Customer Reviews

Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus [Old Version]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I tried several other competitive products before Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus. The Magix product was the only one that met the number one requirement: the product should work. Other products fed me nothing but "Not Responding" errors (Sony) and "Out of Memory" errors (CyberLink). After about 12 hours of using the Magix product in Vista 32-bit, not one lock up, one lost editing session, or one unnecessary error. Some of the features in Movie Edit Pro are lacking, but the most important features to me were all there.

One of the one-star reviews for this product complains about how long it takes to load media into the editing studio. That appears to be something unique to Movie Edit Pro; it likes to convert input files into some unknown internal format. I loaded a 2 hour, 35 GB, AVI file in about 5 minutes. However, once the load process is complete, the editing session is fast and error free. I would be just as happy with the product if it had taken 10 minutes to load the video. That's a fraction of the time I spent trying to figure out why the other products were crashing.

Magix would have earned a five-star rating from me if it was as feature rich and easy to use as the Sony and CyberLink products. Better online help would be good too.

I have been doing video editing for over 5 years. I came across Adobe Premiere Elements several years ago and it quickly became my favorite video editing sofware. Last year I bought MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 14 plus. I liked it, however the interface was terrible. Everything was unorganized, difficult to find anything, keyframing was a disaster. I quickly moved back to Adobe premiere Elements.
Then I decided to try MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus. What a difference.
They completely re-thought the interface. It is now very well organized and everything is easy to find. They also changed keyframong and now it is extremely intuitive.
I have been using MEP 15 PLUS since early April. It is not perfect, as any NLE is not, but it is just as reliable as Adobe Premiere Elements. This difference is that there are so many more features, and lots of fun ones at that.
Not only are all the efects better than Premmiere Elements, it is just more fun to use.
The 3D Morph effects are just amazing, as are the movie maker styles.
They added 3D titles to this version. Those titles are just breathtaking.
Also included in the boxed version id 3D animation software as well as Travel Map Animation software. The Travel map animation software is made by Motion Studions and is called Vasco da Gamma. It comes with an excellent selection of maps and objects which allows you to map your travel route.
I cannot speak highly enough about this product. If they keep producing software like this, they will soon be number 1 in the US, as they already are in Eurpoe.
If you are looking for the best consumer level NLE, look no further.

Originally purchased Version 14 for my AVCHD files from the new Sony Camcorder. I gave it one star on a previous review. Contacted MAGIX Support and told them the product did not do what it said on the box. It would not handle AVCHD files. I told MAGIX I would not accept anything but an upgrade if they had one to fix this problem. They responded promptly with a link to download version 15 and supporting documentation. WOW what a difference! Version 15 handles the AVCHD files with no problem and loads them quickly. I am very grateful MAGIX went the extra mile to satisfy a customer. I am just now getting into the product and all the other features so I can't give a full review. I would recommend this version.

This is the third version of the program Movie Edit Pro 15 Plusthat I purchased, each becoming better and better. I was/am extremely satisfied with the programs and could not find a more versatile one. The internal imaging and audio editing features make external programs unnessessary, MMEP does it all. I've produced almost 200 DVD shows, all to the wonder and appreciation of family and friends.
Needless to say, delivery service from Amazon was perfect.
Wolfgang Lehwald, Mill Bay, BC, Canada

I've used video editors from Magix going back to their Video Deluxe offerings, and then through the Movie Edit Pro series. I've also used Pinnacle's Studio (ver. 7 through 12), and Sony's consumer editor. I've found that MEP suits the way I like to edit, and offers a wide range of useful features at a great price.

Magix's products always struck me as the type of program that would appeal to a hobbist...that's someone who likes to poke around and discover how to get the most out of the software---someone that isn't afraid to dig and discover how to accomplish a particular effect. If you relied on the help file, or the pdf manual, well, lets just say that you wouldn't often reach the goal line. The only 3rd party manual available for MEP is available in any language you want, as long as you want German.

But if you were a frequent visitor/contributor to the Magix MEP forum and had a smattering of search skills then you'd likely discover the answer that would unlock the effect...or failing that, a well worded question could coax it out of the many helpful program users (and occasional Magix employees) that hang out there.

I believe that Magix has made improvements to MEP over the past few years. A new editor would find it easier to get started with MEP 15 than with earlier versions...but I still would not recommend it for someone who wants to have lots of hand-holding. Pinnacle has a lot more training material available to help you use their program, as does Sony's offerings also. But I'm confident that once that newbie has a year or two of editing experience, then they will find the additional features and options in Magix the key to opening up more editing options and possibilities.

