AV1 Encoding Comes to AMD Radeon GPUs: DaVinci Resolve Studio Beta Update Unleashes Full Potential for Content Creators

Blackmagic Design, the Australian digital cinema company, has recently announced AV1 support for its beta update of DaVinci Resolve Studio, a professional video editing software. This new update is a significant step for graphics card owners who can now access AV1 encoding, specifically for AMD Radeon GPUs. This article will cover the latest update of DaVinci Resolve Studio, discuss the significance of AV1, and analyze how this update will affect AMD Radeon GPU users.

DaVinci Resolve Studio’s beta update adds support for AMD Radeon GPUs

DaVinci Resolve Studio is a professional video editing software that offers a comprehensive set of features, including color correction, video editing, visual effects, and audio post-production capabilities. The new beta update adds support for AMD Radeon GPUs, allowing DaVinci Resolve Studio users who own these GPUs to benefit from new features, including AV1 encoding.

AV1 encoding is now available for AMD graphics card owners and DaVinci Resolve users

AV1 is a next-generation, open-source video codec that provides improved compression and video quality compared to other codecs such as H.264 and H.265. With the new update, users can now encode videos using AV1 in DaVinci Resolve Studio, which is a breakthrough as it will help develop new content and improve existing ones.

AV1 is considered royalty-free, while HEVC is royalty-bearing

The arrival of AV1 encoding support for DaVinci Resolve Studio is significant because the codec is considered royalty-free. In contrast, HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Codec) is known for being royalty-bearing, which means that the technology developer needs to pay a fee to the patent holder for every device sold with HEVC technology. This could make HEVC expensive for smaller businesses and individuals who do not have the budget to pay the fees.

Owners of AMD Radeon GPUs are the last to receive support for AV1 in the software

AMD Radeon GPU users are the last group to receive support for AV1 encoding in DaVinci Resolve Studio. NVIDIA and Intel GPU users have already had access to this feature for several months. However, support for AMD GPUs will expand to the current desktop and mobile series of AMD RDNA 3 architecture products.

The new support for AMD Radeon GPUs likely spans throughout the current desktop and mobile series of AMD RDNA 3 architecture products

Although the changelog of the software update does not mention specific graphics cards from AMD, the support for AMD Radeon GPUs likely spans across the current desktop and mobile series of AMD RDNA 3 architecture products.

DaVinci Resolve 18.5 beta 2 Changelog

Apart from the new support for AMD Radeon GPUs, the DaVinci Resolve 18.5 b2 update also includes other features and improvements, such as:

  • Addressing a problem with syncing Blackmagic Presentation’s markers in DaVinci Resolve.
  • Additional shading options have been added to the Fusion viewer dropdown.
  • An issue related to copying PoV from an existing scene camera has also been resolved.
  • The update features general improvements in performance and stability.

In conclusion, the recent beta update of DaVinci Resolve Studio is a breakthrough for AMD Radeon GPU users and video editors. The addition of AV1 encoding will help produce high-quality content, and it is welcome news for small business owners, independent content creators, and the general public. The new update also highlights the importance of royalty-free codecs like AV1, which could help bring down the cost of video encoding and improve accessibility. As for the future, we can expect other graphics card manufacturers to offer support for AV1 encoding to benefit their users, an update that will ultimately elevate the video editing experience.

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