@amaethu

Try pressing F9.

John CB

Thanks John, but that doesn't work. Neither does 'default'.

Jane

@amaethu

Your Preview window is too big; it's hiding the timeline.

Drag the MEP Preview window to make it smaller; at the bottom of the window, drag it up (Left click-drag, that is). Similarly, drag the right edge of the Preview window inward to the left. The timeline and the media pool will then become "more" visible.

If you're accurate enough, put the mouse over the lower right corner of the Preview window area: it will show a 4-headed pointer you can drag in and up simultaneously.

and thank you Ray. I have tried both those tweaks in program settings, but to no avail.

It never occurred to me that I could buy a laptop with the wrong processor! Does it say that in the system requirements? Maybe I have to find a different video program.

Jane

our comments just then crossed. I can drag the right edge of the preview window to the left, but there is nothing to drag upwards, nor do I get the 4-headed arrow in the bottom right.

thanks, Jane

@amaethu

Hi Jane.

MEP and VPX are supposed to work on AMD systems but we get more complaints from AMD users than anyone else. It should work and better than before even if you have to go full software rendering as the processor should be more powerful and your graphics card should have more vram but I haven't had an AMD system for a long time. Yes on the specs page there are minimum specs and preferred specs listed although it is hard to tell which is which to those new to video editing.

You say that

and if I untick the program monitor, then I do see the project tracks. It's as if the program thinks i have two monitors.

That is sort of correct and that box for normal use in my opinion should not be ticked. I never have it ticked. There is no real need although some like it to display the monitor full size on a second screen.

Be very careful when looking at any new software. Those editing packages that do not require an Intel processor with a built in GPU normally need many more CPU cores and much more ram to work well.

I can show a few examples.

Adobe specs.

Filmora specs.

Da Vinci Resolve Specs

I have highlighted the important parts of each one.

As you can see they all have their quirks and all quite demanding of system specs except perhaps Filmora, but really go and visit their user forums first and see the complaints there from their users and how much they complain of the slowness and crashing of the program there is.

In fact visit all the forums of anything you consider buying. You will find lots of similar complaints on each one. Mainly by those with systems struggling to cope with the demands of the program.

There is no getting away from the fact that video editing eats up processing power and on average, the higher the spec of the machine (and the correct specs for your editor of choice) the less problems on average a user gets.

There is no reason why your laptop will not work with MEP. The only question would be how well? I seriously don't know and you should not take any notice of my comments on expected performance I may make on your system as I have no experience of current AMD systems let alone with MEP. All you can do is judge it against your old system.

It may help to give us larger screen shots of the program system setup tabs to help you fine tune the program.

Ray.

@amaethu

Click the "Normal Window" button (top right, as per Windows convention). You currently have MEP in
"Maximise" window size.

That should shrink the whole MEP window down so you can see it all.

The other thing I notice is you have two instances of MEP running; I'd suggest you close both, then start again. Normally MEP will ask you if you want two instances running at the same time.

It looks like you said you tried Window>Window Arrangement>Standard; is that right?

You could also try Window>Window Arrangement>Rest Window Arrangement.

@amaethu

Sorry, I forgot to say, looking closely at your screenshot, the bottom edge of your Preview window that you drag is just off screen below the edge so you won't be able to drag it up.

@amaethu

Another thing to do: right-click on the Preview monitor and choose a small resolution preset. This will reduce the size of the preview monitor and you'll get access to the bottom edge. Then you can drag to the size you want.

@amaethu

If none of the above works, restart your computer (make sure it's a proper shutdown and restart). MEP will reset itself back to the standard layout. If the Preview window is still too big, right-click on it and choose a low resolution.

@AAProds thank you - reducing the screen resolution did the trick in the end. Well sort of - the tracks which used to run right across the bottom of the screen now only go part way, so it is a little cramped. I am just missing my old familiar view.

@CubeAce thank you for your suggestions. To be honest I am not fussed about high performance. I just want a basic program for simple jobs, and all I want is my familiar windows back again! Anyway this is usable for now I hope.

@amaethu

Hi

What device are your running MEP on and its screen resolution?

John EB

Acer Swift 3 and 1920 x 1080 (Recommended)

@amaethu

Hi

Thanks for the info - I assume this is a 14" FHD display model - check the Windows Settings, System, Display, Scale and Layout options, Change the size of text ... is set to 100%

John EB

@amaethu

Hi.

All the boxes within the main program are adjustable and can be grabbed by the edges of their boxes and resized. I have made a short video with no sound to show you how you can adjust various size settings within MEP. Just keep your eye on where the cursor is and how it changes when in the correct position to drag an edge.

I think I have also found your Ryzen CPU specs but not 100% sure.

Ray.

thank you all, I am so grateful to you for taking the time for this. I have adjusted font size to 100% (mind you it is uncomfortable for other things but there must be a way around that) and saved my new screen layout as an F10 shortcut. Just as well because I am now unable to recreate it manually! I never had such problems as this before. Anyway, on to some actual editing now.

@johnebaker

Hi John.

@amaethu

Hi

Thanks for the info - I assume this is a 14" FHD display model - check the Windows Settings, System, Display, Scale and Layout options, Change the size of text ... is set to 100%

John EB

Did you mean this one?

That was the nearest I could find on the Acer site. Pretty new model.

Ray.

yes, that one. ]

Meanwhile, I have started editing and hit a new problem, which is that of the two files I have imported so far, each one has the video lagging behind the sound by about half a minute. Both are zoom files that i have already imported before and they were fine then. What can be happening?

@amaethu

When you say imported before do you mean on the current version of MEP you are using or did you have an older copy of MEP before coming to the forums that you used in the past?

Ray.

Imported using the version of MEP that I downloaded last summer. Not quite the same as this week's.

@amaethu

I'm glad to hear that but you may not be. 😟

I'm glad because if it was the same version I would not have a clue as to what is happening to you.

You may not be pleased with this bit of news.

There has been changes made to MEP that affects files from certain screen recordings, mobile phone footage, and some action camera footage so far.

The behaviour you are experiencing has happened to a lot of other people and if you read this forum topic you will find an explanation and possible cure. There is a lot there so forgive me for not retyping it all out on this topic.

If there are aspects of it you do not understand or need help with please come back to this thread and ask. I know you have confessed to not being that technical but you have done reasonably well so far. You will notice we ask for files on the other topic. It would be good if you could do the same but I think I already know the problem and the cure is to be found on the other topic. Just an extra point, it is effecting other editing programs from other developers as well. We hope eventually Magix will release either a patch or be incorporated in the next release.

[Edit] Actually start with reading this Topic. It is closer to your exact problem.

I'm also assuming your older copy old MEP was in fact 2019. I think that was the last error free version for this problem.

Ray.

thanks Ray, I am relieved to find is a known problem. So a variable frame rate means the video gets shortened relative to the audio. I got that far. As to the cure I will have to read it some more to make sense of it. One thing at a time! I will send Support an email too. I can probably get to grips with the proposed solutions, but really, making videos was never supposed to be my new hobby. I just want to process a batch of conference sessions. Still, learning is never wasted, so I appreciate your guidance.

Jane