Thanks, I got that John. The reason for the small file sizes is because I want to start distributing these kinds of vids with a Dropbox, or google docs, without taking forever to download, or eat up a devices memory. Kids and some folks don’t want DVD’s they want to show/share them with a mobile device. I find 1280x720 30fps a decent enough size that plays well on PC’s, IPads, IPhones and such. I think anyone can make a decent render with a huge file size as a result, but how do you share it? I also have another bridge to cross one day, 4K. My cameras record it very well, but I can’t view it yet.

My rendering process usually starts with the default settings in Magix.Some time ago I purchased the Main Concept Codec. When I updated to .306, I noticed the render quality went down, transitions looked terrible. I took me days of whining (sorry about that), but I seemed to narrow it down to the Main Concept Codec. Even tho I changed the Codec to default in the program settings, restarted VPX, if I loaded an earlier project, it still must have gotten its instructions from the project settings to use Min Concept. I needed to open a project, reset the Codec to default, restart VPX, open the same project, then I would get an acceptable result, with nice transitions.

Using the Main Concept Codec give my PC a blue screen error also. I don’t know what the issue is there. For now, I’ll just stay away from Main Concept.

@gmlotkow

Some time in the last year, I believe, we discussed that MC was causing problems. I was one of them. I can't find the thread, but I stopped using MC and my problem, whatever it was, went away.

About distributing video, this would be a good topic for discussion. I suggest that you open a new thread about this. I would like to see various ways that people are doing this as an alternative to DVD/BR. I have my ways.

Possible new bug (obscure)

I found a problem recently with 306. I had a clip with audio on tracks 1/2. I split it, ungrouped the audio, deleted the video from the first part and moved the audio to track 5. The video on track 1 for the first audio part was replaced by other video with the sound deleted. Not sure how I got the next part but for the second part of the clip, I had the same audio on tracks 2 and 5. I dragged down the audio handle on the audio of track 2 to off, so track 5 was the main audio. For other parts, I had audio on track 2 that was on. After exporting, the audio of the second part of my video clip was crackling. I thought it was a problem with the original as playing back within the program I heard crackling. I turned back on the audio on the part on track 2, no crackling. I ungrouped and deleted the audio part on track 2, left track 5 untouched, no crackling. I'll have to try this again, but it seems that having the same audio on separate tracks with one part turned off (not muting the track), causes crackling.

John CB

@browj2

Hi John

I cannot reproduce this - I thought I had, however further testing showed the 'click' was in the clip - camera strap hitting the camera body as I moved.

HTH

John EB

Back to the .306 like/dislike;

None of the New Blue add on's (Essentials, Filters, Stylizers.. V3, V4) that came with software updates work, once applied its an immediate shutdown of VPX. HitFilm 360 pack cannot be previewed when applied.

EDIT: I just went to NewBlue Application Manager within the start menu, and found updates available, did that, and some seem to work, with preview.

@gmlotkow

Hi Greg

The NewBlue filters which open their own dialog all work for me, however the OFX versions I have tested do not - I just get a blank Program monitor - this is an ongoing issue both for VPX and MEP for me.

HTH

John EB

Those with their own dialog box are the ones that create an immediate shut down of VPX when applied.

I also noticed changing the framerate from 59.94 to 29.97 has no effect on file size.

This is normal. Resolution and frame rate have a marginal effect on the size of the file after compression. The biggest influence on the file size is bitrate and the codec used. Currently the best quality-to-file ratio is provided by HEVC (h.265). HEVC provides approximately 2x better performance than h.264. Thus, you can use 2x less bitrate HEVC 8 Mbps = 16 Mbps in h.264 etc. Personally, I think that HEVC is the best option for sharing movies in the clouds.

@Michal-MST

Hi

. . . . Currently the best quality-to-file ratio is provided by HEVC (h.265). . . .

Partilly agree with this, however there are penalties from using h.265:

• the processing power required on the PC producing this format is greatly increased.
• older PC's cannot use Hardware Acceleration for h.265 and will fall back to using the processor for rendering the video, this is very slow.
• the processing power required on the viewing device is greatly increased
• the number of devices supporting this format is somewhat less than for MP4 h.264 video which is virtually universally accepted.

