NewBlue Stabilizer
 

Has anyone seen or know of this new program that works with Sony Vegas yet?

There's a rather lengthy discussion about it on the Sony Vegas forum.
As with all software, there are those who like it and those who don't.
There's a trial version so download it and see for yourself.

To specifically answer your question, it does work with both the 32-bit and 64-bit pro versions as well as the Movie Studio versions.

I bought it. I'm doing a render right now. I'll post a comparison later. It takes a long time to render though. 5 minute 720p video has taken 110 minutes to render out not counting the time it took to analyze.

Yikes, first render is completely unusable. Default settings are strange. Instead of cropping the image when it tracks it fills it in. So you get blurry borders. Plus the whole image will blur out now and then almost like heat waves are passing in front of the camera. I changed some things and i'm trying again.

Turned down the strength, changed from fill to fit.

Alright video uploaded. The settings seemed to work. Almost all the edge artifacts were gone and I barely see any of the blurring. Seems if the camera moves too much the software causes edge blurring in the direction of the camera move. Nothing is perfect but it definitely helps. I do wish the render times were cut down though, must be a lot of computing going on.

The video still needs to convert but here is the link.

There was some text in the original video that I didn't remove so you will see it jumping around a bit at the start...

That does a real nice job.

Mike, link to trail version?
Can't find it.....going blind!

Cedric, it's 4th from the bottom of Download NewBlueFX | Free trial downloads

Is there a link to the sony vegas forums spoken of? Can't seem to find the discussion.

Here you go:
NEW NewBlue Video Stabilizer
Stabilizer Sample Clips is another good thread on this.

Thanks! Looks like they had a little trouble the first couple weeks. Installed easy for me. I do need to check how many cores it is using. Seems that is the new discussion going on.

EDIT: interesting. Uncheck New Blue in the FX and render. All four cores doing at least something. Near 80% CPU usage. Check New Blue and render again. Now only 2 cores are reaching near the top of the graph, one other is about half, and the forth is just sitting there.

Video is still being converted but here is a 1080p test

I have Mercalli. Anyone done a comparison? And conclusions>

Doesn't like 23.97p fame rate
 

I could be missing something but I can't seem to get it to work with 23.97 framerate footage I get an error message each time. This is a deal breaker for me if I have to convert my project to 29.9 frame rate to stabilize clips.

Troy, another update should be out within the next few days. Let's see if that version resolves your issues.

this better than deshaker? i don't mind spending the $ if it's WAY WAY better. i know it's probably easier to do than deshaker.

I also have Mercalli and I'm interested in how it compares to NewBlue's stabilizer. Mercalli has a number of presets that have descriptive names that simplify the process of selecting the correct one. More knowledgeable users can also adjust the various settings to achieve whatever they wish.

Does NewBlue's stabilizer have a users guide to help understand the settings and how to apply them?

The "manual" for the NewBlue stabilizer is the help file. You can always download the trial and give it a test run. Then you can tell us how YOU think the different options compare.

Erik, your footage looks better than most I have seen using NewBlue. Is it possible to post a clip from the first sample in full frame without the comparison?

Mike, I looked over the forum link you posted and it looks like there is little consensus between the comparisons but a strong leaning toward deshaker... What do you guys think? Is this a $100 lemon that loses to a free script or a worthwhile tool in the toolbox?

I am on the fence and would really like some thoughts on this. I have a friend/client I am compiling some home videos for and the footage is pretty rocky...

Thanks!

I am a fan of Deshaker. But you have to jump through some hoops to use it, and you need to spend some time to learn it. These other tools are plug and play, with a nice GUI. That's worth the money to a lot of folks.

This is the clip by itself. You can see some edge artifacts when it is fixing some extreme camera motion but nothing you couldn't crop around.

If I was doing this for a finished video I would probably find areas that need work and render them separately so I could use different settings.


This is the original before new blue.

Erik - Thank you for taking the time to share it with us fullscreen, for me that helps a lot.

From what I have seen posted here and at the Sony Forum linked earlier it looks like the Deshaker and Mercalli Pro produce better results but also have disadvantages of interface (Deshaker), price (Mercalli Pro), and steeper learning curves (both.) New Blue looks to have a contender that would meet the needs of many but no real silver bullet in any of the three. In my case, I think the client footage is probably too shaky for any of those but I can see how each would help in many cases. Thanks.

Mercalli only runs in 32-bit Vegas. NewBlue FX has been good about supporting both 32 and 64 bit Windows. Kudos to them for that.

It's good for fixing video that is not too bad to begin with. But nothing is going to fix video that is just crazy shaky.

That was my first attempt, If I keep playing with it I'm sure I could get it better. But it is SO nice having it built right into vegas. Just drag it into the timeline and start fixing.

Thanks for posting these videos showing this stuff used with real videos shot.

I am getting weird blurry edges around the video occationally. I dont understand.
Any thoughts?

The reason for the blur is the camera movement when it was shot. Without stabilization, the blur isn't apparent because of the motion. After stabilization, you see it because the motion is removed.

so all I can really do is zoom in on the video to get rid of that blurry edges. right?

You can use a faster shutter speed on footage that you plan to stabilize in post. This will reduce the blurring although some people don't like the strobe look that faster shutter speeds cause. The best way is to experiment both ways and see which you prefer.

Andy, definitely zoom in. There's only so much you can do when creating new edges that "don't exist". There are several border options. Try them all and see which you like best for that specific piece of footage. Different options may be best for any given clip.

Stabilzer Step two
 

I seem to be missing something here. I have completed the step 1 analyze and adjusted the step 2 settings to bring about the stabilization needed, but the text on the screen still appears saying "New Blue Stabilizer: Analysis required".. how do I get the results and get the text to go away? Thanks!

Shanta, first of all, make sure you're on the most current version. Then, does it go through all the frames when you click on Analyze?

If you have inserted the Stablizer in more then one clip, make sure you are editting the settings in the correct clip (I've made that mistake more then once). If all else fails, close your editting program down and restart it.

You shouldn't need to totally restart Vegas. Just close the effect dialog and then click on the FX button on the clip you're sure you want to edit.

Stabilizer step 2
 

I'm not sure if I'm on the most current version. It seems to go through all the frames. The adjustments made work well, but when it's finished the text remains on the screen.. I'm sure I must be doing something wrong. I have doubled check and I am on the right clip. I tried shutting down, etc.

Thank you all for trying to help me. I hope to get this figured out. I would hate to think I wasted my money. I submitted a ticket for help a week ago and have not heard back.

Shanta, it sounds like you may need to open a help ticket on the NewBlue site. To get the version number you currently have, add Stabilizer to an event and then click on the "i" button. The build number will tell you which update you have. What is your current version? I'm showing it should be Version 1.2 build 100311.

Thanks to all who added comments to this thread, and to Erik for your videos. This looks to be just what I have been seeking. I do a pretty large amount of hand held shooting, and although I think I'm pretty smooth there are always some shakes to take out. Off to download the trial and check it out!

Does this plug work on 24p footage (t2i)?

Thanks -

If it's a MOV file, there may be some issues. If you convert it to Cineform, it should work fine. Best option is to test it yourself. There's a fully functional demo.