What is Video Monitoring in DaVinci Resolve?

If you’re editing videos in DaVinci Resolve, you’ve probably heard about video monitoring. But what exactly does it mean, and why is it so important?

Video monitoring in DaVinci Resolve refers to the process of observing and managing the quality of video output during editing and color correction, typically using an external reference monitor connected via a hardware output device like Blackmagic’s UltraStudio or DeckLink.

Video Monitoring allows professionals to ensure accurate color representation, resolution, and frame rates by providing real-time feedback on the video being processed, ensuring the final product meets broadcast or cinematic standards.

Without a dedicated hardware output device, these settings can be safely ignored.

Video monitoring is the key to ensuring your footage looks as great as you envisioned, and it’s vital for tasks like color grading and ensuring consistent quality across your projects. Incorrect video monitoring could make your footage appear darker or more washed-out than intended.

Let’s dive in to understand why this happens and how to set things up for success.

DaVinci Resolve Project Settings

What is Video Monitoring in DaVinci Resolve?

When we talk about video monitoring in DaVinci Resolve, we’re referring to the process of evaluating the visual quality of your footage in real-time as you edit. It’s your window into how the final product will look, allowing you to see every adjustment you make as it happens. Whether you’re working on color correction, fine-tuning contrast, or sharpening details, video monitoring ensures that what you see on your screen accurately reflects the final output.

Definition of Video Monitoring

Video monitoring is all about real-time observation of your footage’s quality. As an editor, you need to make sure that what you’re working on in Resolve translates to consistent, professional results when viewed on various devices. It’s necessary for getting the color balance right, making sure your contrast levels are perfect, and ensuring that every frame is as sharp as it should be.

But it’s not just about seeing the footage—it’s about seeing it accurately. If your monitor doesn’t display colors correctly, or if it’s not calibrated, you might be making decisions that look good in the moment but don’t translate well to the final output. That’s why having the right setup for video monitoring is so important.

Why Video Monitoring Matters

In professional video editing, consistency is everything. If what you see during the editing process isn’t true to the final output, you risk delivering a product that looks different on other screens—darker, too bright, or with completely incorrect color grading. Imagine grading footage on an improperly calibrated monitor, only to find later that your footage looks washed out or oversaturated on a properly calibrated display. That’s a disaster.

Misconfigured video monitoring can lead to these kinds of issues. If you don’t have your monitor set up properly, or if you aren’t using a reference monitor, the results can be wildly inconsistent.

This is especially important in industries like film and broadcast, where every detail counts and your work will be viewed across a wide range of devices, from smartphones to 4K TVs. Video monitoring ensures that what you deliver looks as good as you intended, no matter where it’s viewed.

The Role of Blackmagic Design Hardware in Video Monitoring

When it comes to getting the most accurate video monitoring in DaVinci Resolve, Blackmagic Design hardware plays a crucial role. Devices like UltraStudio and DeckLink are designed specifically to work with DaVinci Resolve, giving you a direct and highly accurate connection to your reference monitor.

These hardware solutions allow for seamless output and accurate color representation, ensuring that what you see on your reference monitor is an exact match to the final output.

Why You Need a Blackmagic Output Device

DaVinci Resolve is powerful software, but without the proper hardware, you might not get the full benefits of its video monitoring features.

Blackmagic Design (BMD) output devices—such as UltraStudio or DeckLink—are purpose-built to deliver an uncompressed video signal to an external reference monitor. These devices bypass your computer’s internal display path and give you a clean signal, free from any interference or alterations that could affect the quality of what you’re seeing.

Without a BMD device, DaVinci Resolve relies on your computer’s standard graphics card to output video, which may not provide the same level of accuracy, especially when it comes to color grading.

Without these devices, your monitor could display inaccurate colors or frame rates, which could lead to poor editing decisions. This is particularly true if you’re working with high-end formats like 4K, HDR, or 10-bit color depth.

