$995 Version Is Renamed DaVinci Resolve Studio; Free Version Now Just DaVinci Resolve

Blackmagic Design today announced that a public beta version of DaVinci Resolve 12, introduced at NAB 2015, is available for download. 

The company also announced a name change, dropping the "Lite" descriptor entirely. "This is because there is nothing 'lite' about the free version, as it includes more features than any other product," the company said in a press release. Effective with v12, the free version will be known simply as DaVinci Resolve, while the $995 paid version will be DaVinci Resolve Studio. DaVinci Resolve Advanced Control Surface, including a hardware control panel, is $29,995.

Multicam editing is among the new features in Resolve 12. Click image to load a full-resolution version.

Blackmagic has already announced a slate of new features that represent the biggest update yet to Resolve, including editorial capabilities that push the software closer to being a real competitor to established NLEs. Previously unannounced new features in DaVinci Resolve 12 revealed today include support for Intel Iris and Iris Pro GPUs for improved performance on laptops, which are key to remote and on-set workflow; the ability to create optimized proxy files with customized characteristics for codec and resolution to further tweak editorial performance; and a new Smooth Cut transition using optical flow algorithms to make seamless edits to talking-heads footage in the fashion of Avid Media Composer's Fluid Morph and Adobe Premiere Pro's just-introduced Morph Cut.

The lengthy press release has more details, including an appeal to pro customers to begin paying when they "become established" with the software. It also uses the "free and paid upgrade model" to slam the subscription pricing model adopted by Adobe and others, vowing, "customers never have to worry about a system going down in the middle of a job, on set or when used remotely, because a license suddenly expires…. If the worst should happen, a customer can get DaVinci Resolve working on a system immediately by downloading the free version in minutes."