HEVC is likely to be eclipsed by a newer codec AV1, however time will tell.

John EB

We have the 21st century. H.265 will support any smartphone currently available on the market. You can use GTX 980 for hardware coding. An old card that you can buy for little money. In addition, you can buy a cheap multidial player from China, which will reproduce HEVC / H.265 without any problem. I do not think that AV1 will become more populoarny than h.265. There are already recording devices in this codec and other companies have announced that they will use it. h.265 is the natural evolution of h.264.

Michal-MST, great advice, I used the HEVC encode option, had to take a download to activate it online, and my PC can produce that quite efficiently. See below snapshot. You can see my PC config in my signature, but take note, I do not have a graphics card, and hardware encoding is enabled and working. It must be using the GPU built inside my Intel Coffee Lake chip. This performed with default codec setting, not Main Concept.

One issue I do find, is Win 10 media player does not support this format. I must use VLC player. It plays well on my android phone as well as my Ipod.

I do find the HEVC has a considerably larger file size, the bitrate is much higher than std MP4, but, (I'm using a Dell U3415W with 3440X1440 resolution) not much or any difference visually.

@johnebaker

Constant Bitrate it is unnecessary and as I said before limits what the renderer can do where more 'power' is needed

Good analogies John but rather than unnecessary, CBR should be totally avoided if small file size and good quality is required as in Greg's case. None of Magix's export templates have CBR set by default for good reason ie it is only relevant for a streaming application that specifically requires a constant data rate.

It is a bit like driving a car in one gear with your foot on the pedal in one constant position only, on the level everything is fine, you come to a hill - the car can struggle to get up the hill, just as the renderer struggles with the transitions, go downhill and you have too much gas being used, ie the renderer uses unnecessary bitrate capacity.

Using Variable Bitrate is like using cruise control in the analogy above, applies the 'power' where need and eases off where not.

I think it is important to focus on the wasted bits (fuel) on the downhill as this may limit you reaching your objective (destination), in Greg's case minimum file size.

@Michal-MST

Resolution and frame rate have a marginal effect on the size of the file after compression.

This is totally incorrect. You can not produce a file of the same number of bits at 50fps that you can at 25fps without compressing each frame twice as much. How much difference you will see on viewing the two files is another story as the perceived quality difference will not necessarily be one to one.

@gmlotkow

One issue I do find, is Win 10 media player does not support this format. I must use VLC player.

It works fine here.

You can see my PC config in my signature, but take note, I do not have a graphics card, and hardware encoding is enabled and working. It must be using the GPU built inside my Intel Coffee Lake chip. This performed with default codec setting, not Main Concept.

That is interesting because Magix say that the HEVC Hardware encoding is only available a late model Nvidia Card (via NVENC) and then you need to use the Mainconcept encoder to achieve it.

The activity you see on your Intel GPU may be just the parallel processing of effects. Did you have "Calculate video effects on the GPU" selected in the export window?

Peter

"The activity you see on your Intel GPU may be just the parallel processing of effects. Did you have "Calculate video effects on the GPU" selected in the export window?"

No.

Interesting to watch the task manager at times during rendering. Depending on my export settings, my CPU can get to 90+% with no GPU activity, while at other times, my CPU is running 40% and the GPU (with no video card) is running 45%.

@Scenestealer@gmlotkow

Hi Peter, Greg

. . . . That is interesting because Magix say that the HEVC Hardware encoding is only available a late model Nvidia Card (via NVENC) and then you need to use the Mainconcept encoder to achieve it . . . .

Testing exporting HEVC, with HWA turned on and the Default (Intel) codec, using the UHD 630 iGPU I get the following (same project and export settings):

VPX - there would appear to be some processing on the iGPU, ~ 1/3, however the majority, ~2/3 is using the CPU - the export dialog say 'hardware encoding' at the top

For comparison

MEP (latest) - the iGPU appears doing at least 2/3 and more of the processing - the export dialog say 'hardware encoding' at the top

AFAICS the website makes no mention of requiring the MainConcept codec for this or NVENC. The only references I can find for VPX are

• ' Nvidia GTX 1050 or better ' with no conditions of use
• 'Accelerated HEVC export with NVIDIA graphics cards'

HTH

John EB

Glad to hear John, I think we found something to like on the latest .306 update. I'm running happily myself, and glad to abandon this thread, should anything else come up, I'll start another. But first, I'll make a Post It Note, to hang near my PC, stating "No Main Concept Encoder".

