Home > Consumer Reviews > Movie Edit Pro 2004

I like this product. I have tried several movie editing/DVD burning software products trying to find one that meets my needs without costing me an arm and a leg. I am working on a project that involves converting the contents of old VHS tapes into DVD. My PC is equipped with the following hardware:
1.0G AMD processor
1G memory
2 - 120G hardrives
Hauppage WinTV 250 video capture card
HP DVD burner

My problems with video software seemed to occur after I tried to edit the video. I don't know what happened but I believe that each software product has a different compression method because the quality of the video never was as good after being processed (ArcSoft Showbiz, Ulead MovieFactory). I downloaded a copy of Ulead MediaStudio Pro and it performed great. The quality of my movies was just as good after editing as they were before. MediaStudio Pro is expensive. I read about Magix and their other video editing products got decent reviews so I thought I would give Movie Edit Pro 2004 a try. The price was right and I have not been disappointed. First off, I was shocked that I actually received a usable user's manual with the software. The tutorials provided are helpful. The user interface was intuitive for me (but I have used several products now, I have and idea of what to expect) There are a few screens that use terms that are confusing especially some of the audio and video cleaning screens. The video editing functions are very easy to use as are the DVD menu creation functions. After a great deal of trial and error, I was able to create some decent DVDs from my VHS tapes. I also created some clips for use on the web.

This software is not without problems. There are quirks. I think every piece of video software that I have tried has had some issues. Sometimes the audio and video would get out of sync. Unexplainable white flashes would occur during scene transitions. The audio/video thing can be dealt with but it is annoying to play a DVD (4-6 hours to process and burn) and find that half-way through the thing, the audio gets behind the video. Magix has a decent user's forum on its website. You might want to check that out before purchasing the software. It gives some insight to the kinds of problems users are finding.

I have searched for months for a cost effective and feature-filled video editing program. I looked at Pinnacle, Ulead, Cyberlink, and so on. Magix's movie edit pro seems to be the best product out there for under $100. This program is loaded with features. First off, there is a bonus content cd with tons of extra video and audio clips. Plus, the installation cd has many more video clips, audio clips, and transitions that are either included in the program installation or just on the cd, totalling up to around 2,000 media files. The options are endless integrating those media files into your own videos.

The program itself is incredibly awesome. I have only run into a few problems (such as one crash and some audio glitches) during the time I have owned it. You can do things like add commentaries, reverse the film, do picture and picture effects, add 3-D transitions, do green, blue, white, or black screen effects, and many more. Another really cool feature that you don't see in cost-effective video editing programs is the ability to create video menus on DVDs. I recorded about 30 minutes of DV footage onto my computer, and there were no dropped frames.

I would say that this program's only competitor in a similar price range is Apple's iMovie. Although, this program comes with many more specific features, which almost puts it in the catagory of the higher priced video editing programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro. However, if you are looking for extremely powerful but very expensive software you should check out Apple's Final Cut Pro HD. If you do not wish to spend 1,000 dollars on a video editing program, (which is Final Cut Pro's price) then Movie Edit Pro 2004 is a great buy. This program has similar professional features and costs a lot less.

Another feature I am particulary interested in is it's ability to function in real time. I am running a 2.8 GHZ processor with 512 ram, and it seems that the program always runs pretty smooth.

I called this program "the best buy" because programs like pinnacle studio 9 and Ulead Video Studio 8 lack some important features that this program has.Overall, Magix's Movie Edit Pro 2004 is a fun and powerful tool to edit videos.

Today, most home users want "video editing" software to simply take a home movie from a camcorder and create a DVD from it. Sometimes, they want to do simple edits, and/or add music or titles to the video as well. If that is all you want to do, and you would like to do it in the absolutely easiest way possible, then this software probably isn't the best choice.

Now, if you (like me) want an actual video editor, that will do very complex editing and effects, then Magix is awesome. I have tried pretty much all of the video editing software packages, and nearly all of them offer only basic editing tools to make a movie. One of the greatest things about Magix is that the effect's properties can be changed dynamically through curves. This means that you don't have to use any types of presets for zooms, PIP, rotation, color changes, sound fades/effects. The effect will change based on the curve that you set in the timeline. This is a HUGE improvement over all other low-budget software packages that lack this feature.

I bought Magix because my friends and I frequently make short films just "for fun," and I was tired of Pinnacle Studio constantly crashing right in the middle of editing. I was extremely happy to find out that Magix is absolutely loaded with features that an ameture video editor would love (blue screen effects come to mind).

Also, I am astounded that most reviews of video editing packages don't mention the quality of the output video. There is a very big difference between the quality of video from one package to the next. For instance, many have a "digital" look to them where the image can look pixellated. In contrast, Pinnacle Studio's output is usually somewhat blurry (probably to reduce pixellation). I'm glad to say Magix is tied (with Nero) for the best quality DVD videos, and they look great even on a 55" widescreen TV.

Now, Magix is in some places "rough around the edges". But, if you want and editor with some serious power, then this is literally the only one on the market in the price range that can produce some very interesting editing effects.

I was looking for some software to edit and burn home movies to DVD from my mini DV camcorder.

I read reviews on this site about the big players and was not impressed. I decided to go with this well reviewed product due to it having the two basic features I wanted.

1. DV Importing and Editing

2. Self-Contained DVD burning

I was pleasantly surprised with how rich a program this turned out to be.

The interfaces were intuitive and allowed a range of complexity. You could easily just burn raw footage directly to DVD or make an editing masterpiece.

I created my first DVD in about 2 hours.

The manual that comes with the software is pretty good with step by step instructions and screen shots.

The DVD Authoring menu allows the user to add Menu backgrounds, music and combine projects onto a single DVD. It also allows the user to burn the project files ( editable ) onto the DVD as a multi-mode DVD format so that they could be retreived and added to later.

Only thing I probably should have not done is approve the program's media player to be the default media player. I can fix that pretty easily and you can just de-select that as an option during install.

I was a bit concerned having read the reviews before purchase that this might be somewhat difficult to learn. After purchase the following happened: It installed without a hitch. Normally at that point I'd go read the book but the interface is so well designed I couldnt resist playing right away. I had figured out most of the basics of time-line video editing in the first hour and most of the basics of audio editing in 2 hours without ever opening the book. Although my camera had come with software, I had been unable to figure out how to use the firewire connection, but this software took care of that too. The only thing I would never have figured out without reading the instructions are the different mouse fuction selections.
I can't wait to start doing some green screen effects. I think this software is fantastic.