As someone who uses it; it really is an exceptional video editor, and IMHO is worth the hassle (which is much less of a hassle now due to DavinciBox, which the video author sadly was not aware of).
My issue with Kdenlive is that no matter what I do it never uses my GPU (7900 XTX) for rendering. I’ve tried multiple rendering presets and configs, codecs, made sure all the libs and related packages are installed but it never works
I use the Flatpak and here’s how to get VA-API working:
Run the following command: ls -lah /dev/dri/render* and note down the number behind renderD
Create a project
Go to Project -> Render
Select VAAPI AMD H264 and click Save current preset asnewcustom preset
In the new preset, replace renderD129 with the result of the command in step 1, e.g. renderD128
You should now be able to hardware encode with the custom preset. Since you have an 7900 XTX you can also use H265 and AV1 to encode. For that you can copy the preset again and replace h264_vaapi with av1_vaapi or hevc_vaapi. When using AV1, you also have to switch the audio codec to opus instead of aac.
I’m not using the flatpak but rather the one straight from Arch repos. I did notice all the presets I had were using renderD129 and I found out I only have renderD128 as well so I changed that, but now it barely uses my GPU and CPU during render.
❯ ls -hal /dev/dri/render*
crw-rw-rw- root render 0 B Sun Feb 23 09:47:45 2025 /dev/dri/renderD128
Here’s the render settings and outputs of btop, amdgpu_top and LACT:
It feels basic but it gets the work done. As long as you don’t need a complex array of effects and graphics, it fits. Most of simple amateur video needs are easily covered.
I’ve tried it a number of times, but never could stick with it due to how buggy it was, though the last time I tried it was about 3 or 4 years ago, so it might be in a better state today.
As someone who uses it; it really is an exceptional video editor, and IMHO is worth the hassle (which is much less of a hassle now due to DavinciBox, which the video author sadly was not aware of).
I didn’t know about it either, sweet!
I wonder if running a heavy app like this on a container harms performance in any way?
Have you tried KdenLive ? I am learning Davinci and learned about Kdenlive froma com below. Wantzd to know your opinion
My issue with Kdenlive is that no matter what I do it never uses my GPU (7900 XTX) for rendering. I’ve tried multiple rendering presets and configs, codecs, made sure all the libs and related packages are installed but it never works
I use the Flatpak and here’s how to get VA-API working:
ls -lah /dev/dri/render*and note down the number behindrenderDProject -> RenderVAAPI AMD H264and clickSave current preset as new custom presetrenderD129with the result of the command in step 1, e.g.renderD128You should now be able to hardware encode with the custom preset. Since you have an 7900 XTX you can also use H265 and AV1 to encode. For that you can copy the preset again and replace
h264_vaapiwithav1_vaapiorhevc_vaapi. When using AV1, you also have to switch the audio codec toopusinstead ofaac.I’m not using the flatpak but rather the one straight from Arch repos. I did notice all the presets I had were using
renderD129and I found out I only haverenderD128as well so I changed that, but now it barely uses my GPU and CPU during render.Here’s the render settings and outputs of
btop,amdgpu_topand LACT:It feels basic but it gets the work done. As long as you don’t need a complex array of effects and graphics, it fits. Most of simple amateur video needs are easily covered.
I’ve tried it a number of times, but never could stick with it due to how buggy it was, though the last time I tried it was about 3 or 4 years ago, so it might be in a better state today.