First time Neat Video user...I'm beyond impressed!!

questions about practical use of Neat Video, examples of use
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David Foster
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri May 15, 2009 7:17 pm

First time Neat Video user...I'm beyond impressed!!

Post by David Foster »

I'm a Final Cut Pro user, and most of my projects involve shooting live music in clubs that are not well lit (definitely not lit for video). I have been shooting in dv (Canon xl2 and gl2) and hdv (Canon xh-a1) over the years. As one could imagine, though these are great cameras, they're low light performance in clubs is not great unless you add a good amount of gain. The old proverb of gain=grain is so true.

As my camerawork and editing skills have improved over the years, I've managed to minimize my need for gain. But what to do with all of my older footage? I've been trying out various video noise reduction units over the years, but have not been able to use them to the degree I want without turning the image to plastic. Here's some of the filters I've purchased;

Nattress
Joe's filters
Magic Bullet
CHV repair (the best one up to now)

I've also used trial versions of at least 6 others (including Video Purifier which I could not get to work properly on my Mac Pro 8 core 2.8- it kept introducing bizarre gray artifacts. Perhaps a graphics card issue, perhaps not)

I kept hearing about Neat Video but knew it was Windows only. I was impressed by the quality demos. When I saw that a Mac version was released, I had to try it on an older dv video clip. I was so amazed! It was hard to put into words how cleanly it got rid of the video noise. It's so good that when I looked at the original unprocessed footage, the original footage looked like it was from a bad vhs transfer compared to the Neat Video processed footage. I can hardly wait until I start using the advanced controls in Neat Video.

By far the best $99 I've ever spent. This is possibly the single most impressive plugin I've ever pruchased.

Dave
Lugarimo
Posts: 114
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:51 pm

Post by Lugarimo »

Yes, Neat video rocks! Like you, I have used useless denoisers in the past, and never had the nerve to ask myself how these common, generic denoisers can do anything meaningful when they simply apply a transform over the whole frame (usually blurring with more advanced ones preserving edges but still destroying other details) without knowing what or where the noise is. The only thing these shit denoisers can do is screw up the quality by destroying what little details are left in all the mess of noise, so the video may as well be left alone.

Then I found NV... and just like you I was amazed. I hope I get a job soon so I can enjoy all its features.

EDIT: Just out of interest, do you have any links that explain what causes video grain? I've always wondered, and could use a good read.
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