Just an update on my drama's.
I contacted Magix support to request a link to an earlier patch. I requested version 288 and they were good enough to send it.
I uninstalled VPX and reinstalled the program and applied the patch.
Unfortunately it seems that my issues must have started at 288 because I still had problems.
I uninstalled again and worked my way up to version 268 which is running fine so far.
I will remain skeptical at the moment but good so far. It seems to be producing DVD ok as well.
It got to the point where from 288 up to 306 , I couldn't even import some of my basic mp4 camera footage without it freezing.
The moral to the story is, uninstalling and working up to the version that works seems to be a better option than using a restore point. "In my case anyway"
Doug.

@johnebaker, @gmlotkow

I said:

That is interesting because Magix say that the HEVC Hardware encoding is only available on a late model Nvidia Card (via NVENC) and then you need to use the Mainconcept encoder to achieve it.

Apologies for the incorrect information. HEVC HW encoding is in fact available via the Intel encoder and IGPU at least on Intel 6th generation and later which have HEVC encoding built in to the IGPU.

Further, my statement is confusing as I have written it. The second part about needing to use the MC encoder was not intended to be a statement from Magix and was in fact my own understanding reinforced by experienced users on the German forum. I should have been clearer and separated the sentence.

I think the situation, with the statements from Magix and what may now seem logical to me, is that the HEVC encoding via NVENC has been included to help those who do not have Intel processors or Intel IGPU's in their system get over the very slow HEVC "Software Only" encoding. Whether this works with the MC encoder I can not confirm as I am still on an earlier version of VPX9 which does not have the NVENC facility to test with my Nvidia GTX1060. As you guys do not have discreet Nvidia GPU's maybe someone else with 16.0.2.306 can confirm?

Greg

I appreciate your reluctance to use the MC encoder (at all?) for the reasons you have explained but for the benefit of others reading this I want to point out that there is no problem with using it for .mts Hardware encoding using Quick Sync after selecting QSV instead of Auto at the top of the Advanced >Advanced> encoder settings. It is faster than the Intel encoder, especially in SW only mode by a ratio of 4:1. It is my preferred encoder for AVCHD Transport stream 50P HQ ie .mts exports.

Depending on my export settings, my CPU can get to 90+% with no GPU activity, while at other times, my CPU is running 40% and the GPU (with no video card) is running 45%.

This could well be due to some VPX video effects that can only be accelerated / processed on the CPU. I think Mercalli Pro is one of them.

I will start a new thread on this but briefly - I found during testing that in fact HW acceleration on my Intel GPU had totally ceased working in any version of VPX or MEP using either Intel of MC encoder. The export encoding progress window said "Hardware Encoding" but there was no activity in GPU0 in Task manager and export times were the same as SW encodes.

Thanks to a member called @Treeniks I found there is a recently added setting in Windows 10 > Display Settings > Graphics Settings where you can choose a primary GPU to assign to your application. This got Intel QSV HW exports working and at a speed I had not seen before with 80-90% activity on the iGPU and 20-30% concurrently on the Nvidia GPU, plus 50-60% on the CPU. Timeline playback is smoother also with Intel HD530 graphics preferred in the Program Settings.Phenomenal!

Peter

@DugsBugs

There have been a couple of German members who reported many problems with .306 where others had none and Support pointed them to a process (in Magix FAQ) which we have used previously where you uninstall VPX and all updates using the "Microsoft Fix It" uninstaller tool then delete all the VPX folders in Program Data. Copied here from this link:- https://www.magix.info/de/forum/neue-version-306-fehler--1219334/

Thanks to @Hope

To bring your program back to its current state, please proceed as follows:

Uninstall the program using the "Microsoft FixIT Tool".

In the tool, select "Uninstall will be executed."

Locate your program and confirm the uninstall.

