And now Magix. The neverending story of consumer NLEs death.

And this Good Will journey is then in memory of Pinnacle. BBQ and up the bottens are the welcome accompaniment. We can dream sometimes  .

Hi Wayne.
Peaceful? Yes it's right. Probably because this castle is not a tourist destination. It is still managed agriculturally. Footage 4K/25fps with the Lumix FZ2000, a gem. Peaceful - the correct name for the circular route around the castle. The inner castle area was not accessible as it was a private area.

I've just caught up with this news, and it is sad to hear the Magix is in trouble.When I used their software about 10 years ago, the company's support was impressive.

Tony's point about not being able to tell what software is used for editing is a good one. I've been watching a number of YouTube vlogs lately. and was surprised that some people were posting almost daily 20 minute videos that they were just editing on their phone. If the content was interesting, the speech was audible and the pictures were relatively steady and shot in landscape, that's all that really mattered as far as I was concerned!

Sales must be continuing for PS, though. Sales of my book still plod along, so somebody must be buying the software still.

Sorry guys, I just realised my last post was completely off topic!
I agree with jeffjn , tonyp has made a good point regarding video editing software. The video he shared on Poland was edited on PS16; 10 versions behind the latest. And Hansi's video was what? Six versions behind Video Pro X 15? I wondered, if they decided to redo the edit with today's versions, what would they change? What new features would they use? Personally I don't think much. Split screen intro maybe? Would they use a mask? I don't think so. The videos are good. I can't see anything today that would add value.

I guess what I'm saying is that we got what we needed 10 years ago if not more. Yes, more features were added but it was really the core editing function that was most important. Make it faster, more efficient and more stable was the main battle cry from users across all editors. The key was to keep the code up-to-date, ensure the system could take advantage of new hardware and be able to read new codecs. And also ensure that it was compatible with the new operating system when it gets released.

Now and maybe for a couple of years, we should be ok with PS26. If and when they release Windows 12, that might be an issue. Don't know. But PS26 seems to run ok on my Windows 11 machine. If I edit for a long time, or use a lot of titles or overlays, I notice the system starts to lag or the render bar seems to stop or get stuck. That's when I save the project, shut down the program and then restart it. That seems to "refresh it."

jeffjn , I'm happy to hear your book is still selling. You put a lot of work into it and I use my copy as the Bible to Pinnacle Studio. I think its the only video editor where you can still get a hard copy manual and training guide for the latest edition! Your book and Studio Backlot are great resources for users. And it was these resources that help sell Alludo's product. I'm not sure if they really appreciated it...

Hi Tony and Candive,

Yes, it's me, browj2. Tony, I guess that you didn't realize that I started with Pinnacle Studio long ago and switched to Magix Movie Edit Pro when the future of Pinnacle was uncertain with AVID. Yes, I am a fanboy of most Magix products and for good reason. As for making incorrect statements about Vegas and other software, sometimes they are just questions, like "can X do this?" And occasionally I get it wrong, but not often. And sometimes you don't understand exactly what MMS/VPX can do, just differently. You seem to have forgotten that I also have Vegas Pro and Vegas Movie Studio, you are correct in that I don't use them much, similar to you having Video Pro X and Magix Movie Studio but not using them as your main video editor. I read the Vegas forum everyday and I am aware of the good and the bad. I am also very well aware of editing features and content in VPX that is not in Vegas and vice versa (I have a partial list). You mention content in Vegas - but that is in the Hub - content from StoryBlocks and text-to-speech/speech-to-text - available only in a subscription. Movie Studio and Video Pro have the same in their subscriptions except there is no speech-to-text. Movie Studio and VPX have a large quantity of content of audio - music - and visuals, including SlideShow Maker Music, Sound Track Maker, Intro/Outros, Film Templates with visuals, music and sound FX, collages and image objects, amongst others. Vegas has no music content (Storyblocks is not Vegas content) and limited visuals - pros don't need that stuff, right? Pinnacle Studio also has a lot of content, which is one of the reasons that I have upgraded over the years, but Magix Movie Studio and VPX have much more.

You mentioned SmartSound; there is no plugin for Movie Studio/Video Pro X, but one, me included, can use the standalone. I have the Smartsound plugin for Pinnacle. The problem is the cost of Albums is huge for most users, meaning most home video makers (me).

A word on Music Maker - you may have no use for it, Tony, but many users don't have Smartsound or your musical ability, or another DAW. With Music Maker and Soundpool loops, the basics are simple and one can put together some background music very quickly, tailored for their video, sometimes, just a drum beat or some other percussion instrument and maybe a bit of bass and another instrument, keys or something to round it off, nothing sophisticated. I have ACID with its loops, but that program has a different approach, is more complicated, not intuitive, and is for a somewhat different use. The loops are not done or categorized, with different pitches, etc., like in Music Maker. When you state that you have no use for it, consider that others, like me, could interpret that as Music Maker is not useful when that is not the case.

I wrote up several paragraphs about the various Magix programs and how they are supposed to work together but have not been marketed that way for years. I scrapped this as most people reading this probably don't want to hear about it.

I will, however, extol a few of the virtues that Magix Movie Studio and VPX have that most other video editing programs do not.
1. Multi-timeline capability - tabbed timelines called movies that can be imported, exported. Another project can be opened, or actually be brought into a project on a separate timeline or timelines if that project contains more than 1 movie. You can copy from them.
2. Nesting - in VPX only - one or more timelines in a project can be used as nested objects in another timeline (say, the main timeline) and effects applied to the nested object. The original timeline is in the project so it can be edited and the nested object is automatically updated.
3. Tracks - they are always there, you can put anything on any track (not that you should), thus no title track, no overlay track, no audio track, just tracks. You can easily move objects around from track to track without having to put audio on an audio track, etc.
4. Top down editing - track 1 is the lowest number (we learned that in grade school) and is at the bottom of the pile - take a piece of paper and write down the numbers from 1 to 10 in the left margin - 1 is at the top of the page, but it's the lowest number. Put the background on track 1, overlays on higher numbered tracks (like 3 is higher than 1 and so on) and it never needs to be moved. You don't have to insert tracks above to add an overlay, just put the overlay on track 2, or 3 or 6 or 10 - which is already there, used or not.
5. Travel Maps - create route animation with mapping from OpenStreetMap, ESRI maps including Standard, Topo, Satellite and Geographic, Magix Package maps, or your own maps, including any image such that the route can be an animated line on any image. Just this tool itself is worth the price of admission to Movie Studio Platinum.

I'll stop here or I'll be going on all day.