Magix?

[Mike Burgess]

Has anybody here used any of the Magix programs for editing? I got a pop-up annoucing Magix Movie Edit Pro 2013. Read what they had to say and it sounds half ways decent. Anybody have any opinions about Magix?

[Mike Burgess]

Well, no responses so far. This must tell me perhaps, that this software is not good enough for enough people to purchase and then promote.

[Noa Put]

I think it's because it's a consumerproduct, often with limitations, It's bought more by people that want to edit their holiday movies and it's in the same category as pinnacle studio (also pricewise)

Most that hang out here use the more professional versions, like premiere, vegas, edius...which might explain why you don't get any response.

[Steve Loeffler]

Check out Magix Pro-X. I've been using it in various versions through the years as a secondary editor and I feel it does a pretty good job. It has many pro features. I also have Edius 5.51 installed on the same computer and they co-exist just fine. MAGIX Video Pro X - Professional video editing

[Mike Burgess]

Thanks for the responses. Even though I am not a novice so much when it comes to video editing (I am not a pro either), I do know my way around an editing workplace, know what I want to do and how I want it to turn out. HOWEVER, My budget does not allow me to pay much over $150 for whichever program I choose. So I know that I am limited in what I can get and do a lot of research before buying anything.

With that in mind, I am on the lookout for those consumer products that are limited, even though I am sure I have progressed well beyond them in what I know and could do.

Thanks again for your time and responses.

Mike

[Chris Barcellos]

Mike:

You should take a look at Light Works. Here is their page. I think this is a viable open source free editor, with a pro upgrade of $60 to get into other codecs and other Pro Features. I currently have Vegas and CS5, but if I was going to learn another editor, this would be it. Work flow is based on real old time editing practices, which I think is a questionable direction, but it still looks good.

Lightworks

[Mike Burgess]

Thanks Chris. I will give it a look.

Mike

[Noa Put]

I think most important is you choose a NLE that has the possibility to use multiple video and audio tracks, the very cheap ones often just have on or 2 tracks available but Magix has that part covered. I actually started using Magix back in 2005 before going to premiere 1.5 and back then I thought it was very intuitive to use, only my dvd output was not that good quality but that could have been the result of a wrong setting. That version is ofcourse not comparable anymore with today's standard but at least you don't here that many bad things about it compared to pinnacle studio. I think you won't have that much issues with it, just make sure the codec your camera is using is supported.

[Mike Burgess]

Thanks Noa. I am currently looking at Magix Pro 2013. So far it seems pretty good, but I have to spend a bit more time with it and try different things yet.

[Ron Cooper]

Mike, have you looked at Cyberlink Power Director ? Some people really like it but on most of these cheaper programs you don't get the "JKL" function which I would really miss. However, the cheaper "Vegas Movie Studio" does have "JKL". - I am using Vegas Pro 11 and it's not bad and I like its simple functions for most of what I do, but, because I already have Vegas pro, I have not really used the cheaper version.

Like you Mike, I am not a pro but I like to produce good non-boring videos with good sound, and I find the simple editors generally lacking once I start editing.

RonC.

[Mike Burgess]

What is JKL?

[Ron Cooper]

Mike, JKL relates to the adjacent "JKL" buttons on your keyboard where "J" is back, "K" is stop, & "L" is forward. However, the way it works is brilliant, as you simply rest your left hand middle fingers on these keys and your Right hand on the mouse, - assuming you're right handed. So all you do is tap say, the "L" key to play normal forward or tap it several times for fast forward play. Hit the middle "K" key to stop where you want to, or tap the "J" key to likewise play or fastplay in reverse.- (a bit like playing a piano !), It makes for much quicker and simpler editing and your right hand is free to operate the mouse for other functions.

As I said previously, Vegas Movie Studio is the only low cost editor that I know that has this professional feature and is relatively simple to use with its easy sliding of adjacent clips to produce an automatic Xfade. Also, the slightly more expensive version comes with an excellent audio editor that works in conjuction from the Vegas timeline. - This is well worth the extra cost. Movie Studio Platinum 12 Suite Overview

Regarding Magix, I downloaded a trial and found that it did not have any reference to edit in PAL HDV 50i from my older HDV tapes. Now this may not bother you but in PAL land where I am, it IS important but none of their drop-down menus showed it.

However, and this is my real point, I could not get any sense out of their help dept. unless I registered the product and gave them my full name and postal address ! - For goodness sake I was only trying out the product ! - I was not prepared to do this. Also when I tried to search this subject in their "help" section, nothing came up. - I was not impressed.

RonC.

[Mike Burgess]

Hi Ron. thanks for your response.
Regarding PAL, yes that would be a bummer. As to customer service, it sounds like that could be a deal breaker concerning Magix.

Sony Movie Studio would be my logical choice, given the points you made. I do like much about the program, but I do not like the idea of having to make iso files of my videos just to make an AVCHD DVD. That is the deal breaker for me and Sony Movie Studio. Until I get a BR burner, and the prices of blank BR disks come down a lot, Sony will not be one of my serious contenders.

Right now, Power Director 10/11 is the program I will use until I have the BR option. Plus, I will be relooking at Pinnacle in another year or so when Corel hopefully gets their act together and produces a new Pinnacle product without all the bugs they've created as a result of them hastily launching a new product before it was ready. I don't like being an unpaid test guinea pig used for product development.

Mike

[Ron Cooper]

Mike, how are you going with Power Director ? - I have tried it but do miss the JKL bit. However, its apparent simplicity is tempting for simpler edit jobs after I seem to be having a few issues with Vegas at the moment.

RonC.

[Mike Burgess]

Hi Ron. PD10 works pretty good, but I am having one problem that I never considered, or even thought would ever happen. I have an Asus motherboard with a Nvidia drive. It currently (drive) is version 301.42, but the program keeps updating it to 306.97. Normally, this would be great and not cause a problem. BUT, when the computer does upgrade, then DP10 (and the trial version of PD11) has a problem playing a video project in the project monitor. It constantly rerenders the video footage as you are trying to play the project in the monitor; playing one or two seconds of video and then rerendering the next one or two seconds of video, then playing it, and so on. It seems that Power Director and Nvidia (the upgrades) don't get along. So I am constantly downloading the old driver in order to be able to use the project monitor in PD10. A real pain. I have searched their forums and help sites for answers to this problem, but so far there seems to be no solution.

Other than that, PD10 does a good job and puts out good video quality in both SD and AVCHD, as well as good sound in SD and great sound in AVCHD.

Mike

Happy New Year.