Neat Video

Neat Video

 

Best noise reduction for digital video

 

What is Neat Video?

 

Neat Video is a digital filter designed to reduce visible noise and grain found in footage from digital video cameras, DSLRs, TV-tuners and even digitized film or VHS. Neat Video is available as a plug-in for many popular video editing applications such as Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro.

 

Digital noise appears as fine, dancing speckles or static in certain areas of a video clip. It is caused by a range of factors including low light levels, high sensor gain, electronic interference and aggressive compression of video data.

 

Regardless of the source, any form of noise can seriously degrade the visual quality of footage. However, thanks to the most advanced noise reduction algorithms in the industry, Neat Video offers a way to clean up noisy clips. It is a highly automated and user-friendly plug-in that can be applied in only a few clicks. Improving video quality while preserving the beauty, detail and clarity of the original footage. In many cases rescuing clips that would otherwise be unusable.

 

Neat Video enhances clips suffering from the following defects:

• Digital noise produced by image sensors of most modern video capturing devices
• Grain present in digitized film or analog video
• Dust and scratches found in digitized film
• Electric interference degrading analog video
• Compression artifacts
• Color banding

 

Who uses Neat Video?

 

Since it’s birth in 2005, Neat Video has helped many different users to improve the quality of their videos. From high-level professional producers to enthusiastic amateurs, Neat Video has been employed in countless ways by a multitude of content creators. Here is a small snapshot of the people who use Neat Video to achieve a better result.

 

Wedding Videographers

Brides expect excellence, yet weddings are some of the most difficult occasions to capture. Continuously changing conditions, different locations and lots of rapid activity make this a pressurized shooting environment. There are no second chances to film the bouquet toss and the last thing you want to discover is an unusable shot in the edit. Neat Video offers wedding videographers a level of security, allowing them to shoot with confidence knowing it is possible to improve the occasional noisy clip in post.

 

Event Videographers

Fashion shows, product launches, company parties, religious ceremonies, sporting events, trade shows, music performances, circuses and many more. People who shoot these events are often working with available light in dimly-lit venues with spotlights and other effects that make it difficult to avoid digital noise completely. Neat Video helps these creators to clean up their shots while preserving the rich colors and vibrant lighting of these occasions.

 

Advertising Agencies

Advertising agencies produce a vast array of content both for in-house and external purposes. From campaign case study videos to street VOX pops for research presentations. From agency chemistry videos to creative holiday messages to clients, agencies need to produce content that showcases maximum creativity on a fixed budget. That means shooting on less-than-stellar cameras and lenses and often without the best lights. Neat Video helps these professionals to take their videos to the next level.

 

UAV pilots and Aerial Video Makers

Many amateur drone pilots are discovering the joys of using their devices to capture stunning videos of their surroundings to share with the community. In addition, many professionals are using UAVs to amplify their creativity. Enabling them to capture incredibly unique shots that would have been undreamed-of just a few years ago without a great deal of expensive rigging and jibbing equipment. The drawback is the small action cameras in use. While these cameras are constantly improving, they still suffer from limited dynamic range, tiny sensors and poor low-light performance that makes noisy clips inevitable. Neat Video offers a way to work around these limitations and improve your breathtaking footage by cleaning up those disappointing noisy spots.

 

Commercial and Corporate Video

Product explainer videos, industrial safety videos, infomercials, conferences and seminars, investor videos and CEO messages to staff. The ways in which the corporate world makes use of video is constantly expanding. Often these productions are difficult to manage. You could be shooting in a cramped factory, or you may only have 5 minutes to interview a business head. What happens if you import your footage only to discover grainy, unusable clips? It would be unthinkable to go back to the client or your superior to request a reshoot, but there is Neat Video! With this highly automated plug-in you can quickly transform your video into a product you can be proud of!

 

Producers of Online Video

Platforms like YouTube and Vimeo have opened up an array of opportunities for brands and individuals alike. Small businesses now make YouTube pre-roll ads to promote their products. Big name brands make web series to attract attention to their particular brand lifestyle. Vloggers make money from online views. Journalists create product reviews. However, the need to produce a great deal of content for online release means production costs must be kept to a minimum. This means cheaper cameras and of course, digital noise! Neat Video helps these content creators by improving their video quality for a fraction of the cost of high-end gear.

 

Real Estate Videographers

In the digital age residential and commercial real estate agents are finding they need to produce higher quality content to promote their properties to prospective buyers. Yet most do not have the budget to hire professional videographers and top-shelf gear for every property. The good news is that many agents that are inexperienced with a camera are still able to employ an entry-level camcorder with automatic camera modes to produce a good result. These customers use Neat Video to take their creations to the next level by significantly improving the quality of this footage.

