The latest generation of Blackmagic Design NLE – DaVinci Resolve 20 – was just announced. It brings many new features and AI-assisted tools that should help automatically create edits. For example, AI IntelliScript can create timelines based on a text script, AI Animated Subtitles animates words as they are spoken, and AI Multicam SmartSwitch is designed to create a timeline with camera angles based on speaker detection.
Blackmagic Design CEO Grant Petty has traditionally introduced new products in a livestream shortly before the NAB Show. We divided this up into three articles:
In this article, we focus on the new DaVinci Resolve 20. If you are interested in the other news, feel free to click on the corresponding link. Now, let’s take a quick look at what’s new with the latest generation of Blackmagic Design’s popular NLE.
DaVinci Resolve 20 – in the name of AI
When watching the announcement video, I had the impression that implementing AI automation features was at the forefront of the new DaVinci Resolve 20 improvements. As Blackmagic Design claims, the new Resolve 20 includes more than 100 new features, including AI tools designed to assist with all workflow stages.
For example, an AI IntelliScript can create timelines based on a text script, AI Animated Subtitles animates words as they are spoken, and AI Multicam SmartSwitch is designed to create a timeline with camera angles based on speaker detection.
DaVinci Resolve 20 – AI features examples. Source: Blackmagic Design
The cut and edit pages also include a dedicated keyframe editor and voiceover palettes, and AI Fairlight IntelliCut can remove silence and checkerboard dialogue between speakers. In Fusion, explore advanced multi-layer compositing workflows. The Color Warper now includes Chroma Warp and the Magic Mask and Depth Map have also been updated.
The key new features in Resolve 20 include the following points:
- Improved keyframing with dedicated curve view and timeline drawer.
- Voice-over tool with record and monitor options.
- Import Blackmagic Cloud Shared folders to the media pool.
- AI IntelliScript creates timelines with a user-provided script.
- AI Magic Mask v2 with paint brush.
- AI Dialogue Matcher matches clip tone, level, and reverberance.
- AI Audio Assistant automatically creates a finished mix.
- AI IntelliCut removes silences and checkerboards speakers.
- Deep image compositing toolset.
The full list of key new features in DaVinci Resolve 20
Here I copied a full list of the new features and improvements included in the new Resolve 20 public beta ordered by pages:
Cut Page
- Voice-over palette with cue, voice tools, and teleprompter.
- Ripple trimming of audio now available on secondary tracks.
- Replay multi-views now show previously used camera angles.
- Tapping time buttons allows camera buttons to preroll replays.
- Auto resync media bins now support stills and sequences.
- Live overwrite now supports edit keys and search dial.
- Mouse drag to live overwrite multi-source and sync bin.
- Trim with safe edit avoids overwriting adjacent clips.
- Media pool metadata palette allows quick review of selected clips.
- Ability to copy, paste, and remove attributes from timeline clips.
- Support for a dynamic trimming mode using JKL controls.
- Full-featured audio mixer.
- Mini timeline now includes a context menu.
Edit Page
- Voice-over tool with record and monitor options.
- AI Multicam SmartSwitch for automatic angle switching.
- AI VoiceConvert with built-in and user-trainable models.
- Support for source tape.
- Ability to view and edit timelines in the source viewer.
- Multicam creation now supports a reference audio track.
- Opening compound clip from timeline matches playhead position.
- Access timeline settings from timeline tab context menu.
- User preference to wrap around 24h timecode.
Cut and Edit Page
- Improved keyframing with dedicated curve view and timeline drawer.
- Import Blackmagic Cloud Shared folders to media pool.
- AI IntelliScript creates timelines with a user-provided script.
- AI Dialogue Matcher matches clip tone, level, and reverberance.
- AI Music Editor automatically edits music to desired length.
- AI-animated subtitles highlight or animate spoken words.
- AI SuperScale now includes 3x and 4x enhanced upscaling.
- AI Detect Music Beats displays and allows beat snapping.
- New optimized UI layouts option for vertical videos.
- Custom grid for sorting and organizing of media pool thumbnails.
- Text+ paragraph, line wrapping and bounding tools.
- MultiText tool with layers and easy transform, clip, and wrap controls.
