DaVinci Resolve Turn-Key Systems

DaVinci color correctors have been the standard in post production since 1984. There are thousands of colorists worldwide who understand the performance, quality and workflow of DaVinci.DaVinci is the name behind more feature films, television commercials, documentaries, television production and music videos than any other grading system. When you’re in a room full of demanding clients with conflicting ideas, colorists know that only DaVinci has the quality, performance, creative features and powerful control panels you need to work fast

Resolve is the latest of the DaVinci color correctors. Combining power, scalability and innovation, Resolve lets you move seamlessly from simple primaries to complex node-based color correction and stereoscopic grading - all in real-time.

Resolve on Apple: The Core

Apple’s MacBook and MacPro have become the computer platform of choice in many video facilities from small boutiques to multi-suite international organizations, plus Apple’s proprietary ProRes video codec has been chosen by more camera manufactures as their default way to capture video. Resolve’s ability to read and write directly to this format make it a simple choice for many wanting the power and features of DaVinci color correction which will easily integrate into existing networks. The Mac resolve can also be used as an assistant station to a Linux system as projects can be simply shared across Mac, Windows and Linux OS platforms.

Currently Mac systems are limited by the performance of the new MacPro 12-Core and while adequate for HD and 2K workflows, a Linux or Windows system will provide better performance in 4K and with compress RAW codecs. (Red 5K, 6K, Sony RAW, Arri RAW, etc) It is possible to add Red Rocket-X cards via PCIe -> Thunderbolt expanders, however by you add this a 2GPU Linux system with the same performance is no more expensive.

The MacPro is also limited in its connectivity capabilities, as it is solely reliant on Thunderbolt for expansion. This causes bottleneck's as even in simple installations, the majority of the Thunderbolt ports are used either for storage interfaces or as monitor ports. You are also reliant on the non-locking Thunderbolt cables which significantly increase system complexity and un-reliability.

Resolve on Linux: The Performer

The new MacPro is a great entry point but, for complex color work at 4K resolutions, you need Resolve for Linux, which links clusters of NVIDIA GPU processors together to create a system that gives the fastest graphics processing available.

DaVinci's node-based image processing allows for huge creativity, as each node can contain color correction, power windows or effects. Resolve on Linux can play back around 30 nodes in multiple uncompressed formats, even if you're applying heavy-duty effects, or working with 4K, 3D or native R3D files.

By utilizing the latest hardware developments from Intel and Nvidia, ColorScene is building Linux systems on top of dual 22-core CPU's (44 Total Cores, 88 Logical Threads) and multiple Nvidia GTX Titan X 12GB GPU's (Up to 48GB of Video Memory with 4 GPU). This allows our customers to work with all the latest compressed camera RAW formats at real-time or faster. (6K Dragon files play back at 30-36fps)

ColorScene is one of only a few authorized systems integrators for DaVinci Resolve on Linux. We work closely with Blackmagic Design's engineers to ensure our systems are using the latest components for performance and reliability. Our consultants can offer up to the minute advice on every part of your system, from bandwidth and network requirements to monitoring and projection systems.

Resolve of Windows: The Builder

Why would you need DaVinci Resolve to run on Windows? The Mac Resolve system has proved to be a very capable system however it is limited to run with graphics cards developed especially for the Mac. Running on Windows allows the use of any NVidia CUDA capable GPU and many of them. Resolve on Windows can be configured with 1, 2 or 4 GPU units. One GPU is good for work up to 2K, where the 4 GPU version is ideal If you need to work with 4K. One thing to be careful of with Windows is it's lack of ProRes support. While it will be able to read ProRes files natively, there currently is no way for DaVinci Resolve to render out ProRes files. If this is little consequence to your workflow then Windows is a great step-up over a MacPro.

Our Windows systems utilize the same hardware components as our Linux systems, however we have noticed some reduced performance from Windows vs Linux. This is probably due to the way Windows resource management and differences in the Nvidia GPU drivers. However for those who need more performance than a MacPro but who have little experience with Linux, a Windows system may be ideal.