I'm thinking of buying Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus

[Gerlinde]

I know some of you are using the software and I have some questions before I buy. I'm getting kind of fed up with upgrading to a new version of Premiere and Photoshop Elements every year. I decided to stick with version 7 for a while longer, since I just got it not that long ago.

Amazon is selling MEP 15+ for $59.99 + free shipping. So I installed the free trial version and played around a bit. I really like it, although I'm still struggling to find my way around.

The trial version did not come with any theme templates, instead I was directed to a website where could download themes, DVD menus and sound files, if I wanted too. I could not find anything on pricing of these items. Has anyone done this and how much do they cost.
Also, are there any important things I should know before I actually buy?

I appreciate any input...

Gerlinde

[Paul LS]

The full version does come with Themes and DVD templates. As you say there is a Magix site where you can purchase and download extra content... never used it myself.

One of the main things I like about Magix Movie Edit Pro is that you can use the free VirtualDub filters in it. There is an effect library where you can import the VirtualDub filters and use them like any other effect.

Also see this thread... the last few posts discuss the features of MEP15:
viewtopic.php?f=81&t=6379

[JohnnyO]

The themes are available at catooh.com. There are lots of things available there. Music, photos, Green screen videos, shoe maker themes, effects, transitions and so on.

I have purchased fromthem. The prices are reasonable. A movie maker theme wil cost around $4.00.A bluescreen/grenscreen video ould cost about $2.00.

I think you can register and take a look around.

http://www.catooh.com

[Chuck Engels]

If anyone does decide on buying Movie Edit Pro Plus please use the link at http://chuckengels.com or the following link to the Magix site. MEP 15 Plus is only $89.99 until October 20th
The standard version is only $49.99 Those prices are for the box (add $5 shipping) or download.

Magix Movie Edit Pro

[Gerlinde]

JohnnyO , that sounds really reasonable and it is great, that you can buy single themes, transitions and other things. I invested $50 for the Adobe.com plus membership and they haven't offered any new themes in almost a year. Another reason to get MEP instead of upgrading PE.

Paul, thanks for the link to the other posts, that was very helpful.

Chuck, Amazon has the better deal, but I will gladly use your Amazon link to support the MUVIPIX site.

[ed]

I have ver 12 Pro installed on my laptop and I use it pretty exclusively now. It's not quite the resource hog PE is, which is why I use it on my under powered laptop instead of PE. I don't use it to capture video though. I use WinDV to capture then pull those files into Magix.

[Chuck Engels]

Chuck, Amazon has the better deal, but I will gladly use your Amazon link to support the MUVIPIX site.

Wow, that is a difference, $30 less. For $60 I just might try it myself.
http://astore.amazon.com/chuckengelsco- ... B001V6SPHC

Thanks for thinking of us Gerlinde

[Ken Jarstad]

I hope you don't mind me jumping onto the end of your topic, Gerlinde.

My wife and I have decided to upgrade to a couple of modest Intel quad-core boxes from a Seattle outfit I am quite happy with, infotechnow.com. So-called 'white box' machines in the 400 to 500 dollar range. I persuaded my wife to wait until Windows 7 was released - these boxes come with an OS image on them that installs at first power up. Premiere Elements v8 has obviously been developed on Win7 so the purchase of v8 seemed the logical thing to do. However, after viewing the recent topics on MEP v15 with a newly designed interface, less code bloat and "good stability" I have to reconsider.

I have owned four different versions of Magix MEP, the latest being v12, and found them interesting but quirky and somewhat unstable. They seemed to have a lot of cartoonish 'kids stuff' that I just ignored. It also wasn't unusual to find the odd menu or error message in German that this 'uff-da' guy didn't understand! So I used the old 'work horse' PrEl v2 and only kept them for experiments or for things that PrEl couldn't do.

I am not going to be able to afford the newer i7 tech this time around with its 6, 9 or 12 GB RAM requirements but now that MEP v15 is in my consideration I am actually thinking of going with good ol' WinXP. And being a retired IT guy I am very conservative about the latest thing. Win7 seems like Vista finally done right, but 64 bit?? I have been waiting for 64 bit editing but these applications are still not 64 bit so it seems a bit foolish to go to a 64 bit OS now.

I'm just pondering these issues and would like some further dialog.

[Bobby]

Ken, I like "white box" or "third tier" vendor PCs also. Mine are both of this type, although the box on my video PC is piano black

My advice to clients is generally this: Unless you have a specific issue preventing you from doing it, buy the latest and greatest - in this case Win7-64. Exceptions would be software (or occasionally hardware) that is not supported by the new OS. Some of my clients have older business software that hasn't been updated or is updated very slowly compared to normal PC business cycles.

But even then, if you look around there may be a solution. My workhorse Epson 2450 scanner doesn't come with even Vista drivers, but third party software such as VueScan supports it OK.

