Blackmagic Design is running a limited-time sale on DaVinci Resolve Studio, dropping the price from $295 to $236, a $59 savings. The deal runs through November 20th, and it applies to a whole range of control surfaces and keyboards as well. It’s the perfect time to upgrade to DaVinci Resolve 21 and the 21.1 update. The more interesting story is why Blackmagic is running this promotion right now.

The timing of this sale lines up directly with two new processors that are changing what AI tools can actually do inside DaVinci Resolve Studio.

On Apple hardware with the new M6 chip, AI SuperScale (which upscales HD footage to 8K) runs almost 70% faster than on M5. AI Speed Warp, which creates smooth slow motion from normal frame rate footage, is over 60% faster. Those are not just small speed bumps but a nice time saving, especially if you’re still running old machines on old processors. While BMD specifically mentioned Apple’s M6 chip, you can bet the M5 Ultra Mac Studio is in this same conversation.

While I don’t use Windows products very often, the NVIDIA RTX Spark also sees a big increase. DaVinci Resolve 21.1 adds RTX Spark support, and the numbers are fast: AI Magic Mask tracking is up to 17 times faster, and AI Speed Warp is up to 41 times faster compared to ARM-based Windows laptops without RTX graphics.

If you’ve been sitting on the free version of DaVinci Resolve waiting for a good reason to upgrade, the combination of new hardware and a 20% discount is a pretty compelling argument. And even if you’re not upgrading to this specific hardware, Resolve being on sale doesn’t happen every day so there isn’t much excuse not to grab a license.

What’s actually on sale?

Here is the full breakdown of discounted products:

• DaVinci Resolve Studio was $295 now $236, saving $59
• DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel (English Only) was $495 now $396, saving $99
• DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel was $30,090 now $24,072, saving $6,018
• DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel was $2,055 now $1,644, saving $411
• DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor was $395 now $316, saving $79
• DaVinci Resolve Replay Editor was $505 now $404, saving $101
• DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard was $605 now $484, saving $121

You know you want an Advanced Panel!

A note on availability: panels and keyboards are discounted while stocks last, so those deals could end before the November 20th deadline. It looks like the Mac App Store version is also onsale but I would recommend buying it from a reseller.

The sale is available now from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide. Head to their reseller page to find one near you.

Along with the god news of Resolve being on-sale, BMD also announced some prices increates on some hardware. This is attributed to the increae in DRAM, flash and SSD storage. We all know how expensive storage has gotten and som many BMD cameras ands prodcuts use some type of storage. Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO had a few things to say on this price increase including

Our suppliers tell us memory consumption is now running 60% higher than it was at the peak of the COVID shortages, and even at that level they can’t keep up. They tell us that demand is running another 30% above what they can deliver. Put together, that means demand for memory is now about double what it was at the COVID peak.

Wow, but not shocking.

The price increases affect the following products:

• DeckLink IP HD from $345 to $450 for a $105 increase.
• DeckLink IP HD Optical from $370 to $580 for a $210 increase.
• DeckLink IP/SDI HD from $395 to $510 for a $115 increase.
• DeckLink IP 100G from $1,495 to $1,795 for a $300 increase.
• Blackmagic Media Player 10G from $975 to $1,115 for a $140 increase.
• Blackmagic Studio Converter from $975 to $1,185 for a $210 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP Converter 3x3G from $595 to $920 for a $325 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP Converter 4x12G PWR from $2,075 to $2,360 for a $285 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP Converter 8x12G SFP from $2,665 to $3,575 for a $910 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini IP to HDMI from $305 to $375 for a $70 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini IP to HDMI SFP from $305 to $325 for a $20 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G from $380 to $530 for a $150 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP Mini BiDirect 12G SFP from $385 to $475 for a $90 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP Presentation Converter from $885 to $1,170 for a $285 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP UpDownCross 12G from $565 to $955 for a $390 increase.
• Blackmagic UpDownCross 100G from $2,435 to $3,600 for a $1,165 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP SDI to HDMI 12G from $515 to $925 for a $410 increase.
• Blackmagic 2110 IP SDI to HDMI 12G-10 from $995 to $1,550 for a $555 increase.
• Blackmagic StudioBridge 100G from $2,495 to $2,930 for a $435 increase.
• Blackmagic Cloud Pod from $400 to $545 for a $145 increase.
• Blackmagic Cloud Dock 2 from $575 to $700 for a $125 increase.
• Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini 8TB from $4,495 to $4,895 for a $400 increase.
• Blackmagic Cloud Store Max 24TB from $13,995 to $15,495 for a $1,500 increase.
• Blackmagic Cloud Store Max 48TB from $21,995 to $24,245 for a $2,250 increase.
• HyperDeck Studio HD Pro from $1,020 to $1,090 for a $70 increase.
• HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro from $1,655 to $1,885 for a $230 increase.
• HyperDeck ISO Recorder 100G from $4,995 to $6,035 for a $1,040 increase.
• ATEM Mini Pro from $310 to $395 for a $85 increase.
• ATEM Mini Extreme ISO G2 from $1,995 to $3,090 for a $1,095 increase.
• ATEM 1 M/E Constellation 4K from $1,895 to $2,840 for a $945 increase.
• ATEM 2 M/E Constellation 4K from $4,415 to $5,025 for a $610 increase.
• ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP from $7,995 to $10,845 for a $2,850 increase.
• ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP Plus from $12,995 to $19,960 for a $6,965 increase.
• ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO from $2,995 to $3,235 for a $240 increase.
• ATEM Television Studio 4K8 from $4,995 to $5,855 for a $860 increase.
• Blackmagic Videohub Mini 4×2 12G from $610 to $690 for a $80 increase.