Editing Projects in Magix Movie Edit Pro MX

hadeup wrote on 7/24/2013, 3:23 AM

i imported a musical show from a dvd to Magix Movie Edit PRO MX and after editing and discarding almost 80% of its original content found to my surprise the following:
MPEG Encoder Setting showed that the used space on media is 9493 MB / 4489 MB, on the used space indicator. The Bit Rate in Kbit/sec = 6224, and the Quality = 10.

Even when after adjusting the Bit Rate in Kbit/sec to 3347 and the Quality = 1, the used space on media is still 5105 MB / 4489 MB.

What i do not understand is with about only 20% of the contents from the original dvd, Resolution: 320*240, Frame Rate: 25, Aspect Rato: 4:3, less than 22 mins duration, what is the cause of this problem?

When i tried to reset the settings in 'Export to Device' the following pops up:

Magix Movie Edit PRO box opens:

Note: The export settings differ from the movie settings. Objects maybe positioned incorrectly in your movie or maybe played with black stripes or wobble. For a realistic preview, select the image playback rate and the proportions you wish to use when exporting in the movie settings.

Click on “adjust movie” if you wish to adjust the movie settings. Start playback of your movie once again and check to see if everything is displayed correctly. To continue with the export, click on the continue button. If you wish to customise the export settings, click on the 'cancel' button.

customise movie / continue / cancel

Questions:

1) How come after importing from a 4.7GB dvd to magix and reducing the contents to only 22 mins and about 20% of the original, i'm having this problem ?
2) Since i cannot reduce the Bit Rate in Kbit/sec to less then 3347, will the resolution and quality of the video/audio of the dvd that i burn from magix be less superior than the original dvd?
3) I tried “Adapt bit rate button” and the following message pops up:

“the bit rate cannot be adjusted. Even if set to lowest bit rate, the movie will not fit to the disc.
Possible solutions:
Your movie maybe too long ---
Do you want to burn additional files---
please ensure that “optimized or constant quantization” is not set---”
4) I read from another thread that if i go to “File > Export to device >Select device> User defined>Video>WindowsMedia and select one of the lower bandwidth device presets from the dropdown at the top as a starting point and modify through the advanced settings button, if the file is too big or small.” In the magix i have, there is no advance settings only settings !

NOTE: I wanted to share some screenshots but seems to not able!

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 7/24/2013, 5:44 AM

Not sure I can give a definitive answer on this, but one or two things occur to me.

First, is it possible that the original is actually a dual-layer DVD, hence program up to 9.4Gb? A number of the messages you mention certainly seem to suggest this.

Second, how did you go about the actual process of importing the DVD to MEP? What specific steps did you take? I ask this because I have discovered in the past that some DVDs can contain the entire program twice, once as a series of 1Gb VOB files and also as a single VOB containing ALL the content of the remaining VOBs (presumably the shorter files are to cater for older DVD players that may not be able to handle individual VOBs larger than 1 Gb)! If, perchance, yours is a DVD like this, you may have the program twice on your timeline. If you zoom out full (Ctrl+F), how long is the total "playing time" of your file?

Third, as a follow-up to this, did you ensure that you only imported to your timeline the actual "video" files from the original DVD, and none of the others, like IFO or BUP files? Theoretically, MEP should ignore such files (since they are created as part of the DVD export/burn process) but I wonder if, somehow, they are being seen by MEP as part of the "video"?

You also mention, I presume because you have tried to make the video fit onto a DVD, "Resolution 320 x 240". This is far below DVD standard, especially for PAL video (the quoted frame rate suggests you are working in a "PAL" country.) So, yes, the quality of the output will be "low" to say the least.

Without wishing in any way to sound "superior", if your version of MEP MX is one without either the "Plus" or "Premium" label it is entirely possible that some features, like the "Advanced Settings" to which you refer in your post, are omitted.

Sorry to not be able to offer a direct answer to many of your (entirely reasonable) questions but I wonder whether there is something "unusual" going on here, either with the video files you are using or with some aspect of your workflow.

hadeup wrote on 7/24/2013, 6:11 AM

Thanks Emmrecs for your prompt response.

I can assure you that the original is NOT a dual-layer DVD.

