Neat Video reviewed: The perfect noise reduction add on

Easy to use and an ideal tool to address noise reduction in those tricky problem videos, Blake Jones takes a look at Neat Video.

The Neat Video noise reduction software is available for a variety of applications such as DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere. The creators of this software have gone to great lengths to make sure using it is as easy as possible to use. Even when I setup the software for the first time, you have a handy function in the Preferences area that will fine tune the software together with your hardware for optimum results. As a seasoned DaVinci Resolve Studio user I am very critical of third party applications as I have found many that can have a negative impact on system performance. 

As I am using the Neat Video plugin together with DaVinci Resolve, it is easily accessible in the Open FX plugin library. Once I applied this to the shot, I had the option of preparing a noise profile. This is done by selecting the area to be sampled with the cursor in the Profile window. Alternatively I can also use the Generic Profile. Another option is to use the Auto Profile. This function will sample an area to be used for noise or grain sampling. Noise reduction is available in both Spatial and Temporal mode.

Although systems such as DaVinci Resolve Studio have their own noise reduction tools built in that do a formidable job, Neat Video shines in very problematic situations. For example when grading media that was generated with a mobile phone under low light conditions, normal noise reduction tools can frequently result in unusual artifacts. Neat Video gets around this using their profile creation tools. The result is an artifact free result.

Of course with any noise reduction tool, you need to have a fairly powerful computer otherwise your playback speed will indeed be impacted. For this reason I tend to apply my noise reduction at the very end of my workflow and just prior to rendering. 

Here is the method for using the Neat Video plugin with Resolve Studio. First I identified the scene that required noise reduction. I then applied the Neat Video plugin into the Node graph. 

The next step is to click on Prepare Noise Profile. Following this a new window will open that allows me to either use the Auto Profile mode or the Generic mode. Alternatively you can also load a profile that was previously created. Once the profile has been created, you can then adjust the Spatial and Temporal values for the best result. Once this was done I simply clicked on the Apply button to close the window and apply the correction. It’s also important to note that there is an Advanced and Beginner mode when adjusting your profile. The Advanced mode contains some additional adjustments that can be used in specific situations when using the standard adjustments is not sufficient. I found that using the Beginner mode was enough in most situations. 

Neat Video starts at $80 ($99 for Resolve) and I would say it is definitely worth the investment. 

Website: www.neatvideo.com