Magix Movie Edit Pro 2013 Premium review

Getting to grips with new software can be a bit of a chore, but it should ultimately be inspiring and rewarding. This latest version of Magix’ consumer video-editing software is all pain and very little gain.

The drudgery starts with installation. The Premium version comes with three third-party plug-ins, but they can only be installed via a command in the Help menu, and only after registering the software with an email and postal address. One of these plug-ins requires registration separately, and the whole process is pretty laborious.

The trio of plug-ins are a mixed bag. NewBlue Video Essentials IV is the strongest, with 10 effects including Fish Eye, Reflection and Drop Shadow. Bleach Bypass boosts contrast in creative ways, Magnifying Glass magnifies a round or square area of the frame, while Skin Touch Up does a surprisingly good job of replacing skin textures with a featureless sheen.

The Skin Touch Up effect – technically impressive and unsettlingly creepy in equal measure

Digieffects Phenomena is a particle effects generator, with presets for adding fog, rain, snow, smoke, fire, sparks and a range of other simulations. There are only 11 in total, though, and the ability to edit their behaviour is limited. As a result, there’s little chance of attaining photorealistic results. That’s forgivable considering the price, but these kinds of presets ought to be more convincing. It’d be better off with fewer weather simulations and more stylised effects such as the Fairy Dust preset.

The Phenomena plug-in adds particle effects, but there’s not much variety or control

ProDAD Adorage is comprised of a range of elaborate transitions, many incorporating animated graphics such as balloons, doves and Christmas baubles. It’s shamelessly cheesy, but high production values and masses of presets mean it has its uses.

Its integration into Movie Edit Pro is pretty baffling, though. The plug-in appears among the effects, but with the exception of a small selection of frames, these are transitions, not effects. The plug-in also appears among the transitions, but the pop-up editor doesn’t appear after adding the plug-in to the timeline. We eventually figured out that we had to drag it to the timeline, select the second of the two clips, click the AB button that appears and select Settings from the long list of options that appear. This bears no relation to how other transitions are managed, and is undocumented in the help pages. It’s also frustrating that even the simple treatments brought preview performance almost to a halt in our tests.

Movie Edit Pro 2013 can synchronise two clips based on their soundtracks, but we doubt many users will ever find it

Preview performance in general lags behind the competition. It managed four simultaneous AVCHD streams on our Core i7 870 PC, which is one more than the previous version but a long way off the leaders. Effects previews are now handled by the graphics processor, taking some of the load off the main processor. While the previous version could only play a single AVCHD stream with the blur effect applied, this version managed two streams with blur applied to each. Any improvement is welcome, but we’ve seen much more dramatic improvements from graphics acceleration in rival software.

The chroma key effect for removing green-screen backgrounds has been revamped, with an anti-spill control that helps to avoid a halo of green around the edges of subjects. It’s only available in certain processing modes, though, and not in the one that gave the most accurate mask. It’s not possible to feather the edges of the mask, nor to tidy up the edges of the green screen by cutting them out manually.

The revamped chroma keying effect still requires that the green screen fills the background (unlike the one in this shot)

Also new is the ability to synchronise two video clips that were shot simultaneously by analysing their soundtracks. This builds on the existing Multicam function for editing material shot with two cameras, but it’s disappointing that it still can’t cope with more than two. We were impressed that the software synchronised our two clips despite lots of background noise and very few distinguishing features in their soundtracks. Sadly, it took us a while to figure out how to use this feature. The Help section states that synchronisation is automatic, but then continues to instruct users to synchronise them manually. We eventually found the necessary command by chance, buried deep within the timeline’s right-click menu.

It’d be unfair to paint a wholly negative picture of Movie Edit Pro 2013. Its timeline controls are responsive and mostly straightforward. There’s a lot to admire too, such as the ability to use 99 tracks and use some powerful effects. However, its weaknesses are much more apparent than its strengths. In a year in which consumer video editors from Sony, Adobe, Serif and Pinnacle have all made great strides, Movie Edit Pro doesn’t hold much appeal. Try Serif MoviePlus X6 instead.