video editing

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 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 features 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 programs only competitor for 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 Premier Pro.

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 7 lack some important features that this program has.Overall, Magix's Movie Edit Pro 2004 is a fun, and professional tool to edit videos.

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.