I tried 2 methods but the outcome is similar. One, is to import directly from the DVD to MEP and the second is by converting, using a dvd convertor and then importing to MEP.

As i mentioned its only less then 22 minutes duration in total.

Your 3rd reasoning is interesting but the timeline shows only the actual "video" files from the original DVD, and none of the others, like IFO or BUP files but if somehow these had “ invaded” the MEP as part of the "video", how can we know for sure ?

Yes, you're Right, its a PAL DVD – UK product. Yes, the set Resolution 320 x 240" is far below good quality video and yet i'm having problems, can you imagine with bigger files?

Actually the version i using is MEP MX "Premium" but without the "Advanced Settings"

Is there a way to upload screenshots to this forumn, please?

terrypin wrote on 7/24/2013, 7:20 AM

Is there a way to upload screenshots to this forumn, please?

Hi,

Yes, as shown here:

Quality is poor IMO, so alternatively upload your screenshot to a host site such as Dropbox, ImageShack, Photobox, Flickr, etc, and use the Link tool instead, as I've done here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/MagixInfo-SendingScreenshots.jpg

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

hadeup wrote on 7/24/2013, 7:52 AM

THANK YOU, TERRYPIN

johnebaker wrote on 7/24/2013, 1:28 PM

Following on Emmrecs suggestion about importing VOB and your comment about running them through a converter.

Try copying the movie VOBs ( VTS_01_1 , VTS_01_2 etc ) to your computer hard drive, then change the file extension to mpg - you do not need to run them through a converter - then import them into MEP.

HTH

John

hadeup wrote on 7/24/2013, 6:12 PM

Hello Johnebaker,

I had tried copying the movies VOBs ( VTS_01_1 , VTS_01_2 etc ) to the PC's hard drive, then changing the file extension to mpg /wmv but for some reasons this method will not work for most of these PAL DVDs and certainly not in this case.

I think this is because of the region zoning for DVDs !

Thanks

gandjcarr wrote on 7/25/2013, 5:51 AM

Hi,

If you go to file, export movie, then choose MPEG-4 or MPEG, you should be able to export the file at pretty much any video bit rate that you want. In the case of MPEG-4 about the lowest it will accept is 100 kbps and MPEG it is around 192 kbps. Now the movie may not look very good. Here is series of screen shots presenting a more realistic approach using MPEG-4. Note file size is directly affected by the combination of run time and video bit rate. Audio bit rate does play a role but it is relatively insignificant.

George

gandjcarr wrote on 7/25/2013, 5:58 AM

Hi Again,

As for uploading screen shots, here is how to do it.

http://www.magix.info/us/how-to-upload-a-screen-shot-or-image-to.online-training.883467.html

George

johnebaker wrote on 7/25/2013, 6:04 AM

If these are commercial copyrighted DVD's then it is almost certain that DRM is causing the problem .

John

hadeup wrote on 7/25/2013, 8:12 AM

Hello George,

Thanks but I had tried this before as explained earlier, the following appears:
Magix Movie Edit PRO box opens:
Note: The export settings differ from the movie settings. Objects maybe positioned incorrectly in your movie or maybe played with black stripes or wobble. For a realistic preview, select the image playback rate and the proportions you wish to use when exporting in the movie settings.

1) Tried – file - export movie - choosed MPEG-4 but how can i change to obtain 100 kbps?
2) Tried – file - export movie - choosed MPEG but how can i change to obtain 192 kbps?
Please, do explain how to obtain 100 kbps / 192 kbps?

Cannot send screenshots cos its a .odt file, i think! will try again.

hadeup wrote on 7/25/2013, 8:22 AM

Once again thanks John, but how can i check to know for certain that that its DRM that is causing the problem?

johnebaker wrote on 7/25/2013, 9:03 AM

. . . . how can i check to know for certain that that its DRM that is causing the problem . . . .

AFAIK you would have to use a DVD ripper can tell you what the DRM is if any - however the use of these is illegal for discs which use a DRM system eg CSS, AACS etc

I have seen DRM have the following effects when importing VOB's (not necessarily MEP) : -

- No video only audio

- Video, stuttering audio

- Stuttering video and audio

- Nothing but an empty object on the timeline.

Note: these were tested for educational use.

Some discs have a Macrovision logo on them showing they are protected by their content scrambling system.

