ProDad Mercalli stabilization software

[_Paz_]

Thanks to Brian's suggestion, and the WOW factor in how well ProDad's Mercalli stabilized some of his skiing footage, I've downloaded the trial demos of Mercalli version 2 plugin and version 3 stand alone programs. I've also looked at quite a few YouTube videos re: Mercalli and other stabilization programs. Mercalli looks good!

I ran Mercalli 3 on a 3 minute 14 second clip in less than 10 minutes. 53 seconds of the tail end of the same footage took about 40 minutes to run Warp Stabilizer in Premiere. In addition, every time I made any new changes to Premiere, it took 40 minutes or so to render all over again, every time, while my laptop gets hotter and hotter.

As far as I can tell, Mercalli did as good a job, if not better. I don't know if Adobe's Warp Stabilizer is adjustable or not, but when I set up Mercalli for Rock Steady camera the results were fabulous - except for occasional bits of black edges popping up every now and then. I now know I could have avoided that if I had clicked a setting that would have zoomed in instead of losing edges.

I've read a lot about the comparison between versions 2 and 3. The ProDad site says Version 2 is the latest... but Version 3 does things 2 does not. Like handle 4k files. Not that I have a 4k camera, but I believe the latest Hero has 4k capability.

Version2 is a plugin and does work within Premiere Pro CS6 and After Effects, both of which I happen to have. That's nice, I guess, but I wonder about system resources. Does it make sense that running the stand alone version 3 would be easier on my laptop than the plugin with either of the Adobe programs open?

Re: file saving. I'm guessing that with plugin version 2, you save as you would normally save any Premiere or After Effects file, with the huge assortment of choices. Version 3 only offers small, medium or large file size of mp4 or a .mov QuickTime file. Not sure about quality settings with QuickTime.

It is easier to see what you're doing in Version 3. In Version 3 you can pull sliders (in and out points?) so as to only stabilize a portion of footage. Maybe you could also do that in Premiere. Not sure yet. Version 3 can do batch processing. Not sure I'd need that.

The ProDad site says there is a 20% off all regularly priced software but the coupon won't work for me with Version 3, which essentially makes both about the same price since the coupon does work for the more expensive Version2.


Which would be better?

thanks,

Paz

[Peru]

You may want to wait and keep an eye out for promotions. They have had 30% off at times.

[Briantho]

Thanks to your post Paz I've been doing a bit of digging around and I see I had an email many months ago from Prodad offering a reasonably priced upgrade to Version 3. I tried taking advantage of that but the upgrade only mentions Windows - I switched to Macs years ago. I've written to Prodad as I assume this is a misunderstanding and a Mac version is probably available. If that's OK I'll get the upgrade as it's cheap and sounds pretty good. So I can't really offer any advice as to which you should get but personally I tend to go for the most recent version of whatever it is unless we're talking cars...

However, I can't see myself using it a lot in the future as for the vast majority of time my camcorders are on tripods or attached to convenient appendages - most of the time I do multicam videos of local theatre and school productions. Another factor is that I plan on moving to Final Cut Pro X during 2014 as for me all this is a hobby and I feel distinctly uncomfortable with the 'Creative Cloud" and all the inherent uncertainties surrounding it. But I plan on staying a member here for all sorts of good reasons.

[_Paz_]

I tried taking advantage of that but the upgrade only mentions Windows - I switched to Macs years ago. I've written to Prodad as I assume this is a misunderstanding and a Mac version is probably available.

I don't see a Mac version available, Brian.

I haven't decided yet. I wrote ProDad asking why the discount coupon wouldn't work for version 3 but did not receive a reply. I like 3 better but until I have a better understanding about the difference in file saving, that is what mp4 'high' quality means, I'm going to wait.

[Briantho]

Right, no Mac version for V3 - here's what I got from them the other day:

- - - - -

Hello Brian,

only „Mercalli V2 PRO“ is compatible with Mac.

Mercalli 3.0 SAL is a stand-alone version for Windows. The plug-in version remains unaffected by the update, which means that Mercalli V2 continues to be the most current version of the software. Should you have purchased Mercalli V2 Pro then please use the most current plug-in version. The most recent update of Mercalli 3.0 SAL contains changes/ extensions and alterations, which are not necessary for aplug-in. Therefore the extensions will not be continued on as a plug-in.

Extensive changes and expansions will be continuously made to both product lines (versions 4 and up).

- - - - -

Anyway, V2 is really great.