Review: proDAD ProDRENALIN

In the past I have reviewed a number of ProDAD utilities and plugins. Many are common types of plugins solving problems that other plugin makers solve as well. Often, choosing a plugin or a set of plugins from one vendor or another has less to do with the quality or range of the filters and effects they offer--since many of them perform similar or identical functions--than your preference of which utility you like best.

But proDAD also seems to create niche utilities outside the usual run of plugin functionality that solve more specific problems an editor/shooter may face. ProDRENALIN is one of those. Think of it as proDAD Mercalli and DeFishr combined into one solid utility to work specifically with point of view (POV)-type footage from the many different small POV cameras on the market. When I got the opportunity to test out ProDRENALIN I figured it was a good excuse to get out my multirotor RC copter and go fly a little (like I needed an excuse).

Note: There is extensive debate currently in the US regarding FAA regulations and RC Aerial Imagery for commercial (for-profit) ventures. That is a debate for another day.

Shooting the Aerial Footage

To capture the footage I got my GoPro Hero2 camera out and mounted on my tricopter. For this test my best copter was down for repairs so I had to fly with my backup copter. While it flies nicely, it doesn't have some of the more advanced features of my main copter that make it fly as accurately and smoothly. Since this is partly a test of stabilization, I figured that using the less steady copter would just push the software a little harder.

For footage I headed out to my local memorial park/cemetery where there are always lots of nice objects to fly around and over (not to mention that it’s a place where you can’t really hurt anyone if your copter gets away from you). I set the GoPro to 1080/30p Wide Mode to really test ProDRENALIN. My copter gets a tiny bit of jitter and a little CMOS “jello” in 30p mode. Obviously, if your raw footage is cleaner than mine, the program is going to do a better job. Let see how the software works.

How ProDRENALIN Works

After registering the software the user is presented with the screen shown in Figure 1 (below). I was happy to see ProDAD had used the functionality to just drag and drop the file to be processed right into the application. This is often easier than going through the file open process. Of course, there is an Import Media button at the top if you need to find the file by traditional means.

Figure 1. ProDRENALIN Drop Media screen