# Optimized Apollo Variant for 3x Interpolation (9-Step Internal Model) and 24 to 60 fps **URL:** \ **Category:** Ideas\ **Tags:** reviewed\ **Created:** [January 20, 2026, 9:42am UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359 "2026-01-20T09:42:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/HFR_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/41 "2026-02-06T14:18:24Z")
Also, I think I figured it out. The motion models do a slight noise reduction so if I’m too aggressive with Iris noise reduction first pass on a grainy film then it creates color banding because it exposes the color banding that the grain was hiding. ---
**Author:** ![seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/user_avatar/community.topazlabs.com/seifenchef/32/246333_2.png) [@seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/seifenchef)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/42 "2026-02-06T15:14:14Z")
> [@HFR\_Man](#): > > The motion models do a slight noise reduction … OK, I think that could be a ‘simplification of the calculation’, because otherwise they would be three times slower if they also had to calculate the noise … 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/user_avatar/community.topazlabs.com/seifenchef/32/246333_2.png) [@seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/seifenchef)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/43 "2026-02-06T15:36:52Z")
> [@HFR\_Man](#): > > if I’m too aggressive with Iris noise reduction IRIS is my favorite model because it produces the fewest artifacts in people/faces. I always have noise reduction set to ‘OFF’ (zero)… I’d rather have a little noise than something too sterile – in DaVinci, I usually add film grain afterwards (small 35mm grain – not too strong) to avoid people/faces looking too smooth … I would like to have DeBlur – **The low frame rate junk is always blurred immediately with every movement and makes 4K absurd.** Unfortunately, the tests were not successful for me, too many artifacts and a huge amount of time, so also zero … Only sharpness, detail – but with high dehalo at the same time! – for that, always almost full throttle 🙂 (fix compression as needed – I always let it estimate the parameters → and then adjust it a little to suit my taste)… ok, but tastes vary … while we’re at it: Has anyone / or is there a thread here that has had good experience with DeBlur? ---
**Author:** ![HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/HFR_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 2:39am UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/44 "2026-02-07T02:39:18Z")
I hate noise/grain, but yeah if you overdo it people start looking fake. The key is the middle ground, I had my parameters too high. And I find the best results are from movies with no grain/noise obviously, therefore the software doesn’t need to clean it up. That’s true pristine movies. Then you can just do motion interpolation on it and you’re golden. ---
**Author:** ![HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/HFR_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 1:06am UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/45 "2026-02-08T01:06:14Z")
I agree. Low fps and 4k makes zero sense. But they needed to sell 4k tvs. They have high fps digital cameras available, but unfortunately they won’t take advantage of them because they are stuck in the past. 4k motion interpolation takes very long so I’ve mostly been sticking to 1080p movies. Results with apollo have been astonishing once I went to 100fps. Terminator salvation action sequences are like watching a different movie almost. Everything is so clear. Really amazing. My tv’s motion interpolation can’t do anything even close to that. Apollo is totally smooth and far superior to chronos once I go to 4x interpolation and set my tv to 100hz ---
**Author:** ![seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/user_avatar/community.topazlabs.com/seifenchef/32/246333_2.png) [@seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/seifenchef)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 4:43am UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/46 "2026-02-08T04:43:47Z")
Consensus. Well, what can you say? 24 fps has become something of a fetish due to its long-standing consistency (analog film projectors around the world). Artists say: 24 fps is a level of artistic abstraction. It’s basically a reality-disengagement mode. I would even accept that for some things. The only problem is that now every filmmaker thinks they’re close to art if it’s just jerky! Delicious! 🙂 This low-frame-rate junk has no place in a modern crime thriller or even an action blockbuster… kind regards ---
**Author:** ![HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/HFR_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/47 "2026-02-16T13:12:45Z")
After further testing, apollo on it’s own without any other enhancement causes color banding to appear . It’s mild and it happens on movies that don’t have any grain at all and are beautifully shot in digital instead of film. Flawless movies before, can show mild color banding in some scenes after motion interpolation. Even using massive bit rates or lossless codecs can’t seem to get rid of it. This also tends to effect films that are compressed more obviously. If I was compressing them from the beginning I’d probably leave a little more size now knowing this. Other than that though, the results are sensational. I wish there was a sony style smooth gradation ONLY enhancement that could be used after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/HFR_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/48 "2026-02-16T14:33:49Z")
I found that using 265 main 8 bit instead of 265 main 10 bit on a 8 bit source reduces the color banding significantly. I always thought 10 bit would be better, but it’s not on an 8 bit source. It increases color banding in this situation. ---
**Author:** ![seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/user_avatar/community.topazlabs.com/seifenchef/32/246333_2.png) [@seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/seifenchef)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/49 "2026-02-16T21:23:16Z")
Hi, Interesting. Could you post a screenshot here where we can see that banding? best regards ---
**Author:** ![HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/HFR_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/50 "2026-02-16T21:41:17Z")
yeah 265 8 bit only reduces it slightly. Clear obvious mild banding was created as you can see below. I could do 100mb bit rate, it wouldn’t matter. The original source had zero banding, unlike this picture. ![Screenshot 2026-02-16 163809 - Copy](https://community-cdn.topazlabs.com/original/3X/8/a/8aad9b2457540bd3937445ac7c9fbfaa7caffce1.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/HFR_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 2:05am UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/52 "2026-02-17T02:05:51Z")
It generally effects videos less than 9mbps .264 1080p ---
**Author:** ![HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b77776/32.png) [@HFR\_Man](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/HFR_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 4:04am UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/53 "2026-02-17T04:04:25Z")
I started a new thread about it. ---
**Author:** ![seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/user_avatar/community.topazlabs.com/seifenchef/32/246333_2.png) [@seifenchef](https://community.topazlabs.com/u/seifenchef)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359/54 "2026-02-17T21:05:13Z")
Where? [Previous page](https://community.topazlabs.com/t/optimized-apollo-variant-for-3x-interpolation-9-step-internal-model-and-24-to-60-fps/100359.md?page=2)