Blackmagic Design has released another update for its video editing, color grading and effect software program, Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve. The headline new feature in DaVinci Resolve 20.3 is support for video with a resolution up to 32K. However, this feature is only available on Mac computers running Apple’s M5 processor.
32K resolution video
If you work with a Windows PC or a Linux-based computer, you are out of luck. The support for 32K resolution video is only available on Mac computers powered by the Apple M5 processor. So far, this is only available in the 14-inch MacBook Pro announced back in October.
However, Apple will likely roll out the processor across its Mac range over the next year. While 32K resolution might seem like overkill, the capability gives system headroom for anyone working with Blackmagic Design’s URSA Cine 17K 65. It’s also useful for high-resolution VFX work, virtual reality and large electronic displays.
FX Noise Reduction
DaVinci Resolve 20.3 adds a range of new features and improvements available across all operating systems. The update delivers improved performance for Resolve FX Noise Reduction. Timeline backups also now allow named snapshots for versioning to make it easier to manage your edits. Blackmagic Design has added 2.39 and 2.40 broadcast safe aspect ratios. In addition, DaVinci Resolve now has Alpha support for its film look creator, film damage, and analog damage.
Other features
Blackmagic Design has added more support for metadata to DaVinci Resolve. You can create custom metadata for unknown fields on import, and these are included when you export metadata files. Speed change and duration change actions also now follow sync lock.
Also, you can embed HDR10+ metadata in QuickTime and MP4 encodes. There are a range of bug fixes and general improvements as well. For a full list, check out the notes on the download page on the Blackmagic Design website.
What we think
At its launch, the M5 processor was heralded by Apple for its faster AI performance. However, it also delivered much faster benchmark results across a range of creative applications. Blackmagic Design has worked with this extra processing power to deliver support for 32K video, which is quite staggering. You will still need to find storage with the capacity and data rates to support such large video files, however. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that this level of performance in DaVinci Resolve will be coming to a Windows or Linux system anytime soon. But if you use those operating systems, you should still update your system to take advantage of the other new features and bug fixes.
Pricing and availability
DaVinci Resolve 20.3 and DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.3 are available to download from the Blackmagic Design website now.
