Welcome,

You have an old version of MEP. 2015 just came out and if you are going to use MEP seriously, I suggest getting the Premium version. You need a 64bit operating system. Take a look also at the Video Pro X6 version.

Further to what Jeff indicated, I strongly suggest that you read the manual, especially the first part to become familiar with the various parts of the program. MEP is about as straightforward as you can get for importing objects.

In MEP, to bring videos, audio, and images onto the Timeline, use the Import tab in the Media pool screen to locate them. Then just simply drag the file onto a track wherever you want. Do not use the top menu - File, Open as that is mainly for projects. Use the Media pool.

See the image below that illustrates what to do.

Put your main objects on track one, with the sound going automatically to track 2.

Reserve track 5 for any Magix-generated sounds or music. Put your audio/music on tracks 3 or 4 or 6+.

mp3 files do not need to be converted to be used in MEP. Just drag the file from the Media pool (or Windows Explorer) onto a track at the location that you want. You can mute tracks or show the volume curve and then modify the volume curve of any audio object.

As Jeff indicated, you can have the audio from a video clip automatically placed on the track below the video if you change the setting. In newer versions of MEP, you can right-click on the video andthere are audio options with an option to put video/audio on separate tracks. Then if you want to remove the audio part completely, you ungroup and delete the audio. I almost always keep the audio but drag the volume down to zero (there is a handle in the middle of the audio track for that).

As for recording audio into MEP, as Jeff indicated, using a mic connected to the mic in port on the computer will not give good sound. I use an M-Track M-Audio mixer with a USB connection to the computer, and a professional mic connected to the mixer, and an ASIO driver that comes with the M-Audio. This gives clear sound with no background noise, hum or hiss.

Enjoy!

Thanks to both of you for your replies.  Unfortunately I am still having severe problems and i feel like a complete idiot. 

The video camera I am using is a SONY Handycam DCR-SR52.  On uploading it produces 2 mpg files 1 audio and one visual.  As they are linked they should drop into the time line 'visually' as one file.

As you have both said it should be simple to just go into the PC file where I have stored them, then click / drag and drop to the time line from media pool.. 

However when I do this I get the following pop up messages: 'In order to use the MPEG-2 function a one time activation is required. 

If I choose yes, will this mean I will no longer be able to import MP3 /MP4 or Wav. files into the suite in future.

I also get a 2nd pop us that says:

'The file format of c:users\parent\videos\voice overs + file name MPG cannot be read. 

My camera software stores all videos directly to c:users\parent\pictures.  I have tried moving the files to both 'my videos' and 'my music' and I still get the same pop ups.

I assume I have to actiavte this MP2 but what will this mean for future projects.

Sorry to be such nuisance but I know more about creating / writing for film than Techical software stuff.  The manual used all these fancy words and I have to start learning .. the manual just says: what MPEG stands for and and where to find details of the settings for the MPEG encoder.  What is an MPEG encoder?????

For a start, just accept the one-time activation. You will probably go through the same thing if you upgrade to another version. This is actually documented somewhere in the manual. It does not create any problems elsewhere.

I don't have a Sony camera so I don't know how the file system works. John Baker should jump in here. First, activate the codec and then try importing. Let us know what happens.

MPEG-4 is actually a collection of highly efficient codecs for video and audio based on the MPEG standard. Compared to MPEG-2, the same quality can be achieved with smaller file size. 

For now, don't worry about the details (mostly in Chinese). When you want to export or burn, you will come across this again and you can read up on it by then.

Hi

. . . . SONY Handycam DCR-SR52.  On uploading it produces 2 mpg files 1 audio and one visual. . . . .

I assume you are you using the software supplied with the Sony to import from the camera to the computer?

Does the video file also include audio or is there no sound on the video file?

If there is no sound check the software to see if there is an option to extract video and audio streams into seperate files - if there is, this needs turning off - it can cause syncing issues with mpg

This camera is one of the early versions to use a hard drive to record to and, according to the manual, does not allow to access the its hard drive direct from the computer and just copy the mpg files across and you have to use the software supplied.

However try the following

1. connect the camera to the computer using the USB cable and switch it on
    
2. if the camera software starts up - close it
    
3. open Windows Explorer - If a new disc drive has appeared then this is the camera, if there is no disc drive then the next steps will not work
    
4. browse the disc drive and look for a folder called MP_ROOT - in here are the recorded mpg files
    
5. copy the mpg files to your computer using Windows Explorer.
    
6. Try importing the copied fils into MEP.

HTH

John

Thanks again for helping with advice... Just before the camera software allows me to upload my photos / video and audio two files appear and one is labelled MP _ Root or Root something., and thanks for the learning curve - I didn't realise my vid camera produced 3 files. I'll try the activation first and then if that doesn't solve it, I'll give the root / net thing a go.  : )

Hi

. . . . photos / video and audio two files appear and one is labelled MP _ Root or Root something. . . . .

I think you are confusing folders with files

The folders are

MP_ROOT inside this are more folders, called 101PNV01 102PNV01 etc, inside which are the MPG files which are the video and audio as single mpg files. The maximum size is 2 GB. When the capacity of a file exceeds 2 GB, the file becomes divided. The file numbers go up automatically.

When the file numbers exceeds 9,999, another folder is created to record new movie files.

DCIM inside this folder are the still images as JPG files. When the file number exceeds 9,999, another folder is created to store new image files.

On the camera there is a third folder called AVF_INFO inside this is a folder called 101MSDCF are control files the camera uses.  Without these you cannot record / playback video and images - do not touch these files.

For MEP you should be importing the mpg, and / or jpg files if you are using images in the MEP project as well,  not the folders.

HTH

John

Update: After using the aactivation which took three attempts : yay I have sound but I now can't edit it.  I have looked in the manual which does not tell me anything.  I have searched for a video tutorial with no luck.  I am very disappointed.  This suite has such potential.  The worst thing about this is that I know how to edit films and adjust music / sound effects to nth second even if I don't understand the fancy tech language... my post production / production is now comepletely on hold.  Thanks to everyone to tried to help but it's time for me to move on.  This suite is not for me!!!

Incredible!

So far, I have not seen that you have had any problems with MEP, only with getting your videos from your camera to the computer. If you know so much, then that should not have been a problem. Again, nothing to do with MEP.

You can't edit the sound? What is it that you are trying to do or want to do?

You say that you have looked in the manual for audio editing but it told you nothing. Let's see, I open the manual and half way down the Table of contents is "Audio editing." See pages 154 to 188 in the MX manual. I think there is more than you can handle just in that chapter.

You say that you '"know how to edit films and adjust music / sound effects to nth second." Hmmmm.  If you know all of that, you would find that MEP is one of the most flexible and straightforward programs out there. Good luck with other programs, they all require a lot of learning.