Thanks ray. It's a shame really. There's a few things that would make the upgrade worth it for me. Being able to select and edit in the preview window would have been one of them. Can't believe they are selling this as a new feature - it's clunky and is no different from 2023, unless I'm doing something wrong. I don't need content, just anything that could speed up simple edits, and perhaps a few bug fixes, none of which are in the later "upgrade".

@Lee-N

Hi,

While true that there was nothing really significant, not all changes were mentioned or even properly described as you will see.

NEW INTERFACE

"New interface layout" ... doesn't look any different to me.

Look at the image below with 2023 at the top, 2024 below it:

There are, of course, those who don't like the new look, but I do. It's crisper - more professional looking. In particular for me, the change of the description box in the track header was long overdue. In the image below, you can't see the description without increasing the track height in MMS 2023. In 2024, the description is at the top of the header. Not earth-shattering, but an improvement and not documented.

PREVIEW MONITOR OBJECT SELECTION

"Preview monitor object selection" .. again, no change. I can do that in 2023 and it isn't any different, or easier in 2024.

No, you couldn't. Put 2 objects on the timeline, one on the background and an overlay below it on a higher track. Using SPR, reduce the size of the overlay. Click an empty place on the timeline to deselect the object. On the preview monitor you see the 2 objects. Click on the screen in the background image. Did it get selected in the timeline? Click on the overlay image. Did it get selected in the timeline? Neither.

Watch this for 2024 (sorry about the audio on the left channel only).

You can move the playback marker anywhere along the timeline. Click on the monitor and whatever is the object that you clicked on on the screen will be selected in the timeline. So, if you have multiple overlays, for example, and you want to modify one of them, you can just click on the screen and the correct one will be selected on the timeline. Great new feature, IMHO.

PREVIEW MONITOR ZOOM TOWARDS CURSOR

"Preview monitor zoom" ... again, can do this in 2023, can't see anything different.

You could do this in 2023, but the zoom would only be about the centre of the image. Now, move the cursor to where you want to zoom in, hold down Ctrl and use the mouse wheel to zoom in on the location of your cursor. Before, you would have to zoom in and then scroll (Ctrl+left mouse button held down and drag) around to find your location.

HUB

Anything else is only related to the subscription package, which, other than text to speech, I don't see much on offer apart from content which I can't look at without a subscription.

That would be the Hub. It doesn't show up in 2023 unless you have a subscription. It now shows up in 2024 and if you log in to your normal account, you can actually go into the content part and text to speech to see what you're missing.

There is also a new Help button that opens the online help in the window.

Other than some bug fixes, that's about it. It's up to you to decide if you want this and any third party plugins that may come along with it. Or, you can wait for the next version or a better price.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

I don't think that I'll ever understand your logic for switching between MMS and VPX and for using MMS over VPX. They are the same program. VPX has more features so just use it. If the additional Source Monitor and the Project Temp folder are bothering you, just set up a Window Arrangement without them. I have a few arrangements that I use depending on what I am doing. There is even a Window Arrangement called Minimum which is just the same arrangement as the default MMS.

I only keep MMS around to do tutorials and to be able to make comments on it in this forum. I don't actually use it and I couldn't after using VPX. MMS just does not have all of the features that I regularly use.

I'm currently doing a project for someone that contains digitized VHS material. I have the preview and source monitor (set to original with no effects) so that I can see the difference all the time. Just one of the many uses for the Source Monitor. I'm using Neat Video extensively. Can't do this type of thing in MMS.

John CB

@Lee-N

That is just my personal take on the offerings at present. The problem is also one of will the newer program slow down my existing computer setup. Newer iterations of the program always seem to load more onto the system and graphics ram on startup and even more once running. This is a possible reflection on the changes within the operating system and graphics drivers which to the cynical seems like the industry just trying to make the present computer systems redundant but in fact is a response to the ever increasing demands placed upon the video editor to deal with ever increasing pixel counts and complex wrappers from newer hardware such as smart phones and newer cameras in general. Perhaps if I had a top of the line computer things would be different but I have to constrain to a budget as additional speed often comes more from the hardware than the software.