I downloaded the trial version from the Magix website. The program has some great features, however the final DVD appeared to drop frames when ever there was any significant movement of the objects in the video. After doing some research, I learned that this was a problem that others experienced as well. I posted some questions on the forum, and never got any answers. I also emailed tech support, and again never got any responses. I have a new computer with a dual core Intel processor running at 2.33Ghz, 500GB hard drive with 70% free space, an ATI Radion video card with a gig of ram on board, and 4GB of ram on my system board. All well above the recommended specs of the software.

Wanting to see if it was even worth continuing to pursue, I downloaded several different trial programs, captured the same 30 seconds of video in each, and burned each to separate dvds to see what the difference would be in the final product for each of the programs, and also to see if the problem was on my end. I did not do any editing, or add any effects. I set each to encode at various bit rates, and all with the settings for the best quality output. The programs I used were Adobe Premiere Elements 7, Magix Video ProX 1.5, Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9, Corel Video Studio 12, Cyberlink Power Director 8, Edius Neo 2, and this software.

The results were striking and immediately proved to me that I was wasting my time with this software. Both Magix products had the same problem with dropped frames. In addition, the picture quality on the finished dvd was not nearly as good as the other packages I tested. In fact, I would rank them both at the bottom of all the programs I tested. If you are drawn to this program for all the glitz, I would be sure to download the trials and do your own testing first. In my opinion, if you are looking for the best possible output in the under $200 price range you would be better served to look elsewhere.

Sorry about the formatting, Amazon is removing all my spaces when I publish even though it looks fine in the editor.

Computer Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo @ 1.86 GHz
2 GB RAM
256 MB Video
32 bit
Windows Vista

My test:
Added 2 videos.
Added image stabilization to one
3D transition between them.
Rendered the project.
AVCHD in and MPG2 out (both in full HD, 1920*1440, Dolby 5.1 if available)
Video length 4 minutes and 20 seconds.


Overall Review:
***** Corel Video Studio Pro X3
***** Cyberlink PowerDirector 8
*** Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro Plus 9
**1/2 Adobe Premiere Elements 8
** Magix Edit Pro 15
* Roxio Creator 2010
* Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 14

Package Options:
My reviews are against the top versions of each product line. You will find that most of the differences between the top versions and the base are Blu-ray export options, and some add some extra sound options. See for yourself the option that suits you at the manufacturer's website in their respective product comparison guides.

Windows 7:
All seemed to work for me in windows 7, 64 bit with 4 GB RAM. I didn't do any tests with it b/c I wanted to use an older machine that would come closer to representing the average computer. This includes Roxio 2009, but not 2010 for reasons stated below.

Final Opinion:
If you want something super easy to use, then I would go with Cyberlink PowerDirector 8. If you want something with a bit more power that you can grow into, I would go with Corel Video Studio Pro X3. Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro plus 9 may very well be good, but I see no reason to purchase it with the power of the Corel package.
If you are a masochist, go with Adobe, Magix, Roxio, or Pinnacle.


DETAILS:
Adobe Premiere Elements 8
65 min render time
Pros:
You can search effects
Layout was good but not great
Interface was pretty straightforward
Cons:
Virtually locked my system
Slow and temporarily froze frequently
Output menu was cumbersome


Corel Video Studio Pro X3
19 min render time
Pros:
Great Output menu
Very fast
Easy to use user interface
Proxy editing*
Autofit for timeline
Cons:
No search function for effects

Cyberlink PowerDirector 8
30 min render time
Pros:
Output menu was nice
Very nice and easy to use layout
Cons:
No Blu-ray output


Magix Edit Pro 15
41 min Render time
Pros:
Simple
Cons:
Poor user interface
Oversimplified (Too simple I think for most people)
Very Cumbersome to use and add effects
Output options were confusing and cumbersome
Extremely limited options for PC output (which is what many will be doing)
A couple of lock ups


Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 14
Pros:
Nice little finished project to see what can be done
Nice interface for editing
Cons:
ONLY SOFTWARE that I was not able to import a video
Locked up my system many times and left errant process running at 80% CPU
Took 50 seconds just to load the import video TAB
When I selected videos to import and hit start import, absolutely nothing happened
Tried one of their movies and went to help to find stabilization and it crashed on me b/c I didn't have enough memory
No Blu-ray output
Cons on install on windows 7 computer:
Failure on export of file on all formats
I actually tried Pinnacle about 10 years ago and had absolutely nothing but problems. Spent many days downloading patches just to get it to work. Then, like a moron, I did an entire project and when I went to burn it, the burn failed every time. I see a decade later, I still can't export a file.


