Does Magix Video Easy SE "strained computer warnings" mean the program is a failure?

jambsph wrote on 2/16/2013, 3:06 AM

Every time I attempt to capture video (from VHS) I get the same warning:

"Your computer will be strained by the current recording settings. To guarantee error-free recording, lower the recording quality and try again."

And often it's correct, Magix produces a lousy reproduction.

Here's the problem:

I watch it on the screen as it's captured and it's perfect so it's nothing to do with the capture device.

My PC CPU is running at less than 10% of capacity. So it's not CPU resources.

My GPU is running at less than 10% resources. So it's not the GPU.

I have enough spare RAM to hold my whole project. So it's not RAM.

If it's not the capture device and it's not the PC resources that leaves one conclusion: The program is a failure.

Is anything being done to fix it?

Comments

cpc000cpc wrote on 2/16/2013, 6:22 AM

jambsph,

What exactly are the recording settings that lead to this error message? You say '...often it's correct.'; do you mean that sometime the given setting is successful and other times not, or are you changing the settings? As your resources don't seem at all 'strained', what happens if you ignore the warning and continue?

I've not got Video Easy but can draw comparisons with other Magix editors: In Movie Edit Pro the preview during recording is a tiny fraction of my full screen so its quality can't be a true measure of capability of any capture device. According to Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS the pixel equivalent of the analog tape signal is only about 335x576 pixels (PAL) and 333x480 pixels for NTSC for luma (brightness) and less than that for chroma (color information). You can't expect Full HD 10808p quality from VHS -- nothing to do with program failure it's just the laws of physics.

Regards,

Carl

johnebaker wrote on 2/17/2013, 1:29 PM

Welcome to the forum.

In addition to Carls questions - what is the specification of your computer? See this post

Without knowing this and the settings Carl has requested we can only guess at what is wrong.

Quote:

My PC CPU is running at less than 10% of capacity. So it's not CPU resources.

My GPU is running at less than 10% resources. So it's not the GPU.

I have enough spare RAM to hold my whole project. So it's not RAM.

Without knowing what is actually running on your computer at the time these readings were taken and the computer spec, these figures are meaningless.

Come back with the information we have asked for then we can help you more.

John

jambsph wrote on 2/17/2013, 11:16 PM

Johnbaker, I didn't say that Magix was using 10% of my PC capacity. I said that the PC and GPU was running at 10% capacity i.e. with everything running on the PC currently, including Magix, the average idle usage of the PC is 90%. And that applies to each core of the CPU.

That means the PC has 90% more of its capacity available to run Magix but Magix clearly isn't accessing it based on the "Your PC resurces are strained". Clearly they're not.

To give you an idea, that's with Magix as the only program requiring resources continually. The other programms running are merely boot programes on idle.

My PC can rip and transcode two blu-ray DVD's simultaneously while I have a movie running in the corner on Power DVD via a virtual drive and am also scanning photos on a Canon all in one Wi-Fi printer scanner to Adobe photoshop and editing them. Magix working as the only programme running can't record what I'm watching captured (perfectly) on the screen.

As for Carl's questions:

I'm saying when the warning is there, it produces an unuseable result. Stuttering picture and sound.

What I see on the screen from the capture device is the quaiity I require. In fact I can quite easily use free screen capture software e.g. cam studio and get a result in the same quality as I'm watching on the screen.

That also confirms the PC's capacity to capture as the screen capture is of a 1080p screen meaning the resulting recorded video is over 4 times as big as the original VHS input. Hence the PC has no problem recording 4 times the information Magix advises is straining the PC, without straining. And that's in resouce heavy AVI format.

If there had been a resources problem with the PC I would have said I didn't know if it's the program or the PC but it's not the PC so the 10% comment wasn't irrelevant i.e. if I say my crane can lift a load at 10% capacity you don't need to know it's a 50 ton crane to know it can handle your load of 5 tons.

johnebaker wrote on 2/18/2013, 1:28 AM

Please answer the questions you have been asked.

We cannot help you if you only provide general statements which are meaningless without the information requested.

John

jambsph wrote on 2/18/2013, 4:09 AM

Thanks johnebaker,

I, have my answer. Sorry to have wasted your time.

If you can't tell from the information I have given you that my PC must be running with specifications well above the recommended specifications (not minimum) you can't help me.

How far above those specifications it runs at is meaningless because, at the recommended specifications, the program should be able to handle capture at it's highest options level with ease. It can't.

If the PC is only using 10% of it's resources and is getting a resources error from Magix, it's clearly not the PC and the actual PC speicifications are therefore meaningless. (Knowing that, what could you possibly hope to find out from acutal specifications? I'm not being difficult, just stating the obvious.)

And you know from the comments nothing else is running to reduce the PC or programs performance i.e. if the PC is running at 10% of its capabilities, all programms running are running at 10% PC capacity less Magix' usage. So what's running other than Magix is irrelevant in terms of resources (and they must be insignificant in terms of Magix given they are using so little CPU i.e. not a conflicting program).

And I've advised the captuure device is working perfectly as viewable on the screen.

How could there possibly be plugins with a program that has one function: Record VHS tape to disk from a capture device and the live capture screen and audio shows it's capturing perfectly ? So, for this product, do I have all necessary plugins is irrelevant.

And the explanation is as advanced as it can get for this product: It advises that the recording will be substandard because the computer is strained when it's obvious the computer isn't remotely strained.

If you had heard of the problem in the past and it was resolved in a newer version, you would know it. So it's safe to conclude "nothing has changed" in later versions. Again it has one simple function: record what the capture device delivers to the PC. (But I have the latest version available to me.)

There would be no point contacting the forum if the answer was already on the forum.

In answer to a question not asked, I've tried it on more than one PC, I've tried it with Vista and Windows 7 (clean installs) and the result remains unchanged: Magix based resources error.

I know enough about computers to know it's not a computer issue, it's a program issue hence the question was: Is the program fixed not how do I fix my PC?

Since the answer is that the the program hasn't been upgraded to address the issue then I believe it's safe for me to assume that the program lacks the ability to assess the PC's performance capabilities and is therefore unable to preform its designed task successfully as that lack of ability causes the program to think it can't do what should be overwhelmingly easy and based on that information it self destructs the input..

Think about it, a PC of over decade ago was easily able to capture VHS video, I know, I did it, most old cards had a composite video in port and free Ulead capture software. I have a modern high spec. PC (way above 10 times as powerful in CPU and GPU) a decade later and it can't capture a sub DVD standard VHS video from a modern capture device at the programs "high quality" setting using Magix. That's just scary.

Thanks again but I got the information I need to assess this Magix product and, perhaps all Magix products.