Dark Energy v Neat Video

E

EIREHotspur

Well-known member
Guys I see that they released the Dark Energy plugin.

Has anyone used it and how does it compare to Neat Video which costs under half that?
 
Their website says you can download a trial. Maybe get it and tell us what you find out.


Jim
 
Whoa! Never mind. You have to go through a multiple-step "licensing" process for the TRIAL. You download the trial, run some sort of licensing software (wonder what data that collects?), send the results to them, wait for a response, then (I guess) you can activate the TRIAL. I stopped the licensing software install when it started collecting data on my pc.

If it's that cumbersome just for the trial, I'm pretty sure I'm not interested in this software. Even Adobe let's you download fully-functional versions of their programs.


Jim
 
Arco1

Thank you for starting to download our software. We are sorry you stopped the installation, we know you would have been very pleased with the results.

Ok, so what was going on during the install:

We use WIBU CodeMeter to encrypt and protect our software. The Wibu CodeMeter software gathers a few hardware serial numbers to generate a unique product identification code. None of your data is collected, only hardware numbers. We don't ever see the numbers and we have no means to try to determine anything about your environment.

The installation is 100% automated, and once you click on go, it doesn't stop until it is ready to use.

When you are ready to purchase, you send in the unique product identification code and we send you back a license, based on what you sent in, to unlock the software.

Professional encryption systems are designed for professional software. Keep in mind when you buy our $399 plug-in, you are getting the same algorithms that are in our high-end software platform that can process tremendous volumes of video with significant accuracy.

I hope that helps explain things.

CF
 
I have Neat Video and it does exactly what it says on the tin (it removes noise very well though you really have to tweak the settings shot by shot to get the best results). Neat Video also has a free trial which is worth getting; I purchased a the product after testing it for one day and seeing how impressive the results were.

It looks like Dark Energy is doing a lot more than just noise reduction though.
 
Let me step back and temper my original response. (It was not my intent for my sleep-deprived ramblings to sound negative. I was just frustrated that I could not install a trial for something I was really waiting for.)

We can see from their response that the folks at CinnaFilm are actively listening to potential users and I give that a definite PLUS. CinnaFilm is also putting transparency in their requirements and I applaud them for that. (Maybe I've just gotten burnt more than anyone else, but it seems that way too many other software sellers surprize us with some built-in requirement after we've laid our our dollars.)

We have looked forward to trying Dark Energy with After Effects ever since we saw it demo’d at NAB. Based on CF's response, it appears that the process ties their software package to a specific piece of hardware. While we are seeing this sort of tie-in more often, that limitation makes the software less desireable for us.

I know most vendors usually have a way to help us move a product from one machine to another when I upgrade PCs or have to replace whatever component has the hardware serial numbers discussed above. But I'm reluctant to tie my business to a product that assumes the vendor will have someone to answer the phones at 2AM on Sunday morning when I'm on a tight deadline, or even be around next year. And, while I'm probably overly-conservative here, our production PCs are never connected directly to the internet, so we usually pass on any software that requires connectivity.

Dark Energy looks like a fantastic product that has the potential to enhance production values and would even allow us to use footage that would otherwise be discarded.

I'll have to re-consider if we can find a way to work within it's married-to-specific-hardware parameter.


Jim
 
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