Suggestions on new Editing Program - Magix, Pinnacle, WMM

pinky75910 · Post by **pinky75910** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:33 pm

Been using Windows Movie Maker for a few years now, comfortable with the way it does things. Also bought Magix on sale (for free

but I can't get Magix to work or do what I want it to. On my new comp, touching any Movie Maker effects causes it to crash, so I'm looking for a new program. My local stores recommend something called "Pinnacle". Was hoping to see if any one has experience with any of these and can give a review.

Or can anyone point me to a "Getting started with Magix" sortof info thread or something.

Many Thanks!

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:30 pm

you aren't going to find much support for Pinnacle around here, I think a few members might actually use it, but I don't know how helpful those members are..

my suggestion is to get trials of Magix, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere (as they are the most commonly used programs on these boards) and if you can find a Pinnacle one then that one too... try out each one and see which one you like... then shop around and see if you can find a good sale or deal...

pinky75910 · Post by **pinky75910** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:59 pm

JaddziaDax wrote:you aren't going to find much support for Pinnacle around here, I think a few members might actually use it, but I don't know how helpful those members are..

my suggestion is to get trials of Magix, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere (as they are the most commonly used programs on these boards) and if you can find a Pinnacle one then that one too... try out each one and see which one you like... then shop around and see if you can find a good sale or deal...

That'd be awesome, I'd love to test out software before buying. Pinnacle looks similar to Movie Maker on the back of the box, but then, it also looks to have similarities to Magix. Mebbe I should just try and get Magic to work, but I can only get it to import one file at a time, and I can't even figure out how to break into clips or nothin. Don't suppose you've any idea where I can find such trials?

Thanks for your response ^_^

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:39 am

you can actually download trials from their official sites O.o

Phantasmagoriat · Post by **Phantasmagoriat** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:51 am

pinky75910 wrote:only get it to import one file at a time, and I can't even figure out how to break into clips or nothin.

-Just select, drag and drop multiple files from windows explorer, or the file manager.
-And for splitting clips, there is a button for it just like WMM, or what I do is just press the 't' button on my keyboard
-I would also like to add that you can drag and drop clips out of the timeline into the file manager so that you can have a pool of clips. I would probably put your clips under the "Takes" tab-- keeping them in the timeline can get messy sometimes.

~Phan

pinky75910 · Post by **pinky75910** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:27 pm

I appreciate all your suggestions. ^_^

I believe I have MAGIX #11, which I got free after rebate as a promo from the store, I'm guessing it was being phased out. It looks like this - http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x58/ ... /Magix.jpg

Not only will it not let me select more than one file to import at a time, it prompts me after I try to import a second file in case I wanted to overlap the first one. I think I found the screen that breaks things into clips, but when I attempted to edit them, it took the entire video instead of just one clip. Also, I can only view the clips along a single row I have to scroll through. I don't see how I can view more than one video at a time. Meh, am I just whining because it's different than Movie Maker or I am just that dumb?

I did find free downloads through google of the Editing programs JadziaDax suggested, but what always worries me is that there's so many and I never know which one to get. SonyVegas.com seems to have links to all the things I want to try, but that website doesn't look very professional. Is it real?

Thanks again for anything you can tell me.

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:47 pm

Sony Vegas's actual site... and depending on what you want to purchase would depend on the trial you would want to download...

I'd probably suggest Vegas Pro 8 since you can find it for a very reasonable price and it won't have the limitations of Movie Studio..

As for Adobe Premiere - I'm not overly familiar with the software so I can't help you much there.

And the same goes for Magix

Phantasmagoriat · Post by **Phantasmagoriat** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:06 pm

You're not dumb, you just haven't experimented with the setting enough. I think you are in the Movie Overview mode-- you want to be in the Timeline Edit View [there's an option to change that somewhere... possibly at the top of the screen... not sure since I have version 10. Pressing the Tab button on my keyboard also works for me]

post-it · Post by **post-it** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:51 pm

one of the best little editors i've ever found was made by AiST and Asymetrics.

. these were simple twin line editors with dissolve/cut as the transitions.

. today, people want to be better than frame-accurate -- this makes things confusing!

. Virtual Dub 1.4.10 & MOD are about as simple as that made by AiST and Asymetrics.

get used to these two editors and you will grasp any of the newer Editors fairly quickly.