Anti-shake filter in VideoStudio 10+

[Quayth]

Is anyone else having problems getting the new anti-shake filter to work in VideoStudio 10 plus?

After putting a trial shaky DV AVI clip into timeline of a new project and then applying the anti-shake filter by dragging the icon onto it from the filter library in the usual way, I have tried a wide range of variations to the ‘Level’ and ‘Enlarge Size’ custom settings under the Attributes tab, but with no improvement to the image steadiness. In fact, there is a small adverse effect, because the ‘Enlarge Size’ slider does in fact magnify the image and hence the shake amplitude. The ‘Level’ slider has no effect at all, whatever its setting. Treating the anti-shake filter as a time-variable type like many of the others in VS, I have also tried repeating the settings at the first and final frames of the clip, as well as using intermediate key-frames.

Apart from using the Attributes dialog box’s Original and Preview windows to assess the ‘Before’ and ‘After’ images, I have looked at the processed result in the main Preview window and have generated an AVI video file in the Share step to run in Windows Media Player. There has been no sign of improved image stability, whichever way I look at it.

My PC should be more than up to the task of running VS10+ ( Athlon 64 2.2GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, and XP Pro with SP2 and a second 250GB HD dedicated to video). I’ve been using VideoStudio since V7 and my VS10+ package is the CD-based upgrade version. I still have VS9 installed, which I use for burning DVDs (having so far failed to come to terms with the VS10+’s disc-burning options settings. But that’s another story!).

Any suggestions? I put this query to Ulead’s VS10 support email service about a fortnight ago, but they have chosen not to reply.

[Ken Berry]

I am afraid this will be cold comfort, but I think the anti-shake filter does not work. Normally, this would not worry me as my Canon video camera has anti-shake built-in, and this seems to do a marvellous job. But recently, a friend gave me a mini DV tape he shot on a camera which does not have built-in anti-shake, so I thought this would be a good time to try out the VS10 filter. But my experience was almost identical to yours. In fact, I would say that at times, applying the filter seemed to worsen the shake, regardless of magnification. And I thought that, overall, there was a noticeable degradation in the quality (sharpness) of the image.

There are a couple of third party anti-shake programs out there, one of which seems to get better results than the other. But as I don't have either, I will leave it to others to comment on this.

[Quayth]

Thanks Ken for your prompt and helpful reply. I did a group search before submitting the post and the only ‘hands-on’ user comment I found reported that VS10’s anti-shake filter worked well and was superior to another, standalone, image stabiliser that he had tried. So although it worked for him, I’m glad you confirmed that I’m not alone in having problems with it, and unless there’s some kind of quirk in the installation process (like the one in VS9 that stops Smartsound from running if you don’t validate the upgrade direct from the original disc rather than pointing it to the installed program) it’s probably a conflict with some hardware item or driver on my PC.

I was interested in the anti-shake filter because I’m still editing a backlog of Hi-8 video taken in the nineties using a camera without an image stabiliser. I bought the Dynapel SteadyHand program to try and rescue some otherwise-unusable clips. SteadyHand is more versatile than Ulead’s filter because you can apply corrections separately to smooth out lateral, rotational and zoom movements, as well as controlling the time period over which the motion is ‘integrated’.

This fine-tuning can be very successful, but I found the software couldn’t cope too well with sudden transitions between a stationary image and a total-frame movement such as a pan or zoom. Also, because the program uses image detail in the first frame of a clip as its starting point and computes positional corrections in subsequent frames to maintain the image steady, it’s thrown into confusion at each scene transition if it is required to process a series of different scenes, and the first few frames of each are often made jumpy where none existed before. I found this could be minimised by inserting 2 seconds of black between each scene.

As you might expect, SteadyHand is at its best when eliminating slight to moderate camera shake and generally does an excellent job with the default settings on this kind of footage. But it’s a chore to implement on a large scale because you have to create and substitute duplicate stabilised AVI clips of all shaky footage. I was hoping that VS10’s anti-shake filter would be much quicker and convenient to use as it is applied directly to the timeline. Ulead have promoted it as one of the program’s major new features and I think it’s a scandal that it apparently can’t be made to work for some users and that they ignore customer complaints about it. I feel I’ve bought a pig in a poke!

Keith Birtwistle Manchester, UK

[Ken Berry]

Thanks for the comprehensive comments on SteadyHand -- good to know it exists and (mostly) works.

I too am slowly working my way through my collection of 8mm analogue video tapes, and bought a Sony Digital 8 camera which plays them and send a DV digital signal to my computer.Wonderful quality. The camera has an anti-shake facility, though I suspect that it only works when you are actually filming, rather than playing back. However, either I am lucky or had a steadier hand than I thought at the time, but apart from a few, relatively short periods of shake, I am impressed at how relatively steady most of the video I have processed so far, has been. It was all shot on a very basic Sony camera, by the way.

[rwindeyer]

I can endorse Ken's comment about the Ulead anti-shake filter. I have just worked through a project compiling and editing some old VHS tape. Some clips I used the Ulead filter on; some I applied a depan filter, from here. I found the depan filter much more effective.

[sjj1805]

I have found a good Anti-shake filter

[Ken Berry]

indeed!!!

FWIW, though, I have long been conscious of the utility of tripods, but two considerations have usually stopped me using them:

1) I have two good tripods, but have never really learned to pan smoothly using one -- either panning horizontally or, more difficulty with the sort of tripod mostly available, up and down.

2) I am a rather portly (and lazy) type. When I go wandering around on foot, I often cover large distances, carrying both a video camera (not heavy) and a large Canon EOS 300D digital still camera with two heavy add on auto-focus lenses (all heavy). And neither of my camera bags has tripod clips. So I would have to carry the tripod separately, and put it down and pick it up with hands which are busier taking digital stills or videos than worrying about a tripod! I suppose I could emulate Cartier-Bresson or some of the older photographers and actually carry the tripod with one or the other of my cameras on it, and legs fully extended, over my shoulder. But that is a bit beyond me -- although I do have a pith helmet!!

All that being said, if I mastered the panning question, then given that most modern digital video cameras come with a remote control which controls inter alia recording and zoom, I am rather silly for not using a tripod more often than in relatively set shots in which I am involved!

[sjj1805]

Sorry couldn't resist adding a bit of humour!

Its not always possible or practicle to use a tripod even the small portable ones. Many shots appear without warning and sometimes you're lucky to manage to get the camcorder turned on in time to catch the action.

I have a full size one that collapses to about 6". I picked it up in California last year, plus I have a couple of "proper" ones.

It is though an item easily overlooked when you are going to shoot a pre-planned event or if there is time to set things up correctly. In my profession we have a saying that prevention is better than cure and this saying would apply to video production also.

[Ken Berry]

I have always taken one on my overseas trips -- but never used it!!