I found the ProDAD licensing scheme for Mercalli to be cumbersome. The e-mail version expected MS Outlook (fat client) to be installed as well as some MS Word plugin which in my case required digging out the install CDs.

I sent a note to Digital Juice. Then I finally configured Outlook and sent the message to ProDAD but haven't gotten the final activation code back after five business days. All this for a $59 program?

Vic,- "if Grazie sez it's good - well, it must be good." Why not try BEFORE you buy? On balance, it is a very easy process. It is another tool in the steady-arsenal. I'd be very interested on your thoughts on its resolution.

Grazie

Yeah, I wasn't real crazy about their registration system either. I don't have e-mail set up on my edit machine.

I generated the registration request using the text file option and cut/pasted the resulting "Dear proDAD team" text file into an e-mail using another machine and sent it to the following address:

reg_heroglyph@prodad.de

I used the subject line that the registration process generated:

Registration request Mercalli 1.0.12 [XXXX-XXXX-XXXX] [ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZ-ZZZZ]

(Where "X" is the registration code and "Z" is the PID.)

I haven't heard back from them either.

Chip,

I went through the same thing, but thought it was just me.
They first send you a "registration code". Then they send you an executable file with the "key" which took multiple tries over several days to get. The problem was that their link to that file didn't work so I wound up getting the file via a second computer.

I bought Mercalli from proDad and really didn't have any issues at all. I bought Heroglyph and Adorage direct from them and no problems there either. I run Thunderbird email and I didn't have to do anything special.

I have Thunderbird on the editing workstation too, but the registration process wanted Outlook for some reason. John Cline describes the e-mail that was finally sent to ProDAD when I configured Outlook to just send mail (and not suck down all the active messages on the Pop server) and Digital Juice sent me an ack on my service request/complaint.

Maybe the half-price deals are swamping the "manual" registration system there in Germany.

John,

Update: I did get an auto reply e-mail from Prodad when I used another ISP. The Comcast problem may have bitten me and yes the site seem busy...

"Registration keys might be sent with 1-3 days delay. "


How did you find that e-mail address? All I could find were info and service at prodad.de?

I sent to "service@prodad.de" on the 25th with still no reply.

There was a note on the prodad web site about Comcast junking their mail as spam so I may have to try another mail account.

Lary

A hearty thanks for that lead. I am using it now for some stuff taken off an airboat on a running river. It's doing great!

I found this, which might be useful to some of you:

http://www.infotoday.com/eventdv/mercalli/mercalli.html

Despite posting the original link, I haven't been a huge fan of this program for what I capture. 24p footage seems to have some trouble with this, and -- as you can see in the video link above from Bob Denny -- there is often an intermittent blurry section resulting from the motion blur. Bob (Farss) references that above.

But for $59, it has some great upsides also. Plus, I spent more than $59 taking my boys to the movies/popcorn/drinks last week, so it's hard to complain about a software program that can occasionally pull off some amazing things. It's a nice tool to have in the "toolbox."

> I haven't heard back from them either.

I had the same problem back in January when I purchase Mercalli directly from proDAD. They don't answer emails or handle their own sales. I had to call the people who tool my money (Element 5) and request to speak to a manager and demand my money back because I did not get what I paid for, before they would contact proDAD for me.

It took me over a month to get my authorization key. Meanwhile the 30 period had expired and prpDAD was placing red X's on my videos. The whole experience did not make me want to buy another proDAD product.

~jr

Thanks, JohnnyRoy. I feel the same right about now. Some companies, however, do better with the online "model" and some are late adopters who basically are putting their fax number on a web site and not checking e-mail regularly.

I would have expected better from Digital Juice though. Their CRM system sent an e-mail acknowledging the issue and then no resolution for a couple of days. That is impaired customer service so ProDAD is giving them a black eye too. They probably depend on the vendor to generate the activation key and have no immediate answer until that occurs.

Luckily I don't need the software until the end of August, but after 30 days my "refund request" process gets activated, half price or not!

Despite posting the original link, I haven't been a huge fan of this program for what I capture. 24p footage seems to have some trouble with this, and -- as you can see in the video link above from Bob Denny -- there is often an intermittent blurry section resulting from the motion blur. Bob (Farss) references that above. I haven't used Mercali, except for the demo, but I've used Dynapel and Deshaker. Any motion stabilization should work GREAT on progressive footage. However, just to re-state what has been already said in earlier posts (simply because I am not sure everyone is understanding this): Any frame taken when the camera was in motion will look blurred when the footage is stabilized in post-production. This is due to the simple fact that ANY camera -- movie or still, video or film -- will blur frames (or fields) due to camera motion unless you use a really high shutter speed. On a still 35mm camera with a 50mm lens, my old rule of thumb was no slower than 1/60 of a second when shooting hand-held, but if I wanted to be certain of a sharp image, 1/125 or even 1/250 was required. With telephoto lenses, the required shutter speed increased considerably.

Now video and movie cameras often use a shutter speed which is the equivalent of either 1/30 or 1/60 of a second. Thus, even at wide angle settings, a hand-held camera is probably going to blur individual frames as the camera moves around in your hand. But, if you use any sort of telephoto, or if you are in motion (walking or in a vehicle), many frames will be blurred. When you view this video, you don't notice the blur because the camera motion is distracting and also because your eye expects motion blur when it views a moving scene. However, when motion is removed in post, all of a sudden it looks like the auto-focus on your camera is enabled and is "hunting" trying to find the right focus.

