Have you seen Mercalli V2 yet? (I have) :-)

JohnnyRoy wrote on 8/30/2010, 5:53 PM

A couple of folks had sent me emails asking if I had tried Mercalli V2 yet yet so I bought the upgrade to my V1 copy and I gotta say, this is a "must have" plug-in for your kit. It even works with the 64-bit version of Vegas Pro. They have been busy little engineers over at proDAD.

I've got some hand-held "socker mom" footage that is very shaky and zoomed all the way in (you know what I'm talking about) and I did a compare against Mercally 1 & 2 and version 2 keeps a LOT more of the footage in frame. I don't know how they did it but it doesn't crop nearly as much as the original version and the results are outstanding. They have this mode called "Glide Camera" that just smooths out all the motion so that it's silky. The locked down camera mode is rock solid too. I am very impressed.

I have no affiliation with popDAD at all. I just wanted to let people know who were asking. This one's a keeper... Go for it! ;-)

~jr

Comments

ECB wrote on 8/30/2010, 6:07 PM

Thanks jr.

-Ed B

TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/30/2010, 6:22 PM

I just noticed it tonight. I was actually going to the site to download it to use & noticed it was new. :)

EDIT: $111 upgrade price from The 1.0 Expert. Not bad.

Serena wrote on 8/30/2010, 7:12 PM

Useful info. I bought v1 and although it was nicely integrated plugin and easy to use, in the end I judged DeShaker to do a much better job and went back to that. I'll have a try with v2.

jrazz wrote on 8/30/2010, 7:43 PM

How do the results compare to New Deshaker? Do you have a comparison JR?

j razz

Grazie wrote on 8/30/2010, 10:44 PM

Interesting JR.

What I want to see on their site is the comparison from the previous version of ZOOM-in and loss of definition and the now new use of the " . . proDAD’s SmartBorder™ options that reduces the need to zoom in during stabilization, leaving the borders of the original video intact." - Now THAT I want to see. Is it on the site? Or do I need to download a demo?

As the border and Zoom-in has made me keep away from my investment in Mercalli V1, and like others here, I've now stayed with NewDeshake. As I said what might sway me towards MercV2 would be a Prodad example of V1 against V2.

But these are only my opinions.

Grazie

PeterDuke wrote on 8/31/2010, 1:47 AM

Make sure you set a deinterlace method in the project settings of Vegas or you might get awful interlace artefacts.

RRA wrote on 8/31/2010, 5:49 AM

Hi,

I have installed both (commercial versions) : V1 expert and V2. After installation of V2 on Vegas32, I have error message from V1 "can't use codec" and V1 doesn't work at all. I have reported this to ProDAD support, but they can't recreate error.

Can anybody confirm this case ?

Best regards,

Jay Gladwell wrote on 8/31/2010, 7:02 AM

Johnny, how did you try it? I can't find a demo to download. Am I missing something?

P.S. Found it!

P.P.S. I can't get it to install. Keeps saying it didn't get something.

PeterDuke wrote on 8/31/2010, 7:34 AM

Grazie, you quoted " . . proDAD’s SmartBorder™ options that reduces the need to zoom in during stabilization, leaving the borders of the original video intact."

Where did you get that quote? I can't find any setting in either the plugin or standalone versions which give that option. There is however a check box in the right hand pane of the plugin which says "Signalize frames where a higher stabilization could be possible using 'Avoid border'", which I have no idea what it means. I couldn't tell any difference whether it was checked or not.

I was trying to stabilize a castle perched on top of a mountain with a plain blue sky behind. This seemed an ideal subject to fill in the border (i.e. no zoom used) from previous and/or next frames using New Deshaker, but I encountered an unexpected problem. With slow wobble of the camera, the frames used to fill in the border were sufficiently far away in time that in the meantime the auto exposure had time to operate, This meant that the filled in border consisted of two or three bands of blue sky of different brightnesses. So to use this technique properly, Deshaker should adjust the brightness of fill-in material taken from distant frames (i.e. undo the auto exposure).

PeterDuke wrote on 8/31/2010, 7:42 AM

You can't download Mercalli directly, you have to first download the download manager. I kept getting an error trying to do the download of the trial so I bit the bullet and upgraded v1 to v2 anyway. Fortunately the download worked this time. Deliberate error to make you buy?

