I need an absolutely basic intro to editing a video with Magix Video Easy HD

LittleTyke wrote on 7/27/2015, 2:37 PM

I've never done ~any~ video editing before, and despite the title I don't find Video Easy easy at all. Can someone please explain how to do the one simply task I want to achieve? I'm trying to use the sliders and the scissors. There are three sliders: The one on the top pointing down, the one on the left marking the start position (start position of what? clear as mud from the help file), and the one on the right. When I click the scissors I get two clips, but all I want is the section BETWEEN the left and right markers.

So, let's say I have a 10-minute .mp4 video that I've downloaded from YouTube:

How do I remove the first three 3 minutes and the last 4 minutes, giving me a video to save of 3 minutes in length? That's all I wanna do! Thanks!

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 7/27/2015, 3:46 PM

I would suggest you read the installed PDF manual available under Help in the program Most of the basic operations are included in there.

Also search Youtube for video editting techniques for Video Easy - use the search term magix video easy - you will find plenty of videos there.

HTH

John EB

browj2 wrote on 7/27/2015, 4:24 PM

Simply make another cut and then delete the left clip, the right clip, leaving the middle clip.

LittleTyke wrote on 7/28/2015, 1:52 AM

I've read the manual. I still don't know what to do. This is what it says on page 59, under Split Object (the scissors widget): "This command cuts a scene at the point where the start marker is positioned. This way, two free-standing objects are created."

But I don't want TWO objects, I want ONE, with the part I want deleted, gone. Like it works in VirtualDub. (Which I would use in preference if only it recognised .mp4 files.)

johnebaker wrote on 7/28/2015, 5:24 AM

Hi LittleTyke

. . . . "This command cuts a scene at the point where the start marker is positioned. This way, two free-standing objects are created." . . .

That is correct - the instructions tell you how to delete the middle - follow the instructions except delete the beginning and end parts not the middle.

You will then be left with the middle, which you can the move as you wish by dragging.

Hope this makes sense yo you.

John EB

LittleTyke wrote on 7/28/2015, 7:47 AM

Ah! Now I understand! So I don't need to use the Start and End sliders at all, but just the Play cursor!

Thanks. It worked.

(So the documentation writers thought it would be clever to keep this a secret till page 59, did they...!)

LittleTyke wrote on 7/28/2015, 8:24 AM

Nope. Spoke too soon...

So, for a test, I cut off a large chunk from the front of the vid, using Z, and a large chunk from the end, using U.

At the bottom right of the Magix screen it says: 1 object(s) 1m:16s

Then I clicked Finish Movie and saved it as Window Media Video HD1 Quality. But it took 20 minutes to save the movie! And the resultant .wmv file is over 35MB in size!

This clip when played back is indeed only 1m:16s long. I must still be doing something wrong, but goodness knows what. It shouldn't possibly take 20 minutes to save a 1m:16s video!

johnebaker wrote on 7/28/2015, 10:04 AM

. . . . It shouldn't possibly take 20 minutes to save a 1m:16s video! . . . .

Yes it can depending on the specification of your computer.

Exporting to a different format requires a lot of recalculation during the transcoding of the video.

John EB

LittleTyke wrote on 7/28/2015, 10:34 AM

I tried the same operation using Bandicut and the clip was saved in approx 31 seconds. I can't tell the difference in the output quality.

browj2 wrote on 7/28/2015, 11:42 AM

Hi,

Let's see, you took an mp4 file of unkown quality (you don't state what it is), trimmed it in VideoEasy, then exported (not saved) to a different format, wmv of HD quality 1, which is 1280x720 normally. You are comparing this to simply trimming in Bandicut, and exporting or saving to the same format. You are comparing applies with oranges.

johnebaker wrote on 7/28/2015, 1:11 PM

@ LittleTyke

It would help us help you if you answer the questions we ask instead of going off on a tangent comparing two very different programs.

Bandicut performance is a red herring, as far as the problem you are having is concerned, for the reasons John CB has said.

John EB

LittleTyke wrote on 7/28/2015, 2:05 PM

It's not just Bandicut's excellent performance, it's mainly the fact that I could do what I wanted within two minutes of installing the software. I loaded exactly the same original .mp4 video (from TouTube) into both programs. I found Bandicut's user interface dead easy, but Video Easy's utterly incomprehensible. I said all along in this thread what I wanted to do: Cut a few minutes from the front and a few minutes from the back and save the resultant clip. I never did work out how to do this in Video Easy, but in Bandicut it's a doddle.

I've found the right tool for me, so I'm giving up on Video Easy.