What Happens if You Don’t Use a BMD Output Device?

If you aren’t using a Blackmagic output device, the video monitoring settings in DaVinci Resolve won’t have any effect.

You’ll still be able to edit and color grade, but the output won’t be as precise. This means you could be working with inaccurate color data, which can be problematic when delivering content that needs to meet broadcast or professional standards.

For casual projects, this might not be a dealbreaker, but if you’re serious about video production, especially for commercial or film work, using a BMD device is fundamental for getting the accuracy you need.

Supported Devices

  • UltraStudio
    UltraStudio is one of the most popular devices for video monitoring among professionals. It supports a wide range of formats, including 4K, 8K, and HDR, ensuring you get the highest quality signal output. One of the key features of UltraStudio is its ability to handle uncompressed video output via SDI or Thunderbolt, which makes it perfect for high-end video production workflows. This device is commonly used in professional studios because of its versatility and reliability.
  • Blackmagic Media Player
    Another great option for video monitoring is the Blackmagic Media Player. While it’s less feature-heavy than UltraStudio, it’s still an excellent choice for monitoring video output, particularly if you’re working with HD or 1080p content. It offers solid performance for output monitoring, making it a good fit for smaller studios or individual creators who don’t need all the features of the UltraStudio but still want accurate video output.
  • DeckLink
    DeckLink is another widely used option in the professional video industry. Available in multiple models, DeckLink offers a range of features, including SDI output, 4K resolution support, and high frame rates. DeckLink cards are designed for direct installation in your computer, providing seamless integration with DaVinci Resolve. Whether you’re working with SD, HD, Ultra HD, or 8K video, DeckLink offers powerful performance for precise monitoring.

By integrating a Blackmagic output device into your DaVinci Resolve workflow, you’ll ensure that what you see on your reference monitor is an exact match to the final product, making it an integral tool for professional video editing and color grading.

Video Monitoring Settings in DaVinci Resolve: Understanding Hardware Output Devices

When dealing with video monitoring in DaVinci Resolve, understand that the settings within the software are primarily designed for systems with attached hardware output devices, like a reference monitor. Without a dedicated Blackmagic Design (BMD) device, such as the UltraStudio or Blackmagic Media Player, video monitoring settings can often be safely ignored.

Why Video Monitoring Requires a Hardware Output Device

In professional setups, video monitoring settings in DaVinci Resolve control the signal sent to a reference monitor via an external video output interface. These settings are used by professionals who rely on accurate color grading and precise image data, as the reference monitor shows exactly what the final product will look like.

If you don’t have one of these BMD output devices, you will not see any effect from changing the video monitoring settings, as they apply to the signal path used to feed the external video monitor—not the internal software display.

Key Settings for BMD Devices in Video Monitoring

For those using a compatible BMD output device, here’s a brief overview of the settings that can be adjusted:

