DaVinci Resolve's BIGGEST Workflow Secret - Media Management

The Media Management window in DaVinci Resolve is easily the most overlooked tool in the whole software. Whether you need to transcode specific clips in your project or copy only the footage used in specific timelines to a different hard drive, the Media Management tool does it all!
00:28 Find Media Management
00:36 Copy vs Transcode
01:16 Media Selection (Project, Timeline, or Clips)
01:51 All vs Used Media vs Trim
05:06 Consolidate Multiple Edit Segments Into One File
06:00 Use Project Name Subfolder
06:25 DRTs with Timelines
06:36 Preserve Folder Hierarchy
08:31 Relink to New Files
09:37 Select Clips in Timeline vs Media Pool
10:57 A Well Managed Outro
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#DaVinciResolve #mediamanagement #remux #copy #transcodes #convert

[@johnwaldmann5222]

I and a friend on apple silicon (plural) and intel machines (plural) over several generations of macOS and Resolve 17 onwards have experienced media management failure across most of this tool. Transcribe sometimes transcribes random clips from the same drive folder as the selected clips (even when not even similarly named, nor imported into a project). Handles generated do not reflect the settings chosen, and other failures that reduce sole uses of the tool to the select walk through examples described in the guides. Very frustrating when the tool just does not work as intended, whereas it would be extremely useful if it did. I use the tool with trepidation after insuring I have explicitly selected the entire timeline, set in and out points covering the whole of the timeline, and also selected show timeline clips in the media pool. Anything less means clips are just as likely to be excluded from the media management operations than included. I also periodically systematically test the media management tool to see if there are any substantive improvements to its reliability.-beyond the specific method mentioned in the guide. In the hope that Blackmagic invest in ensuring the whole of the tool works as intended, reliably. As for my colleague -well he avoids the tool altogether these days.

[@CameraTim]

That's really interesting. This is the first time I've heard of someone having these types of issues with it. The two bugs I've noticed with it were with the Relinking option getting grayed out when it goes to the Clips window and setting folder hierarchy to 0. The random transcoded clips one is definitely new to me, and I might reach out to a couple connections if I can reproduce the issues myself. Have you found ways to reproduce these issues? And if it's Mac-specific, there could be a number of reasons for that due to the way Mac writes encryption on certain hard drives. Completely hypothetical of course and I have no way of testing that myself, but I'd be curious to do some troubleshooting.

[@KarlGutowski]

@@CameraTim You should have read a fucking forum before making this video, Tim.

[@CameraTim]

@@KarlGutowski Addressed that in your initial comment.

[@ZamoraChristian]

This was super usefull thank you so much

[@CameraTim]

@@ZamoraChristian You’re welcome! Glad I could help!

[@AndriSoren]

I can also chime in and say that the tool is really unreliable. This when working on Mac and with files generated by ATEM ISO recordings and then edited with some camera switching. I’ve tried every combination of workflows or settings I can come up with but there’s always something wrong. Clips shown as missing on the edit page but no sign of unlinked media within the file. Davinci gets confused and re links to the wrong file. Transcoded files are far too low in quality, no matter what I do. There’s always something, It’s such a shame as the tool would be so helpful if it would work reliably.

[@CameraTim]

It is a shame that many people have an issue with it. Hopefully it’s something they address soon.

[@ElMeach]

Great Video Tim, and a lot more in depth tan many others I have seen. Comment section is making me worry though. I am trying to make my reel after years of postponing it and was thinking of the better way of navigating my projects and making copies of usable clips while archiving the rest and think this would be a good way. I'll let you know how it went and if there were issues. Using 18.6.6 here

[@CameraTim]

@@ElMeach Thank you! And yeah, I don’t fully know the extents of what’s causing their issues, although they do seem to be more Mac related. I haven’t heard much in terms of people’s experiences with it in 19, but it’s worth a look. If you’re looking to make just complete copies of footage and folders, you might just go with something like the Clone tool, which I explain in my how to import video.

[@ElMeach]

@@CameraTim Thanks Tim, I'll go check it out. I'll go check that video, sounds like a time saver. I am on windows, so if I have any problem I'll let you know.

[@ElMeach]

Yeah, just checked the Clone tool video, that was actually what I needed. I hate to check clips on file explorer. I wanted to do that on davinci while copying to a new location. Thanks for making this videos and for taking the time to directing me to the right answer for my case.

[@CameraTim]

@@ElMeach Absolutely, glad to do it and glad it’s helpful!

[@ElMeach]

@@CameraTim oh, my. I just tried it. I thought you could clone individual files, that would have been awesome. I think I am staying browsing on resolve, adding to media pool, then copying individual clips with media management. But I am from now on importing with the clone tool with the added checksum for sure.