 

Documentary Film Makers

If you’re a “run-and-gun” documentary film maker you know how tough it is to get the story in the can and capture beautiful imagery at the same time. There’s just so much to think about. You’re negotiating your way into restricted areas, following subjects, conducting interviews in different environments and handling a camera at the same time. You can’t always change to the right lens or spend 10 minutes setting up a tripod and lights. The inevitable result is digital noise during an important moment. With Neat Video you may not need to abandon that critical shot, offering you more options in the edit to get your story across. 

 

Broadcast Television

Even top-level broadcast professionals run into digital noise from time to time. In fact, Neat Video’s customers include a sizable number of broadcast news editors, magazine shows, reality TV shows, episodic TV series and creators of many more kinds of content that you see on your screen every day. The incredibly rigid quality standards in these applications mean that digital noise is simply unacceptable. Neat Video is in use every day by studios, TV stations and production companies to help them adhere to their broadcast technical requirements. Which means there’s a good chance that you’ve already seen Neat Video in action without even realizing it.

 

Other Uses: Underwater Video, Slow Mo, 3D Animation, Digitized Film and VHS, etc.

There are many other scenarios in which Neat Video helps to improve the quality of video – including some that you may not have ever thought of. For example, vintage films and VHS tapes often suffer from grain, dust and scratches and other artifacts. Once digitized, this can be improved by Neat Video’s advanced noise reduction algorithm. Highly compressed video can also be improved. Underwater video presents its own unique challenges that lead to noise. Filming in high frame rates also sometimes results in picture quality issues. You may be surprised at when and where content creators are applying Neat Video. Even 3D animators use Neat Video to reduce unwanted artifacts in the rendering of CGI sequences.

 

How does Neat Video work?

 

Neat Video is the product of years of research and development by a global team of highly qualified specialists. It utilizes a combination of sophisticated mathematical algorithms and an innovative approach to achieve results that surpass that of any standard noise reduction methods. Including relatively new wavelet-based techniques.

 

Neat Video’s approach is unique in that it builds and utilizes noise profiles to customize noise reduction. A noise profile is a reusable analysis of the noise properties of a particular video clip captured by a specific recording device in a specific mode. This information enables Neat Video to custom-tailor the noise reduction algorithm to the specific device. Which allows Neat Video to reduce digital noise with greater accuracy while preserving true details. Such an approach works for video materials produced by video cameras, camcorders, computer TV-tuners, film digitizers, and many more.

 

Neat Video’s noise profiling is highly automated. The program features a built-in auto-profiling tool that makes it easy to generate noise profiles at the click of a mouse. Moreover, you can save and reuse noise profiles for similar footage from the same device to further streamline your workflow.

 

Armed with noise profiling data, Neat Video goes to work to treat digital noise through a combination of temporal and spatial filtering. The temporal filter compares consecutive frames in a video sequence to more accurately distinguish noise from details. The spatial filter is then applied on a frame-by-frame basis to further reduce noise, grain and scratches to achieve smooth, polished, noise-free pictures. It is this approach — combining noise profiling with dual filtration — that transforms noisy clips into clean and neat footage while preserving the beauty and clarity of the original.

 

Neat Video has been designed to provide the best level of noise reduction that is practical on today’s computing systems. It is optimized for use on multi-core and multi-CPU systems and supports GPU acceleration where available. Through efficient engineering, Neat Video makes best use of the available hardware present in your system to provide maximum noise reduction in a way that is practical and fast.

 

The Real Life Stories of Those Who Use Neat Video

 

The Colorful Eye of Rohit Kamboj

 

Rohit Kamboj has the instinct of a photographer who has grown up in the press of the technicolor Mumbai crowd. This upbringing certainly had an influence when it came to developing his personal style as a photographer. He has a natural talent for using color to reveal the magic in every image.

 

Tom Cole Lets the Music Take Control

 

Tom is a prolific music video director/editor and his credits include international superstars such as Robbie Williams, 30 Seconds to Mars, Steve Aoki and K.Flay.

 

Features

 

Premium Noise Reduction and Sharpening

 

• The Best Noise-Reduction Algorithms in the Industry
  Neat Video’s noise reduction algorithms surpass the quality of all classic noise reduction methods — even relatively new wavelet-based methods. Neat Video’s more advanced, more efficient approach allows it to draw a clearer distinction between random noise and details in video data, enabling it to reduce more noise and better preserve true details.
   
• Advanced Temporal Noise Filter
  Neat Video’s advanced temporal noise filter analyzes and compares a range of consecutive frames in order to gain as much information as possible. This allows the filter to more accurately distinguish between noise and detail in order to reduce noise and artifacts.
   
