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

ritsmer wrote on 9/8/2010, 7:43 AM

As far as I know this is all dealt with when you buy the product.

What I mean is that you have to register the product under "My Software" and then use the upgrade offer there.

In the box to the right you can "Register Software" and at the bottom you can add "Missing Products"

After this you can see which upgrades you are entitled to get under "Upgrades"

megabit wrote on 9/8/2010, 8:23 AM

What you have described only works this way with SCS software, on the SCS website.

I'm asking about upgrading Mercalli Expert that has been purchased by somebody else, so that I can pay the (lower) upgrade price for the V2.

megabit wrote on 9/8/2010, 8:55 AM

In other words:

What do I need to install and activate Mercalli V2 Upgrade from V1 Expert version - is the V1 serial number enough?

Somebody please tell me - the difference in price between "Buy" and "Upgrade" is quite considerable for V2!

Thanks

Piotr

jabloomf1230 wrote on 9/8/2010, 12:02 PM

I did it as an upgrade from V1 Expert to V2. I had to enter the V1 S/N during the ProDad purchase process, then the discount was applied. You will then get a S/N for V2 in an email. The installation is a bit screwy, since you get a PPro CS5 plugin, a Vegas plugin and a standalone version. The whole installation process made me wince.

V2 works really well and the rolling shutter compensation is an added benefit. I've found that with very shaky clips, you can get even a better result by combining both the stabilization and the RS feature. I never realized before that some shaky video is not just shaky. It also has RS distortion, if the camera movement is sudden.

megabit wrote on 9/8/2010, 12:24 PM

Nowhere during filing the purchase forms am I asked for the s/n; do process is the same whether I choose "Buy" or "Upgrade" - hence my confusion...

At which stage exactly did you enter your V1 s/n?

GerryLeacock wrote on 9/8/2010, 3:30 PM

Does anyone know how long the trial version of V2 functions? Can't seem to find any reference to that on their web site.

Thanks,
Gerry

jabloomf1230 wrote on 9/8/2010, 4:16 PM

Go here:

http://www.prodad.com/home/products/videostabilizing/300391667/buy.xhtml

Chose "upgrade from V1 PRO" and you eventually get to a login page. If you bought V1 from ProDad you should still have a User Id/Password, from when you registered the product. The rest is easy. I got an email directly from ProDad and just clicked on a link in the email.

Christian de Godzinsky wrote on 9/9/2010, 5:16 AM

Hi,

I have V1 - and V2 surely looks very promising.

I will certainly hold my breath for a couple of days before making a purchasing decision, taking into consideration that SCS has already bundled Mercalli stabilizer in the Vegas Movie Studio suite (non-pro).

It is more than likely that SCS will introduce something new for us Vegas Pro users soon...Isn't there a major show/exhibition going on just now?

I would be very much disappointed if not both CUDA accelerated rendering and some kind of video stabilizing wouldn't be included. Come on, those Vegas hobby users already have those features, and they pay less for their software and updates!

Christian

RRA wrote on 9/9/2010, 6:28 AM

Hi Christian,

I agree on CUDA, but hope Mercalli engine will not be included in SVP10. Up till now SCS strategy in this subject is very coherent :

1) to popularize technology in entry level application
2) to keep partner products updated (in this case 64bit)
3) DO NOT fight with partner by acquiring his area
4) DO NOT create obstacle for buyers, which already use Mercalli V2 and going to upgrade from SVP9 to SVP10.

Comming back to CUDA : it's difficult to predict good strategy, because codecs are actually ready (for example Main Concept AVC H.264 with CUDA support). Also HTML5 is ready to support browser players via GPUs. Probably only one thing, which SCS should do in this moment, is attempt to use CUDA in Vegas preview.

Best regards,

megabit wrote on 9/9/2010, 1:09 PM

I have downloaded the trial, and first impressions are very positive - in particular:

- speed (all cores working 100%)
- overall effectiveness
- CMOS artifact compensation
- jerky zoom smoothing (in fact, zooms are actually ramping!)

I wonder what stabilization capabilities will be included in the upcoming VP10 (if any)...

Piotr

MTuggy wrote on 9/9/2010, 10:48 PM

Hmm, purchased it today - the 64 bit version wouldn't install properliy (Windows 7 Pro) and the 32 bit version won't render the file in 32 bit Vegas Pro 9. Not a good start. I'll see what their support people say...

MT

PeterWright wrote on 9/10/2010, 1:46 AM

MTuggy I'll be very interested to hear how you go - I have a very similar problem with W7 64 bit. It asks for the "Serial No." but I only have an "Activation Code", which appears to be the right format, but is not accepted.

