Noise Reduction Plugin

Does anybody know of a good noise reduction plug-in for FCPX?

I just got the noise reduction plugin for FCP X from Neat Video.

It costs $99, but the results are positively amazing. I shot a video with a 5D at a high ISO with a slow lens and the plugin cleaned up the footage beautifully.

I was afraid the plugin would blur details, but it didn't. Render times are kind of long but expected, and it seems FCPX wants to re-render the clips after I do any trims(shortening) of the clip, so it seems like it should be near the final step of your project or perhaps export out the rendered clips first then reimport.

(I was just about to post that question about the re-rendering annoyance here on the forum.)

I was stupid enough to apply it to a whole bunch of short clips on the timeline and it is slowing down my editing each time I do any trims as it wants re-render.

Good product though.

Awesome thanks!

zzchu, I agree, Neat Video is a great plugin. To better handle render times this is what I do: I apply Neat to the clips as needed. I then turn it off by unchecking the blue box in the inspector. Just before exporting I select all the clips that need have Neat applied and turn the effect back on by checking the box. This way FCPX doesn't render every time I need to adjust something.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tips on your workflow.

The question I have would be is this by design in FCPX or the Neat Video Plugin or a bug.

If it is design by FCPX - to automatically refresh and update the rendered clip - even though I'm only trimming it with no other changes - then it is pretty brutal to use as the Neat Video plugin processes at about 3 frames per second on my Mac.

I expect FCPX to just to play the rendered file up to the point where I shortened it. Just resave a shortened rendered file and not go thru the re-rendering of the clip.

I should probably submit a report to Apple on this.

An audio render file is simply a stereo (or dolby) mix-downed file. So if you shorten one audio clip, the others are effected, also. It is all of your audio tracks, be they 5 or 50, mixed to one, single stereo file, all together. Thus, a change to one, means others are effected. Shortening one clip, effects the whole mixed down file. Not a bug.

Hi John,

The question I have would be is this by design in FCPX or the Neat Video Plugin or a bug.

It's the Neat Video plugin. This plugin carefully analyzes the entire clip using complex algorithms to determine the best possible settings for applying the video noise reduction. That's why it is also very slow.

When you make an analyzed clip shorter, no matter wether the clip has been rendered or not, the plugin will completely re-analyze the clip and you will need to re-render.

That's why it is always a good idea to do the noise reduction at the very last stage of your editing process when using Neat Video.

- Ronny

Thanks for all the replies. It has been educational.

I wish that FCP X has the ability to "play the base layer only" if not rendered like FCP6/7.

I will add comments to Neat Video's forum and will apply lessons here on workflow.

Instead of selecting "play base layer only" you just deselect the filter in the Inspector. Similar workflow, same result. Clips with the Neat denoiser filter will play unrendered without dropping frames on any recent iMac or MacPro. The real issue is that in order to see the denoising effect at full quality you will need to render the video.

- Ronny