Grazie wrote on 8/31/2010, 7:50 AM

PeterDuke> Grazie, you quoted " . . proDAD’s SmartBorder™ options that reduces the need to zoom in during stabilization, leaving the borders of the original video intact."

http://www.prodad.com/home/products/videostabilizing/300391667,l-us.xhtmlAlso new are proDAD’s SmartBorder™ optionsthat reduces the need to zoom in [/link]

Grazie

PeterDuke wrote on 8/31/2010, 8:22 PM

I think we must have smart borders and dumb users. That check mark I mentioned must be the Smartborder option. Maybe someone can throw further light on it. Certainly in the few cases I have tried, the border has been cropped significantly rather than filled in.

JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/1/2010, 5:59 PM

I made a video of Mercalli V2 and a comparison with V1 in Vegas Pro for those who are interested. Be sure to watch it in HD although I mistakenly recorded it a 15fps so it's not as smooth as what i saw when I was recording. :(

~jr

RRA wrote on 9/2/2010, 2:42 AM

Hi John,

Is it possible in your config to use V1 and V2 simoultanously in Vegas 32 session ? After installation of V2 I have error message "can't config codec" from Mercalli V1 and V1 can't operate at all. Can you confirm this ?

(it's not possible to use V1 nad V2 on the same event - I have discussed this issue with ProDAD support).

Best regards,

Grazie wrote on 9/2/2010, 3:49 AM

JR! You did a grand job there.

So, what I am understanding is that although in V1 I could set the amount of ZOOM-in, this would be set for the WHOLE Event.

But here, in V2, I can KF just where I wish to ZOOM-in? Is that it? I can ZOOM-in on ONLY those sections of the Event that are needing to be zoomed-in on? If that is the case then this is real added value. And yes, of course, I like the GUI front-end of the analysis in the standalone.

I'm a bit scared on the CODEC thing that our colleague is reporting.

Well done John. Well done indeed. Looks like £97GBp.

Grazie

RRA wrote on 9/2/2010, 4:12 AM

Hi,

Problem solved. V1 and V2 can operate together in Sony Vegas PRO 32bit.

Best regards,

JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/2/2010, 4:38 AM

> So, what I am understanding is that although in V1 I could set the amount of ZOOM-in, this would be set for the WHOLE Event.

I should have shown it in the video but what happens is that V1 lets you adjust the zoom but when you do, you just see more of the border. In V2, it actually adjusts the stabilization so that the border is still not there! So V2 has the ability to trade-off between better stabilization and less border or more stabilization and a larger border. V1 keeps the stabilization the same and just shows the black or mirrored border which doesn't look nice at all.

~jr

JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/2/2010, 4:41 AM

> Problem solved. V1 and V2 can operate together in Sony Vegas PRO 32bit.

Yea, I'm glad you got it sorted out because I was going to say that I was using V1 and V2 side-by-side in the video so I had no problems at all.

~jr

RRA wrote on 9/2/2010, 5:19 AM

Hi Grazie,

"I can ZOOM-in on ONLY those sections of the Event that are needing to be zoomed-in on?"

I can't open my station now, but if I can remember properly, you can only regulate compromise stabilize/border for entire event. It should be confirmed by somebody.

There was announcement from ProDAD that V2 and SAL will have scene detection mechanism (IMHO impossible without keyframing) but I can't recognize this. I'm still using SplitEvent and Pan/Crop to copy with complex stabilization cases in long take.

Best regards,

Grazie wrote on 9/2/2010, 5:23 AM

Oh My Eye . . . .

. . . . . . . g

megabit wrote on 9/7/2010, 12:25 PM

I'm a bit late to this discussion, so forgive me the questions:

- is V2 already available, or is Prodad selling a "pre-release version" as they put it in their email announcement?

- is a demo available (last time I visited their webpage, the download links were dead)

- is the 64bit version of V2 available/planned?

Thanks,

Piotr

RRA wrote on 9/7/2010, 1:30 PM

Hi,

"Mercalli V2 can even stabilize and correct multiple video clips right on the timeline with advanced scene-detection technology." (from ProDAD newsletter).

I still can't recognize this subject properly ...

Piotr, try ProDAD USA. V2 has both installers : for 32 and 64bit Vegas. Now in Vegas32 we have both V1+V2. In Vegas64 V2 only. SAL is 32bit only.

Best regards,

vegasmon wrote on 9/7/2010, 9:35 PM

I bought the upgrade two days ago.downloaded it and installed..it does wonders .Since this is a pr-release version its still has some bugs.. it crashes at times and also it has no templates like u see in ver 1.0

megabit wrote on 9/8/2010, 5:28 AM

Thanks guys - I've catched up.

One question though: what are the requirements to take advantage of the "upgrade" lower price? What does the installer ask you / checks for during install and activation?

I'm asking, because I do have the V1 Expert, but I was not the original buyer (a friend of mine bought the licence, and since he thought he would never use it, passed it on to me with all his registration credentials).