questions, examples, need advice (adobe premiere cs6)

questions about practical use of Neat Video, examples of use
Post Reply
underdog
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:20 pm

questions, examples, need advice (adobe premiere cs6)

Post by underdog »

I just purchased the program the other day, in hopes of it assisting me with footage from my new camera, so obviously I'm a beginner with all the ins and outs of it. The camera's a Sony HDR-CX230. I bought it based mostly on online reviews, which turned out to be misleading. I've been experimenting with neatvideo for a couple days now on cleaning up the footage. The camera outputs to .MTS files with HD size, though I'm not sure if that's the original format or if its stretched to accomodate. In the correct lighting situations it can get beautiful shots, but the noise percentage while shooting in low light is horrible.

Original footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opchHCz ... e=youtu.be

While playing around with the neatvideo program I happened upon some good results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SlEjZE ... e=youtu.be

As you can see, not the greatest , but useful for what I needed it for. Thats a screenshot from adobe premiere pro, but as far as I can tell the issue is with the export. I output to H.264, 1080p 29.97 fps, to fit closely with the other footage for the project, but the video after export looks alot different from the results on my timeline, with artifacts and remnants and in some spots new "noise". Would the export settings or codecs have any different effect? Would exporting in .mpg or something else possibly bring about better results? If anyone has any experience/advice with these problems, either on the export/codec settings or any experience with the quality of that original footage, and possible ideas on how to clean it up, I'd be greatly appreciative and it'd help my current projects a ton.

Also, as an aside, a youtube video pertaining to the neatvideo program directed me to a test target sheet, for calibrating a noise profile. I'd printed out the sheet, tried using it in the program, but to no avail. Does anyone have experience with this? Or maybe point me in the right direction on how to use this noise profile sheet?



[/b]
NVTeam
Posts: 2745
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:12 pm
Contact:

Post by NVTeam »

I guess it makes sense to post the output clip too for comparison. This would also allow us to actually see the "artifacts and remnants and in some spots new "noise" that you mention. Those can in principle caused by different things including a bad noise profile, a poor quality of output compression, etc.

Yes, the output codec (with its compression settings) always plays a significant role in the quality of the resulting clip. To see that difference you can simply export into an uncompressed format and compare that with the clip encoded using the lossy compression you used earlier. You will most likely see a significant difference.

Regarding profiling with the calibration target vs the input clip itself, I recommend to start with the clip itself for now, as it is both simpler and quicker to do.

Some more recommendations:
- apply other effects/filters after Neat Video, not before;
- when building a noise profile make sure Neat Video shows the frame of the right pixel size (not reduced resolution version);
- increase the temporal filter radius to reduce more noise (I still can see some in the screenshot by the second link);

Vlad
underdog
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:20 pm

Post by underdog »

thank you for the prompt response, I kinda posted the question originally as a shot in the dark, not expecting a response til after the deadline for the project itself, lol, anywayz...I was wondering if you could give some options on uncompressed formats, I'm using adobe premiere cs6 and I see one format on the list that says anything about uncompressed, there's avi and avi (uncompressed), but neither of them look close in the export preview video to the project on the timeline after it's been filtered through the program. the only format that looks any good is the h.264 one I used earlier. are there uncompressed formats I could possibly download and import to premiere? could the preset (there's a bunch for cell phones and iPads, I just used regular HD 1080p) have more of an effect on this filtered footage than usual? it's strange to me cause I'm not an expert at all on codecs and exporting video, though I have been doing a lot of research on the topic lately, but this is the first time h.264 on HD 1080p has come out disappointing.
NVTeam
Posts: 2745
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:12 pm
Contact:

Post by NVTeam »

Without seeing the actual project, its settings and final results, it is also a shot in the dark if I try to offer any solutions.

I suggest to do the following:
- please prepare a fresh new test project with one short clip (a few seconds should be enough);
- make sure it does allow to reproduce the problem;
- send the project file (.prproj) and clip to support [at] neatvideo.com;
- together with the project, send a set of steps that have to be taken after opening the project in Premiere CS6 in order to get to the point when the problem shows up, describe the problem itself too, to avoid any doubt.

We will then open your test project, follow your steps, reproduce the problem on our computer. Then we will look for specific causes of the problem and probably will be able to suggest a solution as well.

Thank you,
Vlad
Post Reply