Thanks!

No help. I upgraded to Movie Studio 2023 to solve the problem, but no use. It still says the online activation doesn’t succeed. I mailed to Magix support, but no answer. I been using Magix software for years and never this codec problem.

@MattiT

Hi

. . . . I can't activate MPEG-4 codec . . . It still says the online activation doesn’t succeed. . . .

Please post a screenshot of the message you see, and the Windows version you are using

Depending on when the popup for this occurs ie:

• add a video clip to the timeline - Download and install MediaInfo and analyse one of the clips and post the results, see this tutorial on how to setup MediaInfo and analyse a video clip for all the data required.  
  
  or
   
• Export to a specific video file format - which video format/preset are you using?

John EB
Forum Moderator

I have Windows 10 and mainly I use HD video clips (Gopro 8, handy and my Panasonic video camera clips). Until last thursday everything was fine, but saturday nothing works. I have tried everything I know, but no?!?

...I can't add no videoclips to the timeline!

@MattiT

Hi

. . . . Windows 10 . . . .

For the activation failing there are 2 possible causes:

1. An update to your Antivirus has blocked the program from enabling the codec to be activated - try temporarily turning off the Antivirus program while activating the codec, how you do this will depend on your Antivirus program.
    
2. An update has turned off Internet protocols required for the program to communicate with the servers, check that the following Internet options are enabled:
   
   
    

. . . . Gopro 8, handy and my Panasonic video camera . . . .

There are potentially multiple issues with the video from these devices.

• GoPro video is encoded as HEVC/h.265 in which case you may get a popup saying the HEVC codec requires purchasing/activating - this is a small fee and must be purchased if you want to export to HEVC format. If not, you can install the HEVC decoder from the Microsoft Store and the program should import the video
   
• Handy video - as with the GoPro video this could be HEVC encoded, however there is another potential issue in that the frame rate may be Variable - analyse one of these clips with MediaInfo - go to the tutorial I linked to see how to setup MediaInfo correctly, the information posted above does not show essential data. In the video section if you see this line:
  
  Frame rate mode: Variable
  
  Then the video needs converting to Constant frame rate using a program such as Handbrake or Avidemux
   
• Panasonic video - this has AC3 encoded surround sound audio which, while it can be imported, you can only export as Surround Sound only using the AVI file format. AC3 is not supported due to licensing issues with Dolby.

John EB
Forum Moderator

Thanks, I try.

I have exactly this problem too. Magix support suggest I deactive/re-activate and ensure there are no leading/trailing spaces in the either the email or serial number. This has not resolved the issue. I have attached video grab of the mpeg-4 failed message. I have also attached screenshots of my internet settings and have tried with disabling Windows firewalls and Defender. I have tried running the program as Administrator. I've run out of ideas!

Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10400 CPU @ 2.90GHz   2.90 GHz
Installed RAM    16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
MSI H510M-A PRO mainboard

Nvidia GeForce GTX 650Ti and also Intel UHD graphics

I've finally managed to fix this myself. For anyone experiencing the same issue the fix was in deleting the following registry key:

Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{7DC6E619-5C35-4371-9D2A-9CF021CB55D1}

Unfortunately I was unable to delete the key even as administrator (permission denied - I suspect corruption). So I had to boot to a Windows 10 install media, choose troubleshooting, run the command prompt, launch regedit, load the offline registry hive, delete the key and save changes and unload hive. On restarting the computer I ran Movie Studio as administrator and it successfully activated. Running as administrator is important as the first attempt I ran as normal user and it still failed to activate the codec.

We tried GabbyD's solution (https://www.magix.info/us/forum/mpeg-4-codec-problem--1306112/#ca1884305), but it didn't work for us (w/ Movie Studio 2023, and by the way, there's another version of that same key in (Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{7DC6E619-5C35-4371-9D2A-9CF021CB55D1} -- this is the one created when you run it as administrator).

The ultimate problem (for us at least) is that the computer we were trying to activate from was in India. The codec activation server is presumably blocking all traffic from India (or at least the part of India where we were trying to activate it from... I have the same problem with using remote desktop to my job in the US while I'm in India).

When I added a VPN connection to a computer in the US (so that to the activation server, the request looked like it was coming from somewhere in the US) then the activation worked just fine... We did have to Run as Administrator for the activation in order to get those registry keys written (and we had deleted them previously), but after it was activated, we could start Movie Magix just fine and have it work w/o the need to Run as Administrator.