The basics of using NR

[David Smith]

If the Resolve NR does not work for you, there is a 99 dollar plug in for FCP 7, Premiere, After Effects ($99 for each one) that is very impressive called Neat Video.

I played with the Resolve 8 NR for all of 4 minutes so I can’t say which is better but my immediate reaction to Resolve’s NR was that it was not as good as Neat Video – but I could be wrong.

Da Vinci might be saving the powerful noise reduction and grain reduction for their $10,000 software, Revival.

https://www.neatvideo.com/

[Andi Winter]

neat video is awesome!

nr in resolve8 does nothing good, as far as i have tested it… image gets blurry and so on. perhaps i am making something wrong settingswise, any tricks welcome! does anyone use nr in resolve succesfully?

[Hillary Knox]

I’ll preface this by saying that I have absolutely zero experience with Resolve’s noise reduction feature. (+1 for Neat Video, by the way) However, philosophically, I personally prefer to have noise reduction as an integral part of the color grading process, & preferably earlier in the processing chain. But I’d like to hear some pros/cons on what people think of that statement…

Regardless of the excellence (or lack thereof) of Resolve’s NR, I think the coolest thing it does is HSL qualified- or windowed NR. I would think that should go a long way toward solving any blurriness problems.

[Vladimir Kucherov]

I’ve used it with good results, and small quantities, when qualified to a problematic skin complexion. I think it works very nicely for that.

But, to remove actual digital noise, I don’t like it. There is a lot of artifacting that’s for me, less preferable than the noise. I too take it back to FCP and use NeatVideo.

[Sean Kapleton]

Hoping for some more feedback from davinci users about there experience / workflow with this type of NR job.

If i do get the Neat plugin which is better / faster – fcp or AE on Mac? I have a 12 core and 32 gb ram so was just curious if render times will be better or whatever else might be worth noting when purchasing.

thanks in advance

[Vladimir Kucherov]

I can only talk about FCP – it’s stupid slow. I bought it because workflow seemed easiest, and it is – I roundtrip my resolve graded XML back into FCP, and can simply add noise reduction on the shots I need. Very easy. But rendering out a 20 minute short 1080p takes hours, and isn’t using anywhere near max of my 12 core system.

I don’t know how fast the other versions are. If I were to buy another version it would probably be for Premiere.

[David Smith]

I played with the R8 NR a little more. The Power windows is a plus since you can be more aggressive in areas where it’s a bigger problem but the blurring wont show as much – like a wall. Then do it a bit less where the blurring is more noticeable.

I’d be curious also to know if anyone has used Neat Video with After Effects. I’m going to be using 10 bit LOG DPX files. Would Neat Video work better in After Effects for me since I could export at 16 bit Linear – DPX?

I’d also be curious to know if anyone has used Resolve8 NR and Revival NR…. is there a big difference?

[Sean Kapleton]

Maybe i will post this AE question in that forum? – i know Magiv Bullet makes a tool for noise reduction too but i imagine both can be limited to certain areas just like in Resolve by using masks or whatever else AE offers in conjunction with plugins??

Still hoping for some solid feedback about Resolve and / or Neat Video FCP vs. AE

cheers
s

[Hillary Knox]

Personally, I have tried Neat Video with both FCP and AE. I bought the plugin for AE because it seemed a little less sluggish in AE, plus, as I mentioned before, when I do grading in AE (yeah, I know…) I like to have NR as an interactive part of the process without having an extra render generation in there.

Quality-wise, I think the result is pretty great…BUT remember to bring your patience. It’s not what you want to necessarily be doing with a tight deadline. Forget the words “real-time playback” because they just don’t apply in that universe – I mean, that’s AE for you, but even so… Just to maintain my sanity, I end up turning off the NR while I’m grading, and then turning it back on & checking it right before I render. Even though I think it’s more sluggish in FCP, being able to render the timeline might be worth it to you. Also, in either app, the final render times can really start to add up when using (I assume) any NR. I’ve also tried Magic Bullet Denoiser, which I think does a decent job when it works, but it’s been a little too crashy and render-corrupty for my taste.

Ideally, Neat Video wants to work on individual shots as opposed to doing one massive de-noise on the whole show. I suppose you could make it work that way, but it won’t give you the best results. So, what you end up with (in AE) is each shot on an individual layer, which can add up to several hundred layers – which can be off-putting for some people.

I would say download the trial version for both platforms, play around with them, and that will give you a good idea of what you’ll get.

[Sean Kapleton]

ok awesome thx!