This isn't anywhere near being a definitive comparison and it was only done use the default settings for each denoiser. I have no doubt some of the denoisers could do a better job if I fiddled with their settings but I'm far from being an expert there so I just used the defaults.
The main purpose for doing the test encodes was to compare other denoise filters to the filter I've been using for denoising despite the fact it's not officially a denoiser (QTGMC in progressive mode). I was going to post screenshots of each test encode but they really don't tell the full story so I uploaded small samples instead.
In my opinion, QTGMC does a better job (or at least more pleasing to my eye) than the denoisers even though it's not officially a noise removal filter as such. It didn't necessarily remove the most noise, but it does "stabilise" what it doesn't remove so it no longer seems as "noisy" and therefore it doesn't blur the picture as some noise filters do. In fact QTGMC can have a slight sharpening effect instead. The two script based denoisers I tested did a pretty good job removing a large amount of noise without too much blurring, but for me, QTGMC's output is still more pleasant to look at.
I've included the original video with the samples. If anyone would care to try denoising it with clever filter parameters or a different filter please feel free. Being fairly lazy myself though, I'd prefer to use a "one size fits all" denoiser which I know will do a pretty good job without my needing to spend time making adjustments every time I use it.
Here's my take (alphabetical order). Feel free to tell me if you disagree.
degrainmedian: Seems like a decent compromise between noise removal and blurring, as long as you're prepared to overlook the first frame which it appears not to denoise.
dfttest: Removed a fair percentage of noise while at the same time blurring too much for my taste.
FastDegrain script: Subjectively, I liked the result. It removed a great deal of noise and while it did blur a little, for some reason I didn't find it too objectionable.
fft3dfilter: Caused as much blurring as a couple of other filters without removing as much noise.
FluxSmooth: Seems pretty similar to degrainmedian. Why don't they denoise the first frame?
RemoveGrain: Doesn't seem to do a great deal of noise removal using default settings.
TemporalDegrain script: Removes a large amount of grain/noise using default settings. Considering how effective it is the amount of blurring is acceptable, although it probably blurs a little too much for my taste.
TTempSmooth: Default settings don't seem to do a great deal of noise removal.
VagueDenoiser: Probably belongs in the "lightweight denoiser" category using it's default settings.
VerticalCleaner: Probably belongs in the "lightweight denoiser" category using it's default settings.
Denoisers which don't denoise the first frame would be an issue for me. Now and then I use a denoiser in combination with Trim() to denoise just the sections which need it rather than denoise the entire video.
So far the denoisers I prefer are the two script based ones. FastDegrain and TemporalDegrain. Even though FastDegrain doesn't remove quite as much noise as TemporalDegrain I prefer it's denoising because it doesn't blur quite as much.
QTGMC doesn't actually remove as much noise as the previous scripts, however to me, "noise stabilisation" is generally a more pleasing result than "noise removal" because it blurs the video less. It mightn't be to everyone's taste, but I prefer it so far. QTGMC encodes included in the attached zip file:
QTGMC (default settings): Very slow in single threaded mode.
QTGMC (medium speed preset): Acceptable speed in single threaded mode at 720p.
QTGMC (fast speed preset): On a par with many of the other filters speed-wise.
The faster the QTGMC preset, the less noise removal/stabilisation it does, but I kind of like that, especially when the source video only contains "light noise'. I've deliberately used a faster preset on occasion because I've thought it produced a more "natural" looking result (to me). I guess it's similar to the traditional noise removal/blurring compromise.
Last of all QTGMC with it's "internal" noise filtering enabled (I used it's EZDenoise function). By default, QTGMC's noise removal is disabled.
QTGMC(InputType=1, Preset="fast", EZDenoise=2.0)
I think I'll need to play around with QTGMC's own denoising a little more but at the moment I'm leaning towards using a slower speed preset without denoising than a faster one with it. QTGMC's own denoising doesn't seem to be an exception to the noise removal/blurring compromise. It works well, but the more you crank it up the more blurring you get, which kind of negates my reason for using QTGMC as a pseudo noise filter.
Anyway, if anyone would care to look at the samples and offer an alternative opinion I'd be interested. Likewise if anyone would care to re-encode the original sample using their favourite denoise filter/settings and think it does a much better job I'd be keen to have a look.