[@JUMADO]

I would love to use it, unfortunately after using it on a few projects it all destroyed them... I finished my project, then Media Managed the whole project, while using the copy function and taking 30 frame handles also preserve hierarchy after 0 folder levels and Relink to new files. Then making a project archive of that thing deleting the whole old folder as the archive is stored in a archive folder, but when reopening the thing, at first everything seems right, but some Clips are just gone or like I make a lot KZbin Videos and the ARoll is moved to the left or right (not the actual clip but its slide to one side, so that the talking head does not fit the BRoll) also I have own animations for chapters, where I use illustrations (I use fusion comps for this an make it in the fusion page) the illustrations just disappear. I tried to solve the problem but I don't know what's wrong... If I do not media manage the project and only archive it, everything works perfectly fine. I would love to use it, due to the massive file reduction it makes, when working with a lot of SLOG files where only some are used. If anyone had similar problems and solved them, I would appreciate every help!

[@CameraTim]

Yeah, it’s so interesting, another person was telling me something about how Mac systems don’t use the tool properly. I haven’t experienced those issues personally. The only ones I have were what I mentioned in the video, but I’d be really curious to do a deeper dive into some of these issues.

[@Stradigos]

This tool is so broken. I create a timeline with a clip. Cut up the timeline. Select timeline. Open media management. Go to Timelines tab, Copy subtab. Select used media and trim keeping N frame handles, aaaand it just copies the whole original source clip. New size = current size. So dumb. Relink to new files is broken often as well, as you point out.

[@CameraTim]

Did you have the Consolidate Multiple Edit Segments Into One File toggle checked? Because that would cause the issue you're having. If it wasn't, then this is an issue I haven't heard before. The Relink part is a little bugged due to certain pages not actually being able to use it, but then not having the proper checks to re-enable it on a page that can use it.

[@huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhn]

same for me, it just seems to copy one source file and that's it. Did you ever find a way to get it to work or did you find an alternative way of doing it?

[@CameraTim]

@@huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhn I still haven’t encountered this issue so I’m not 100% sure how to replicate it or work around it. My only suggestion as of right now is to try it with the Clips tab using the Selected Timeline Clips method. If that doesn’t work, I can look for additional solutions.

[@huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhn]

I see, perhaps my workflow was faulty, I will try it again tomorrow and see if I can get it to work @@CameraTim

[@CameraTim]

@@huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhnI don't think your workflow is faulty, there's just some goofiness with the Timeline tab it seems. The tool has crashed on me a few times since making the video, but nothing like what people are describing. Just makes me wish I had a little more insider knowledge of why these things are happening. But yeah, let me know how trying the Clips tab works and hopefully it performs better! The only thing it won't do is generate a .drt file, but those are easy to make.

[@candicecan1634]

Please help: When I use media management on my Canon M50 Footage (Codecs: MPEG-4 AAC, H.264), it seems to all work fine, except that it will no longer plays the audio in the new, copied clips. That is, not on my mac, unless I open the new file in DaVinci Resolve. This is when I use "Copy" not "Transcribe" with the goal of trimming down my original media to save storage space. After copying through media management, when I am in Finder and click on Info, the AAC is also no longer listed under the Codecs. Does anybody know what is happening and how I can fix it?

[@CameraTim]

Just so I'm understanding correctly, the audio shows up in the new copied footage when it's imported back into Resolve but not in a separate media player?

[@KedarBhatlive]

Same here with Sony files. Audio is played in VLC player & resolve but not on quick time player. This happens in trimmed clips. If clips aren't trimmed, copied files do play in quick time player

[@KedarBhatlive]

​@@CameraTimit plays in VLC & DVR but not in quicktime player

[@CameraTim]

@@KedarBhatlive QuickTime is a goofball. When you trim the clips and you open them in VLC, what is it saying the audio codec information is?

[@KedarBhatlive]

@@CameraTim Trimmed & copied video says: Timecode, H.264 ,encoding software: DVR studio Original video says: Linear PCM, H.264

[@JamieHarveyJr]

It’s such a frustrating feature. If I media manage my timeline (Multicam video and two audio tracks) and start a new project with the .drt, the audio clips are all there but appear to start at timecode 0:00 and all the audio is junk. It doesn’t save the actual audio clips at the timecode marks my project had sliced up

[@CameraTim]

I haven't tested it with multicam. That I could easily see breaking because it might not know what to do with the multicam clip itself since it's just a reference and not an actual source. What I might try in that instance is duplicating the timeline and flattening all multicam clips. Probably an annoying step, but it's worth a try.

