"Neat Video" noise reduction plugin

Jarda Bar · September 18th, 2009, 01:58 PM

NV works very well, I like this plugin. I don't use any of noise reduction features of A1, it's better to give a time to NeatVideo.

Jeff Nelson · September 18th, 2009, 06:57 PM

Yes, it is VERY slow when rendering with MB. But the results on noisy footage is totally worth it. Interesting idea to put onto footage w/out obvious noise. Going to play around with that. I can't imagine putting it on EVERY shot just because render times involved on any project of significant length. But on shorter stuff...thanks for the tips. I still have to read the manual and figure out how to get the best results. But clearly I got great results with my first few shots here, knowing very little.

Jeff Nelson · September 18th, 2009, 07:34 PM

Wow! I just tried NV on a clip from my HV30 that was shot mid day of someone talking to camera. But when viewed on an HD monitor, there's a touch of noise in his forehead, just a touch that I can see at times. Probably wouldn't have noticed if I weren't looking.

So I added the NV filter and played around with the forehead area. The result is a slight softening to the shot, like a nice soft filter, and the forehead looks fantastic, even took out some slight wrinkles from the 70-year-old subject! Looks perfectly natural though. I can see uses for this filter on footage that doesn't have a lot of obvious noise.

Steven Reid · September 19th, 2009, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Nelson

Wow! I just tried NV on a clip from my HV30 that was shot mid day of someone talking to camera. But when viewed on an HD monitor, there's a touch of noise in his forehead, just a touch that I can see at times. Probably wouldn't have noticed if I weren't looking.

So I added the NV filter and played around with the forehead area. The result is a slight softening to the shot, like a nice soft filter, and the forehead looks fantastic, even took out some slight wrinkles from the 70-year-old subject! Looks perfectly natural though. I can see uses for this filter on footage that doesn't have a lot of obvious noise.

Pretty nice, eh? You probably appreciate from the manual or even from your own trials that if (1) your noise profile is lousy and/or (2) you use too much noise removal, then subjects, especially humans, begin to look pretty plastic. Gads, that's WAY worse than having noise to begin with, IMHO.

The best I can get my noise profiles is just over 80% or so, and with these I don't really see the softening you mention, probably because the profile is accurate. In any case, I use the noise removal and sharpening, if any, pretty conservatively, even on brightly lit shots like you describe.

Steve

Christopher Warwick · September 20th, 2009, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Cascio

I'm curious as to whether any of you use this on all of your clips, or just those shot in lowlight?

NeatVideo saved me from the jaws of death on a job a few months back. The brief was, 'no internal interviews', so I didn't bring my lighting kit. Big mistake. 1st interview they wanted inside. The VT was grainy as hell.

I went researching for 'noise reduction' and found someone else in a forum somewhere bleating on about it being the best thing since sliced bread.

I don't like buying plug ins, but if I submitted the work as it was to the client it's highly likely he wouldn't have paid me.

I have used it since, as an artistic compliment. Obviously it softens the image, so it can make a subject look more pleasing to the eye. As such, it can grade an image giving it a more organic appearance.

Chris

Aaron J. Yates · September 21st, 2009, 09:56 AM

Does NV stack well in the effects department? I use MB Looks, and I would apply that effect after the NV, if I were to buy it. Can you use your NV plugin and your MB Looks plugin on the same raw footage, or do you have to render out the NV-affected clip first and bring it back in the timeline for other effects?

Steven Reid · September 21st, 2009, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron J. Yates

Does NV stack well in the effects department? I use MB Looks, and I would apply that effect after the NV, if I were to buy it. Can you use your NV plugin and your MB Looks plugin on the same raw footage, or do you have to render out the NV-affected clip first and bring it back in the timeline for other effects?

Aaron,
I edit on Vegas 8.0(c) and I place NV in an FX chain BEFORE MB or anything else, both on the same clip of raw footage. The NV manual says generally that it won't matter when in an FX chain NV is applied, but I verified for myself that in some instances it does matter. For example, MB Looks can really bump up colors, gain, or both, and when that is performed first on noise, the results look awful, with the resulting magnified noise not being as effectively removed as when NV is applied before MB. In Vegas I checked this easily by simply swapping the order of the FX: sometimes it made a visual difference, sometimes not. I guess my conservative nature has me put NV before any other effect.

$0.02,
Steve

September 21st, 2009, 09:56 AM	#21
Aaron J. Yates Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Kerrville, Texas Posts: 75	Does NV stack well in the effects department? I use MB Looks, and I would apply that effect after the NV, if I were to buy it. Can you use your NV plugin and your MB Looks plugin on the same raw footage, or do you have to render out the NV-affected clip first and bring it back in the timeline for other effects? __________________ kerrvillephoto.com Photo & Video specializing in real estate and events

September 18th, 2009, 01:58 PM	#16
Jarda Bar Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Prague, Czech Republic Posts: 43	NV works very well, I like this plugin. I don't use any of noise reduction features of A1, it's better to give a time to NeatVideo.

September 18th, 2009, 06:57 PM	#17
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Yes, it is VERY slow when rendering with MB. But the results on noisy footage is totally worth it. Interesting idea to put onto footage w/out obvious noise. Going to play around with that. I can't imagine putting it on EVERY shot just because render times involved on any project of significant length. But on shorter stuff...thanks for the tips. I still have to read the manual and figure out how to get the best results. But clearly I got great results with my first few shots here, knowing very little.

September 18th, 2009, 07:34 PM	#18
Jeff Nelson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 194	Wow! I just tried NV on a clip from my HV30 that was shot mid day of someone talking to camera. But when viewed on an HD monitor, there's a touch of noise in his forehead, just a touch that I can see at times. Probably wouldn't have noticed if I weren't looking. So I added the NV filter and played around with the forehead area. The result is a slight softening to the shot, like a nice soft filter, and the forehead looks fantastic, even took out some slight wrinkles from the 70-year-old subject! Looks perfectly natural though. I can see uses for this filter on footage that doesn't have a lot of obvious noise.