Keep in mind all of the above is simply my opinion and as a general rule I'm fairly confident I have no idea what I'm talking about. :)
The main purpose for doing the test encodes was to compare other denoise filters to the filter I've been using for denoising despite the fact it's not officially a denoiser (QTGMC in progressive mode). I was going to post screenshots of each test encode but they really don't tell the full story so I uploaded small samples instead.
In my opinion, QTGMC does a better job (or at least more pleasing to my eye) than the denoisers even though it's not officially a noise removal filter as such. It didn't necessarily remove the most noise, but it does "stabilise" what it doesn't remove so it no longer seems as "noisy" and therefore it doesn't blur the picture as some noise filters do. In fact QTGMC can have a slight sharpening effect instead. The two script based denoisers I tested did a pretty good job removing a large amount of noise without too much blurring, but for me, QTGMC's output is still more pleasant to look at.
I've included the original video with the samples. If anyone would care to try denoising it with clever filter parameters or a different filter please feel free. Being fairly lazy myself though, I'd prefer to use a "one size fits all" denoiser which I know will do a pretty good job without my needing to spend time making adjustments every time I use it.
Here's my take (alphabetical order). Feel free to tell me if you disagree.
degrainmedian: Seems like a decent compromise between noise removal and blurring, as long as you're prepared to overlook the first frame which it appears not to denoise.
dfttest: Removed a fair percentage of noise while at the same time blurring too much for my taste.
FastDegrain script: Subjectively, I liked the result. It removed a great deal of noise and while it did blur a little, for some reason I didn't find it too objectionable.
fft3dfilter: Caused as much blurring as a couple of other filters without removing as much noise.
FluxSmooth: Seems pretty similar to degrainmedian. Why don't they denoise the first frame?
RemoveGrain: Doesn't seem to do a great deal of noise removal using default settings.
TemporalDegrain script: Removes a large amount of grain/noise using default settings. Considering how effective it is the amount of blurring is acceptable, although it probably blurs a little too much for my taste.
TTempSmooth: Default settings don't seem to do a great deal of noise removal.
VagueDenoiser: Probably belongs in the "lightweight denoiser" category using it's default settings.
VerticalCleaner: Probably belongs in the "lightweight denoiser" category using it's default settings.
Denoisers which don't denoise the first frame would be an issue for me. Now and then I use a denoiser in combination with Trim() to denoise just the sections which need it rather than denoise the entire video.
So far the denoisers I prefer are the two script based ones. FastDegrain and TemporalDegrain. Even though FastDegrain doesn't remove quite as much noise as TemporalDegrain I prefer it's denoising because it doesn't blur quite as much.
QTGMC doesn't actually remove as much noise as the previous scripts, however to me, "noise stabilisation" is generally a more pleasing result than "noise removal" because it blurs the video less. It mightn't be to everyone's taste, but I prefer it so far. QTGMC encodes included in the attached zip file:
QTGMC (default settings): Very slow in single threaded mode.
QTGMC (medium speed preset): Acceptable speed in single threaded mode at 720p.
QTGMC (fast speed preset): On a par with many of the other filters speed-wise.
The faster the QTGMC preset, the less noise removal/stabilisation it does, but I kind of like that, especially when the source video only contains "light noise'. I've deliberately used a faster preset on occasion because I've thought it produced a more "natural" looking result (to me). I guess it's similar to the traditional noise removal/blurring compromise.
Last of all QTGMC with it's "internal" noise filtering enabled (I used it's EZDenoise function). By default, QTGMC's noise removal is disabled.
QTGMC(InputType=1, Preset="fast", EZDenoise=2.0)
I think I'll need to play around with QTGMC's own denoising a little more but at the moment I'm leaning towards using a slower speed preset without denoising than a faster one with it. QTGMC's own denoising doesn't seem to be an exception to the noise removal/blurring compromise. It works well, but the more you crank it up the more blurring you get, which kind of negates my reason for using QTGMC as a pseudo noise filter.
Anyway, if anyone would care to look at the samples and offer an alternative opinion I'd be interested. Likewise if anyone would care to re-encode the original sample using their favourite denoise filter/settings and think it does a much better job I'd be keen to have a look.
Keep in mind all of the above is simply my opinion and as a general rule I'm fairly confident I have no idea what I'm talking about. :)