You should also find in this list a point called "Video Pro X Update", possibly even several of these points. Please run the tool several times until all Video Pro X entries have disappeared.

Download Microsoft FixIt Tool

Please delete the remaining program folders under the following paths:

C: \ Program Data \ MAGIX \ Video_Pro_X8 \

C: \ Users \ * your_username * \ AppData \ Roaming \ MAGIX \ Video_Pro_X8 \

C: \ Program Data \ MAGIX \ Video_Pro_X9 \

C: \ Users \ * your_username * \ AppData \ Roaming \ MAGIX \ Video_Pro_X9 \

C: \ Program Data \ MAGIX \ Video_Pro_X10 \

C: \ Users \ * your_username * \ AppData \ Roaming \ MAGIX \ Video_Pro_X10 \

If you do not see the above folders, you must first display hidden folders. To do this, go to the Control Panel. In the upper right, select "Small Icons" as the "Display". Now click on "Explorer Options" and under "View" under "Hidden Files and Folders" check the option "Show Hidden Files, Folders and Drives".

Then reinstall the program via the following download link:

Download Video Pro X

If necessary, download the desired free additional content via "Help -> Download additional content".

Your program should return to normal after performing the steps.
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------

A lot of work but it is now running very well and stable.
When reinstalling we first installed the 16.0.1.242. Then by "Online aktuallisierung" the .1.268 and again then the .2.306.

Then I had to re-register the MPEG-4 codec and then again the additional content via "additional content install".

Plugins, such as NewBlu, NeatVideo, Mercali 4, etc., have been preserved and did not need to be reinstalled.

Might be worth a try!

Peter

"Windows 10 > Display Settings > Graphics Settings where you can choose a primary GPU to assign to your application".

I just turned this on myself. My GPU jumped to 80-90% also.

Great find!!

Wrong, was that a mistake. Even tho it looked like the system was performing well, I could not multitask during rendering. When it was finished, the video would not play. After exiting VPX, the start button would not work. Had to hold the power switch 5 sec. Got this next:

Video_Pro_X.ini got corrupt.

I then copied the Video_Pro_X.ini file from V8 to V10, and it opened my windows properly

Once I set my Graphics Settings back, I noticed HEVC uses the GPU the same rate. I can multitask again. We'll see whats next.

Edit 1: My Window Arrangements don's stick no more. They always go to default when I open the program.

@Scenestealer
Thanks Peter
Didn't quite go to that much effort.
Normally I would uninstall then go into regedit and delete all Magix files.
It seems to be stable at the moment on 268.
Nothing in 306 affects me anyway so I may stick with this until further patches assuming they deal with my issues.
Doug

@browj2

Another one for the list - @Liviu-Tatan has reported that the Bitrate slider in the Bluray Burn settings window does not alter the bitrate when moved. @emmrecs has confirmed this, with a workaround that manually entering the BR in the numbers box will achieve a change in BR.

Peter

Here is the updated list with numbers 25 and 26 added:

Magix has been working on these. To see the full text, look back at the other requests by Mathias for comments on the patches. Below is more or less what they said, comments in italics are mine:

1. Icons: This is a problem and actually our developers didn't know that. It will be fixed so thank you for this hint. 

2. See 1. 

3. Link to folder for XAR: Unfortunately this has been removed so this is no bug. (Solution - make your own folder)

4. External audio editor: Magix has created a bug entry for this. Again, thank you for this hint. The problem will be
fixed.  

5. NewBlue OFX: Could you please send me a video of this situation and also check if the problem occurs in each video mode? (John EB to prepare a video.)

6. Multicam: This is a complicated one. Actually, these problems have already been fixed, but they still occur sporadically. It is very difficult to reproduce these problems. We probably haven't been able to eliminate all the causes yet and have to take a closer look at the problems again. The bugs are now definitely known to us. 

7. Scroll bar: This seems to be a bug. Our product owner will check your video.  

8. Hitfilm: Could you please send me a video of this problem, too? (Done - will be addressed probably early next year.)

9. Solved

10. External Audio files not saved: The whole feature is unfortunately very outdated and nothing has been done on it for a long time so there are problems with newer version. This was mentioned at the meeting yesterday and noted. 