I clicked on support address, which started in English but after one click it turned German and I didn't know what they were asking me. Frustrating.

EDIT: Frustration over - I tried being my own English speaking support, and found that I had been trying to use the 32 bit activation code - didn't realise there was a different one for 64 - Mercali now appears as a Video FX in Vegas.

Now to try and remember how to get shaky footage ;)

ChipGallo wrote on 9/10/2010, 7:38 AM

DVDINFO is reporting that Sony has used the ProDad software in the upcoming Vegas Pro10 (and Sony confirms "in partnership" for Image stabilization) here:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro10

* Image Stabilisation: New stabilisation tools greatly reduce jittery or ‘shaky’ video sometimes caused by hand-held recording

Assuming V2, this will save some bucks on upgrades.

hthfriese wrote on 9/10/2010, 8:07 AM

The question for many users will be: Is Vegas Pro 10 using V1 or V2 of Mercalli?

Can anyone answer this?

MTuggy wrote on 9/10/2010, 8:26 AM

I am getting a failure of the install program right after the Choose A Directory prompt, not asking for the code or anything - did you find a way to enter the activation code within the Mercalli stand alone program that allowed you to input the 64 bit code?

I have the 32 bit version running (both the stand alone and the plugin for V9) but I have found that trying to render to the ProDAD avi format in Vegas yielded a corrupted AVI file. It did render to the HDV intermediate file just fine.

Not sure that Mercalli 2 is really debugged yet.

MT

PeterWright wrote on 9/10/2010, 8:38 AM

I haven't tried the stand alone - just the plug in so far.

Grazie wrote on 9/10/2010, 9:09 AM

Peter, the standalone is a real GUI experience, I'm almost converted using it rather than the plug.

Grazie

MTuggy wrote on 9/10/2010, 10:30 AM

Grazie, have you tried exporting video in the standalone version? I didn't have any luck rendering past 14% of the file when trying to export to MJPEG AVI or a Cineform AVI. If you get it to work, let me know which format(s) you export to successfully.

I've had a successful render with the plugin to Cinepak AVI file (HDV intermediate), no luck with the proDad avi format (full HD).

Mike

megabit wrote on 9/11/2010, 12:04 AM

The question for many users will be: Is Vegas Pro 10 using V1 or V2 of Mercalli?

Indeed this is a very important question, as the V2 is another league than the V1, and the promotion from ProDAD ends BEFORE the launch of Vegas Pro 10...

I think the Pro 10 stabilizer will not be different than the one already present for a while in the "little" Vegas, which cannot be based on V2... But then - it should be something better than in Vegas Studio, so who knows?

Piotr

PLS wrote on 9/11/2010, 10:06 AM

In Movie Studio the stabilizer has rolling shutter correction. Rolling shutter correction was not available in Mercalli version 1 only in version 2.

Grazie wrote on 9/12/2010, 12:16 AM

MTuggy: "Grazie, have you tried exporting video in the standalone version?

Yes.

I didn't have any luck rendering past 14% of the file when trying to export to MJPEG AVI or a Cineform AVI. If you get it to work, let me know which format(s) you export to successfully.

Can't speak for Cineform, but I can report MJPEG and DV works fine as does Lagarith. Got an ERROR and hang on the Intel 4:2:0 and DivX - if that means anything to anyone, not my comfort zone.

Any help there?

Grazie

megabit wrote on 9/12/2010, 6:21 AM

In Movie Studio the stabilizer has rolling shutter correction. Rolling shutter correction was not available in Mercalli version 1 only in version 2.

Just checked the results in Movie Studio trial, and while the stabilizer indeed has this option, the results are not near as good as in the V2 plug-in for Vegas Pro...

PeterDuke wrote on 9/12/2010, 6:27 AM

I lay my money on Vegas Pro 10 having exactly the same stabilizer as Vegas Movie Studio 10, that is a customized (lite) version of the retail products. ProDAD still wants to be able to sell its latest offering to Vegas users.

megabit wrote on 9/14/2010, 2:58 AM

Another interesting thing I've noticed with the trial V2 is memory leak in Vegas Pro 9.0e - let's hope it's a teething problem....

When I leave a project open with an mxf clip stabilized, after several hours of doing nothing (Vegas window closed) my RAM usage shows almost entire 8GB I have installed!

Can anyone confirm this, or am I the only one with this issue? This is important for me, as I do have a general memory hogging problem with mxf clips - on simple play-back from Vegas timeline, they will use all memory. Only this time, it happens even when doing nothing in Vegas.

Piotr