How do I delete an old title and replace it with a new one?

Former user wrote on 11/16/2012, 11:00 AM

I have a 10-minute video CD that a videographer made for me several years ago. I make copies from the master, which I have on my hard drive, using Nero. (I have sold thousands of these already from my website.) The video CD has a .MPG extension.

I have Movie Edit Pro 16 that I bought a few years ago but have not learned how to use. My resolution now is to at least learn some of the basics of the program. I tried editing some video clips I took at a ballroom dance as an exercise, but today I want to make one change to the video CD that I sell.

There is a long title (about 20 seconds) that I want to cut from the beginning of the video. I want to replace this title with a Magix title. This shouldn't be to hard but I'm having a problem.

My video CD is in my timeline but the bar above the movie says Empty. I evidently have not imported it yet into a "project." How do I do this?

I'm supposed to position the playback marker where I want the cut but this red line just keeps moving. The other red line I can position (the one with the inverted arrow above it). I'm a little hesitant about experimenting because I don't want to mess up my master copy of the video CD.

When I do succeed in getting the clips the way I want, can I convert this video CD into a DVD using the Magix program? I would like to make a lot of DVD copies.

One more thing: The Quick Start material is in the Movie Edit Pro 16 book I got with the program. The print is too small for me to read though. I have the PDF manual on my computer but this does not have the Quick Start material in it. The size of the PDF text of course I can change. Is there a way to access the Quick Start as a PDF page?

Sorry for all these pre-basic questions.

Comments

gandjcarr wrote on 11/16/2012, 11:28 AM

Hi,

Don't worry about asking basic questions, we all started doing this with a million questions!

First, don't worry about experimenting. Movie Edit Pro is really a non-destructive editor. What I mean by that is as long as you save your project and or export your project with a different name and format than the original, anything you do within MEP will not impact your master.

As for removing the title, because you are using a pre-edited .mpg file you will not be able to remove it unless you also remove whatever video is running behind the title. If the title has just a background color (no video) behind it, no big deal. If there is audio running with the title, and you want to keep it, you are going to need to ungroup the audio so that when you make the cut, the audio will remain intact.

I am not sure what you mean by "My video CD is in my timeline but the bar above the movie says Empty" what happens if you try to play the video in the time line?

Once you have successfully imported and edited your video, you will be able to burn it to DVD with chapters etc.

I hope this helps and if I have missed anything or have not been clear with my reply, please reply to my post and tell me that you did not understand my explanation.

Good Luck and Welcome to the Forum,

George

Former user wrote on 11/16/2012, 3:41 PM

Thanks George. I just got back from a Chinese buffet and I'm going to try the task again - one task only, and I want to do it in the timeline mode. I want to cut the 20-second title off the 10-minute video CD and replace it with a Magix title. There is no video or audio in this title.

In the manual (Quick Start) is this: "Pause playback at the position where the scene is found by pressing the downward arrow. The playback marker stays near the start of the scene to be removed." I don't find these arrows. When I use the space bar the red line starts moving but I don't know how to stop it at the place where I want to make the cut.

There are two vertical red lines. Is the one that moves the Playback Marker? The other one I can move with the mouse pointer. If I can position the playback marker correctly, will the "Remove start" option next to the razor blade icon get rid of the offending 20-second title? Will I "save as" when I finish this job? I want to save the video as a project that I can return to and make other changes.

If I start to make a little progress at editing I'll be motivated to learn more about MEP.

Saturday morning. I went through some items on the Help menu and learned that the Playback Marker is not those two vetical red lines; it's the red triangle that I can move with the mouse. I now know how to delete material. But here is my present problem:

Once I delete the 20-second title from my movie, I don't know how to slip the Magix title into the area that is dark - no video, no audio. I don't want this title superimposed on the video. How can I slide the video over in the timeline at the beginning of the movie so that the new title will have a black background?

terrypin wrote on 11/17/2012, 10:32 AM

Thanks George. I just got back from a Chinese buffet and I'm going to try the task again - one task only, and I want to do it in the timeline mode. I want to cut the 20-second title off the 10-minute video CD and replace it with a Magix title. There is no video or audio in this title.

So I read that as you just want to make a cut at t=20s and delete the section before that, yes?

In the manual (Quick Start) is this: "Pause playback at the position where the scene is found by pressing the downward arrow. The playback marker stays near the start of the scene to be removed." I don't find these arrows.

That's because the German/English translation is slightly adrift. This is a really trivial example compared to some sections of Hel and the Manual, so be wary! It's just the ArrowDown key you need to press. And ArrowUp will continue the playing.

