Why I'm going back to Kdenlive!

Context

Ever since I became a Linux user, Kdenlive has been my video editor of choice. However, some of my newer videos (as of when I'm writing this) have been edited with DaVinci Resolve.

Kdenlive and DaVinci Resolve are the two main video editors on Linux, though there are other programs such as Flowblade, Lightworks, Olive, and Blender (which is actually a 3D modelling software, although it can also do video editing). And while I like Resolve, I've ultimated decided to go back to Kdenlive for the forseeable future.

DaVinci Resolve is proprietary

While not the main reason, it is a significant one. Unlike most Linux video editors which are Free (as in freedom) Software, DaVinci Resolve is a proprietary program whose source code is not public and which it is bound by an End User License Agreement. As an advocate for Free Software, I like to use (and think it's important to use) Free Software where possible.

General Problems

While DaVinci Resolve does work on Linux, it was specifically designed for RHEL, CentOS, and Rocky Linux. Running it on other distros is complicated, sometimes the performance is slow, sometimes it crashes, and in my case, I couldn't get it to run at all on Arch Linux.

I was able to get it running on Nobara Linux, but there's another problem that persists regardless of the distro you use.

Codec Support

The free version of DaVinci Resolve doesn't support common codecs such as H.264 and H.265 (patented by MPEG LA). Microsoft and Apple have to pay MPEG LA to use these codecs, which is why the problem only exists on Linux, so if you drag a video file onto the timeline, you'll notice only the audio appears.

There are a few solutions, but they each have their own problems:

  1. Convert the files to a compatible format using a program like ffmpeg or HandBrake.

    2. This is what I've been doing, and while it does work, it is very annoying and inconvenient.

  2. Pay for DaVinci Resolve Studio.

    3. This is the full-fat version of DaVinci Resolve. While it has a bunch of cool features and would solve the codec problem, it also costs $295.

    I'm not against paying for software and I may buy DaVinci Resolve Studio in the future, but for now, I can't justify spending that much on a piece of software given that I'm a fairly small creator.

  3. Run Windows in a virtual machine using GPU passthrough.

    4. I've done this a few times, but running DaVinci Resolve on Windows or macOS kinda defeats the point of using DaVinci Resolve for me as I could just use any other proprietary video editor (e.g., Filmora or Hitfilm Express). I wanted to try Resolve out specifically because it's Linux-compatible.

Kdenlive is Good Enough (for me)

Most of my channel has been built on the premise of me using Kdenlive. I mostly tried DaVinci Resolve out of curiosity, not because I absolutely needed to use it. The fact my channel has grown shows that Kdenlive is doing a good enough job. So if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

I don't think my content has drastically improved purely from using DaVinci Resolve. It has cool titles, transitions, and effects, but the problem is I don't know how to implement them without it seeming forced.

Kdenlive is a surprisingly powerful tool, and there are creators whose quality is much better than mine (e.g., Gardiner Bryant, Veronica Explains, DistroTube) and yet they use Kdenlive. I have a fairly simple editing style, I may add some background music, but I generally don't include a ton of CGI, sound effects, MrBeast-style text, and so Kdenlive works well enough for the kind of videos I make.

Kdenlive does some things better than Resolve

These aren't necessarily reasons Kdenlive is better than Resolve as an editor, but rather things that I like about Kdenlive as a piece of software. A lot of which can be contributed to it being FOSS: