Yes, the Grazie-test is important!

Hello guys. . .
I have no technical expertise or advice to offer...
I did stay at HIExpress last night, so I feel well within my rights as a Vegas Pro owner and videographer to say... I like it very much...
Now, I'm not sure how it'll do on longer video pieces ... of for a 10-15 minute travelogue - like Andy L shares with us on his Helmet/handheld video of his ski adventure ...
Or how much processor power is required to make it speedy enough to own...
* * *
I do like all their other products ... I just recently downloaded their Light Rays through another purchase offer of theirs ... so, I might very well take them up on this offer as well, what with the new computer and all (grin)
* * *
I am also interested in what our resident guru has to say about the product... or anyone else for that matter... anyone have any experience with other similar stabilizing programs? Anything compare to the price and effectiveness of the NewBlue guys?

Until that time... Earl J.

Might be interesting. But I hate downloading stuff and installing it when I know I am not going to keep it. How good are NewBlue uninstalls?

I just tried this software and here is my recommendation:

DO NOT INSTALL THIS SOFTWARE!

1. The installation tries to install some background sales software from "esellerate." The installer does not give you the option to decline this install. However, there was a dialog that asked if I wanted to continue the installation. I didn't immediately answer, and went online to find out about esellerate, and when I found out what it was, I canceled the install. However, it appears the stuff got installed anyway because the first thing that happened when I tried the software was I got an ad on my screen.

2. The software does not work. I used it with Vegas 8.0c. I added the stabilizer fX, and opened the dialog. The Vegas preview window had text over the top of the video telling me that the video needed analyzing. I understood that, so I chose a preset, and then clicked on the "Analyze" button in the NewBlue fX dialog. However, after a brief moment, the analysis was done, but the text remained on the preview screen, telling me that analysis was needed. No new button appeared in the dialog. Clicking on the Vegas button to turn the fX on and off did not make the video move at all, so obviously no motion stabilization had been done.

3. The help with the program is totally useless. I tried to find answers to my problem above and was unable to get any useful information.

4. The help on their site is useless. The only thing I could find was the announcement and one single page describing, in very cursory fashion, what the product does. There is no product manual to download, and no other information.

5. In answer to PerroneFord's question, the uninstall doesn't work at all. I just unisnstalled the program, and all the files are still in the "New Blue" folder under "Program Files." I then did a complete search of my C: drive to see what files had been altered since the install, and found that none of the New Blue files had been removed, and worse, the eWebClient.dll file (the esellerate DLL), which they put in the "Common Files" area, was still there. I then did a quick search of the registry and found almost a dozen entries that were not removed.

So, this is a broken, incompetent, adware laden, bad program. STAY AWAY!

[Edit] Ed points out below that the program does not contain adware and is not "adware laden." I therefore retract that point, but I did receive a pop-up, the program did not work; it did not uninstall any of its files; it did not create a restore point prior to the installation; and most important, it failed to stabilize my video.

1. The esellerate stuff is just used in the activation process to verify your serial number. It does NOT install any adware. The ad you apparently saw was just what pops up as part of the initial installation - once installed you will NOT see any more ads.

2. The video event MUST be selected before clicking on Analyze. Was the event selected?

3/4. The "help file" is the product manual

5. I don't directly know about the uninstall process but I can assure you that it is NOT "adware laden".

OK, "laden" implies more than one process, and a continuous barrage of pop-ups, and I did not get that. However, I did receive a pop-up. Also, something I didn't mention in the previous post is that the installation does NOT create a restore point. Fortunately, since I've seen sloppy installers before, I create a manual restore point prior to installation (I also did a complete image backup of the C: drive, just because I am paranoid).

And, the software did not work. Obviously I had to select and event because otherwise, how could I have assigned the fX?

I have used Steadyhand, have tried Mercalli, and obviously know a little about Deshaker. They are all fine products. I did not have a good experience with this product or with the company's documentation and the way the product presents itself to the user.

Evidently they do not offer a demo... would like to see if it compares favorably with the Deshaker scripts already available. I would hope that it is substantially better for $99... don't think I want to gamble especially after JohnMeyer's experience.

Is it just a coincidence that a few days after someone releases a free stabiliser based on an open source effort, NewBlue come out with a commercial product.

Bob.

Hello,

I know this is going to sound strange because maybe from an official standpoint I should respond defensively.(I'm with NewBlue.) But, honestly (gulp), John makes some very good points. Let me answer these in the order they were presented:

1. eSellerate. Yeah, I can see why that might look weird. Here's what's going on: eSellerate is the technology that we license for activating our software. This is the mechanism that lets you plugin in your serial number and unlock the software. So, why is it in the installer? We were having a nightmare problem with the eSellerate software not running properly for some customers and they'd get frustrated when activating their software. eSellerate gave us a patch they could run to solve the problem. At some point, somebody pointed out that we should just install the patch and be done with it. We did that and we've never had a complaint since.

2. Software does not work. Oh, man! That's like an arrow to the chest. Thwap! But, guess what? John is right. Well, actually the software does work, but given that a very critical piece of information was missing, it was as good as dead. The answer is you have to click on the actual clip in the timeline. Why do we do this? Vegas does not provide a mechanism for time access or an anlysis pass. So it was a very challenging project to enable this functionality and we had to go through some he wacky contortions to get an analysis pass to truly work in Vegas. All fine, but, we neglected to explain right there in the user interface or even in the help system, "Click on the clip you would like to stabilize and then click on the Analyze button" Honestly, there's no excuse for missing that. I promise tha tinformation will be in both the UI and the help later tonight.

3. Useless help. Again, a correct complaint because it didn't explain the most critical operation. This is embarrassing - there's no other way to say it. It will be rectified shortly.

4. No answers on our website. Fair point. We do create product tutorials and we do have answers to product problems in our knowledge base. But, none yet for this (it did release today, though.)

5. The Ininstall. We have components that are shared across NLEs and components that are NLE specific. Unfortunately, our installer isn't really good at clearing out partial installs. On the plus side, we are working on replacing our installers with a more powerful one that should give you more flexibility.

So, that's my answer. John's response is going to help us make better products.

Thanks,

Todor

Todor... question...

How does this compare to Mercalli stabilizer?

Mercalli (which I have) is pretty good but it does have a rolling shutter issue (I'm assuming that's what it is anyway). If I'm not VERY careful in adjusting Mercalli (with hi def avchd and hdv) I get a sort of (very noticeable) wobble in the video. Does new blue have this issue at all?

Rob,

I don't think it's appropriate for me to make comparisons. (Besides who would believe me?) But, I would encourage you to download the trial and decide for yourself.

I will say that I've been personally using HDV video for my test runs. I'm not aware of any wobble artifacts. However, if you use our product and you experience them, then please let me know. We're going to continue to refine and improve this (free upgrades, ofcourse.)

Todor

It would be nice if there was a demo just to see if it fixes things well enough to make it worth $100. Heck, I have a steadicam but don't always want to lug it around with me.

MT

Evidently they do not offer a demo...

I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that there's no demo. You go to the stabilizer page and there's a "trial" button. You go to the "download" page and you can download trials of EVERY product. The trial and release versions are the same version - you just unlock the trial with the serial number to get rid of the watermark.

Just so everyone knows, Todor sent me a very nice PM, and I responded back to him with a bunch of suggestions. I always think VERY highly of engineers and marketing people who take the time to respond to customers and potential customers in this manner. I give him high marks for that (and I wish the people at Sony Madison would be similarly attentive ... grumble, grumble).

The only thing I still don't understand is that both Ed and Todor mentioned that the user needs "to click on the actual clip in the timeline" in order for the Analyze function to work. The problem is, that is exactly what I did. There is no other way I could have assigned the fX, and I didn't click on any other event (which would have de-selected the original event). So, I am a little puzzled as to what was going on there.

As I told Todor at the end of my PM reply to him, I look forward to hearing what some of you might have to say about the software after you've had a chance to try it out.

John, you would think that would be true. However, I did a test here:

1. Open Vegas.
2. Drag a clip to the timeline - after doing that, the event was NOT selected
3. Click on the "add fx" button ON THE EVENT - which opened up the selection box, selected Stabilizer which then opened up the Stabilizer dialog - after doing that, the event was NOT selected!
4. So I then clicked ON THE EVENT before clicking Analyze which did select the event.

Amazing but true - you can click on the add FX button on the event and the event won't be selected because of that.

<<You go to the stabilizer page and there's a "trial" button>>

A very small easy to miss button!

I tried the stabilizer side by side with New Deshaker script on some HDV video taken of waterskiers from a boat. The results were no better and in some ways not as good as the results produced with New Deshaker. In particular, the fill function either in fill mode or original mode looked more artificial than that of New Deshaker.
Granted, the sheer number of tweaks available (and maybe necessary) for these products requires far too much time for anyone needing to remain productive and makes it difficult to draw direct comparisons on effectiveness. Stabilizer perhaps has fewer and more simplified controls. But IMHO stabilizer offers little or nothing more than New Deshaker for the price.

"The only thing I still don't understand is that both Ed and Todor mentioned that the user needs "to click on the actual clip in the timeline" in order for the Analyze function to work. The problem is, that is exactly what I did. There is no other way I could have assigned the fX, and I didn't click on any other event (which would have de-selected the original event). So, I am a little puzzled as to what was going on there."

I would imagine it's the same as mercalli. I have to click on the clip to "add" the mercalli stabilizer, then I have to click on it again to "choose" the clip for analysis. Why that is I don't know but it must have something to do with Todor saying it's a complication with Vegas.

In view of the fact that it’s on the forum already. I have had the opportunity to try it out, this is what I liked

It separated the roll.xy from the stabilizing or jitter aspect and zoom or crop
So I could reset these in edit without having to re-analyze or rework it
I could work on any media AVCHD etc in Vegas
Very quick , analyze time the same as all the others

I ran the same clips through Boris BBC stabile and BCC motion smooth and Mercalli to compare

What I am prepared to say is you won’t be disappointed. Especially impressive was the lack of jello / rolling shutter wobble

It took a while for NB settings to gel in my mind,the settings only need to be finally tuned = - 1 or + 1 I had a tendency to overcompensate
Like if you want to lock it down clamp it then nail it and then put a straight jacket on it and that should do it. So I had to ease off and get in touch with my gentler side.

Here is a clip with some NBFX on as well

http://www.myvideo.co.za/video/new-plug-in

Thanks for taking the time to post the comparison clip. Does NBVS need to zoom in that far for stabilization?

Grazie

No Grazie

I zoomed in really close as this would really show the jitters up after stabilization .so NB did a good job as for the rest of the clip there was NO jello artifacts

I ran a number of test from pan and zooms etc and I was happy with the results

AH! Got it ..

Grazie

"Here is a clip with some NBFX on as well"

That's A LOT better than mercalli!

With mercalli if you try to stabilize as much as that you start getting that jello wobble.

This looks like it may be worth the bucks.