ProDad Mercalli V4

EyeWingsuit · Feb 16, 2016

For those of you wondering, I put a few drone bits in the review. It does a great job with reasonably smooth footage.
I'm not one to run stabilization on everything as some do, but when you need it, you need it.

Review: proDAD Mercalli V4 Stabilizr Plug-in - Streaming Media Producer

curious to hear your thoughts.

Ian [P13] · Feb 17, 2016

This software is great, certainly any commercial operator should have it as high winds can cause problems in footage with even the most expensive rigs, plus there will be some cases where it can help with SLR footage too.

Soul Patch Films · Feb 17, 2016

Great write up Wingsuit. I will definitely be purchasing this.

Ian [P13] · Feb 17, 2016

Soul Patch Films said:
Great write up Wingsuit. I will definitely be purchasing this.

You can download the demo free as well, so you can test it with footage before buying. The "Intensive Repair" does a CMOS analysis and that can even remove jello.

SurfnSkate81 · Feb 17, 2016

Great review. I didn't know we were graced with such esteemed company

my hat is off to you sir.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

pyrate · Feb 17, 2016

I have the lite version.
It runs great on my little surface pro 3 with 4gb of ram.
I use it to stabilize raw footage in the field so it is done when I get back to home base to edit.

The Merc version holds its own with Adobe products

J R · Feb 18, 2016

EyeWingsuit said:
curious to hear your thoughts.

Eye,

Great write up! Very helpful when trying to understand what these various applications actually do. Thanks for sharing!

Jerry

DattaGroover · Apr 16, 2016

pyrate said:
I have the lite version.
It runs great on my little surface pro 3 with 4gb of ram.
I use it to stabilize raw footage in the field so it is done when I get back to home base to edit.

The Merc version holds its own with Adobe products

Interesting. I already have Premiere Pro CC with it's Warp Stabilizer. Do you know if either is better?

DattaGroover · Apr 16, 2016

EyeWingsuit said:
For those of you wondering, I put a few drone bits in the review. It does a great job with reasonably smooth footage.
I'm not one to run stabilization on everything as some do, but when you need it, you need it.

Review: proDAD Mercalli V4 Stabilizr Plug-in - Streaming Media Producer

curious to hear your thoughts.

Looks great, thanks for this. I guess the only way to know if it's better than ADobe's Warp Stabilizer is to try it side-by-side. Good thing they have a free trial.

Ian [P13] · Apr 16, 2016

I find Mercalli better than Warp Stabilizer in Premiere, you can fine tune Warp Stabilizer in After Effects to sometimes getting better results than Mercalli. I find Mercalli better for general video and Warp Stabilizer in After Effects better for timelapses.

DattaGroover · Apr 16, 2016

Ian [P13] said:
I find Mercalli better than Warp Stabilizer in Premiere, you can fine tune Warp Stabilizer in After Effects to sometimes getting better results than Mercalli. I find Mercalli better for general video and Warp Stabilizer in After Effects better for timelapses.

That's helpful, thanks!

DattaGroover · Apr 16, 2016

Ian [P13] said:
I find Mercalli better than Warp Stabilizer in Premiere, you can fine tune Warp Stabilizer in After Effects to sometimes getting better results than Mercalli. I find Mercalli better for general video and Warp Stabilizer in After Effects better for timelapses.

Do you use these on Mac or PC?

Ian [P13] · Apr 16, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Do you use these on Mac or PC?

PC. If you're on a Mac you can't run Mercalli.

I forget to mention Mercalli can remove jello, which is a minor miracle.

DattaGroover · Apr 17, 2016

Ian [P13] said:
PC. If you're on a Mac you can't run Mercalli.

I forget to mention Mercalli can remove jello, which is a minor miracle.

Didn't know that. So Warp Stabilizer can't remove jello? Or does it not remove it well?
My setup is PC, so I am good.

EyeWingsuit · Apr 17, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Didn't know that. So Warp Stabilizer can't remove jello? Or does it not remove it well?
My setup is PC, so I am good.

IMO, Warp Stabilizer enhances jello rather than removes it. Mercalli is the only tool I've yet seen to do a reasonable job for removing jello. Be prepared for long render times, but you get good, fast, or cheap. Pick two. Mercalli is cheap and very good at what it does.