Hi

. . . . I get partial black bars at the bottom of my clips . . . .

ProDad Mercalli is very good at stabilisation, however there are limits to what it can do without having a detrimental effect on the video.

Is the source video from a sportscam and has some severe vibration/shake?

If not from a sportscam and

. . . . stabilization is an absolute must for me . . . .

what are you videoing with, and type of shots are you taking, that you cannot get a reasonably stable image?

John EB

Thanks Scenestealer.

Corel VideoStudio, CyberLink PowerDirector and a few others all use Mercalli V2 as a stabilizer, and sadly, I'm getting these issues only and strictly with Magix. Again, I've tried every possible combination of Mercalli settings in Magix, and I still get these artifacts.

Some shots are stills and were shot on a tripod, they do show wiggles and artifacts. I'm starting to think that my installation of Magix is corrupted or something. I'll try to reinstall this week and see if that fixes it.

Hi

. . . . Some shots are stills and were shot on a tripod . . . .

There is no need to stabilise still images in MEP, similarly if you are shooting video with the camera on a tripod that is on stable ground, then there should be no need for stabilisation in MEP, however there is one exception - some cameras with optical stabilisation need it turned off in camera, otherwise the stabilisation system tends to 'hunt'.

Can upload an original image to somewhere like Dropbox showing the wiggles and artefacts for us to look at.

. . . . I'm starting to think that my installation of Magix is corrupted or something. I'll try to reinstall this week and see if that fixes it. . . . .

This is very unlikely to fix the issue.

HTH

John EB

This is very unlikely to fix the issue.

 

Yep, that didn't fix it.

I have uploaded the source file, a rendered unstabilized and a rendered stabilized which shows the artifacts at the bottom. This is Mercalli V2 with borderless default settings, but like I said, tried every combination of settings...

Source: https://www.dropbox.com/s/on8tlr1war78xwi/00028.MTS?dl=0

Unstabilized: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gq0d0fp2cc6fx7t/Magix%20-%20Not%20Stabilized.mp4?dl=0

Stabilized: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4lkpc3mwy8sgs13/Magix%20-%20Mercalli%20V2%20Stabilized.mp4?dl=0

Edit: just to prove my point, here's the same clip stabilized with Mercalli, with the same settings, but using Corel VideoStudio 2018:

Corel: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubjfafjntlg2x5n/Corel%20-%20Stabilized.mp4?dl=0

It may be helpful to know what format the source footage is in and what your rendered footage is. The rendered footage looks quite low resolution compared with the source.

Do you apply Mercalli to the source footage on the timeline, or do you render the footage first then apply Mercalli? Also, why do you need to apply a stabiliser to a still image as there would be no movement?

Roger

Hi Roger. The source is an MTS file, rendered in mp4. It was rendered in 720p to save on bandwith, since the resolution is not the issue. You can clearly see the warping and the artifacts in any format, including those that I've uploaded. The footage that I've provided is handheld, not on a tripod.

I've edited my previous post by adding the same video stabilized with Mercalli in Corel's, rather than Magix's. You can see that there are no artifacts or warping.

@uMuffin

Hi

Thanks for the clips.

In your mp4 clips from MEP, I can definitely see the glitches, however when I use the source MTS file in MEP 2016, and 2018, applying the same mp4 parameters for export, I cannot reproduce the glitches with or without Mercalli stabilisation, I also tried it in MEP 2018 with the same result.

Which preferred codec for mp4 export do you have set for export in the Program settings, Import/Export tab

Do you have any all-in-one codec packs installed eg K-Lite codec pack?

We also need to know your computer specfication:

• Processor make/model, graphics card or chipset make/model, audio card or chipset make/model, RAM,  hard drive configuration and sizes?
• Windows version and is it up to date?  Press and hold down the Windows key and the R key - in the dialog that opens type in winver and press enter.
• Software full name and version number - as found under Help, About . . .

John EB

To me the disturbance is not with the V2 stabilisation but with the rendering of the file to a lower res and using much more compression, plus changing from an interlaced original to a progressive output, and in the case of the Magix renders, a much longer GOP.

Not to mention the Magix renders are showing a non standard aspect ratio of 768x432 compared to 720x480 in the Corel render, which in itself could be revealing the black edge of frame after stabilisation

As Roger has asked - did you use the down resed. Magix file before applying the stabilisation, and if so did you use that in Corel - I think not because Media Info shows the different pixel dimensions.

Most of your problem seems to be render related because it is in the down resed. Magix render prior to Mercalli application and looks like missing frames or incorrect field order going from interlace to progressive.

Try to match the export parameters of the Magix render to the ones used in the Corel render, and apply Mercalli to the original Hi def .mts before exporting anything.

Peter

Completely agree with the other observations, there seems to be a considerable difference between the resolution and size of the Corel and Magix examples. It would be useful to know the rendered resolution, bitrate and size that you used in both rendered examples because you are not comparing like with like.

I don't know Corel at all, but there are a lot of user variables in the Magix programme for output to mp4 that you may not have set to optimum or may not be aware of. If you are using rendered files for stabilisation rather than the source, you will be losing more resolution as the frame is being cropped to stabilise it. It looks very much as though you are using a higher rendered output from Corel than from Magix which would be another reason for a poorer apparent Magix end result.

Roger

Just want to add that I always have these wobbling when I do my Mercalli V2 stabilization, I always thought it was due to the algorithm used to stabilize it. Now I see that these wobbling may be removed. I am interested in the solutions that will come out of this thread. 😉

I'd like to thank you all for trying to help. Unfortunately, changing resolution of the rendering, the file format, the bit rate and the size of the rendering could not fix the issues: I ended up with the same artifacts, but in high definition.

I think a software should work straight out of the box. Sadly, it didn't for me, so I have to move on.

Cheers again to everyone who tried to help, this is a great community!

What !!! No solution ?

@uMuffin

You have not answered my questions from my previous post ie

• Which preferred codec for mp4 export do you have set for export in MEPs Program settings, Import/Export tab
• Do you have any all-in-one codec packs installed eg K-Lite codec pack?

Also are you based in the UK? If so is there a reason for recording in NTSC and does the camera have a Progressive record mode for Full HD?

I recognised the lovely city in the video immediately 😁

John EB