As musicvid said .. in order for this to work the video *must* be zoomed.

If it wasn't then you would see the edges of the frame as the software moves the image to compensate for the jitter. The more jitter the tighter the zoom will be.

Not certain that Mercalli works with SVMStudio - it didn't when I tried it a few years ago but works well in the Pro version.

Richard

VMS actually uses proDAD technology that is in mercalli(Sony must have licensed it). Not sure if V2 is any better. You'll probably run into the same issues because part of how stabilizers work will give you a zommed in look. I haven't tried the new NewBlue offering yet.

musicvid said: "Some zoom and softness will occur with any stabilizer. Edge cropping and deinterlace must occur for them to do their work.

brighterside said: "As musicvid said .. in order for this to work the video *must* be zoomed.I'm not sure I disagree with these statements, but I might add to them.

NewDeshaker (which uses VirtualDub & the Deshaker plugin as a Vegas Pro script - correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it will work in VMS), compensates for the edge cropping by looking at what was bordering the clip in previous frames and future frames and substitutes those border images for the black border created by a straight zoom. This is a pretty clever method of reducing the zoom & resultant black borders. Most of the time it works pretty well, but sometimes (particularly if there is movement in the border areas), strange results can occur.

The only other Stabilizer I'm familiar with (other than the built-in Vegas 10 stabilizer) is Mercalli V2. When creating a "Rock Steady" stabilization, I like Mercalli V2 better than NewDeshaker, however, I wish the folks at ProDad would build in the same border-building feature as Deshaker.

That said, if you stabilize a clip that does not zoom or pan, you can "cheat" with Mercalli V2 by capturing a still image from your clip, placing it on the track above the stabilized clip and negative masking the border. I've used that technique in the following YouTube clip - no borders, no zooming and the result is a near tripod-like stabilization.



...Jerry

PS: Someone may correct me on this, but I think the Mercalli V2 plugin only works with Vegas Pro, however the Mercalli V2 SAL (standalone) will run separately on your Windows workstation and coexist with VMS.

Thanks for expanding on the original responses. Once one understands the basic principles of tracking / motion stabilization, it is easier to understand the refinements offered by the programs you mentioned.

In addition to having some means of cropping or disguising the border "movement," the method of deinterlacing, which is also requisite, is very important when comparing the outcome.