Roxio Creator 2010
Pros:
-----
Cons:
They don't allow a trial download. I contacted them asking them if I could download a trial and even noted that I was a current customer. I personally like the 2009 Roxio. It was a nice "all-purpose" program. They told me that I had to buy it. I was offered a money back guarantee, but to do so, I had to send in a letter of destruction. This is way too much effort on my end to see if your software works for me.
I find it ridiculous in this day and age that you can't have a trial version of something, especially when EVERY ONE of your competitors does. In addition, this is how they were treating an existing customer!
You throw in all the compatibility issues that can occur in software in general and video software in particular, and that leaves me to think they have nothing to hide.
As icing on the cake, the following sentence was in their reply.
"Creator 2010 does support AVCHD software and hasn't been know to have any issues thus far!"
I replied to them about this OUTRIGHT LIE! First, you can read the compatibility issues on Amazon. Second, as a person that writes programs, there is no such thing as bug free software, especially video editing software.


Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro Plus 9
14 minute render time (NO ANTI-SHAKE IN RENDER, see below)
Pros:
Computer stayed pretty responsive during render
Savable packages of effects
How to guide is nice
Cons:
Couldn't search effects
Very, very cumbersome to use
Couldn't find stabilization
The render time approximation stayed at around 1 minute or 2 left the entire time
Here is my issue with Sony Vegas. I have compared its features with many of the other programs and they are all very similar. Now, when compared with Corel Video Studio Pro X3 and Cyberlink PowerDirector, they are virtually identical. I personally think Sony leaves their software cumbersome so that it "looks/seems" more powerful.
I was definitely most disappointed in this product because it was the one that I was looking the most forward to using. When I say that it is cumbersome to use, it doesn't mean that it can't be used. Let me give an example. I am a programmer, and in something like excel, I like the ability to write my own code to create functions and tools that it doesn't offer or to tweak ones that it does. HOWEVER, when I want to enter numbers in boxes, I just want to enter numbers in boxes. I don't want to click in a box, go to a menu or right click, select some gadget and then enter a number. It is ok for complicated things to be complicated, but simple things should not only be simple, but also INTUITIVE.
The main thing that I saw that you could do in Sony Vegas that you couldn't do in the others is change your transitions (both audio and video) ramp as far as how quickly they come in and go out. I am not talking about changing the time, but how your out video accelerates out and how you in video accelerates in during that time. It is a cool feature, but something that 99% of people will only not use, but won't care about either.
Another thing, the image stabilizer should be easy to do, and it may be. However, I did a search in help for stabilize, stabilizer, sta, shake, anti, etc. and could not find out how to do this very simple thing. This worries me greatly that if this isn't readily available in the help docs, then much of the other stuff probably isn't either.


*A note on proxy editing.
Proxy editing is basically you working on a very low def version of your file, but when it comes time to actually render your output, the original file is used. Some view this as a crutch because they say you should be able to optimize the software to work with the high def video. My opinion is that if I can work faster, then I will work faster. Who cares what my resolution is while I am editing. If you have the fastest software out there for HD, and you can do your edits in very low def and it is even faster still, then why would you not want that?

I've now used Magix Movie edit pro 15 Plus for about four months now. Took me a while to be self taught on the software and can manage it fairly well. I'm not a computer guru for sure. My biggest complaint is, I feel the software is unstable and with each video I create and burn, there seems to be some kind of problem with it. I spend a lot of time searching for reasons to correct the problem. Once I figure it out, finished product is fine. I recently downloaded the update to the version I have. Since I've done that, every disk I burn has a crackling sound throughout the entire video. No settings were changed and I've burned movies like I've always done. I've spent days trying to figure that problem out. Magix support was no help over the phone. I also spent hours creating an animated menu for my home movie. Only to try to burn the finished product when I get a "Menu rendering error" message. Turns out, they know it doesn't work. Some features on this software are offered and they don't work. Unbelievable.
I've updated my computer with all the updates with HP. Didn't help. We determined it's not my DVD burner. I've totally exhausted myself trying to use this software. I can't take it anymore and I'm shopping for another program to use. I definately, DO NOT recommend this software to anyone.
I am now using Power Director 8 Ultra. Love the software, extremely easy to use and figure out. Have yet to use the help menu in figuring it out. I've made three movies with it so far with no problems. Definately recommend Power Director 8 Ultra over this product any day.

Hey- I love the software and just finished a huge video edit for a piano concert (approx 1hr)with it. When I got the software, it took me a good day and a half of playing around to figure out the specs. I watched several videos on You Tube from the company, as well as other hobbiest, which helped a lot. I do reccommend the Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus program because of what you can do on it. It takes a lot of memory while you are working, backing up everything, so once you create a new file, go ahead and save it to another place, as not to have duplicate copies of everthing. Good thing to have, just be patient!

In general the user interface is good. Sadly, it is not completely functional. I am not able to burn DVDs with animated menus. Magix support personnel responded by saying: "this is a known issue". In other words, there is no fix at this point in time.