- Subtitle tracks now support Fusion templates for styling.
- Selectively sync media originals with proxy-only cloud sync.
- Imported PSDs can now be split into individual layers.
- Support for Alert Red viewer background mode.
- Transcription engine now offers extended language support.
- Smooth Cut now supports AI Speed Warp.
- Export audio transcriptions with speaker and timecode.
- Export transcriptions with improved phrase and sentence breaks.
Fusion Page
- Deep image compositing toolset.
- Multi-layer pipelining for OpenEXR, PSD, and stereoscopic 3D.
- Vector warping toolset for image patching and cleanup.
- Support for 180 VR.
- 3D Scene Dome Light.
- Support for native Cryptomatte workflows.
- View color page grade in media out node.
- Faster GPU-based pano map and spherical stabilizer tools.
- Ability to search tool based on effects category.
- User-selectable starting frames for compositions.
Color Page
- AI Magic Mask v2 with paint brush.
- AI Resolve FX Depth Map v2.
- Chroma Color Warper grading.
- Resolve FX Warper features new spline warp controls.
- Open Color IO supported as Resolve FX.
- New optimized UI layouts option for vertical video.
- Display viewer overlays for remote monitoring.
- Stream and monitor H.265 4:2:2 on supported hardware.
- Support for Samsung Log.
- Support for ACES 2.0.
- Ability to generate HDR light-level PDF reports.
- LUTs and colorspaces can now be modified in multi-user projects.
- Node layer controls in the advanced panel.
- Lift, gamma, gain Micro Panel sensitivity improvements.
Fairlight Page
- AI Audio Assistant automatically creates a finished mix.
- AI IntelliCut to remove silences.
- AI IntelliCut to checkerboard dialogue by speaker.
- AI IntelliCut to generate ADR Cues using transcription speaker info.
- Clip EQ now features 6 bands.
- EQ and Level Matcher processes match tone and clip levels.
- EQ and Gain now also available as Fairlight FX plugins.
- Fairlight Chain FX to create and restore frequently chained plugins.
- Drag header color to move tracks and buses in the timeline.
- Automation now supports per channel mode switching.
- Trim automation now remains active through a mix pass.
- Improved view presets store multiple parameters.
Codecs
- Apple ProRes encode support on Windows and Linux.
- Encode MV-HEVC without spatial video metadata.
- MV-HEVC encode support on Nvidia systems.
- Support for side-by-side stereo 3D media decode.
- Side-by-side display mode for stereo 3D clips in source viewer.
- Editable spatial video metadata properties in inspector.
- GPU accelerated H.265 4:2:2 encodes on supported Nvidia systems.
- GPU accelerated H.265 4:2:2 decodes on supported Nvidia systems.
- Support for growing TS, MTS, and M2TS files as media streams.
- Support interlaced rendering for frame-based formats.
- HT JPEG 2000 decode support for EXR.
- Quick Export dialog with custom user preset listings and list view.
- Ability to assign custom icons to user presets in deliver page.
- Support for Sony Burano 2.0.
- Support for RED SDK 8.6.
- Support for audio normalization for Dropbox presets.
- Improved PNG support with HDR and SDR signaling.
General Application
- User-definable location for media created in Resolve.
- Resolve FX AI Set Extender.
- Extras Download Manager for AI models and more.
- Updated remote monitor client with bitrate display.
- Remote monitor now installs with DaVinci Resolve on macOS.
- User preference for automatic cache management.
- Ability to enable dual-screen windows in ultrawide displays.
- Support for OCIO 2.4.2 with ACES 2.0 support.
- Preference to import all clips with multi-mono audio configuration.
- Bluetooth connection status popup dialog.
- Ability to filter which fonts are visible in Text+.
- Data burn options for synced audio.
- Support for Nvidia Blackwell GPUs with CUDA 12.8.
- General performance and stability improvements.
Price and availability
The new DaVinci Resolve 20 is available now (public beta version), and it can be downloaded free of charge from the Blackmagic Design website. As always, the fully-featured Studio version can be purchased either separately or as a part of select Blackmagic Design products.
Do you use DaVinci Resolve for your post-production work? Which new feature of DR 20 is going to help you the most? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section underneath the article.
