image Courtesy: Black Magic

Editing 4k Videos on DaVinci with Proxies for Low End PCs

Published on 31 October 2024

Introduction

I am not talking again on why do we need proxies for editing 4K videos that I have already covered in the last post. That was on how to use proxies for editing 4K videos while using Premiere Pro.

In this article, I am referring to the version 19 for editing 4K videos on DaVinci with proxies.

DaVinci Resolve has a paid suite as well as a Free version which is fully capable of professional video editing. This NLE, designed by the Black Magic started its journey as a color grading program, Later it became a full fledged professional video editing suite available free of charge.

You can consider being a professional video editor to even become a digital nomad using a laptop and an SSD for file storage. Using proxies eliminates the need of heavy built terminals to a great extent. It’s especially apt for cut-to-cut edit of HD or 4K footage.

If you want to download the installer of DaVinci Resolve, just go to the download page of Black Magic.

So there we’re. All set and let’s now dive into the DaVinci Resolve workflow of editing 4K videos with proxies on low end PCs

1. Manage Your Media for Editing 4K videos on DaVinci with Proxies

It’s important that you keep you 4K media or video clips in a specific location where you can access the media. In this case we have to be on the Media Tab right at the bottom of the interface. Now, just in case you’re a newbie or do want to refresh your memory with the DaVinci Resolve’s interface, you can quickly go through this article and then come back here.

I have created a folder named ‘DaVinci Clips’ where I kept in my clips. I have collected these free UHD clips in 3840 X2160 from pexels. If you further get into that folder, you’ll see the clips there in.

I have already said, I am not repeating why we should use the proxies that I have talked in length in a previous post on using the proxies on Premiere Pro. Briefly speaking, if you play back these clips on a low end terminal you would see videos are playing back not so seamlessly because of its high resolution.

If you don’t find any difficulty in playing back, then it may be due to the fact that these clips are already compressed with h.264 codec. In case you have camera raw files, you’re in all likelihood about to get paused play back.

So, now we’re all set to create the proxies or the low res clones of the original clips and access those proxies while editing. It’s important to specify a certain location or sub-folder for storing those proxies.

2. Fix Proxy Generation Location in Preference before editing 4K videos on DaVinci with Proxies

Go to Menu Bar at the top left.

DaVinci Resolve > Preference > Media Storage

Turn on ‘Proxy subfolders in media file locations’ under Proxy generation Locations. What it does is it creates a sub-folder inside the media folder that we have already created in the previous section. It’s important to keep this proxy location or sub-folders inside the folder containing original clips.

You could inadvertently shift the proxy folder when it’s outside and break the link popping the typical ‘Media Offline’ during editing, the last thing an editor could think of.

Click on Save.

3. Render & Cache Settings for editing 4K videos on DaVinci with Proxies

Now that you have fixed the media storage, which is for the original and proxy locations, it’s important to specify the resolution of the proxies before you actually create them.

Get down to the ‘Gear’ icon at the bottom right of the DaVinci Resolve workspace. Just click on it and you’ll get the Project setting popped up.

Under the Master Settings, scroll down to the segment of ‘Optimized Media and Render Cache’. We’ll set the proxy resolution and format in this section.

Here, you have to adjust a few settings for Media and Render Cache files to get the proxies at their optimum quality depending on your system configurations. Let’s go one by one.

3.2 Set the Proxy Media Resolution under ‘Optimized Media and Render Cache’

I have a standard rule for this. I go half for HD, Quarter for 4K and One-Eighth for 8K (haven’t edited yet) videos for smooth play back. Just play around and find the suitable one for your system. Don’t forget to leave this as Choose automatically.

3.3 Select Proxy Media Format or Proxy file format in MP4 or MXF

I prefer H.264 as the media format to others. Also DNxHR SQ will do. The H.264 generates files in the MP4 container, while the DNxHR SQ creates MXF container for the Media.

3.4 Select Optimized Media Resolution

Leave this Optimized media resolution as ‘Choose automatically’, unless you want to adjust this on purpose too. let’s move one to the next.

3.5 Select ‘Optimized Media Format’ for editing 4K videos on DaVinci with Proxies

Select DNxHR SQ or DNxHR LB depending on your system. Go for LB if you have an older processor that can struggle to process the standard quality files. Never leave it at Uncompressed 10-bit as that will eat up a huge space of your hard drive.

3.6 Select Render Cache Format

Again, go for DNxHR SQ or DNxHR LB depending on your system. I prefer to keep it as the DNxHR SQ. Click on Save the project settings with all these adjustments.

Once you saved all these parameters, you’re good to go for creating the files for editing 4K videos on DaVinci with proxies.

4. Create Proxies in DaVinci Resolve or with Black Magic Proxy Generator

There are two different way to generate the proxies. You can generate the proxies from within the NLE i.e. DaVinci Resolve. or you can launch another program that ships free with the DaVinci Resolve installer itself. We shall see that too shortly.

But, first let’s check how does it go when we remain inside DaVinci.