There is absolutely no solution to this problem after the video has been shot: you either leave the footage alone and live with the shake, or you stabilize it and live with the focus popping in and out. However, if you know you will be using a stabilizer BEFORE you shoot, then most modern video cameras have a "shutter speed" setting which reduces the sample time on the CCD or CMOS sensor, and only samples a very short duration of time. If you use a fast shutter, your motion-stabilized footage will not have focus issues. The only downside is that using a fast shutter does produce video with a subtly different feel that is slightly more crisp and jerky than "regular" video.

For those having problems registering the ProDAD Mercalli Expert downloaded software purchased from Digital Juice (by ordering it from their website with a credit card number), I first received an email with a URL in it for downloading the program - and also a registration number. I then downloaded the program and installed it. Afterward, I ran the included registration program (mercalli-register.exe) and entered the requested information. When I hit "OK", Outlook Express opened with an email with the information in it. Soon after sending it, Mercalli worked in Vegas Pro 8 without the red "X". I suspect that it was not the email but the mercalli-register.exe program that enabled the running of Mercalli in Vegas. I'm now experimenting with it (trying adding sharpening in the Fx sequence earlier than Mercalli to avoid adding compression passes later). I shall also be using the highest possible shutter speed for the conditions (as others have suggested for best results with stabilizing software), likely by using aperture-priority auto and specifying a wide stop (my Canon HV20 lens is sharp to the corners wide open over much of its range - and the 20% error in its viewfinders will roughly cover the image enlargement introduced by Mercalli...).
--DR

> I suspect that it was not the email but the mercalli-register.exe program that enabled the running of Mercalli in Vegas.

Don't be fooled like I was. In 30 days the red X will be back. You need to get an authorization code from proDAD. You need to be relentless until you get it. Otherwise it will stop working after 30 days. The good thing is that Mercalli will warn you every so often that you haven't gotten it authorized yet. Heed the warning!

~jr

I just received my Mercalli authorization from ProDAD. Since I bought it over the weekend when their offices were closed, I think that getting the code first thing Monday in the U.S. was quick enough. Of course, it's the middle of the afternoon in Germany, but still, the code arrived quicker than I was expecting. I'm satisfied.

Interesting that if you invoke the authorization scheme from within the Mercalli plugin to Vegas, it tries to use Outlook to send the codes. If you run the authorization exe file that DRuether mentions (from the Mercalli program directory), it uses the default e-mail program which in my case is Mozilla Thunderbird.

Hopefully having done it both ways will not cause me any additional delay.

My registration code came in within hours, no problems at all. When Mercalli opened outlook (which I don't use), I just copy/pasted the info into my email client and sent it. All is good, and the software works GREAT!
Daryl

I just wanted to show what can be done on progressive footage. Here's a 12 fps film from 1928 that I stabilized (with Deshaker, but I'm sure Mercalli would handle it as well). I'm posting because at least one person said they were having trouble with 24p footage. I just wanted to show how well this can work with progressive. I transferred this film with my video to film transfer device which gives me one frame of video for each frame of film. I then change the header of the video file to match the fps of what I think the original film was, in this case 12 fps (the usual 15, 16, and 18 fps speeds were too fast -- this may have been hand-crank).

At 50 seconds into the clip, the stabilization didn't work too well (ended-up with some edge glitches), so I turned it off for several scenes. Thus you can see the difference: stabilized from the beginning to 0:50; then no stabilization; then later I turned it back on again.

I ran Deshaker last night (with that fabulous script -- thanks John!) on a few short, shaky-cam Hi8 clips from a few years back. I had about a 5-second clip that had the onscreen date in the lower right corner of the video. Now the action is fairly steady, but of course the date does a shaky little dance... Still not that noticeable, and better than original footage.

Tim,

You might try the VirtualDub Delogo filter. Run that first to get rid of the date/time and then run Deshaker or Mercalli. As you have found out, the deshaking process will transform any static logo, date, or frame edge into a bouncing distraction.

To: "JohnnyRoy"

>> I suspect that it was not the email but the mercalli-register.exe program that enabled the running of Mercalli in Vegas.
--DR

>Don't be fooled like I was. In 30 days the red X will be back. You need to get an authorization code from proDAD. You need to be relentless until you get it. Otherwise it will stop working after 30 days. The good thing is that Mercalli will warn you every so often that you haven't gotten it authorized yet. Heed the warning!
~jr

Ah, you are right - there is yet more to getting all the bits right for registering Mercalli. I received an email today with yet another number in it which I hope is the last required piece of a too-complicated puzzle for this process.

BTW, I ran a test today with processed HDV clips with sharpening (placed first in the FX sequence) + Mercalli, alternating with the original clip for reference (with the same mild stabilization for all and 0 sharpening, then 125, 200, 350, and 500 in Vegas). The first was OK, but it was noticeably less sharp than the unfiltered clip; the second was better but not by much; the third began to approach the sharpness of the original clip but it was just beginning to show sharpening artifacts; the fourth was close to the sharpness of the original but artifacting with some subject material was a bit excessive; the fifth was sharper-looking than the original but the artifacting was too pronounced. Not bad overall, though...;-)
--DR

So what's the sharpening sweet spot? 250?