I am in the USA, and both Movie Edit Pro 2021 Plus and Movie Studio 18 Platinum are the exact same price under academic (EDU) license for USA customers. I have never used any Magix products before, so I am more concerned about forwards-compatibility than backwards-compatibility. I want to buy the correct product so that I can upgrade to future versions as a new USA customer.

Are Movie Edit Pro 2021 Plus and Movie Studio 18 Platinum then actually the exact same software under two different names? So as a USA customer, I should get Movie Studio 18 Platinum instead of Movie Edit Pro 2021 Plus?

I noticed that there are different extra features available between Movie Edit Pro 2021 Premium and Movie Studio 18 Suite, but as far as I can tell, Movie Edit Pro 2021 Plus and Movie Studio 18 Platinum are identical. It is an extra US$15 on the academic license for the Premium or Suite versions (but they are still the exact same price). I don't think I need the extra (third-party) features though: NewBlue Filters 5 Ultimate and FXHome Enhance Ultra is included with Movie Edit Pro 2021 Premium (EDU) whereas ProDad Hide V1 is included with Movie Studio 18 Suite. The Day for Night and Diffusion filters from NewBlue included with Movie Edit Pro 2021 Premium look cool, but not sure I really need them. Otherwise a perpetual license for the NewBlue Filters is a much better deal than the limited 2-year license for ProDad Hide. Are there any other differences between Plus/Premium and Platinum/Suite?

The other question would be if I wanted to upgrade in the future to either Magix Video Pro or Vegas Pro Edit, which might determine which of the entry-level programs I should get. Right now, I don't think I need the more advanced features available in the more expensive versions. However, I can't find an upgrade path available for that. But that would also depend on whether Magix is planning to merge the Video Pro and Vegas Pro product lines like they have done for Movie Edit Pro and Movie Studio.

@nicolesharp100

Hi Nicole and welcome to the user to user forums.

Both programs should be identical with the exception of Magix Movie Studio 18 eventually being able to fully import older Vegas Movie Studio projects with fades and previous effects being applied within the new program.

A few things I will say about the Hide offering. First it is not a plugin but a standalone program and is very ram and processor intensive. It can take hours to process a short clip of under a minute long and really push the limits of a well specified computer. It is difficult to use and the types of video clips it will work well with are very limited in scope. Also I think the offer is for only one year of use but I may be wrong on the last point.

It was the Vegas developer team that decided their workload was too much and drop the cheaper more limited Vegas Movie Studio program so as to be able to put more effort into their more profitable larger editing packages.

I suspect as the parent company of Vegas that Magix felt it had to offer an alternative for those wanting not to spend too much on updating their programs so have offered Movie Edit pro as an alternative to Movie Studio users rather than them having to go to the more expensive path of upgrading to the next tier of Vegas Editing packages.

Unfortunately they marked it as an upgrade rather than a cross-grade and this has understandably upset a lot of Vegas Movie Studio owners who have felt Vegas have let them down and that Magix has tricked them into thinking Movie Studio 18 would have been similar in use and feel to their current versions.

I don't think this is a merge of product lines. I think it is just a short term facilitation and alternative offering for Vegas users. They do not have to go down this path, they also had the offer of a not as cheap upgrade to the next level program within the Vegas product lineup. The downside to that would would have been any subsequent upgrades would be more than they had paid in the past for Movie Studio wheres Movie Edit Pro 2021 (Movie Studio 18) would have continued to be the cheaper path for future upgrades.

Even if they change the name of Movie Edit Pro to Movie Studio the next time around it will still be a Magix based editing package using different methods to edit video along with its bigger brother VPX.

Vegas is now leaning more towards special effects than Magix based Editing packages. I personally do not think there is any danger of further merges in the not so distant future.

Ray.

The ProDad Hide does look useful, but I don't want to become dependent on something with a limited-time license that I won't be able to afford to renew. Same reason that I refuse to buy/rent Adobe products.

