... or maybe I am doing something wrong?
After having worked for several years with both MEP 12 and then MEP 14, I am disappointed in several problems with MEP 15. Maybe it's just me, but I think its the program.
The first problem has already been addressed. What I encountered is the lack of ability to change the "skin" from dark to light. MEP 14 had this feature and I found it was much easier to see and work with. I have been told MEP 15 does not have this feature.
Next problem is the missing ability to close individual movies within a multiple movie project with a single mouse click. I have a custom OUTRO I made that I insert at the end of each project I do. With MEP 14, while the current project was open, I would go to import the OUTRO, it would ask if I wanted to close the existing movie or keep it open. I would keep it open then copy and paste the OUTRO into the end of new project. In the list of open movies I could simply click on the OUTRO, then select CLOSE MOVIE in the FILE menu and it would close. MEP 15 does not have the choice in any of the menu's and the only way I've found to close the extra movies is to go back to the RECORD tab, click on the movie I don't want in the project and push my DELETE key.
The first time I attempted to close the OUTRO movie I went into MANAGE MOVIES and selected DELETE MOVIE. I got the dialog box about saving a copy I may want to use again by EXPORTING the movie to a new file and then IMPORTING into a new project if I wanted to use it again. I deleted the OUTRO movie and I lost the entire project. Fortunately I still had the raw file in MY RECORD and was able to reconstruct the project. Then I attempted to SAVE the project. I got a MIOERROR: Cannot write. An Error occured while writing the project file. I couldn't save or close the project as that error kept coming up. I had to close/terminate MEP 15 through Task Manager. When I went back in to start working on the project, it was completely gone AGAIN! I had to totally reconstruct the project AGAIN from the My Record folder. Even the bak files were gone!
Another problem I have with MEP 15 is when I want to move a segment, title or audio clip in any track. In MEP 14 I could select the items, hold the mouse button and drag my selection. The track area would scroll left or right until I got to where I wanted the selection to go. MEP 15 will only let you slide the selection to the edge of the view where a circle with a slash appears. I have to cut and paste the selection, which is also more time consuming as the COPY, CUT and PASTE icons are now missing and the steps must be performed with either pull down menu selections or keystrokes.
The preview/playback of the project in MEP 15 is terrible as well, especially if attempting to view it FULL SCREEN. I have set the Movie Resolution to 1/2 and still get "Herky Jerky" playback and NONE of the advanced scene/cut transitions will play. All I get is a black screen until the transition is done. The resolution in MEP 14 was left at full and I could still see most of the advanced transitions. This is surprising because I have an AMD Sempron 3100+ processor with 2 GB RAM and an All-In-Wonder video card. There appear to be some really nice transitions and other effects but I have YET to see them in my finished project. I really hate to have to burn a disc to see how things come out as this can take HOURS to process and is a waste of DVD's if things don't come out right.
Another missing feature is the PAUSE button. Can't do that anymore which makes it a pain when editing.
With any other jump up in version with Magix products, including MEP, I have been very happy. I am very disappointed and frustrated right now and I am starting to wonder if I made a good decision this time. I have had lots more frustration with this newest version of MEP than any other Magix product.
Maybe there is a patch that applies to the video problem I am having? I have an All-In-Wonder card that has worked fine in the past. Maybe someone can tell me what I can do to fix this. I am almost to the point of going back to MEP 14 and deleting MEP 15 off my computer.
After having worked for several years with both MEP 12 and then MEP 14, I am disappointed in several problems with MEP 15. Maybe it's just me, but I think its the program.
The first problem has already been addressed. What I encountered is the lack of ability to change the "skin" from dark to light. MEP 14 had this feature and I found it was much easier to see and work with. I have been told MEP 15 does not have this feature.
Next problem is the missing ability to close individual movies within a multiple movie project with a single mouse click. I have a custom OUTRO I made that I insert at the end of each project I do. With MEP 14, while the current project was open, I would go to import the OUTRO, it would ask if I wanted to close the existing movie or keep it open. I would keep it open then copy and paste the OUTRO into the end of new project. In the list of open movies I could simply click on the OUTRO, then select CLOSE MOVIE in the FILE menu and it would close. MEP 15 does not have the choice in any of the menu's and the only way I've found to close the extra movies is to go back to the RECORD tab, click on the movie I don't want in the project and push my DELETE key.
The first time I attempted to close the OUTRO movie I went into MANAGE MOVIES and selected DELETE MOVIE. I got the dialog box about saving a copy I may want to use again by EXPORTING the movie to a new file and then IMPORTING into a new project if I wanted to use it again. I deleted the OUTRO movie and I lost the entire project. Fortunately I still had the raw file in MY RECORD and was able to reconstruct the project. Then I attempted to SAVE the project. I got a MIOERROR: Cannot write. An Error occured while writing the project file. I couldn't save or close the project as that error kept coming up. I had to close/terminate MEP 15 through Task Manager. When I went back in to start working on the project, it was completely gone AGAIN! I had to totally reconstruct the project AGAIN from the My Record folder. Even the bak files were gone!
Another problem I have with MEP 15 is when I want to move a segment, title or audio clip in any track. In MEP 14 I could select the items, hold the mouse button and drag my selection. The track area would scroll left or right until I got to where I wanted the selection to go. MEP 15 will only let you slide the selection to the edge of the view where a circle with a slash appears. I have to cut and paste the selection, which is also more time consuming as the COPY, CUT and PASTE icons are now missing and the steps must be performed with either pull down menu selections or keystrokes.
The preview/playback of the project in MEP 15 is terrible as well, especially if attempting to view it FULL SCREEN. I have set the Movie Resolution to 1/2 and still get "Herky Jerky" playback and NONE of the advanced scene/cut transitions will play. All I get is a black screen until the transition is done. The resolution in MEP 14 was left at full and I could still see most of the advanced transitions. This is surprising because I have an AMD Sempron 3100+ processor with 2 GB RAM and an All-In-Wonder video card. There appear to be some really nice transitions and other effects but I have YET to see them in my finished project. I really hate to have to burn a disc to see how things come out as this can take HOURS to process and is a waste of DVD's if things don't come out right.
Another missing feature is the PAUSE button. Can't do that anymore which makes it a pain when editing.
With any other jump up in version with Magix products, including MEP, I have been very happy. I am very disappointed and frustrated right now and I am starting to wonder if I made a good decision this time. I have had lots more frustration with this newest version of MEP than any other Magix product.
Maybe there is a patch that applies to the video problem I am having? I have an All-In-Wonder card that has worked fine in the past. Maybe someone can tell me what I can do to fix this. I am almost to the point of going back to MEP 14 and deleting MEP 15 off my computer.