Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 17.1

Blackmagic Design today announced DaVinci Resolve 17.1 Beta 1 which adds universal app support for M1 powered Macs. The recently released DaVinci Resolve 17 is a major new release with over 300 new features and improvements including HDR grading tools, redesigned primary color controls, next generation Fairlight audio engine including Fairlight audio core and support for 2,000 real time audio tracks, plus dozens of other time saving tools for editors including a redesigned inspector, new bin sorting and metadata clip views!

The public beta of DaVinci Resolve 17.1 for M1 powered Macs is available for download now from the Blackmagic Design web site.

DaVinci Resolve 17.1 Beta 1 offers universal app support for M1 powered Macs to provide better performance on small laptops. Plus the unified memory architecture on M1 enables DaVinci Resolve 17.1 to leverage the power of CPU and GPU processing more effectively, avoiding the need for PCI Express transfers. Significantly, the combination of M1, Metal processing and DaVinci Resolve 17.1 offers up to 5 times better performance when compared to previous generation computers. DaVinci Resolve 17.1 is also compatible with macOS Big Sur, and is initially only available for Mac.

DaVinci Resolve 17 features incredible new creative tools for colorists. The new HDR palette lets customers create custom color wheels for targeted corrections, primary controls have a new design that makes them easier to use, magic mask uses the DaVinci Neural Engine to automatically isolate and track objects, and the new mesh and grid based color warper lets customers push and morph colors in creative new ways. Power Window drawing has been improved, there are new split screen wipe options, an additional Sat vs Lum curve, improved scopes, support for 17 point 3D LUTs and more. Plus, the massive new DaVinci wide gamut color space enables even higher quality image processing and color management.

DaVinci Resolve 17 is the biggest update in Fairlight history with new features, tools and core improvements that make it the world’s fastest and highest quality solution for audio post production. If customers have been thinking about switching to Fairlight from another system, the context sensitive edit selection mode with updated keyboard shortcuts makes it faster than ever. A new high performance audio engine, Fairlight Audio Core, along with the revolutionary new FlexBus busing architecture give customers support for over 2,000 tracks. Customers can now reverse audio clips, analyze loudness, view and navigate transients, preview video while editing, move automation, export multi channel files and more.

DaVinci Resolve 17 makes the cut page even smarter with great new features designed to help customers finish quick turn around projects even faster. The new metadata slate view with bin dividers is a revolutionary new way to visually view, sort and find shots quickly. Audio trim mode displays larger waveforms for more precise trimming. Smart reframing automatically re-frames images so customers can export projects in vertical, square, or other aspect ratios without having to manually reposition every shot. New icon view in the library lets customers preview effects, transitions and titles. Customers can import and edit projects from ATEM Mini Pro ISO, there’s a new clip inspector, fast timeline switching and more.

The edit page adds dozens of time saving new features that professional editors have asked for. New proxy workflows dramatically improve performance and make it easy to move projects between systems. Customers can now sync clips on the timeline and convert them to a multicam group, make source side adjustments before editing a clip into a project, share individual timelines and bins, remove 3:2 pulldown in realtime, and more. The edit page also supports mattes and keying for composites, motion blur on certain transitions, and the ability to render effects heavy portions of the timeline to a new file. The DaVinci Neural Engine also gives customers scene cut detection, de-interlacing and smart reframing.

Compositions customers create on the Fusion page can now be saved as a template and used on the edit or cut page. New animation curve modifiers can be used to automatically retime animations when customers change their duration in an edit. Audio playback with waveform display makes it easier to create precisely timed animations, there are shared markers with the edit page and more. In addition, 27 GPU accelerated Resolve FX have been added to the Fusion page, including the noise reduction and sharpening tools from the color page. New node view bookmarks make it easy to navigate large comps, the toolbar can be customized with their favorite tools, and vertical layouts are supported in the node editor.

DaVinci Resolve 17 includes user interface and workflow improvements across the entire app. Customers will find new and improved format support on the media page, new delivery options, and a unified inspector design on the media, cut, edit and Fairlight pages. DaVinci Resolve 17 also features consistent timeline navigation across all pages, better metadata support, new image scaling algorithms, the ability to share smart bins, smart filters and optimized media across all projects on a system, and even more GPU and CPU accelerated Resolve FX. Plus, there’s a new workflow integration API so third party developers can integrate their asset management systems and other tools with DaVinci Resolve.

“We’re excited to support the new Macs powered by M1,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “We think it’s important that DaVinci Resolve customers can purchase these new Macs and run native software to get the best performance possible. The DaVinci Resolve engineering team has done such a great job and it’s exciting to be part of this technology revolution.”

Availability and Price

The public beta of DaVinci Resolve 17.1 universal app for M1 powered Macs is available now for download from the Blackmagic Design website.

By Andrew Germishuys

Founder of SAMDB | Actor | Armourer | Tech Enthusiast With over two decades in the film industry, I'm a seasoned actor and skilled armourer. I hold numerous certifications in acting and filmmaking, complemented by degrees and diplomas in IT and technology, giving me a unique blend of creative and technical expertise. When I'm not on set or in the workshop, you'll find me immersed in the world of gaming and VR, fuelling my passion for cutting-edge technology. Connect with me: X / Twitter Facebook Instagram Mastodon Threads Explore my work on SAMDB IMDb