The NewBlue Filters are a US$299 value for just US$15 (or US$20), so that might be too good of a deal to pass up, in which case I should get Movie Edit Pro 2021 Premium instead of Movie Studio 18 Platinum or Suite.

I would like to see the Magix and Vegas product lines merged. It is otherwise very confusing for new customers. Corel has the same problem with VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio.

Is there an upgrade path available to go from Movie Edit Pro to Video Pro or from Movie Studio to Vegas Pro Edit? From the currently available free trials, I like Video Pro X better than Vegas Pro 18, but I am wondering if Vegas Pro 19 is going to be more similar to (or identical to) Video Pro X like they did for Movie Studio 18. It might not hurt to wait until after Vegas Pro 19 is available before making a purchasing decision, but without an upgrade path from Movie Studio, might be irrelevant.

I saw a confusing post here though that AMD hardware acceleration might be supported on Movie Edit but not on Movie Studio or vice versa? The website specifications say that AMD hardware is supported. I am using AMD Ryzen 3 2200G (32 GB DDR4) with AMD Radeon RX 550 (4 GB GDDR5).

@nicolesharp100 @johnebaker

Without trying to be biased I will try and give my impressions between the two sides. Magix vs Vegas.

Vegas. Vastly more complex to use the higher up you in the editing package upgrades but may be a more familiar workflow if coming from Adobe, Grass Valley Edius, or DaVinci Resolve. Works better with AMD systems than perhaps Magix programs. Has better green screen options and vector tracking capabilities in the higher end packages built in. While it can run on lower specified machines than Magix products, that is at base level. Vegas users often moan more about crashes on their systems than Magix users in the past.

Magix products on average are easier to learn more quickly if you have no real previous video editing experience. Just as flexible with equal quality output once you learn how to set up export parameters for each type of container format. More presets on offer at an equivalent price point. Different workflow pattern to most other editing packages. Less audio coding options in the encoding process but hard to tell the difference in finished videos. Needs additional bought third party plugins to compete with the special effects offered with some of the Vegas products.

With the right computer setup seems to handle more workload before grinding to a halt.

It is true judging by the disproportionate amount of AMD users we see on this forum that in my opinion Magix products seem to run better on average using Intel and nvidia based systems than AMD and Radeon based machines but equally the main difference is Vegas can, with exports, get better performance out of an nvidia card than Magix seem to ab able to do regarding H265 exports.

I see them as complimentary programs that would not be easily combined one into another purely from a coding perspective. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Same as with every other editing package out there taking advantage of various bits of hardware.

Magix is trying hard to get AMD and Intel hardware to work within its current VPX package but at present seems to be producing quite difficult challenges that may plague it for some time to come yet. Magix has also slim-lined down its offerings this year. I think eventually Vegas may go to a subscription based service while Magix may retain its current policy of buy and keep. However its dependence on third party plugin producers that may also want to hire their services rather than sell packages may turn the tide eventually.

Ray.

The trial applications for Movie Studio 18, Movie Edit Pro 2021, and Video Pro X have all crashed on my system. I am hoping though that it is just for the trial software and the full versions will not have the same problem. The free trials for Movie Studio 17 and Vegas Pro 18 have not crashed though, so that is disturbing since Movie Studio 17 and Vegas Pro 18 use a distinctly different interface than Movie Studio 18, Movie Edit Pro 2021, and Video Pro X.

I don't see a return policy for USA customers unfortunately, so will need to find out about that otherwise might be too high of a risk to purchase if the trial does not work. Corel Pinnacle Studio 24 Ultimate and CyberLink PowerDirector 19 Ultimate are currently my second and third choices after Movie Edit Pro 2021 Premium. I don't particularly want to pay for Video Pro X or Vegas Pro 18 if I don't need the more advanced features offered.

@nicolesharp100

Have you checked that your computer system exceeds all the minimum requirements for the programs.