  1. Video Resolution and Format
    • This option allows you to set the resolution (e.g., 1080p, 2K, 4K) and frame rate for the signal sent to your external monitor. These settings should align with the display capabilities of your reference monitor to ensure proper output.
  2. Video Connection Types
    • Use 1080PsF: Outputs progressive video in an interlaced format for older HDTVs.
    • Use 4:4:4 SDI: Outputs a high-fidelity signal for monitors that support 4:4:4 chroma sampling over SDI connections.
    • Use Level A for 3Gb SDI: Used for monitoring via a 3Gb/s SDI connection. There are two 3G standards: Level A and Level B.
      • Level A: Supports 1080p 10-bit 4:4:4 at 30fps or 4:2:2 at 60fps.
      • Level B DL: Offers similar support but adds a dual-link option for specific configurations.
        The correct standard depends on your monitor’s compatibility. If your monitor only works with Level A, you must enable this setting.
    • Dual SDI Output: This option is for those mastering HDR content. If your DeckLink card has dual SDI outputs, you can view the HDR signal on one output while simultaneously viewing the tone-mapped signal on the other.
    • Add 3:2 Pulldown: The 3:2 pulldown process is used to convert 24 fps (frames per second) film content to 30 fps (or 60 interlaced fields per second) for broadcast on NTSC systems
  3. SDI Configuration
    • Configure your SDI output as Single Link, Dual Link, or Quad Link, depending on the connection standard your monitor supports. For instance, some monitors only accept DCI 4K 4:4:4 via Quad Link SDI, so you would need to configure this setting accordingly.
  4. Data Levels
    • This setting impacts how video levels are output to your monitor but doesn’t affect internal processing in DaVinci Resolve. Options include Video (for Rec. 709 broadcast standards) and Full (for full-range 10-bit data).
  5. Retain Sub-black and Super-white Data
    • If enabled, this setting allows DaVinci Resolve to retain data in the out-of-bounds (sub-black and super-white) areas during video output, preserving headroom in video data for additional flexibility.
  6. Video Bit Depth
    • Choose between 8-bit and 10-bit output depending on your monitor’s capabilities. A 10-bit setting is recommended for high-quality output to prevent banding in gradients and subtle color shifts.
  7. Monitor Scaling
    • Basic: The default setting for general use.
    • Bilinear: A more advanced option that reduces artifacts, particularly useful for large projected images or when monitoring lower-resolution content on high-resolution displays.
  8. Enable HDR Metadata (available in DaVinci Resolve Studio)
    • This setting enables HDR metadata output via HDMI when working with HDR footage. If your display automatically detects HDR metadata, it will switch to HDR mode when this option is enabled. To complement this, enable the HDR mastering is for X nits option in the Color Management page, and set the appropriate nit level based on your display’s capabilities.
    • Use Rec.*** matrix for 4:2:2 SDI output: These options give editors more control over the color space and signal standards they use for video monitoring and output. Here’s a breakdown of what each option does, although if you’re getting to this far in the weeds, you should already know which one to use.

Rec.601

  • Standard Definition (SD) Color Space: Rec.601 is an older standard typically used for standard definition video content. It defines how color and luminance are encoded for SD content and is still used when dealing with legacy SD footage.
  • When to Use: If you are working with SD video or need to output video for older broadcast systems that rely on this standard, you’ll select Rec.601.

Rec.709

  • High Definition (HD) Color Space: Rec.709 is the most commonly used standard for high-definition (HD) content. It defines how color is represented in HD television and digital content with 1080p or 720p resolutions.
  • When to Use: Choose Rec.709 if you are working with HD footage or outputting to modern broadcast or streaming platforms. This is the standard color space for most television, web, and HD content production, ensuring proper color representation across different devices.

Rec.2020

  • Ultra-High Definition (UHD) and 4K/8K Color Space: Rec.2020 is the latest standard for Ultra HD (UHD), 4K, and 8K content. It offers a much wider color gamut than Rec.709, supporting a broader range of colors and higher dynamic range (HDR), making it ideal for high-end video production and display.
  • When to Use: Rec.2020 should be selected when working with UHD, 4K, or 8K footage or when mastering content for HDR displays. This standard ensures that your footage takes full advantage of modern high-end displays capable of reproducing more colors and a wider dynamic range.

When to Ignore Video Monitoring Settings

For those working without a BMD output device, the video monitoring settings can largely be ignored, as they apply to the signal paths used for external reference monitors. Your regular computer monitors and GPUs handle video playback differently, so these settings don’t apply to your standard editing setup.

Conclusion

Video monitoring is an essential part of any professional video editing process, and understanding how to properly set it up can drastically improve the quality of your final product. Whether you’re using Blackmagic Design hardware or just getting started, making sure your video monitoring is configured correctly is crucial for accurate color grading and seamless editing. Ready to improve your workflow? Start by reviewing your current video monitoring setup and consider adding a reference monitor or dual-screen configuration to take your work to the next level!

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