DaVinci Resolve Choppy/Laggy Playback

Hi everyone!

I am writing this post because I need technical help. I have this big project that I have been working on for a few weeks -- 1080p 60fps mkv files -- and I have taken everything recommendation that I could find online and on this forum to potentially solve my Playback problem with no success on DaVinci Resolve Studio version (currently the version 19 Public Beta).

For the record, I have turned every file that I wish to edit into a Proxy, turned the Timeline Proxy Resolution to a Quarter, set the Render Cache to Smart, etc. to see if any change could potentially help with the Playback lag, yet the Playback stayed the same. It has made the editing process such a hassle.

If it's any help, I attached the current system log. If you have any follow up questions, feel free to comment -- I'll be keeping an eye out.

Any recommendations are deeply appreciated.

Please tell about your hardware in detail, and the source and codec of your video.

Also if I can recommend not to be on a Beta version if you're working on a big project?

Please tell about your hardware in detail, and the source and codec of your video.

Of course! I am working with Windows 11, 64 GB of RAM, AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics Processor, GeForce RTX 3060 Graphics card. Having a quick look at the projects preferences, in the Decode Options, I have the "Use GPU for Blackmagic RAW decode" and " Decode H.264/H.265 using hardware acceleration with NVIDIA" turned on; for the Memory and GPU I have the GPU processing mode set to CUA and "Use neural engine optimization on NVIDIA" turned on.

Do let me know if this is helpful, if not could you point me where to look?

Also if I can recommend not to be on a Beta version if you're working on a big project?

I did not thought that it will be an issue. Let me try reverting back to 18.6.6.

Take a walk on the wild side…

I did not thought that it will be an issue. Let me try reverting back to 18.6.6.

Beta versions might be unstable by definition. Beta means "it's a test version for you to test for us"

So unless there is something you really need with 19, stay on 18 for now.

Your system is not so different than mine.

Your system should be more than capable of playing FHD content with no issues.

Things that comes to mind

- What kind of choppiness are we talking about?
- Is your timeline FHD as well?
- Where are the files stored? SSD or spinning disk? Can you do a speed test on your disk? I believe Resolve has one otherwyse CrystalDiskMark will do.
- Open Task Manager and go to Performance. Observe how your resources are being used while you play your timeline.
- When you play, do you see your nVidia video card being used?
- Observe the system temperatures - the ones reported by Windows 11 should be enough for now. Are the CPU or the GPU overheating by any chance? What temps are being reported?
- Driver. Make sure you're on the latest nVidia driver - the Studio version being recommended.
- Preferences - Memory and GPU. Disable the AUTO and select your 2060 manually


Make a small new project with one asset that causes the issue and create a backup file (it's a DRA file) and share it here so we can open it on our systems and see how it behaves.

That's all for now

Can you share one of the smaller files for us to test with?

I did not thought that it will be an issue. Let me try reverting back to 18.6.6.

Beta versions might be unstable by definition. Beta means "it's a test version for you to test for us"

So unless there is something you really need with 19, stay on 18 for now.

Your system is not so different than mine.

Your system should be more than capable of playing FHD content with no issues.

Things that comes to mind

- What kind of choppiness are we talking about?
- Is your timeline FHD as well?
- Where are the files stored? SSD or spinning disk? Can you do a speed test on your disk? I believe Resolve has one otherwyse CrystalDiskMark will do.
- Open Task Manager and go to Performance. Observe how your resources are being used while you play your timeline.
- When you play, do you see your nVidia video card being used?
- Observe the system temperatures - the ones reported by Windows 11 should be enough for now. Are the CPU or the GPU overheating by any chance? What temps are being reported?
- Driver. Make sure you're on the latest nVidia driver - the Studio version being recommended.
- Preferences - Memory and GPU. Disable the AUTO and select your 2060 manually


Make a small new project with one asset that causes the issue and create a backup file (it's a DRA file) and share it here so we can open it on our systems and see how it behaves.

