One of the features that has been appearing recently is that of video stabilization. A few of the better known home video editing software brands have included an image stabilization function in their offerings and until now the results have been ok but it is not what I would consider a “make or break” point as to which one to buy.

Yesterday there was a press release from NewBlue FX which is a software company entirely devoted to the field of special effects. I have mentioned their products here before and they do make a range of excellent, high quality video effects products. Now because they don’t make their own editing software they design their software to work as an add-on to others. They are generally compatible with all of the well know video editing suites. (Check their site for your own software’s compatibility)

Anyhoo, back to the press release. They have just announced the release of NewBlue Stabilizer which is a purpose built video image stabilization plugin. It comes in at around $100.00 and before you choke on that for just a plugin… read on.

Until now only the very top end video editing software was able to achieve any real image stabilization without a result degradation of the picture. The reason for this is that the software has to do some pretty amazing calculations of what is in the picture, what moved that was not supposed to move and what moved that should have moved!

The software quite literally has to inspect the position of every pixel in a frame and compare that pixel’s position in the previous frames and subsequent frames and try to work it all out. All in all it is a huge task. The result is that any shake or unintended movement introduced by the cameraman can be smoothed out… But it doesn’t end there!

The result of that smoothing process will be that the picture itself will have lost resolution with the addition of a slight blurring of features within each frame. What happens next is that the software has to compare all the lines and features in the original to what it has now and go back to fix those to restore the sharpness of the original.

Up until now, with moderate use of inbuilt stabilizers many consumer level video editors have achieved some passable results but nothing to write home about. The NewBlue Stabilizer has changed all that and really does deliver the goods by completing the task beautifully without any degradation that I can see to the resulting image quality.

As I said, the price tag is around $100.00 for the plugin but if you really want to smooth out some shaky shots then this is the only one I know of at this level that will do it well.

You can take a look at product for yourself by clicking the link: NewBlue Stabilizer

From the inside the good news is that Corel got smart with this one and for the first time in quite a number of releases (probably going back to the days of Ulead) they included the senior members of their user forum in the Beta testing. A smart move on Corel’s part because as one of the best help forums on the internet it was beginning to appear that Corel were about to outstay their welcome.

From what I have seen the beta testers were not only listened to but also a number of long standing gripes were addressed and resolved.

Here is a little list of the things that have been corrected in this new version of VideoStudio Pro X3:

First of all the long awaited AVCHD bug has been fixed. The program now smoothly handles all kinds of AVCHD file manipulation with ease and none of the strange little glitches that VideoStudio Pro X2 displayed for so long.

You can now copy and paste a filter that has been applied from one clip to another along with the attributes assigned to the original.

You can copy and paste assets that are on the timeline to other locations on the timeline. Previously you had to drag the clip into the library so that it appeared there then drag it back down to the timeline where you wanted it.

You may now right-click on a clip and select the option to Replace Clip. You then navigate to the clip or image you want and replace it. You can replace clips with images or the other way round as well.

Whilst Corel didn’t go the whole hog on introducing moving paths as a feature they did at least come to the party with extended New Blue Effects and Filters. The main one of interest will be the Essentials III, PiP effect which acts as a moving path effect allowing you to achieve the same effect.

The existing animations for titles have been extended by allowing you to add video style filters to them. Not exactly full 3D but you can create some pretty neat titles with it.

Anyway that’s a summary of the main points. I’ll take the final release for a full spin later this week but in the meantime given that they have tidied the program up considerably and added some more stuff it is well worth taking a look at.

Be sure to click the link below to see Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 as it will take you to the launch discounts:

Click Here To See Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 for yourself

Cyberlink have just released their latest version of MediaShow Espresso 5.5. They are also offering a 10% discount as an introductory offer through to the end of January. Just use the coupon code at the end of this post.

This is a powerful little software program from Cybelink that is solely devoted to converting your video files into your favourite video file format for playback on whatever media player you want to use.

MediaShow Espresso converts videos for playback on smart phones, iPhones, PSPs, Xbox 360s and for direct upload on to YouTube.

One of the attractive points of the program is that you simply choose the preferred media player or medium you are aiming for and let MediaShow Espresso do the rest. It uses a bunch of preset parameters, depending on the output, to maintain the highest possible quality for you without having to go all geek on the process.

MediaShow Espresso 5.5 supports a wide range of devices, including games consoles, smart phones supporting Google Android and Windows Mobile, iPhones, and multimedia phones from leading phone brands.

Devices Supported

There are more that were already supported by the earlier versions so these represent the new ones that have been added. If you are running an older device just check the website to see you are supported if you have any doubts.

Acer: E200, F900, M900, X960

Apple: iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Classic

Blackberry: Bold 9000, Curve 8900

HTC: Diamond, Hero, Magic, Touch

LG: GC900, KM900, KU250, KU900R

Microsoft: Xbox 360, Zune

Nokia: E66, E71, N82, N86, N95, 5800 XpressMusic, 6300, 6730C,

Samsung: i7500 Galaxy, i8510

Sony: PlayStation Portable (PSP), PlayStation 3

Sony Ericsson: C510, G900, K810i, W880i, Z770i

Sony Walkman: NWZ-S738F, NWZ-A828

Video File Importing

MKV, RM/RMVB, NEW FLV, AVI, MPEG, MPEG-2, MOV (H.264), WMV, MP4, DVR-MS, .TS, MPG, ASF, M2T, M2TS, MTS, DV-AVI, TiVo, VOB, VRO, MOD, DAT, TOD and WTV (single channel)

Video File Exporting

MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-4 AVC, WMV and DivX

CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5 comes with a batch converting feature that allows you to carry out multiple file conversions without you having to be in front of the computer or that can be run overnight when you are not using your computer for other things.

It offers direct uploading to YouTube and fast video conversion utilizing multi-thread conversion processing as well as optimization for hardware acceleration technologies from Intel® Core™ i3, i5, and i7, NVIDIA® CUDA™ and ATI® Stream™.

If you are on the lookout for a high quality video conversion program that is fast and easy to use then MediaShow Espresso 5.5 is well worth taking a look at.

Click this link below to See MediaShow Espresso 5.5 for Yourself

Media Show Espresso 10% OFF coupon [JANOFFER] expires on Jan 31