If you weren’t at NAB 2011 then you probably haven’t seen all the features of the soon-to-be-released DaVinci Resolve 8 in action. There were quite a few videos right from the NAB show floor (and here is one more) but this official video from Blackmagic Design does a good job of highlighting those features new to version 8, including stabilization, the multilayer timeline and XML export to and from Final Cut Pro.

I had several Resolve 8 demos during the NAB week and saw then how big this upgrade really is. Blackmagic has listened to many of the major customer complaints about Resolve 7 and addressed what feels like most all of them in version 8. It almost feels kind of trivial to use the word “complaints” in this context. Can we really complain about missing features after such a high-end tool becomes affordable? But that’s what we do.

If you’re not familiar with Resolve then check out the website. You can see that prices begin at free and move north of $30,000. That’s quite a price swing. And it’s worth noting that the $30,000 price tag is for the full Resolve control surface. Remember that when you watch this video and hear how a purchase of Resolve “includes this amazing control surface.” That’s only true if you pony up for the full Resolve control surface hardware. The Blackmagic press release fills in the details about all the features expected when version 8 ships in June. It’s a free upgrade, if you haven’t heard, for current Resolve owners.