When hardware standards get dropped, such as older hardware decoding methods get made redundant, then the programs also have to change. The same is also true when operating systems change. Formatting changes, files get larger, tonal depth increases, the list keeps going and the programs have to change to keep up. Is it necessary? Doubtful. Look at any really decent Pro HD video camera and the quality will beat most smartphones at 8K but that is what the masses use as a good smartphone is still way cheaper than a Pro HD camera and lenses. We are the tools of our own follies or at best the masses have the power of purchase and vote for an mp3 player over Hi-Fi, Smart phone over dedicated camera. Now I've started raving so I'll stop there. 😅

Ray.

Maybe the Magix company can now concentrate more on the software now that some things have been clarified internally.

https://www.videoaktiv.de/magazin/magazin-intern/magix-insolvenz-in-eigenverwaltung-fur-berliner-software-hersteller.html

With English subtitles

Hi Marc

The clarification certainly explains what is happening better than any other I found this morning in quick searches

I saw this video but did not have time to look at completely.

Thank you.

John EB

@browj2

Thanks for that. I think the new interface difference is so subtle that it wouldn't bother me either way.

The object selection, maybe I was doing something wrong in the trial but I couldn't get it to behave any differently than 2023. Unfortunately, because I can't run both versions together I had to uninstall it so can't double check what I was doing.

But for perpetual license there really does seem little change. Maybe if I used it for a while then some changes would reveal themselves that I didn't find in a quick test run.

@Lee-N

I think the new interface difference is so subtle that it wouldn't bother me either way.

IMO there is nothing good about the new interface. All the buttons are smaller and harder to hit with the mouse, the dark blue is harder to read, and the media pool font is smaller but more widely spaced, resulting in less items on the screen before scrolling is needed.

@Lee-N @AAProds

Hi,

As I said,

There are, of course, those who don't like the new look, but I do. It's crisper - more professional looking. In particular for me, the change of the description box in the track header was long overdue.

I have no trouble hitting the buttons with the mouse, but then my screen is FullHD, not 4K, even though I have one. In 4K, MMS does not look as usable. The buttons and text are much smaller, too small. I rescaled my 4K screen to 200%. Nothing changed with MMS.

Is there something that one can do for the 4K screen short of changing the display resolution?

@Lee-N - I don't think that you will find anything else than what I have covered.

John CB

@browj2, @Lee-N, @AAProds

Hi

. . . . Is there something that one can do for the 4K screen short of changing the display resolution? . . .

Yes try overriding the Windows settings high DPI settings using the program shortcut overrides shown below - you will have to play with these for best results.

HTH

John EB

I wonder why I'm seeing little difference between the versions. Maybe because of my screen resolution 2560 x 1440.

@Lee-N

Maybe because of my screen resolution 2560 x 1440

Lee, that's my resolution, over 27 inches (diagonal). I noticed those things I mentioned. Even now, months after installing MMS 2024, I still find I need to spend more time trying to hit the "optimise timeline view" button.

@Lee-N

Maybe because of my screen resolution 2560 x 1440

Lee, that's my resolution, over 27 inches (diagonal). I noticed those things I mentioned. Even now, months after installing MMS 2024, I still find I need to spend more time trying to hit the "optimise timeline view" button.

Ah yeah, I can see that now in a screenshot. I probably missed a lot in the trial version because never really got enough chance to try it out properly, I needed to get 2023 reinstalled (more madness that it overwrites the current version).

It boggle the mind why so many developers do this, not just Magix. People are using larger screens and the coders think it's wise to make things smaller - worst still, darker text on dark backgrounds.

As annoying as it is, I don't think this Magix "upgrade" is anywhere near as bad as some other software I use where the trend is to make everything harder to see and harder to click on. I've only just started posting in this forum so I'll hold back on what I really want to say about them :)

@AAProds

Hi Al,

I still find I need to spend more time trying to hit the "optimise timeline view" button.

Since I discovered from users on this forum that the Enter key does the same thing, I don't think that I've gone near those buttons at the bottom right. F and Ctrl+F do the same thing.

@johnebaker

Hi John EB,

Thanks for the info, I'll try that out. My problem is that I use 2 screens for MMS/VPX (ok, only for VPX), one FullHD the other 4K.

Just when we thought that the winter had gone, it snowed and it's still snowing. I lit a fire in the fireplace and will spend the day in front of it.

John CB

@johnebaker

Hi John EB,

The only thing that worked was changing the display resolution to 2560x1440. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a 4K screen. Now the icon and text sizes in MMS and VPX are workable.

Thanks,

John CB

@browj2

Hi John

. . . . Kind of defeats the purpose of having a 4K screen . . . .

