Thanks John......can you suggest a specific AIO PC from Curry's or elsewhere? I admit to finding the specs confusing but thought a 12th gen i7 processor met the criteria for for cores etc albeit they rarely specify the graphics spec and there are so many i7 cpu versions.. For reasons of space etc I want to avoid a large tower on the floor but do not want a laptop.

....or what about this one??

Acer Aspire TC-1780

Windows 11 home, Intel i7 13700 16 cores , 16GB, 1.5ghz/5.2ghz 30 mb cache, 1 TB SSD, Integrated Intel UHD graphics 770.

@mikerb

Hi

. . . . Acer Aspire TC-1780 . . . .

I cannot check the full spec of this PC due to my current location and geofencing of the site you linked to, however from what you have posted that is a machine that should be considered, especially if it allows for expansion with an Intel Arc or Nvidia RTX series GPU.

The final decision is yours.

John EB

@mikerb @johnebaker

Hi.

I read your previous post as well as this one and I think you have come to the conclusion that you would need a newer computer to handle a newer version of the program and possibly if you found your current machine struggling with higher definition files from your Go-Pro as it cannot use your current nvidia card.

I think that you have read the specs page and thought it was recommending using either an Intel inboard GPU or an nvidia or AMD GPU. Really you should look at the specs page as requiring an Intel inboard GPU and an nvidia graphics card of the stated minimum requirements to have the best editing experience.

While the computers you have just asked about for recommending for video editing may well work they are possibly not going to give a seamless video editing experience depending on the file types and resolutions being used. The newer programs are programmed to make use of two appropriate GPUs as well as a multicore CPU for best results.

If you have a Go-Pro Hero 8 or newer, the files can be very demanding in an editing context, especially if you used HEVC to encode the footage and that may create a separate set of problems even on a machine that is above the minimum specs asked for. I strongly recommend you have a look at the Go-Pro forums and see what users typically complain about and ask questions about when trying to edit their Go-Pro footage to understand the reluctance of John to endorse either of your choices.

Also please note that the specs page is only saying what will run the base program and not any third party effects which may require higher specified components. Look at the warning at the top of that page regarding use.

If you are only ever going to edit MP4 encoded files at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 and not want to add much in the way of effects beyond basic cross fades or wipes then yes the second system may work but personally I am reluctant to say a definite yes to either choice. What a lot of people don't realise is that even straying away from adding basic text to a video with a more intricate animated title can put a lot more strain on the system. Also you will probably need at some point additional drive space and drives. Having any type of file stored in the cloud will not work if used from that location within a video editor regardless of your internet connection speed.

Unfortunately things have progressed a pace since Vegas Movie Studio 15 was released and computer specifications along with it.

If you look at the Dell site for those machines it only talks about the ability of those machines to play back higher resolution files. It does not specifically say anything about editing such files.

Ray.

Thanks for that input. Both you and John have helped me to make a decision. So decided now to go for a HP ENVY TE02-1007na.

I think it delivers against the aspects you have detailed so well.

It is powered by 13th gen i7 13700 16gb 16 core and also has NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8gb. Sorate is 1TB SSD.

.......should say storage 1TB SSD!

@mikerb

That will certainly deal with 4K MP4 material with effects better than my current system as both that internal Intel GPU and more so the nvidia GPU are both around 30% more powerful than my own computer components.

Just make sure the machine has enough USB C and USB 3 ports for any expansion you may need in the future.

HEVC from a Go-Pro may still throw up problems when it comes to rendering. Not because of a lack of processing power but because the Go-Pro can make wild variations in the amount of frames per second it can generate in a variable frame rate video. That is the inherent problem with recording in HEVC. The program will not know how many frames to add or take away (or which frames to take away) to produce a constant frame rate render. The most frames per second a clip produces when very little movement within a frame to a scene is happening compared to a mass of movement within a frame where many frames above the set frame rate value resides dictates the frame rates at those points in time which could vary from only a single exposure (frame) covering a set period where nothing within the frame changes to well above the set frame rate to clearly capture very fast or extensive movement within the frame over a given time period.