When I use the space bar the red line starts moving but I don't know how to stop it at the place where I want to make the cut.

You do now!

There are two vertical red lines.

Orange here.

Is the one that moves the Playback Marker?

Yes. But as far as I know, the moving one also has the same name. If I refer to it at all I think I call the stationary one (with the triangle on top) the 'initial marker'

The other one I can move with the mouse pointer. If I can position the playback marker correctly, will the "Remove start" option next to the razor blade icon get rid of the offending 20-second title?

Why don't you simply drag the marker, instead of playing it? You can zoom in by repeatedly pressing Ctrl + ArrowUp if you want precision. When it's at the right place, make the cut. Either by the method you correctly described or by just pressing the T key. Then select the target and delete it. Or to combine both steps, instead of T press D. Play around with these. Assuming you have saved the project directly before trying 'new stuff', you can always re-open it at any time. Or use Undo, several times if necessary.

Will I "save as" when I finish this job? I want to save the video as a project that I can return to and make other changes.

Yes

If I start to make a little progress at editing I'll be motivated to learn more about MEP.

Saturday morning. I went through some items on the Help menu and learned that the Playback Marker is not those two vetical red lines; it's the red triangle that I can move with the mouse. I now know how to delete material.

Ah, guess I should have read your whole post before replying!

But here is my present problem:

Once I delete the 20-second title from my movie, I don't know how to slip the Magix title into the area that is dark - no video, no audio. I don't want this title superimposed on the video. How can I slide the video over in the timeline at the beginning of the movie so that the new title will have a black background?

This is where a screenshot from you would remove ambiguity. Because if you'd done what I described (and which you say you'd now worked out for yourself, making the earlier part of your question redundant) then your timeline should only contain the movie, awaiting its new title. As you want the title on a black background, just drag the movie rightwards to make space for it, if necessary, and then use Ctrl + T to bring up the Title Editor and add the title. Close up any gap if required. Or add the title first, ungroup, and then relocate.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Former user wrote on 11/17/2012, 12:19 PM

terripin, before I read your instructions I found out on my own, through experimentation and the manual, how to solve the title problem. I tried many of the title presets but then just created a generic title using the Title Editor. My work looked fabulous and I felt great. I then played the 10-minute video from beginning to end so I perhaps could make more improvements. Starting about 3/4 through the video the words coming out of my mouth and my mouth movement were not in sync. What happened? Does inserting a title at the beginning of a video have any effect on the synchronization?

I'm going to quit Magix for today but I'm still enthusiastic about the program. I think if I can solve the synchronization problem I'll be able to make some major improvements on my ten-minute video - like new end material.

The German/English in the Magix manual isn't too bad. Some of the TV manuals translated from Japanese are much worse - almost comical.

gandjcarr wrote on 11/18/2012, 7:24 AM

Hi,

The first thing I would do is confirm that the audio is actually out of sync and not just a glitch with the preview monitor. Do this by using the following steps

When the following dialogue box opens use the next screen shot as a guide

Then play the file with winows media player, media player classic etc and see if the audio is still out of sync and let us know.

Good luck,

George

Former user wrote on 11/19/2012, 2:28 PM

George, I'm going to follow the steps in your post. Will I have to activate the MPEG-4 Codec?

When I play the ten-minute video on Windows Media Player it looks good, all in sync. I just made 12 copies of it using Nero. I also just played the same video in MEP, the one that I edited two days ago. It's in sync in the first part but it slowly gets out of sinc toward the end.

After reading some of the material in the manual, I now have ideas on how to improve my video CD. When I get it the way I want, I'll get 1000 copies made by Duplium in Canada. I had a 1000 copies made of another DVD I sell.

I hope I can clear up this sync problem so that I can make some progress on the project. By the way, does clicking on Adjust cause sync problems? "If you wish to adjust the movie and monitor settings to the imported file, click on adjust" - the manual.

You're a guitarist. Do you like Carlos Santana? I often play along with his Samba Pa Ti (key of G) that he did in a concert in Mexico City. I was there!

Former user wrote on 11/20/2012, 2:21 PM

George, I followed your instructions after downloading the MPEG-4 codec. The 10-minute movie still gets noticeably out of sync at about the 5-minute point. At 8 minutes it's completely out of sync.

I'd like to get on with this project: Placing a new title page before the film and after the film. I also want to remove the existing title pages. All this I now find easy to do. The only problem is synchronization. Tell me the correct button to push.