That's all for now

To answer your questions:

- When I say " choppiness" I mean that the video Playback struggles to reach 30fps on a 60fps timeline; there is constant frame drops.
- My currently timeline is 1080p 60fps.
- I currently have the DaVinci Resolve Studio on an external SSD drive (30-40 MB/s read speed and 37 MB/s write speed) and the video and proxies files on an external HDD hard drive (35MB/s read speed and 33 MB/s read speed).
- When I play the video, my nVidia video card is being used and does not overheat -- it remains at 32 degrees Celsius.
- Temperatures are at 123 degrees F for the CPU; 89 degrees F for the GPU.
- GeForce drivers are up to date with the NVIDIA Studio Driver v. 552.22
- I disabled the Auto and my 3060 is selected manually.

I hope this helps. If you need more information, feel free to ask.

Thank you in advance!

- When I say " choppiness" I mean that the video Playback struggles to reach 30fps on a 60fps timeline; there is constant frame drops.

I'm afraid then that your computer has no decoder for the codec you are using, otherwise simple playback should be no issue at all. But it can be if the codec needs to be decoded in software.
So, what's your source resolution and the codec? If you don't know, get MediaInfo (free) or post a short sample to a cloud service.

- When I say " choppiness" I mean that the video Playback struggles to reach 30fps on a 60fps timeline; there is constant frame drops.

I'm afraid then that your computer has no decoder for the codec you are using, otherwise simple playback should be no issue at all. But it can be if the codec needs to be decoded in software.
So, what's your source resolution and the codec? If you don't know, get MediaInfo (free) or post a short sample to a cloud service.

I attached an image of one of the video files using MediaInfo for reference.

If you need anything else from my part, feel free to ask.

Check the second tab.
And then, re-wrapping MKV into MOV might help (a fast and lossless process).

I suspect the Storage configuration might be the problem.

30MB read/write speed are from a computer from 1990!

A basic SATA SSD can do 500MB/s read/write. A Gen 3 nVme SSD can do 3000MB/s and a Gen4 can do 7000MB/s.

I assume you have an SSD in your computer? Connected to the motherboard?
If so, can you install Resolve on that SSD, drag some content on that same SSD and do a quick test?

Even a SATA SSD (500MB/s) should be ok with an FHD timeline.

Resolve and video editing in general are like the videogaming of the pro's. Forget about mechanical HDDs and external HDDs - unless on some very fast connections and because you say 30/40MB/s that doesn't seem to be the case here

Test everything on the internal SSD first. Also remember that if an SSD is full to the brink, it will slow down.

Also, what Uli says, you might need to re-package those MKV - though your system should be able to properly decode FHD files in software (CPU) with no issues. I used Resolve "free" for a year and had no choppiness issues.

Let us know how it goes!

Oh, and both the DR software and the Library should be on your internal drive, which is hopefully faster than 30-40 MB/s. Video can reside outside, if the drive and connection are fast enough, like 1.5 to 2 times as much as the video data rate (minimum).

After a few (lengthy) test, I managed to get the program to Playback the video files correctly and as expected.

For this, I deleted the program on the external hard drive and downloaded it directly on my PC's SSD. I moved the video files to the external SSD along with their respective proxies and relink the video files to their new destination. The video Playback reaches 60fps on a FHD timeline and no longer has that choppy/laggy Playback.

However, -- and this part hurts me the most but it is a lesson learned -- since I opened the project on the version 19 public beta and reverted back, the project is no longer accessible unless I update the program.

I can't thank you enough for your knowledge, guidance, recommendations and patience.

You're very welcome and great to hear you did it! Thanks for coming back here to let us know

I do recommend you look into your storage solution. Use the tests I mentioned to validate what you have.

I thought v19 database was compatible with V18, I'd do a search on the forum and see if there is a solution. I think I might have read that you might want to create a backup in 19, uninstall, install 18, import the backup.

You're very welcome and great to hear you did it! Thanks for coming back here to let us know

I do recommend you look into your storage solution. Use the tests I mentioned to validate what you have.

I thought v19 database was compatible with V18, I'd do a search on the forum and see if there is a solution. I think I might have read that you might want to create a backup in 19, uninstall, install 18, import the backup.

Of course! I did a storage clean up before downloading the program in the PC's SSD to accommodate for the program's space requirements (since I only have 500GBs of internal storage) -- that was one of the main reasons why I originally decided to download the program directly into an external SSD.

I'll definitely keep this in mind for the next time something similar occurs since I have catch-up with the process I originally made in the " new" project.

Again, thank you for your recommendations and will to help!