Such problem files are normally next to unusable within most video editors. There are some video editors that can cope but they are normally limited to being able to do this at an HD resolution and rarely at 4K. The normal way of coping with that problem would be to convert the file to a constant frame rate version using something like HandBrake and then importing that file into the video editor. These are the problems you will see posted on the Go-Pro users forums.

A lot of newer smart phones also do this with HEVC and I have also started to see MP4 encoded files doing the same thing.

The problem is each manufacturer changes how the codecs work and each has their own way of doing it. Each needs a different decoding solution. Primarily to save space on the device's storage, not for any benefit in video quality over another encoder / wrapper. That then becomes a 'non standard file format' and there are too many of them for developers of video editing programs to back engineer to work or spend time trying. Technically I guess it would be possible after a short time of the release of a new phone / camera but it is uneconomical for them to try as it would push the cost of the software beyond it being competitive in the marketplace.

So the work around is conversion when or if that happens. It's not ideal but workable.

Use of recording using the mov. wrapper in a camera in my opinion should also be avoided. Mov is a proprietor Apple wrapper / codec and not Windows friendly.

To be clear, a wrapper could contain any one of a few actual codecs and an instruction set on how to use the contained codec but Windows cannot always read that information or use it correctly. Often this will result in files not being displayed or played correctly in a Windows based video editor.

Ray.

Yes I understand the issues with HEVC. My Gopro use is mostly for mountain biking so conditions are varying light, and fast movement so I mostly use 2.7k at 50 fps....superview with hyper stabilisation. So that is 16:9 .and uses the H264 codec.

@mikerb

Then I think your last choice of system should work very well for you as long as it has the required USB ports for when you need additional storage and keep files in project use off of cloud storage. Also try to keep as much free space on the C: drive as possible and the program will run better as it can create very large temp files while running.

Ray.

Just as an update for those kind enough to offer their comments. The HP Envy TE02-1007na I bought is so far proving pretty impressive! The tower is small enough to sit on the desk rather than be on the floor gathering/sucking in dust and it is quiet. My screen is connected HDMI, it has 4 high speed USBa sockets and 2 USBc sockets on the back plus an ethernet connection, 3 USBa sockets and 1 USBc socket on the front/top of the tower, and a SD card slot. It has wifi and blutooth, keyboard and mouse are wifi.

I have only done 1 video so far as a trial so it is nothing exciting or complex ( link below) and light was pretty poor but just took the first opportunity to generate some clips. With all clips on the timeline there was no preview delay on the clips or transitions. I added some free music and an intro, one blur transition and one pro transition at the end...the others being just fades. The video was just short of 7 minutes and took 2 minutes to render!! Wow! All your advice forced me to spend more than I first intended but so far is proving to be the right decision. Thanks.

(1551) Dog Walk at Maggot Hill - YouTube

mmm that YT link does not work! The video ( title as per a bove) is on my YT channel called "mikerbwind"

@mikerb

Hopefully the system should last you a few years yet, just remember you don't have to keep upgrading the software. There is little point if everything you need to be done is being done. Just make sure you keep a good portion of your C: drive space free for the program to produce temp files while running. Temp files can get quite large.

Personally I only keep programs and the operating system on the C: drive.

Happy editing.

[Edit]

To get a YouTube video to play on this forum just copy the url from YouTube and paste it into your comment. There is no need to use any of the link or download buttons provided.

As a test project to get used to the differences between Magix Movie Studio and your previous Vegas Movie Studio I think you did well. You may find some of the transitions you got used to being able to do in the Vegas version will not be so easy to replicated in the Magix version but if you need help at any stage just start a new topic.

Ray.

@mikerb

Hi Mike,

Wow! 2 minutes to export a 7 minute video is very good. What were your export settings?

I rather enjoyed that, from start to finish. Glad to see that you got in there at the end.

A few comments if I may:

1. There are a few places where the wind is blowing too much. You can tone that down using the object volume curve.

2. What were you filming with? Which mode? Many shots look like they have a fish-eye effect. I shoot Linear with my GoPro to avoid that. There is a remedy in Movie Studio to remove fish-eye. I've never used it.

