Neat Video Playback vs. Render Not Same

This doesn't happen all the time, but when I make my Neat Video settings (usually spatial w/o temporal) and come back to the color page I see one frame of what the NR is actually doing. When I then play it back it shows a higher noise playback. When I export a render of the clip it matches the first good frame, that I initially saw, throughout the entire clip.

Any idea why this is happening? I'm using Resolve 15 and Neat Video v4, grading 4k-6k r3ds into a 2k timeline, with proxy mode off and not using optimized media. However I often have node caches manually turned on, sometimes on the NR node which is usually first in my node structure, and sometimes on subsequent nodes. Could it be that there's some kind of node cache on a subsequent node that is not refreshing?

Thanks

You're able to play Neat Video in real time?

You're able to play Neat Video in real time?

Absolutely not!

I watch it frame by frame on my (at the time top of the line) late 2013 15" Macbook Pro, as it node caches, sometimes incorrectly due to the above issue.

I have achieved some progress on this issue. it does at least partially have to do with node caches not refreshing.

As an example:

Camera Raw (r3d) coming in is at max resolution, proxy mode is off.
Node 1: Empty
Node 2: has a primary grade on it, node cache turned to ON
Nodes 3-beyond have secondary and LUT etc.

Neat Video is applied onto Node 1 and the GUI displayed images do not accurately include the NR that has been applied, except for the first frame of playback.

The node cache on Node 2 must be turned to OFF (not to AUTO), and/or it must be adjusted so that it purges the cache for playback in the GUI. Once turned off and played it can be turned back on, and the NR will be cached properly (at least in some of these instances).

Hope this helps others should they encounter this issue.

Neat Video is now up to version 5.3, and I think it does a remarkable job. Bear in mind that it currently costs about $159, which is halfway to Resolve's full price.

I do use Neat Video for "problem" shows, but I tend to have 3 or 4 presets depend on conditions, and I change the settings depending on exposure and content. If you're seeing a change in playback, my advice would be to clear the cache and then re-cache the NR node, and see if that yields more consistent results.

There are a lot of adjustments available in Neat's "Filter" settings, and I tend to knock the Luminance and Noise Level down and also add the sharpening option at the end, which tends to make up for lost specular highlight detail. Every situation is different, but I always try to lean towards a "less is more" philosophy.

Yes! Thank you. That was my conclusion re: the cache—and it also needs recaching on subsequent nodes.

I am doing the groundwork on a feature on my laptop here but will be finishing in a full suite later on so I will have time to use the most recent versions of everything if needed.

You and I have come to the same conclusions regarding the NV settings—I find myself using the less noise reduction preset the most, then eliminating one of either temporal or spatial, and cutting the preset luminance and noise by half, *or* I leave it as it is, and mix it back with the original (in the third tab of NV) if there is corner to corner noise across the whole image and it's working out better with a "light grain" across the board vibe due to consistent Y levels across the original image. I do the sharpening in resolve usually because... well i'm on a laptop hahahaha. Would rather have that control downstream after the cache. I'll have to look at retrieving specular highlights within NV sharpening that you've mentioned.

Thanks again.