11. Bug entry, these problems could be replicated.

12. See 11. 

13. Object extraction is part of the Chroma key effect. When you use the Chroma Key effect you can select the mode "Color". Now you can select a desired range within your video or photo and this will extract the selected
color from your video or photo object. (I will follow up as this does not seem to do what is shown on the web site.) 

14. User Manual:: Actually there is currently only one person who is working on the manuals for each program. This is why it takes some time until the manuals are up to date. But next year we will get reinforcements
and then that should not be a problem anymore. (It would probably be helpful if the community submitted any known issues with the manual. There is so much information in the manual that it would be hard for Magix or anyone else to find all errors or omissions.)

15. Problem is already known. 

16. 3D Title bug: Will be fixed in version 16.0.2.306.

17.  Could you please send me a screenshot of the error message? This doesn't have to be a general problem. (I have trouble replicating the problems that I had with moving titles around causing crashes and I told Magix to put this one on the back-burner until someone can replicate the problem consistently. I haven't had it happen again after the first day of testing.)

18. Knoll Light Factory: Bug entry created.

19. Solved. 

20. Problem is already known. 

21. Problem replicated a bug entry created. It also occurred with Photo & Graphic Designer. 

22. We will restore the Retry button. Bug entry created for this and also for the additional problem with strange
recording behaviour. As mentioned, we could replicate this. Thank you for this hint. 

23. Titles: Some users are having trouble applying colour and font changes to parts of the text in titles. We have checked this and two users have the problem, two or three do not. Here is a link to the thread and the particular one with a video showing the problem.

https://www.magix.info/us/forum/vpx-problem-with-rotation-horizon-levelling--1218402/?page=1#ca1428696

24. Samplitude Pro X3 to VPX: I was going to raise a ticket on the Samplitude side, but the problem is likely with VPX and may be linked to the external editor problems. Samplitude has a feature under File, Export, Export to Video Pro X. It does a mixdown, saves the file and opens VPX if not opened. However, the audio file does not come onto the timeline. I think that I checked this using an older version, VPX 7, and it worked fine, so the problem is with VPX 10.

25. @Liviu-Tatan has reported that the Bitrate slider in the Bluray Burn settings window does not alter the bitrate when moved. @emmrecs has confirmed this, with a workaround that manually entering the BR in the numbers box will achieve a change in BR.

26. Further to item 3, also removed recently from Import, Magix Tools, are: XAR Animations; Downloads; Database; Online Album; and Internet Media.

Downloads is now listed separately (I don't think that I created this link myself).

Database disappeared quite a while back. This is useful if you have Photo Manager and have created a database with it. I would like this back.

The Online Album is only useful if you have it. I can live without this as I always export first, check the export, then upload to my Album. Anyone else want this?

Internet Media opened the integrated browser in MAGIX Video Pro X offering you (from the manual) the "possibility to collect media from the Internet to use e. g. for your current movie. The integrated browser offers many useful functions that help you collect material for using in your project. All kinds of media can be collected – images, videos, sound or simply text can be all integrated using the built-in browser with great results." This has been removed and not replaced. Some users have indicated that they would like this back.

27. Copy/Drag cause full fade on other objects: A simple copy/drag of an object across other objects cause the other objects to have a complete fade from one the beginning to the end. Trying to grab the fade handle does not work. The only way to remove the fade is to go into the Object Trimmer and start reducing (or completely reduce) the fade, then one can drag that handle on the object. Magix is aware of this problem and it should be fixed in the next patch (thanks @Craigster).

John CB

@MAGIX_Redaktion

It's been quite a while since a patch has been released - still waiting for an update to resolve most of the above issues. I presume that I should refresh the above list to include the topics.

For me, the most important are:

• Fix the interface with Xara;
• Fix the menu to have Edit in external audio editor show up when right-clicking on the audio part of a video clip;
• Fix the return from external audio editors - AML, ACL and VSCL
• Fix the keyframing of X values in HitFilm effects.

VPX has been running smoothly, for the most part. I had a few crashes but nothing that I could replicate. I have managed to crash other programs as well, so it's not just Magix. It may have something to do with the day of the week or the weather outside.

John CB