On the other hand, I never recommend upgrading a PC. As long as it does the job for you, keep it and wait to buy a new PC to upgrade.

Whether to update to PRE8 will all its current issues, is another story however. I am one of the many staying with PRE7 for now, although I am looking at Magix.

[ed]

I have not had any stability problems with Magix ver12, but I did with previous versions, which is why I originally gave P Elements a try. There are a lot of gimmicky effects in Magix products, but the interface is simple and straight forward which I like.

The occasional german language doesn't bother me to much Ken, I have a passable ability to read that language.

[Gerlinde]

Hi Ken,
you can always ask me if you get any strange German messages I'm German, but I have to admit, that I'm not to familiar with the German computer terminology. I have been stumped by phrases like "Datei aufrufen"

I will be upgrading my Vista notebook computer to Windows7, but only because Amazon offered the upgrade for $50 somewhere back in July. I don't have any issues with Vista, it runs great on my computer. And so do all my Adobe applications and I have quite a few ( PS CS3, PE 5, 6, 7, PRE 3,7). My desktop computer is to old to upgrade, its still running on XP and I will keep it that way. I use it mostly for all my photographic work. It has a color calibrated display. My Spider calibrator is not compatible with Vista - ergo - no photo printing from the notebook. And I will also stick with 32 bit, I'm quite happy with all my Epson printers and scanner.

I started editing HD video not that long ago and that was my main reason to switch from PRE3 to 7. And I got addicted to the themes. They are a real life saver for me. I produce a lot of footage ( video and pictures ) and I just don't have enough time to really edit it all. I'm the resident family photo restorer, photo printer, slide show and video producer and I need all the help I can get. I still edit SD video on my desktop computer, I think it would choke to death on the HD footage. It runs PRE7 without a problem. But I'm not sure if it could handle PRE8.

I'm still stumbling around in MEP and I wish there were some introductory tutorials to help me along with the basic stuff. But I still really like the program and I actually ordered it yesterday.

[Ken Jarstad]

Adding my two cents here.

I built two new systems for the wife and I. They run Windows 7 32 bit and we think Win7 is the best OS yet.

I used the trial versions of PE8 and MEP 15+ and have to say I am disappointed with both of them. The rejection of Adobe's latest offering here, and my concurrence, caused me to try MEP 15+. That, too, was a disappointment for me. Maybe I'm just getting old but these applications which promise to do absolutely everything seem like working on a wristwatch with a sledgehammer. And the regrettable fact is that 15+ wouldn't even do the basic - play a timeline properly for me. I also had problems getting the clips to reside somewhere that 15+ wouldn't complain about. PE2 and everything else loaded on this machine works properly and flies like the wind!

I have a 27 minute HDV clip from my Canon HV20, an m2t file, which either played double speed or played OK for the first portion and then started jumping forward, almost like it was trying to catch up with where it thought it ought to be - hard to describe.

My 30 days trial is just about up on both these editors. I found that PE2 still works fine on this system so I will keep on using it since all my work so far has been SD. I would like to do my granddaughter's wedding next June on Blu ray but I am going to have to put off getting a newer editor that properly supports HDV - and doesn't break the bank.

[Gerlinde]

Ken, I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with MEP15. You probably know that there is a patch available for MEP15 and I'm not sure if it would improve things for you.
Here is the link to JohnnyO's post: http://muvipix.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=5981

I have been editing HD footage from my HV30 without any performance problems so far, it run great on my Vista 34-bit system, and now it runs even better after I upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit.

I did not bother with Pre8. I should mention, that I have not used MEP15 to capture my footage. I usually use Pre7 to capture. I connect my external 23" hd monitor via the HDMI port of the HV30 and than capture through the firewire port into Pre7. This gives me a great preview of my footage, much better than the capture monitor of Pre7.

[Ken Jarstad]

Thanks for the timely reply, Gerlinde.

The trial version would not allow updates. I was able to download the update from the Magix website. Sorry to say, the updated 15+ had similar problems.The first time I imported a file after updating, the audio was stripped off! It did play the video properly though. I could not recover the project so created a new one and imported the file again. This time there was audio but the video skipped and played the whole 7 minute clip in about 30 seconds! The audio track was present but the audio could not be heard after the first skip.

Fooey!

[Gerlinde]

This is a wired one. Maybe the video card driver or the sound card driver, or something did get screwed up during installation. If you are in the try out mode, maybe you want to have a look at Sony Vegas too. I know that many people at the HV20/HV30 forum like to use it. I down loaded it once too, but found it to hard to learn.
I'm waiting for my Pinnacle Studio12 Ultimate that I ordered a couple of days ago. I will be happy to report back how I like it.

Sorry to be not of any real help for you