3. The second song sounds louder than the first and you should reduce its volume a bit. One of the problems with songs is just that, getting a close to same perceived loudness. Magix songs do not all come in at the same volume (LUFS). Add in other audio and it starts to become complicated.

4. Good use of cross-fades along the trail. I think that I saw one closer to the end that was noticeably too long or longer than the others.

5. I see that your dog payment scheme is more generous than mine. I had better not let my 9 month old dog see that.

6. I usually add in the date or date range and names (including the dogs) somewhere so that the viewer (mostly me) knows when and who is who. Looking back years later, we tend to forget, or at least, I do.

7. You may want to start looking at Travel Maps. I like to show where I went as some of my family have no idea where the places are that we went to (and I have forgotten after a few years). I also try to log the route with GPS (cell phone program or watch) - makes it easier to quickly get the route into Travel Maps.

Well done!

John CB

@browj2

Hi John.

YouTube shows it as 1080 x 1920 @ 25fps. As it was put up two days ago I would think that there are no other higher resolutions to be rendered.

Ray.

@mikerb

An excellent doggie walk!

There's a little bit of pixellation, for example, amoungst the foliage during movement/panning. I'd suggest cranking up the bitrate by 50%. The more bitrate you can give Youtube the better. It won't affect viewer's download times; it will just make the video better looking. Also, if you export at at least 2560x1440, Youtube will re-encode using the better VP9 codec.

thanks everyone for your comments. To answer some of the points made:-

I made the video with a Gopro ( Hero 7 Black) on a selfie stick. Resolution was set at 2.7k/50fps/superview which is my go to setting for most of the videos I do of mountain biking. I set my project at 1080/25fps. I note if I set my project at my video resolution and then use one of the video opening/title options it tells me they are in 1080/25 ..so do I want to change my project settings. So what happens if I say no?

The video was exported as mp4 1080/25.........again I just wanted to keep it easy. I did not use the upload to YT function but saved the video to my external drive, then uploaded that to my YT channel. The video quality is better on my external drive than the YT version. I appreciate "superview" gives a little fish eye on close shots but for my main video activity it provides a much better field of view ( I use a chest harness mount most of the time). I admit I did not know YT was able now to accept higher resolutions/bitrates so for my next ( mountain biking) video I will set my project to 2.7k /50fps. Since I do not export direct to YT but to my external hard drive and then upload it my channel from there, what do you guys suggest as export settings?

If you have seen my other post re problems with my microphone you will know it did not work. I had intended doing voice over on the video and when that did not work I resorted to using 2 music tracks only.

I knew how to alter volume on each track in Vegas MS....I will have to learn how to do it on this programme.

Having experienced how capable this PC is I need now to "unlearn" much of what I did on using Vegas on my previous PC simply to be able to preview smoothly etc.

Many thanks to all of you for your time and knowledge. I hope some of my experience with help on this forum selecting a good PC and getting to grips with MS 2024 helps others at my end of the learning curve. On a lot of the posts here I dont understand the question let alone the answer😂. There must be others in the same boat.

PS my dogs are Josh a 10 year old English Springer Spaniel and Penny a 3 year old Cockapoo. Both never know when to give up on a walk but thankfully both have food as their number one priority in life.....hence the treats when they volunteer to get back in the car😃

@mikerb

Hi Mike.

I do find that the exporting (and even importing) of 2.7k (2704 x 1520p) video being missing from both Magix Movie Studio and Video Pro X one of the most dumbfounding absences from the export rendering options. It is a staple of action cameras. So I tend to shoot 4k and then export either at 4k or HD. I do understand though that at that resolution it puts a lot more strain on the Go-Pro Hero 7 Black and can cause premature shutdown of the recording due to overheating. Your new system should be able to tackle 4k mp4 clips with ease. I would suggest the export settings be somewhere between 10 to 20 percent more than the original bit rate of the Go-Pro files to retain the quality of what will be a re-encoding and compression of the original clips when exported. You may have to play around with the numbers a bit to avoid producing a null export. Whatever numbers you try make sure they are dividable by 4.

These are my personal export settings for 4k at 50fps and they are complete overkill but once loaded to YouTube I can't tell the difference between my original footage and the playback I get from YouTube.

