VirtualDub batch questions

questions about practical use of Neat Video, examples of use
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noir
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:52 pm

VirtualDub batch questions

Post by noir »

Hi all,

First of all, i'm a very happy Neatvideo Pro user in Final Cut. I have lately decided however to switch from Mac to PC Video Editing, reasons being among other Cineform/CS*, Deshaker in VirtualDub, and random forms of lazyness. Before asking for changing the neatvideo license, i wanted to ask a few questions:

Having event shots that don't always look charming, i want to run a selection of clips in batch mode through VirtualDub for deshaking and then denoising. I managed to get Deshaker to work like i want it to by using Dubman loading saved VirtualDub preferences files (*.vcf).

I wanted to do the same with NeatVideo: adding a filter in VDub, then selecting the noise profile and sharpen profile, and then save those settings in a *.vcf file, which Dubman can load. I tinkered around a bit with the neatvideo demo version, but it can seem to be configured when no clip is loaded.

1) Could a VDubber please give me some hints how he handles automating Neatvideo, and if the vcf profile saving works for neatvideo in the pro version?

2) I will also have some 10bit material (Canon 5D 8bit material shifted to 10bit cineform for retaining the superwhites and superblacks) that i will run through vdub. Will VDub and NeatVideo be able to handle the 10bit resolution fine?

Thanks a lot,
Christian
NVTeam
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Post by NVTeam »

As one of authors of Neat Video I can say the following:

1) It is possible to save NV (for VD) settings into a VD batch file (using VD itself) with the Pro (not Demo) plug-in but you will also have to manually save used noise profile(s) and filter preset(s) to the disk. The VD batch file will then refer to those files on the disk, so they must be available when running the script. As you can see, this is a bit more complicated than in a NLE like FCP (or AE, PR, etc.) where all these settings are saved into the project fully transparently and without your manual assistance.

2) AFAIK, VD itself supports 8-bit data only. NV for VD will accept only 8-bit data. NLEs like AE and PR will most likely be able to deal with those 5D files having more bits, and NV Pro plug-ins for those NLE can support higher bitdepth rendering. FCP too, but it is only available for Mac.

Vlad
noir
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:52 pm

Post by noir »

Wow, thanks for the very quick replay Vlad :D

1) i have to manyually save noise profiles and filter presets for each file then... that means that i cant just force the plugin to use one and the same preset and filter... would take some time :)
I will be using Premiere and After effects for the video editing,is there a solution to batch-denoise easily? (the media manager perhaps?), or would you say that i should rather denoise directly in the timeline of premiere?

2) i found the following at the VDub site:
As a result, VirtualDub 1.9.0 can now handle several new image formats, including the 10-bit per channel v210 format and the interleaved NV12 format. The display library has also been upgraded to handle the new formats, and in particular the Direct3D module can now accelerate display of 10 bit/channel v210 video with dithering. The new formats are not yet exposed to video filters -- mainly because the thought of trying to work directly in v210 scares me -- although I'm not ruling out the possibility of a 14-bit fixed point linear color format in the future.
I guess that means it's not "there" yet... which is a pity. need to find another way to deshake my 5D material then :)
NVTeam
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Post by NVTeam »

noir wrote:1) i have to manyually save noise profiles and filter presets for each file then... that means that i cant just force the plugin to use one and the same preset and filter...
You can, but profile/preset have to be saved somewhere on the disk and you have to manually load them from there when setting up the filter. If you don't load explicitly then the recent profile/preset will be used and that may not be the same, since recent profile/preset may change after every manually-run session of using NV.
noir wrote:I will be using Premiere and After effects for the video editing,is there a solution to batch-denoise easily? (the media manager perhaps?), or would you say that i should rather denoise directly in the timeline of premiere?
Or in AE. AE has the Render Queue where you can prepare a large set of clips to be rendered and let it work.
noir wrote:I guess that means it's not "there" yet... which is a pity. need to find another way to deshake my 5D material then :)
Why not FCP then?

Vlad
noir
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:52 pm

Post by noir »

Why not FCP then?
one of the reasons i wanted to return to windows (where i feel definately more at ease too/upgrading hardware is easy), is that Deshaker in VDub offers removal of Rolling Shutter, which i deem a big plus for my 5D takes. Naturally that has nothing to do with Neatvideo, but i am in search of a nicely integrated workflow, and i wanted to see which options i have :)

the renderqueue in AE... i'll give it a try, at least i know that AE loves 10bit files) is the demo version enabled for the renderqueue?
NVTeam
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Post by NVTeam »

The Demo of NV should work fine in AE Render Queue. Just keep in mind that it can render up to 30 minutes of footage, which is a Demo limitation. Another limitation of the Demo is that it will only render 8-bit data. The Pro plug-in will render in higher bitdepth too.

Vlad
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