[@JamieHarveyJr]

@@CameraTim I idid forget to mention I flatten the Multicam clips first but it seems like Multicam projects would be quite a common project structure that would need to be consolidated and saved the most.

[@CameraTim]

@@JamieHarveyJr Ah, got it. I mean yeah, it would make sense. Unfortunately it seems like an Entire Project or Clips backup would be the ideal choice in this scenario. Might try to have a conversation with some engineers at some point to figure out what’s going on with people having issues with timeline level Media Management. Seems to be the most common pain point with this tool.

[@JimRobinson-colors]

Did I miss it where you told people you can trim RAW files and it creates new and smaller RAW files?

[@CameraTim]

So I didn’t explicitly state it, I just implied that the Copy tool keeps the original codec integrity and doesn’t convert it, regardless of what format it is. At 5:50 I do mention that even when trimming, because we’re using the Copy tab, it keeps the original quality of the footage, probably would’ve been good to mention that raw maintains all its metadata and integrity too.

[@SagarGanesh_ContentCreator]

thanks a ton :)

[@CameraTim]

@@SagarGanesh_ContentCreator You’re welcome a ton

[@ssukotash]

Boy are you good at responding! It's been awhile, and after reading a few comments & responses seems like my problem may be that I'm on a Mac, so you may not be able to help, but what the hay.... I consolidated a project, seemed to work fine with the new clips after moving the original clips to the trash, so I emptied the trash. Now the timeline uses the deleted media pool for source material so it's all offline. (I'm pretty sure I double checked "Find in Media Pool" to make sure it was sourcing right when it worked.) I've tried re-linking to the consolidated folder. No joy. I didn't check "Relink to new files" in Media Management. If this one's blown I'll try that next time. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[@CameraTim]

Haha! I try to be responsive when I’m able! It is true that Mac users seem to have more difficulty with this tool than Windows users, and I have a couple theories as to why, but I’m sure it’s incredibly nuanced. In terms of your question, the Relink toggle is necessary if you’re going to be relocating the media or if they’re transcoded into a different format. One thing that might be happening, and I don’t know for sure because I don’t know your footage, but if it’s still referencing the original media and you’re trying to relink it to media with a different Timecode, then it’s possible that it’s just referencing the wrong points of the footage or just won’t relink at all because the Timecode doesn’t match. You could try the Replace option when you right click the footage, which sucks because you have to do them all individually, but that should relink your files properly at that point. Depending on how you consolidated as well, if there are multiple clips from a single original file (where it makes a S000, S001, and so on, on the file name), then Resolve might not know what to do with that as well. The tricky thing with Find in Media Pool is that it’s not necessarily telling you what original source file it’s referencing, just where it’s located within your project. So that can definitely be misleading. Hopefully this somewhat helps. If there’s any other details involved, just let me know!

[@ssukotash]

@@CameraTim Now I'm even more impressed! Not only did you respond quickly, you solved my problem! I didn't see a "Replace" option on a timeline clip, so I checked the media pool. It turns out that since I chose to consolidate multiple segments into one file I only had to "Replace" 22 times. Now my timelines access the much smaller consolidated pool. Thank you!!!

[@CameraTim]

@@ssukotash Amazing! Glad I could help!

[@sputnickers]

Thanks for the great video. I'm surprised you don't address proxies. There doesn't appear to be any way to use the media management tool in a way that allows one to copy original source media AND keep your proxies as well. Proxy files are so important in editing. To lose them in this process seems foolish. Any thoughts?

[@CameraTim]

I made a different video dedicated to proxies, so I didn’t feel it was that crucial to include in the Media Management tool. This video was more focused on how versatile the Media Management tool was and how it works. In terms of copying the proxies as well, if you’re looking to do an entire project backup, it would probably make more sense to create a project archive. Unless you only wanted certain files, then I would probably drag proxies into the actual project and copy them from there, either by using Entire Project or Selected Media Pool Clips, depending on how you’re copying/backing up the project. But yeah, it would be nice to just have a toggle to keep generated proxies if they’ve already been made.

[@JuvenalMaze]

Perfect explanation thank you, was very helpful

[@CameraTim]

Amazing! Glad it was helpful!

[@inSurfersParadise]

Excited to see this but shall proceed with caution.

[@CameraTim]

Apparently it works much better on PC than Mac for whatever reason. I don't have a Mac so I haven't experienced any of the issues other people have mentioned personally (and didn't know about at all until after I made this video), but hopefully it can be of benefit to you!

