Magix Movie Edit Pro 12

[ed]

I recently bought a new laptop, mostly for work and to be able to go online from anywhere in the house, and wanted a video editor more robust then Movie Maker 2. The laptop is not a power horse made for video editing, so Adobe was out. I picked up a copy of Magix Movie edit pro 12 (mep 12) because the requirements are far less then most editors. I've had mixed success in the past with mep (mep 2004 was horrible - mep 10 worked well on my xp PC), but since it was on sale for $29.99 I thought I'd give it a shot. It has been great so far, and has some features that are really good. Below are some of my first look observations:

* It will import MJPEG (AVI) video from my digital camera for editing with no problems.
* It will import and edit DivX video and edit it with no problems as long as you have the codec. It will also export this file type. On my laptop the cpu shot up to 100%, but with a good PC you'd probably be OK. I did export as DV-AVI and brought that file in and had no cpu issues.
* It has a version of Adobe Pro sequences, called takes, that let you save portions of a project with edits in place.
* You can copy and paste between projects.
* There are 16 tracks in this version (32 in the plus version) instead of ape's 99, but the interface is a little more effecient imo so for me that's plenty of tracks.
* It has a version of keyframing called "object curves". It's not as robust as ape's, but powerful enough for most editing.
* It includes stabilization. I've used that in mep 10 and it works OK.
* It includes soudtrack creation that works well. It comes with 4 music styles, and you can purchase more.
* You can click online from the interface and access thousands of royalty free songs, sounds, images, DVd menus, and video clips. This is really nice and the online store adds what you purchase to the media database (searchable) that comes with the software. The prices are reasonable, $.99 for sngs, $4.99 for six packs of music or effects, $.99 for DVD menus.
* It edits HD video (I won't use that) and accepts mpeg video from hard drive cams. I would assume that you would still want to import and edit smaller chunks to keep cpu usage down.
* You can create DVDs that loop.
* It comes with a ton of video and audio effects. The audio tools are superior to ape's imo.

Anyway, that's a quick look at mep 12. It may be an additional tool for video editing. If there is interest I can write a more detailed review as I learn more about this version. It wouldn't be for a month or so though.

[Steve Grisetti]

Magix biggest liability was its stability -- but if that bug has been worked out, it could prove to be a great video editing option, Ed!

It's got a simple interface and yet lots of great features. And, man, you can't beat that price!

I look forward to hearing more of your real world review, Ed. Thanks for guinea pigging on this one.

[Paul LS]

I also use MEP... the latest UK version. They have at least 3 different current versions... one for the US one for Germany and then the one I use in the UK, however they have just released version 14 which I think is released to all regions.
I have never had a problem with stability and it handles all formats thrown at it. I use it for some of it's effects but I dont think any editor can beat the Premiere interface and its intuitive aproach to editing. In this respect Sony Vegas is at the other end of the spectrum. But it has a number of excellent features that have "inspired" me to try and make a go of it... that's the plan any way.

[Gooder]

I have used the Edit Pro 2004 version and no problems with that edition!

Lee

[ed]

I think ape is an overall better product, but if you have an under-powered machine and want to edit MJPEG, DivX, or MPEG this is a good alternative. The online library of royalty free media is a nice addition from mep 10, and the HD capabilty seems to be the other major change. I won't use the HD, at least not on this laptop which doesn't come close to the recommended minimium requirements for that.

I had horrible issues with mep 2004 crashing, but have not had much problems with mep 10 unless I tried to put long mpegs on the timeline. I'm sure the price was so cheap because the new version (mep 14) is coming out in the US very soon. From what I've heard this version will be the version for all, instead of separate version between Germany, Uk, and the US. For $29 it's worth it as another tool imo.

[Gooder]

I have always liked MEP and it has been stable on my machine, not one error, ever! Unlike my Pinnacle Studio which just caused headaches but that is another debate! One product can work great for one person and for another, it's nothing but headaches.

I would upgrade MEP but I am not using HD so, Prem CS3 is for Lee

Cheers,
Lee

[Ken Jarstad]

I see that MEP 14 Plus is out, but once again, no mention of it on the US portion of their site. Still shows v12, and NOT the Plus version.

[Ken Jarstad]

Wonder of wonders, Magix Movie Edit Pro 14 Plus is available to everyone!

HD editing including AVCHD, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD support; no mention of VirtualDub filter support though.

$69.99 upgrade price.

http://www.magix.com/us/movie-edit-pro/upgrade/detail/?et_cid=24&et_lid=640950&cHash=4ecf91a38e

[RJ Johnston]

Thanks for the link, Ken. I downloaded, installed, and like. Even the image stabilizer works in this version. I had a lot of trouble with it in version 12. You can import virtualdub plugins, although some of the ones I have aren't supported, such as Reverse 1.0, but the old film effect is supported.

Is everybody else trying this out?

[Ken Jarstad]

Most interesting, Robert. Thanks for reporting your findings.

Magix makes absolutely no mention of VirtualDub filter support in this version. I had heard elsewhere that the problem was the public domain, GNU or whatever licensing required any application that used those filters to make the app source code also freely available. (Maybe not mentioning it they can squeek by - so everybody whisper). It was no secret that MEP couldn't make use of the full spectrum and variety of VD filters and shouldn't be expected but many very useful ones are.

I won't download the trial anytime soon because I have a flakey satellite service - marginally better than dialup. But thanks for trying it out. It seems to be well known that the download versions are not as 'full' as the disk versions so if you purchase I recommend getting the full retail version in the box.

[Paul LS]

Hi Robert, I see the Reverse Field Dominace filter throws a memory allocation error.

[RJ Johnston]

Paul, that's the error I received.

[RJ Johnston]

Magix Movie Edit Pro 14 Plus download version is now on my computer. I didn't realize until a couple days later that there was even more that I needed to download, accessed by going through the Help menu. Magix has activation of MPEG4, MPEG2, and Dolby similar to how you activate in Premiere Elements 3.

I tried using the $5.00 coupon on my purchase, but the product didn't qualify. I tried using it on the Dolby Digital 5.1 plug-in and that didn't qualify.

So far my favorite features are the amibient sound generator, and the bass and drums generator.