Add File’ to input your source media.
Step 2: Choose output format for DaVinci Resolve
If you are running a Windows PC, we would recommend converting HEVC H.265 files to DNxHD for DaVinci Resolve, you can from ‘Profile’ bar, select ‘Avid DNxHD (*.mov)’ as output format under ‘Avid Media Composer’ column.
If you are running a Mac machine, we would recommend encoding H.265 HEVC files to ProRes 422 for DaVinci Resolve. You can choose ‘Final Cut Pro’ > ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as target format.
Important: If you’ve loaded a number of video clips to do batch conversion, please do remember ticking off ‘Apply to All’ option before you start.
Note that this converter program can only output Apple ProRes and DNxHD video up to 1080p, if you want to preserve 4K quality of your source files, you need to select “4K Video” > “4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)” as target format. To export 4K files, please make sure your computer has enough power to process 4K. If not, simply select Apple ProRes or DNxHD as output format depending on your OS.
Step 3: Custom video and audio settings
If necessary, you can click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profiles Settings’ panel to modify video and audio settings like video encoder, resolution, video bit rate, frame rate, aspect ratio, audio encoder, sample rate, audio bit rate, and audio channels. 3D settings are also available.
Step 4: Start HEVC H.265 files to DNxHD/ProRes MOV Conversion
When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start format conversion. As soon as the conversion is complete, you can click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the exported DNxHD/ProRes MOV files for use in DaVinci Resolve with optimum performance.
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