4.2 Proxies carry a different icon, makes them easy to distinguish

Once the process is over you would find the proxy files in the media pool. You can already see that there is one file with proxy mark right at the top of the Master Bin. But let’s see them all, once the process is finished.

So there you’re. I have superimposed the final screenshot over the previous one when the process was still on to show how do the original files in the Bin look differently than the Proxies. All through while editing, you’ll get to use these proxy files.

If you don’t find the proxy icons somewhere, you might have missed something that requires fixing immediately.

So far, we have generated the proxy files from within the DaVinci Resolve. But there is another option where you can create the proxies without even ;launching the program. Let’s do that now.

4.3 Using Black Magic Proxy Generator Lite instead of DaVinci Resolve

This program ships with the Free version of DaVinci Resolve and you can find this from the program menu/ launcher.

The advantage of using this stand alone program is you don’t have to launch DaVinci Resolve for it to work. Besides it works in the background means you may work on other programs and still be able to generate the proxies which is not the case if you do this using DaVinci Resolve itself.

Now that we know its purpose, let’s now see how does it function or the mechanism.

4.4 Mechanism – how to use Black Magic Proxy Generator Lite

I have created a separate folder to put a couple of files that I want to create the proxies of using this program. At the bottom, you could see that only 45.79 MB are required. Nice indeed, right!

Click Add to add the folder that contains the original files. There are three separate resolutions and formats for creating the proxies here. A fewer options indeed. But that won’t pause anything in the process.

Let’s go with the first option i.e. H.264 8 bit 4:2:0 Half Res 1080p for proxy creation.

Click on the Start button the top right and the proxy generation will kick in. Once you click on the Start Button, it will immediately create a Proxy Folder inside the folder containing your rush.

But here is a catch! When you generate proxies using DaVinci, the proxies become instantly visible in the Media Pool right after they’re created. But how do get these proxy files into the Media pool!

4.5 How to get the proxies created by Black Magic Proxy Generator Lite into DaVinci’s Media Pool?

Just drag the folder that you added into the Black Magic’s Proxy Generator Lite’s during proxy creation into the Master panel of the Media Pool inside DaVinci Resolve.

You’ll get the Proxies evident immediately with their icons. Now you can deal with your proxies for editing. The two clips shown in the above screenshot is for editing 4k videos in DaVinci with proxies that were created using the stand alone Proxy Generator.

After all this piece is on how to edit 4k videos on DaVinci Resolve with proxies on a low end PC.

5. Identify Proxies in the Media Pool and Make the Timeline Prefer Proxies

And now you’re into editing. In this section we’re not going into the details of editing on DaVinci Resolve which you can find in an earlier post.

Here we have a simple sequence after editing 4K videos on DaVinci. Here you can clearly see the proxy icon on each of the clips edited out on in the timeline.

Over to the top, under the Playback menu > Proxy Handling > Prefer Proxies remains checked. That’s the idea it’s so by default. Just in case, you want to get back to the original files, select Prefer Camera Originals.

But I am not sure why do you want to do that for video editing with proxies on a laptop or on a low end PC. Using proxies is immensely helpful and almost indispensable while editing 4K videos. And you see it’s very easy in DaVinci Resolve.

There is one plausible reason where you would want to be able to switch back and forth between the proxies and original files. And that’s color correction or color grading. Because you may have to produce a few sample cuts to your clients for viewing.

Don’t ever leave those cuts with shabby uncorrected clips. And you cannot perform a Color correction let alone Color grading over low res proxies. So you have to go back and forth between the low res clones and the high res originals for editing 4K videos.

Switching Back & Forth between the Proxies & the original files inside DaVinci is thus a matter of a click indeed. Let’s now proceed to the final stage of Export or Mastering as they call it.

6. Deliver or Export using original files after Editing 4K videos on DaVinci with Proxies

In the Deliver Page, things change automatically. You have proxies turned off for the sequence meant for rendering. You have the Resolution options for various dimensions.

While the play back still uses the proxies, the timeline is with the original files sans any proxy icon. Scrolling down the Render Settings, you would see, under the Advance Settings, Use Proxy Media Checked off by default.

Unless you want to have a quick render with the proxy media for some reasons, you don’t have the chance of erring with wrong media.

With the sequence just selected, Click on Add to Render Queue button at the bottom.

Conclusion

Editing 4K videos on DaVinci with proxies is very easy and does requires a few simple steps.

One thing I forgot to mention is you must check the Timeline Resolution under the Project Settings to match with the original. Else you would come across issues while rendering.

What I mean is if you have 4K videos in disposal, you have to set the Timeline resolution at that level first. Then you generate the proxies.

What I just noticed while writing this piece is, although my footage were all UHD or 3840 X2160, I didn’t crack up the Timeline Resolution from previously held FHD or 1920 X 1080.

This poses an issue during Delivery or Rendering. It required me to render at FHD max or lose quality for blowing up to the level of UDH. But that was the main objective of editing 4k videos, right!

There has been a workaround though. I changed the Timeline resolution and I have to manually tweak the Render Settings from the Proxies to the HQ or original inside the Delivery Page. Then I clicked on the Add to Render button.

This time DaVinci didn’t pop up any message.

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