John

hadeup wrote on 7/25/2013, 9:39 AM

Hello John,

Thanks for responding so soon but none of the DRM effects had I experienced when importing to MEP, so I think we can rule out DRM!

Anyway, i'll consult the dvd ripper experts for their input and revert to you asap.

gandjcarr wrote on 7/25/2013, 11:10 AM

Hi,

Here is a quick youtube video to show you how to export your project in MPEG-4, reduce the video bitrate to reduce file size and possibly get rid of the error you are getting when you try to export.

By the way, to upload screen shots to this site, you need to be using jpeg files. I use TNT Screen Capture to upload my files, it creates jpeg files, and you can add text, arrows, shapes, callouts, etc. It is free and at least for me works very well.

http://www.tntscreencapture.com/

George

hadeup wrote on 7/26/2013, 2:16 AM

Hello George,

Thank You for your advise.

However, the results are in a sorry state, as follows:

Firstly and more importantly - NO reductions / changes to the Bit Rate in Kbit/sec = 6224, and the Quality = 10 !

Secondly, after changing to 800 bit rate, magix program – 'hung', i had to force-shutdown twice each time to restart my PC.

Thirdly, after changing to 800 bit rate in the advanced settings – apply – ok buttons, ALL the video pictures on the video monitor shrank.

I reviewed your video instructions again and noted that you only changed the movie setting's ratio to 4:3 from 16:9 setting and the bit rate to 800 !

As its obvious from the screenshots herein, my case differs, as follows:

1) i had changed the 2000 bit rate to 800 bit rate.

2) Also, i had changed the resolution from 1920*1080 to 720*576 and the ratio from 16:9 to 4:3 in the movie setting's.

I'm not sure at all what has gone wrong or why this is happening ? Any clues, please?

terrypin wrote on 7/26/2013, 9:10 AM

As its obvious from the screenshots herein, my case differs, as follows:

From previous threads I gather that I'm the only one who finds magix.info embedded images often quite unreadable. I'm told by Magix that I'm the only user that's requested an improvement in resolution. Anyway, these are typical examples.

As recommended in my recent post, a better alternative is to upload to a free or commercial host, such as those I suggested.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Scenestealer wrote on 7/26/2013, 8:27 PM

Hi Terry

The images are crisp enough here but unreadable because the text is too small in the picture. If the screenshot was zoomed and cropped to the relevant area in a photo editor, before uploading, then things would be better, me thinks.

Peter

hadeup wrote on 7/26/2013, 11:56 PM

Sorry guys for the poor screen shots, tried again with Terry's help, hope this time it will not strain your eyes !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99471160@N06/

Scenestealer wrote on 7/27/2013, 2:59 PM

That's better but I think you should crop out the unused white area in future.

A couple of points re your attempts to compress your export:-

Untick the smart render selection in your first screen shot. This is there to stop any processing of your original material.

Add 2 B frames where it says max B frames in your advanced MPEG4/H264 encoder settings (image No.5). This will give better quality for the same data rate.

Cheers

Peter

terrypin wrote on 7/27/2013, 3:55 PM

That's better but I think you should crop out the unused white area in future

Peter,

Well, maybe it's because I'm viewing them on my iPad (I'm on holiday for next two weeks) but I still can't read any of the text, only guess it.

@hadeup: Can you read it yourself?

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Scenestealer wrote on 7/27/2013, 5:15 PM

Terry

I can only just read it on my 24inch monitor, so you would be struggling!

hadeup wrote on 7/27/2013, 11:57 PM

Hello Terry,

Yes, i can but mine is a 27" screen. Will do better the next time. Happy Holidays.

hadeup wrote on 7/31/2013, 9:41 AM

HELLO Peter & Terry,

Just discovered by accident that you guys need not strain your eyes to read the Flicr posted screenshot texts. Click on the screenshot then when the next screenshot pops , R/C the picture & you can “View it in all sizes: Medium 500 • Medium 640 • Medium 800 • Large • Large 1600 • Original “

terrypin wrote on 8/1/2013, 3:07 PM

R/C the picture & you can “View it in all sizes: Medium 500 • Medium 640 • Medium 800 • Large • Large 1600 • Original “

Not on an iPad!

Terry, East Grinstead, UK