[@inSurfersParadise]

@@CameraTim We rely on software to perform miracles. I have faith Davinci will solve this. I love the idea of dropping new raw footage locally onto attached SSDs, editing that day, then flushing all the good stuff to the network NAS for later. i'm on a mac so I'll let you know if it blows up on the launch pad.

[@CameraTim]

@@inSurfersParadise Yeah, we live in a bit of a spoiled age, it’s pretty easy to forget that. But let me know how it works if you’re on version 19! Curious to see if they’ve patched any of the oddities.

[@inSurfersParadise]

@@CameraTim Well that worked a treat. All those files from today’s event are nicely backed up to the NAS drive. Bravo sir.

[@CameraTim]

@@inSurfersParadise Amazing! Glad to hear it!

[@ElieHaykal]

Great video Tim :)

[@CameraTim]

Thank you!

[@iambuschi]

Love your light setup.. Will try to steal it 😂

[@CameraTim]

LOL! Do it. For context, my key is a GVM P80S (or a GVM SD300S depending on which is in use) with a 37.4" Godox Octa softbox. Backlight is a GVM LT-50 panel. And the background blue light is a cake pan that I put an LED strip into and placed a blue gel over it.

[@iambuschi]

@@CameraTim Haha thx for context. The Octa soft light is awesome. Cannot fit it in my place, but compensate with circular panel close up.. Usually I go to blue rim light but really like the warm colors in your example.. Anyway, great video.. Will follow more closely now...

[@CameraTim]

@@iambuschi Haha! I’m pretty sure if people saw what I fit into my less than 9x9’ office, they would have an aneurysm. There are definitely smaller softboxes out there that’ll do the job as well though. The biggest reason I like softboxes is because I can place a grid on them to greatly reduce the light angle while maintaining softness. But that can be a bit cumbersome for a lot of people which I totally get. I just go overboard sometimes…

[@MichaelGalli88]

damn, that's a great way to copy all or all but certain files that are project-related, and pack them onto an external drive to archive or share.

[@CameraTim]

Thank you!

[@everythingismid]

You are hilarious. Dry humor FTW!🤣

[@CameraTim]

LOL! Thank you! Glad it translates

[@karol.sobanski]

comment left

[@CameraTim]

Thanks I give

[@RobertMacCready]

Comment

[@CameraTim]

Engagement!

[@huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhn]

did you remove my comment for some reason? This tool is broken and others deserve to know it. It just does not work.

[@CameraTim]

No, your comment is still there. I responded to it. Your original comment was a reply to someone else’s, so that might be why you don’t see it initially.

[@huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhn]

sorry mate, my bad, got a bit confused and might have mixed it up after checking a bunch of tutorials out but nothing seemed to work so I came back to see if someone might have replied with a solution @@CameraTim I really hoped I could get the media management thing to work, if I ever find the solution I'm gonna leave a comment but I think it needs to fixed by the devs probably... Oh and your video was great apart from the fact that the tool seems to be broken for some people but it cant be helped. Hope you have a nice day!

[@CameraTim]

@@huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhnNo worries! I think KZbin comment replies don't really send notifications very easily. I've found some comments in some of my videos that KZbin never even mentioned that I hadn't seen. But yeah, it's good that people can share their experiences because I just want to share tools and tips that I hope can make people's lives easier, so it's good feedback.

[@KarlGutowski]

This feature WILL NOT WORK FOR MOST USERS OF RESOLVE. As of version 19, Media Management will fail if you have anything except basic bitch camera footage and embedded audio. This includes mixed frame rates, conflicting time code, Fusion compositions, titles, basically anything other than your pre-graded raw cut. You get a thumbs down for not addressing any of the countless forums of frustrations and user grievances and for not naming your video correctly "DaVinci Resolve's BIGGEST implementation FAILURE"

[@CameraTim]

I'm sorry there was a lot of issues I didn't address. My goal is to help people learn about tools and processes they wouldn't have known about otherwise. At the time of making this video and through multiple reputable sources that I was talking to about this tool, none of these issues were even on anyone's radar. So I had no idea to look through forum posts to find these issues, especially when most of them involved Mac users, of which I am not. I do try to do my due diligence to ensure I cover problems or address bugs while doing this type of content, and typically I feel like I've addressed things to a good degree, and anything I miss I usually cover in the comments with people's questions. Obviously I will miss things and this video is probably the biggest one of stuff that I missed, and I do apologize for not addressing that. I won't ask you to remove a thumbs down or anything because I don't want to be disingenuous, but this is a video I will keep up because it still helps people who need this type of workflow, which again, is my goal. I will continue to look into problems and frustrations other people have with tools and do my best to ensure that I cover as much as possible, as I never purposely leave out information or provide misleading information while creating this content.