@RogerGunkel

Can you confirm that you get the same please

 

. . . . if I drop the FPS from 50 to 25fps when exporting, even though it interlaces automatically, the audio/visual surely must become out of sync by doing that? . . . .

For mp4 export (and several other formats) the audio is not synchronised to the video using the video frames, ie it is independent of the framerate.

HTH

John EB

Hi John,

Sorry for late reply, we were filming until 11pm yesterday and finally got to bed at 2.00am!

I can confirm that I get the same screen as you. I realised that my comment on min and max bitrates was incorrect, it is as said 'Average' and 'Maximum'. The principle is pretty much the same though as setting the average lower will give a lower overall bitrate anyway. For my long weddings I use HD 1920x1080 PAL 25i, VBR mp4 with average at 10,000kbs and Max at 14,000kbs. That gives me up to 55 minute files within the 4Gb fat 32 limit, with clients very happy about the quality. For shorter files where the 4Gb limit is not a problem, I would use a higher average and maximum bitrate.

Roger

@Apollox

Good morning,

You seem to be progressing well at the moment, but one thing that I really think would improve things for you is leaving WMM behind and doing all your editing and exporting from MEP. I realise that you are comfortable with WMM, but it is another layer of processing that you could do away with.

If you could explain what you find easy in WMM that you don't find in MEP, we can probably help you to find that MEP is just as easy once you grasp it and a lot more flexible. Just a thought :-)

Roger

Thanks mate.

But yes I do have to eat my words which I said about Magix last week, in that it's 'crap'.
As having now foundout how to use more of its features, due to the kind help and patience of you guys on here, I can confirm and openly admit that it does offer some great features, which are very 'powerful', allow fine precision which basic editors don't offer, and maintains high quality when exporting (+ options to customise exactly how the file you export is). :)

So was worth the £30 i spent buying it.

~

For my files I now feel comfortable in my process of-

1) Having the video shot in 50fps (to give me the luxury of more frames), exporting into Windows Movie Maker and editing, saving the edited file out of WMM as a .WMV (CBR file - as VBR in WMM drops the bitrate by 75%),
but also saving that file as a 25fps file rather than its original 50fps.

2) Uploading that file into Magix, using Magix presets of 1920 x 1080 (25fps), editing the file via auto-lighting feature,
then saving the file out of Magix by clicking ''Export to Device'', and in that tab creating my own custom profile of VRB / 28k bitrate max :: 26k bitrate average / GOP = 12 / CPB = 2,500, FPS = 25, Coding Quality = Better, and format .MP4


The resulting file from that (takes approx 4-5hours to export a 1.2GB file) is an mp4 format file, 1920 x 1080 (25fps), and with a bitrate of 16k - 19k, which I'm very happy with. :)
(The original files are 27k bitrate, however I actually find that too high bitrate and/or fps makes the video look too artificial and fake, so I much prefer how the slightly lower bitrate and lower FPS looks on the end result).


~


And in response to your question mate-
I like how in MovieMaker I can upload my 10minute clip (which is in 5 - 15 segments), then start to play the footage, cut a segment when it needs to be cropped, crop the next one to a good starting point, and then hover over the different transitions and see an instant preview just by hovering over it how that transition would look to join up those 2 segments of footage/how a different one would look.
Can also change the amount of seconds/miliseconds which that transition takes and see how it looks instantly all within that same preview tab.

I also need to be able to play the footage to lets say 1.46minutes, then pause-play-pause-play (whilst hearing audio/seeing video) to establish exactly the second/mili-second where I crop that segment of clip (based on the girl's audio/body position :: the next segment's starting point which I can get their body in almost the same position to hide the fact that a transition occured, without needing to skip forward and miss important verbal dialogue).

Magix can do alot, but without a pause button which holds the footage and then plays it/audio in micro-segments, I would not be able to do that sadly.
Plus I need to be able to preview every transition instantly just by hovering my mouse over it, which WMM offers.

I do like Magix alot, and so use it for every edit, but also do love WMM's simplicity and functions designed for a less advanced user, which is what I am basically.


 

@Apollo89x

Hi

. . . . . without a pause button which holds the footage and then plays it/audio in micro-segments . . . . .

There is another option you can try to see if this helps, using the Scrubbing wheel (Shuttle) as shown in the short clip below, the functions do need turning as seen in the clip

. . . . I need to be able to preview every transition instantly just by hovering my mouse over it, which WMM offers. . . . .

That is one thing that is missing from MEP, the transition plays through as soon as you add it, however having it play (selectable) when you hover the mouse over it at a later time could be a good option to have.

Added: you can also use the mouse wheel to scrub, when the mouse pointer is iver the Scrbbing wheel (Shuttle)

HTH

John EB

@Apollo89x

It's difficult to envisage what exactly you mean when you describe how you edit in WMM, but if you can screen grab some video of you doing a small section, say a transition, that would help to understand how/whether you could do it easier or better in MEP.