• Sophisticated Spatial Noise Filter
  The spatial noise filter reduces noise elements even further on a frame-by-frame basis across a range of frequencies and color channels.
   
• Specialized Dust and Scratches Filter
  In addition, Neat Video features a filter that targets specific imperfections such as film scratches, film dust, impulse interference and similar defects. This filter can also treat corrupted scan lines, spots, dots, and other video maladies.
   
• Slow Shutter Mode
  This mode reduces noise in clips containing repeated frames such as those shot in “slow shutter” or “night mode”. It also improves clips that have had their frame rates artificially increased.
   
• Artifact Removal Filter
  Digital artifacts such as impulse noise created by video compression are treated by this filter. In addition, it also addresses dots and small lines that may be not fully removed by Neat Video’s regular noise filters.
   
• Adaptive Filtration
  This feature automatically adjusts the noise filter in situations where noise properties are changing in different parts of a video clip — ensuring more accurate noise-reduction.
   
• Smart Sharpening
  The intelligent sharpening filter takes advantage of Neat Video’s noise profiling techniques to sharpen the picture without amplifying noise. Neat Video sharpening has a halo-free mode.
   
• Customizable Noise Filter Settings
  Neat Video's filter is highly adjustable. While its default settings deliver good results, it also offers near complete control over each noise filtration setting. This allows you to fine-tune the noise reduction parameters to your exact requirements.

 

Intuitive Noise Profiling

 

• Device Noise Profiles
  Neat Video generates and utilizes device-specific noise profiles. These are reusable analyses of the noise characteristics of different devices in different recording modes. Thanks to these noise profiles, Neat Video knows exactly what type of noise it is encountering in a particular clip regardless of the source or mode of capture. Armed with this information the program is able to distinguish noise from details and achieve more accurate noise-reduction results.
   
• Auto Profile Feature
  Neat Video’s Auto Profile tool automatically examines the content of a clip and builds a custom noise profile specifically for it. This is extremely accurate, however it is possible to override it and use semi-automatic or manual noise analysis methods if preferred.
   
• Profile Viewer and Profile Quality Indicators
  Building and using good profiles is the most important step to ensure quality noise reduction. The Profile Viewer provides detailed information about the noise sample and the measured noise levels. The profile indicators help determine if a profile was accurately built and fine-tuned.

 

Instant Visual Feedback

 

• Immediate Preview
  Neat Video offers a built-in preview that allows you to view results and adjust the filter settings to optimize performance.
   
• Multiple Preview Modes
  You can manually select an area of interest for preview as well as evaluate filtration results separately for each channel and frequency component.

 

Comprehensive Host Integration

 

• High-Bitdepth Rendering
  Neat Video takes advantage of the full power of modern video processing applications, offering high-bitdepth rendering in programs that support it. These applications include After Effects, Premiere, Final Cut, Motion, Vegas Pro, Catalyst, AVX hosts and OpenFX.
   
• Supported by Most Video Editing Platforms
  Neat Video works with most of the current video editing applications in use by both professional and consumer video editors.
  
  Neat Video plug-ins work as regular video filters. They can apply noise reduction and sharpening exactly where it is required: in a chosen layer of an After Effects composition, in a chosen clip of a Premiere sequence, in a chosen track in Vegas, etc.
   
• Supports All Frame Sizes
  Neat Video Pro Edition supports any frame size without limit including Full HD, 4K, 8K, etc.
  The Home Edition supports up to 1920x1080 pixels (DVD, HDV 720p, Full HD).
  The Demo Edition supports up to 1280x720 pixels (VCD, SD, DVD, HDV 720p) with a watermark added.

 

Excellent Hardware Optimization

 

• GPU Acceleration
  Got a powerful graphics card? Neat Video enables GPU acceleration to speed up processing and cut down on render times. Neat Video supports most CUDA-capable NVIDIA GPUs and a large number of OpenCL-capable AMD video cards.
   
• Multi-Core, Multi-CPU and Multi-GPU Hardware Functionality
  Neat Video is engineered to make the best use of the available hardware present in your system. It is optimized for use on multi-core, multi-CPU and multi-GPU systems. In addition, Neat Video supports the use of multiple graphics cards and multiple CPU cores simultaneously to deliver the best filtration speed possible.
   
• Works with All Video File Formats
  Neat Video is able to process any video format that is supported by your editing application including AVI, MPEG, MOV, WMV and many more. In other words, if your editing platform is able to open a video file, Neat Video will be able to apply noise reduction to that clip.