Agreed, though you are still seeing it in the monitor's native resolution.

John EB

Just a quick update. I purchased the upgrade to Suite in the sale so that I could run both the old and new version on the same computer - not much to lose at that price!

Anyway, I now see a difference in the GUI that I hadn't noticed in the trial (beginning to wonder if I downloaded the wrong trial!)

To be honest, although it has changed for the worst IMO, it's not a big enough difference that I'm particularly bothered by it.

Most importantly, however, I am exporting MP4 at a massively improved speed.

17 to 35 minutes with version 2023

6 minutes with 2024.

Not a definitive test of any kind because I'm exporting at a lowered bitrate and haven't tried testing anything else.

Another note: The original video had something corrupt on one of the tracks. I've done multiple copies of the same video with small differences. It started at 17 min exports and ended up 35 mins due to the strange corruption, but either way, the point is that version 2024 handled the corrupt one with no issue and still exported in 6 mins.

That's a very summarised explanation so might not make much sense :) The main point here is that if anybody is thinking about upgrading, it might actually be worth it after all.

Magix really do themselves no favours by giving such little detail about the updates.

@Lee-N

Hi

. . . . The original video had something corrupt on one of the tracks. . . .

When this does happen, try the following fix, not 100% guaranteed to work:

• Select File, Manage project, Export movie file, Magix movie file (*.mvd), name and save.
   
• Start a new project, and select File, Manage project, Import movie file, Magix movie file (*.mvd) and browse to, and import, the previously saved mvd file.
   
• Save the project with a new name.

. . . . version 2024 handled the corrupt one  . . . .

This would suggest that the program settings in 2023 had a corrupt/incorrect entry, in such a case a program reset may fix this - File, Settings, Reset program .......

. . . . Magix really do themselves no favours by giving such little detail about the updates. . . . .

Each update notification has a link, usually the version number is blue, to more details on what has been updated.

John EB

@johnebaker

I actually tracked it down to a single Title object with SPR. After removing the SPR effect and re-adding it again, the problem was solved. No idea what caused it but I assume it was something corrupt in that effect?

The update notification link? I can't find anything, not through lack of trying. Is this something you can access if your version is already up to date?

Maybe I should have said release notes or version history. When trying to decide whether to get the upgrade, I could find no details other than what's on the new features page, which seems purposely misleading and massively lacking detail. It's the reason I started this thread.

I could have figured a lot of this out myself if I could have downloaded the trial and kept the previous version running, but I needed to put 2023 back to keep working. Had it not been for the very cheap sale, I would not have bothered, but for me it has turned out great, purely for the faster exports if nothing else.

@Lee-N

Hi

. . . . The update notification link? I can't find anything, not through lack of trying. Is this something you can access if your version is already up to date? . . .

The link is in the pop-up that shows when a new update is available.

John EB

I thought to get Text-to-Speech access in the HUB, you had to subscribe? It's hard for me to know for sure, since I do have a subscription with Vegas Post 21 and have access to the HUB.

@Reyfox

Hi,

I thought to get Text-to-Speech access in the HUB, you had to subscribe? It's hard for me to know for sure, since I do have a subscription with Vegas Post 21 and have access to the HUB.

Yes, you need a subscription to use it, but not to see it.

It now shows up in 2024 and if you log in to your normal account, you can actually go into the content part and text to speech to see what you're missing.

As you can see in the images that I posted with the above statement, it says that "You don't have a valid subscription. A valid subscription is required..."

Since you have TTS with Vegas, when you log in in MMS, are you able to use it? That would be good.

I believe that with Vegas, you also get Speech To Text, do you not? I don't see that this is available with the MMS subscription.

John CB

@browj2

In Vegas HUB you do get Text to Speech and Speech to Text, but we don't access the HUB to do it. Also, we can import text from the timeline directly into TTS. Really an awesome feature. Since I have a subscription with Vegas Post 21, I can log into my account and download the music, sfx, and stock footage. And it is working in MMS 2024 Suite.

I never really considered the HUB, but now that I have it, it's a feature that I absolutely love!

From within MMS 2024 Suite HUB.

How things look in Vegas Pro HUB. Also you can collaborate with other users through up and downloading files with the storage space that comes with the Subscription. With Post 100GB, Suite 50GB, Edit 20GB with Quick Upload and File Drop. Really really nice!