At the moment, if you are achieving what you want with your way of working, then that is a big move forward.

Roger

Hi,

I still don't understand about "...without a pause button which holds the footage and then plays it/audio in micro-segments..."

Stop=Pause. A second button would be redundant. You can't be paused or stopped and not stopped at the same time.

Bear with me on this first part below just to make sure that you understand how MEP works. I think that you are looking for something like Move Object Contents or the Edit Trimmer which I show near the end.

Make sure that you turn on the "Spacebar stops at current position" in the Program settings. It is usually checked by default. See the image below. This means that the playback marker stops at that point when you stop/pause.

If it is not checked, pressing on the spacebar a second time causes the playback marker to go back to where it was when the spacebar was pressed to start playing. Note, the spacebar and the play button in the transport control both do the same thing, start and stop. For scrubbing, use the left and right arrows or the jog wheel - see the keyboard image below and the main image.

In MEP, you can't have the playback marker at 2 different positions. If your intention is to mark the spot where you stopped and then go on scrubbing, then put a marker there, like a range marker or a snap marker. Then you can quickly go back to the beginning of the range, if necessary (see Range below) or to the snap marker.

Below is an image with some of the main components for precise editing.

Make sure that you turn on the jog wheel and that the preview monitor is wide enough to see both the jog wheel and the Shuttle control. The jog wheel moves 1 frame at a time and if you keep moving the mouse with the left button down to either left or right, the playback marker moves in increments of 1 frame. There are NO milliseconds in video, only frames. Everything is hours:minutes:seconds:frames. You cannot have a fraction of a frame.

The shuttle control allows you to scrub left and right at different speeds, from very slow to very fast. To hear the audio, you have to turn on the audio scrubbing (see 4 in the images).

You can quickly zoom in on the timeline to frame level and use left right arrow. See the menu for item 3 in the image.

You can also use the left and right arrow buttons to move the playback marker 1 frame at a time. See the keyboard map below. Or, Ctrl+arrow to move 5 frames at a time.

Note that I have the video and audio on 2 tracks so that I can see what is happening with the audio. If you are cutting or making transitions, you may need to also consider continuity and smoothness of the audio.

RANGE

The image below shows the range. Mark the In point using the shortcut "I" or click on the button in the transport control. Mark out with "O" or the button in the transport control. You can then quickly go to the beginning or end of the range using the buttons in the transport control. You can even trim out the contents of a range.

The alternative is to set a snap marker that you can quickly go back to.

There are buttons and shortcuts for Trimming that save a lot of time. See my tutorial on Basic Editing Part 2 for trimming objects. It will save you a lot of time knowing how to do it.

TRANSITIONS

You state: "I also need to be able to play the footage to lets say 1.46minutes, then pause-play-pause-play (whilst hearing audio/seeing video) to establish exactly the second/mili-second where I crop that segment of clip (based on the girl's audio/body position :: the next segment's starting point which I can get their body in almost the same position to hide the fact that a transition occured, without needing to skip forward and miss important verbal dialogue)."

Again, no milliseconds, only frames.

I take this to mean that you want to see the place where you want to cut in one monitor (after scrubbing using the jog wheel or shuttle control, not play) and then scrub and see this scrubbing in a second monitor to find where you want to crop to. Does WMM have 2 monitors? I also understand that you want to cut the object at one point, then cut out a section of the right hand object making the cut at a point where the actor's body is in about the same position as at the end of the left clip, and then maybe make a small transition. Is this what you are trying to do?

I don't understand "...without needing to skip forward and miss important verbal dialogue…" How do you find the next segment's starting point without skipping forward?

There are 2 solutions.

Move Object Content

Make the first cut. The right hand object will need to have its tail first trimmed somewhat to do this. Scrub to approximately where you want have the right object start and trim out the left part. Bring the right part slightly over the end of the left part to make a short transition. Put the playback marker in the middle of the transition so that you can see both clips. Turn on the Move Object Content button and select it. See my tutorial on Moving Object Content. Now you can drag the contents of the right object left and right until you find exactly the frame that you want to match up with the end of the first clip. This is not precise but probably close enough.

Edit Trimmer

To get precision, use the Edit Trimmer (shortcut N) as it has 2 monitors showing the end of the left clip and the beginning of the right clip. This requires some learning to understand what to do and some practice (not difficult). With this, you can see the first and last image of the left and right objects along with the transition, move the clip contents within the transition 1 or 5 frames at a time using the Object Content buttons (same as moving the Object Content that I described above), apply a transition model, change the transition length, etc.

Is this what you are trying to do?

I don't know if the Object and Edit Trimmers are in MEP basic.

If you bought MEP basic within the last 30 days, you may want to return it/ask Magix for an upgrade/purchase to either Plus or Premium. Premium is now selling for the same price as the basic version in the UK.

The Plus/Premium version has many transitions available, in case you are interested.

John CB

Further to my last message, are you trying to do multicam editing where you have 2 or more cameras filming at the same time and you want to edit them together?

John CB