The files produced on export are way larger than the original files used within the project but disk space is cheap by comparison to everything else I spend out on so I'm not that bothered. I'm sure others will give their own personal preferences.

As for your microphone problems, have you looked at the Windows audio control panel to see what the settings for the microphone are? I find it best to keep audio settings to 48kHz and 24 bit for all inputs for video editing.

I confess to never having owned a USB mic as I use my mic input on my motherboard or in the past plugged into a separate sound card. Modern motherboards and internal sound chips have improved so much since then that the noise floor and distortion figures are way above any microphone I own and latency is well within 7ms even on the most demanding of DAW projects although it can become a problem with video editors especially when ASIO drivers are not an option.

Ray.

@mikerb

Hi Mike,

Since you filmed at 50fps, I suggest that you use that for your project and export settings.

2.7k is not an option, so go with 1080. This allows you to do some cropping, especially that done by a stabilizer like Mercalli, without any loss of resolution.

Which opening/title option tells you that it is 1080/25?

I suggest ignoring that message. I use NTSC 29.97 and I have some title templates that are problematic and I have to make some adjustments.

You did right to not use the feature to upload directly to YT. YT changes the parameters or something quite often causing the Movie Studio uploader to fail. Also, you should review the video before uploading for quality, errors, omissions, etc.

For volume curves (envelopes), MMS has both object and track curves. VMS only had a track volume curve.

To see most of the audio possibilities with Magix MS, I suggest that you watch my 2 tutorials on Everything Audio. Here is a link to the first one:

There are some threads where we talk extensively about audio and I'll try to hunt down a couple of them.

John CB

thanks again.....I will start experimenting with audio.

@mikerb @browj2 @CubeAce @johnebaker

I have never understood the hangup with "non-preset" movie settings. Of course 2704 is an option; just create the settings manually:

I create all sorts of oddball resolutions with no issue. If Magix won't accept your calculated ratio, just type it in as you see it, like this: "2704:1520". Magix will then calculate the exact ratio for you.

I note if I set my project at my video resolution and then use one of the video opening/title options it tells me they are in 1080/25 ..so do I want to change my project settings. So what happens if I say no?

The object you're bringing the movie will be resized to fit. "Do not adjust" is the normal choice, because otherwise your movie settings will be changed to match the object, which is not what you want.

The files produced on export are way larger than the original files used within the project but disk space is cheap by comparison to everything else I spend out on so I'm not that bothered.

The main issue here is upload time to YT. There's no need to upload a 200mb/sec MP4 simply because the source files are that big. For 2560x1440, 50,000kbps for the video bitrate would be ample for YT, even when viewed on a big TV. While hard drives might be cheaper, when you factor in 2 backups, cost does become an issue, as well as the time it takes to run backups because of the file sizes.

@mikerb

It's true as @AAProds states that drive space costs me approximately £1 a week (Just under) for the hard drive space I need for my projects and backups at today's prices for an external 4TB WD hard drive. Noticing differences can be objective and viewing via the internet may be down to browser choice amongst other factors. You will have to decide for yourself what is acceptable or noticeable.

As for the time it takes to make backups, I don't edit video all the time and can be done in the background while answering this and general browsing.

Ray.

@CubeAce, @AAProds

Hi

. . . . . 2 backups, cost does become an issue, as well as the time it takes to run backups because of the file sizes. . . . .

Cost definitely does figure into this. I thought I had brought enough backup drive space with me (3TB) - alas I was proved wrong and had to purchase, another external 4TB drive, 4K video at 50fps takes up a lot of space.

I find the best method for reducing the time taken for backups to another drive is to use a backup/syncing program which does a full backup on first run, then differential backups, ie on subsequent runs only copies the changes ie new files or changed files.

I use SyncBack, there are other similar programs, which allows me to create different backup profiles, back up groups, and apply filters such as date/time, files formats to copy and file formats not to copy.

In the case of the 'files not to copy' feature this is very useful as I do not backup the temporary support files that MMS/VPX create ie .H0 and .HDP, and if I have to use proxies these are alson not copied to the backup.

I avoid using 'cloud based' backups, especially the free ones.

John EB