Dear Carl,

I see your point, it is certainly a valid one. You seem to be a much more advanced, and more artistically oriented videographer than I, so the multitrack composition method is of course good for your purposes. I am mainly making documentary videos of nature scenes as a hobby. As you mention, I especially criticized the "follywood" effects that are often shown in demos (esp. of one much-acclaimed competitor).   I would refer to commercial movies, in which e.g. some fancy transitions are rare, i.e. the contents are the only thing that really matters. There, of course, the director and cameraman have a key role, albeit I would not despise what is done at the film laboratory. If you make rock videos, then a full arsenal of dramatic effects is welcome, but I´m afraid vacation videos are generally spoiled by applying them in excess. - I have only briefly tested the version 19, and unfortunately it missed my attention that the video and the sound track are overlapping. Anyway, I would prefer the old style, as there are so many tracks available that there should be room for each. - But I love MEP and will continue using the version which runs smoothly on my computer.

Best regards,

Vesku

As you mentioned, knowing your camera can greatly improve your capture results, thus obtaining the effect and quality you desire; the same can be said about the software.  I know some users that apply a magnitude of effects to a simplistic capture and in some cases, I would consider it over produced, but... to each their own. 

A few users are not seeing the benefit of the newer versions of Movie Edit Pro, which I guess from a user interface standpoint is somewhat true, but from a functional stance, the newer versions are flying higher and faster than any of their predecessors. This of course is dependent on a newer computer, I find it reassuring that Magix is continuing to improve upon their preceding titles and flushing out the performance of these titles for the systems that are available. Not that I am running anything close to an elite system, but I do have a pretty decent rig that I use for video and audio editing. I have seen a dramatic improvement for exports in the newest version of the Movie Edit Pro, it does not necessarily translate into a must upgrade, but if you are new to the product, there is nothing better. It is definitely not a step backwards.

As Carl mentioned, you do not need to import the sound track separately, it is embedded with the video, if you need it to appear on a separate track as you are accustom to in earlier versions of Movie Edit Pro, you can "ungroup" the audio from the video, therefore tracks one (video), two (audio) will be used as in previous versions. - I am still getting used to this change, but I cannot say it is bad, just another evolution in the title.

I do not use every effect, and I really have never tried out the proDAD Adorage or Magic Bullet effects at all. Not that I mind having access to them, I think that is great for when I do need them or want to explore their benefits,. I believe that those features have been included for the last three or four releases. I like having access effects, even if I do not use them; I like having the toolbox full of tools. I am sure if Magix created a effect pack as a supplement to the Movie Edit Pro, I would get it as well, even if it is not something I may use often or at all. To me, the more tools you have, the more possibilities you have for even those vacation videos and photos.

I am now happily using the 2013 Plus software, not just because of the computation speed increase, though in my case that would be a compelling reason in its own right... no, I use the new version because of the tab set they added for having multiple movies in one project; something I do on just about every project. It is a minor thing since it is more a cosmetic than anything, but it does improve the workflow (for me at least) and thus I can stay on a creative side other than fiddling around with drop down menus and remembering keyboard shortcuts.

So far, this is my favorite Movie Edit Pro yet, but I said that last time when they introduced to us the Preview Render for those pesky resource draining segments of our projects.

I think it all comes down to personal adaptations, whether that is from knowing the camera you are using or the program you will use to edit, the key is adapting your knowledge to the tools at your disposal. It should start with the camera as most cameras come with a vast array of tools and functions, just most of us never venture of the default automatic settings. I am guilty of that myself in some cases.

Regardless, it is great to know others using these titles, giving comparisons and knowing there is an active community of users I think is a benefit for anything, especially software.

Cheers,
John

Thank you very much, John, for the informative and insightful message.  After this I have to introduce myself better to MEP 19. You people on this forum, you are just great !

Cheers !

Vesku

Hi,

This is a really good discussion on the topic of editing in general.  I do this for a living and a hobby.  As a hobby, I tend to go for either straigh cuts or dissolves (used to be called A B roll) for transitions and size/position, zoom, color correction, sharpnes, contrast and occasionaly speed for effects and that is pretty much it.  I also spend probably more time editing and enhancing audio than I do video as I firmly beleive that no matter how good the video is, if the audio is bad, the production is bad. 

My clients on the other hand seem to have this idea that more transitions and effects are better (the exception being professional photgraphers and videographers) who like to stick with the basics.

There are some very valid reasons to incorporate effects and transitions.  Music videos are a good example, but also videos that are trying to create a specific mood or illusion be it psychedelic, spiritual, alien, etc.  Photo videos or slide shows are also another area where effects can add interest and create a production that does not seem like a basic slide show.  The beauty of the Magix products is that you have this at your fingertips should you ever need it.  I have owned many editing applications over the years and until I started using MEP, I would always find them somehow lacking the times when I really needed to do something complex.  Others could deliver, but the process to get the work done was alawys so convoluted and not intuitive that it becomes frustrating.

Finally, I am using MEP Permium Plus (v18) and have yet to make the transition to the new version (I do have a trial on the go) and I find it to be by far the most stable application I have ever used.

I spent a few years using the mid and high end  Adobe products and yes they were very good when they were running.  I would have multiple application crashes per day running a pretty decent system and just learned to live with it until I started using MEP.  Now if the application crashes once a week, that is a lot and I can usually figure out that I simply taxed my system resources more than I should have.

Of course, these are just my opinions.

George