Minimum requirements only means the programs will run. They may not run very well or stably if the specs of the machine is very close or less in any one aspect of the requirements.

Video editing is the most stressful thing you can put a computer to task with. If programs such as these are crashing your system it may be something not in the specs. Namely overheating of the processor or a not powerful enough power supply. Most of us here have larger than average cooling systems for our rigs and at least 16GB of memory and reasonably large power supplies .

The current offering of VPX 13 is not stable and in my opinion not fit for release yet. MEP 2021 though is fine.

Ray.

It is the software and not the computer. I have AMD Ryzen 3 2200G CPU with 32 GB DDR4 system RAM and AMD Radeon RX 550 GPU with 4 GB GDDR5 dedicated graphics RAM. Gaming desktop tower just 2 years old (purchased new in 2019). Single monitor is only 1080p60. The application crashes, not the computer. I get the same error message every time. Usually just simple tasks like trying to save a 10-second video clip. I can already do that in OpenShot no problem. Magix support is working on it, but no solution yet.

There are other applications I have found that specifically have problems with AMD graphics cards. I think part of the issue is that AMD has only a 15% market share, whereas NVidia has a 76% market share dominance. So it's more cost-effective (by customer base) for programmers to support NVidia before they support AMD. Intel ranks as third with only a 9% share.

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

@nicolesharp100

Hi Nicole.

Steam is only polling game users, not videographers and generally does not include those systems used by such people. The fact is apart from DaVinci Resolve, most other editing packages take advantage of an inboard Intel GPU where it is present in the system and specify its use in the system specs. There are many more work stations out there with no third party graphics cards that do no video editing and Intel still has more machines in use than AMD. AMD systems are currently in the lead for gaming where frames per second count but not for video production. The other factor was always because in the past AMD was always behind in the CPU stakes until recently, an AMD system was always cheaper to buy but always had a more clunky feel to it in operation. This trend has currently been reversed mainly down to a lack of chip production volume availability and it may be some time before Intel can get enough fab time to return to its former dominant position. Most of us here running desktop machine will have changed the base CPU cooling to a much more effective solution. Don't discount it if you do not watch your CPU temperatures during exports. Last but not least. Gaming drivers for GPUs are not used for video production. For that you need DCH Studio drivers installed for third party graphics cards.

Ray.

@nicolesharp100

Hi

. . . . 'academic (EDU) license'. . . .

What is the intent for the use of video editing software ie are you:

1. intending to use the software in an education environment for teaching? If so then I would suggest you contact Magix Business solutions about your requirements
    
2. a student taking a course in videography/movie production? If so what software is being used in the education establishment?

. . . . I don't see a return policy for USA customers unfortunately . . . .

AFAICS there there 2 types of 'return/refund policy' in the US - the FTC regulations which have a 3 day limit from date of purchase, however this does not apply to purchases made by email, telephone or online, individual state regulations which apply to locally purchased products only.

. . . . AMD Ryzen 3 2200G CPU with 32 GB DDR4 system RAM and AMD Radeon RX 550 GPU with 4 GB GDDR5 dedicated graphics RAM. Gaming desktop . . . Single monitor is only 1080p60. . . .

The use of Hardware Acceleration (HWA) for import/processing and export is a major advantage for video editing - as the MEP/MVS stand at the moment they do not take full advantage of Hardware Acceleration with the RX 550 GPU, this may change in future versions.

As the computer has no Intel processor with integrated GPU you would need to be looking at Vegas Pro or Video Pro X to take full advantage of the RX550 GPU. Vegas Pro is the most popular of the 2 products in the US.

Third party add-ons:

The only third party addons I use are Neat Video Denoiser, Prodad Mercalli 5 image stabilisation and Melda Productions MDynamicEQ.

Other products such as the ones you mentioned above are, IMO, of limited use if you are intending to produce videos professionally.

HTH

John EB