Layout Video Noise

    This plug-in can be found under the Effects panel, on the Image Processing tab as an Image Filter plug-in.  It is not uncommon to want to "dirty" up an image that you're rendering, to give it that extra bit of realism.  The LightWave manual suggests to use the Dither Intensity option to add noise, but the effect is still slight.  What if you want a lot of noise? 
    Enter RealiTools Video Noise.  This plug-in will overlay a random static effect on your image.  You can leave it at a low setting for a slight graininess, or crank it way up to the point where it's difficult to see anything.  It's pretty simple to use, but there are a few options, which we can go over.  First on the list is the Noise strength control object.  By choosing an object in the scene from this list, you can animate the level of static that gets put over your image (try that with dither intensity!).  Right below that is the Noise strength control axis.  When you choose an object to control your static, you need to choose which axis of motion to look at.  Valid amounts are from 0 to 100 units on the axis you select.  Now, perhaps you don't need animated levels of static.  That's the next control, Constant noise value.  Set this to the percentage of static you want.  (100% will completely obscure the image.)  Finally, the last control, Colored noise, is pretty self-explanatory.  The plug-in defaults to putting greyscale static on your image.  If you want the static to have a random coloration, turn on this option.

Tutorial
    Let's just do a quick tutorial here for the static.  We'll use it to depict a TV with really bad reception.

1. Start by opening Layout and loading the image acn_sprt.jpg.
2. Set acn_sprt.jpg as the background image.
3. Add a nullobject to the scene, and name it Noise_Control.
4. Go to the Effects panel, switch to the Image Processing tab, and activate RealiTools_VideoNoise from the drop-down list of Image Filter Plug-ins.
5. Click the Options button.
6. For Noise strength control object, choose Noise_Control.  Set the control axis to the Y axis.  Click OK.
7. Go to the Graph Editor for the nullobject, and give it a fairly random motion on the Y axis.  100 is full static, 0 is none.  Click OK to close the Graph Editor.

Once you're done, your scene should look sort of like this one.