@Joe-Berg

In the resulting video the actual video content seems much more stable but the black frame around it dances around the Movie Studio video monitor, same in any media player.

Nature of the stabilisation beast. The program works by moving the whole video frame so that the common bits stay in the same place ie are stable. This means that if the movement required is a lot, you'll get a black edge appearing on one of the edges. Some stabilisers are better than others at reducing the jumping about.

I technique I use (if the program doesn't already do it aka Andy's "auto-zoom") is, after you've applied the stabilisation is to apply the Section effect and simply crop/zoom in until you no longer have any black edges appearing in the video. This technique works well. I don't use Magix's Vegas Stab, but I suspect that you'll find, in Auto Zoom, the whole video is zoomed in to "hide" the black edges bouncing around.

Good of you both to give some of your time, thank you,

i did try the Auto-Zoom ticked on and off but because my video (digitized old VHS) is of such poor quality that when I do a run with Zoom on, the quality of the result is very bad, can't use it. Also, when the Zoom Zooms in and out, the graininess/fuzziness of the video increases and decreases drastically.
So, because these are old family ooccasions on the tape, I want to end up with the best possible picture quality. much of the footage is shot from a moving car using the LP setting on the camera, plus 30 odd years in a cupboard.
It was a big deal to have a video camera in those days, now you can do almost everything in the palm of your hand! 😉

Thanks again.

@Joe-Berg

Hi

. . . . when I do a run with Zoom on, the quality of the result is very bad, can't use it. . . . .

If you are viewing at a resolution higher than the original, eg if the project setting is FullHD1920x1080 and the original video clip is from DV tape then the resolution maximum is 720x576 (PAL) or 720x480 (NTSC), the upscaling/zoom result is going to be bad, how bad depends on the level the initial recording quality.

. . . . I want to end up with the best possible picture quality. much of the footage is shot from a moving car using the LP setting on the camera, plus 30 odd years in a cupboard. . . . .

There are diametrically opposite 'forces' in play here. The LP setting usually means a lower in camera tape speed which results in lower quality video then if recorded at SP, EP is even worse.

Unfortunately, this is something you are stuck with.

IMHO, assuming the final product is going to be on DVD, or viewed directly on a TV, it is better to let the TV do the upscaling. In other words ie keep the project settings and export to that of the video source material, it may still appear to be 'poor', however not as bad as upscaling/zoom in program.

HTH

John EB

@Joe-Berg

I know exactly what you mean, most of my "playing" is with old VHS tapes and many photos taken with a Kodak Instamatic, mostly taken last century - aarrgh that's frightening.

I've been using Magix Movie Edit Pro (latterly Movie Studio) for give or take 30 years and so have built up a fair selection of 3rd party plugins. Not knowing how long you've been using a Magix editor I won't mention most of them as probably you won't have them.

Having ssaid that I can recommend two if your pocket will allow:-

1. NeatVideo - excellent for cleaning up the old digitised VHS
2. Mercalli Pro v6 - a suite of tidying up effects, the most used (by me) being the Mercalli Pro stabiliser.

Now unfortunately either of these will set you back a serious number of pennies, to buy both - no comment. Look them up on Google.

Don't forget the AI Dehaze and Sharpen that comes with MS2025 Suite. I've only played with them a bit but I'm quite impressed. Doesn't help with the stabilising though.

Depending on when you bought MS 2025 Suite, maybe you could contact Magix and ask if you could upgrade to MS 2025 Ultimate (in the UK this upgrade upgrade currently cost £59.99) which will "give" you the Mercalli cleaning and stabilising effects as well as several NewBlue plugins, some of which are excellent at enhancing poor quality videos. I've not actually looked to see which plugins they are.

Magix Sales may be generous and offer you something to your advantage; it's worth an ask.

There are ways to clean up your VHS digitised videos but to do it effectively it may have to cost you. I only mention all this because I know how important "old memories" are, being in my 8th decade, and to offer an alternative if your current plugind aren't up to the job.

Apologies for the ramble - AndyW

@johnebaker @Joe-Berg

if the project setting is FullHD1920x1080 and the original video clip is from DV tape then the resolution maximum is 720x576 (PAL) or 720x480 (NTSC), the upscaling/zoom result is going to be bad, how bad depends on the level the initial recording quality.

I don't agree. In my extensive experience with VHS recordings, upscaling to even 1920x1440 results in no decrease in quality.

the quality of the result is very bad, can't use it.

Joe, could you explain this in more detail? Exactly what is very bad? The video quality eg fuzziness, colour, or is it the movement/jerkiness.

Also, when the Zoom Zooms in and out, the graininess/fuzziness of the video increases and decreases drastically.

I wouldn't be using auto-zoom in that case. Randomly zooming in and out would drive me nuts in a second. Better off doing as I suggested: after the clip has been stabilised, then run the Section effect on it and crop just enough to hide the black edges coming in and out. You can then apply things like sharpening, levels/colour adjustments and denoising, depending on what effects you have installed.

What is true is that you've got to start with as best a capture as you can; preferably lossless, interlaced AVI or MXV, not MP4. You then give yourself a better quality start point. VHS can look good.

Hi,

A little of my experience might help. Some time ago I started producing videos that involve a lot of slow motion, that is, it goes beyond filming equipment. Imagine an original clip that is 10 seconds long, another 1 minute long, and so on. You need to increase the length and consequently reduce the speed of the video. It is very likely that they will be shaky. So naturally I went looking for plugins, hoping for miracles to fix it. Great and unexpected dissatisfaction: hours, days trying to manipulate the properties involved in the effects, whether here in Magix or in Vegas Pro, and in most cases I did not achieve the desired effect, that is, that smooth clip without much loss of quality. So, as I have been a developer for over 30 years, I studied a little to go through the learning process of how I could produce something positive. But logically, keeping in mind that any manipulation of the original video clip will incur loss of quality. I did a lot of testing with the proDad Mercalli and Respedr plugins and the effects available in Magix and Vegas Pro. I did some more research and finally I went to study ffmpeg (filters involved respectively: minterpolate to smooth and the 2 filters vidstabdetect and vidstabtransform to reduce jitter). Nothing is easy, and you learn a lot more. But believe me, I managed to get something practical, especially when it comes to videos that don't require much quality compared to the original as long as they result in smoothness without jitter! Now the biggest surprise, unexpected and pleasant for MMS and VPX users: Vegas Pro (with the project or clip configuration that involves blending and interpolation and even with the expert level of stabilization) does not have the interpolation mechanism that is present in the MMS and VPX speed effect. I tested this a lot! While Vegas Pro results in blend interpolation, which makes the clip more "blurry", MMS/VPX does not use the same "blur" as Vegas Pro, resulting in better quality.
I consider it incomparable, since the resulting clip is much smoother, making ffmpeg a great ally to MMS/VPX.
Now, since not everything is rosy, my only dissatisfaction with Magix is ​​that they haven't fixed 2 bugs in a while, 1 in MMS and 1 in VPX! In conclusion, I don't use the plugins or the stabilization effects because for the types of videos I create so far, I have a solution with ffmpeg. The plugins and stabilization effects logically have their merits, because there is a lot of diversity when it comes to jitter and shaking! Most people want ready-made things, but the other side offers more learning due to the processes involved.

Thanks!