Video Deluxe

Rating:
Summary: Buy at your own risk after reading this review
Review: It sounds extreme, but in my opinion, this program is terrible. I got it for $$ and now I am trying to get my money back. In the reviews it sounds very good. I used it on a Window 2000 computer with 768 meg. of memory and an 80 gig hard drive with an AMD 1.3 ghz processor and a NVidia TNT2 32 meg. video card. My regular job is as a Computer Support Specialist and Programmer so I work with - many programs. Here's my experience that supports the poor rating I give the program...
= Right after the installation of the program, it automatically starts up the Video Deluxe program. When it did, immediately it came up with an "Error loading audiovis.dll" message. The program did continue to load. Twice when I subsequently started the program, that error message occurred. What effects it has in using the program I don't know.
= Twice when I exported a movie using QuickTime Movie Export with all default settings except sound set to 11k and Mono, the Video Deluxe froze up the computer an hour into the render. I gave up. (Note - I have 25+ other major software programs on this machine that I've used for a year and they work fine..
= When you are Exporting (rendering), which can take 9 hours like it did to an .AVI file, there is no dialog to Cancel it once it begins. When I did ESC to stop an export, the Video Deluxe froze up and in the Win 2k - Task Manager it said "Program not Responding" and I had to crash the program to stop it.
= The Help in the program is terrible. For instance, when I went to do an Export, a dialog popped up asking if I wanted to export a range or the whole movie. In Help, there is no data at all on how to set a Range. At times the Help came up in German, not English.
= I finally dug up some info that - inferred indirectly - on how to set a Range when I looked in help on info about the "Edit Menu". I used the info to set a Beginning Marker and End Marker per their directions. I even tested the settings by using Zoom to Range between Beginning and End markers, and the program - did - zoom to the range I setup. But then when I used the Edit Menu - Range Extract which Help says will delete everything in the video - except - the range, Video Deluxe did the opposite. It removed the range I wanted to keep instead and kept the rest of the movie.
I could go on about other things that were disappointing in the 3+ hours I wasted on the program (like how their Tutorial video is so distorted when it plays, you cannot even read it's screen examples).
My job is working with software 50-60 hours a week and the 3+ hours I spent repeatedly trying to use this program to perform the simple tasks I purchased it for, were wasted. The program might have been conceived of by a genius, but it was implemented by poor design and bugs.

Rating:
Summary: Good Low priced NLE Software
Review: Magix Video Deluxe is a great piece of software. It would be a five if the manual was worth the paper it's printed on. It does everything the novice to intermediate NLE editor needs, but you'll have to figure it all out yourself. I can't say too many times. THE MANUAL IS USELESS. Maybe that's how Magix can sell this product at such a low price point. Also you could grow a beard waiting for their support to answer the phone.
In Summation:
Buy this software, but be ready to devote some time to learning how it works.

Rating:
Summary: Full-Featured Program with No Manual
Review: The features of this little program are mind-boggling but it doesn't do you much good if there isn't any guidance on how to use it. The manual that is provided by the manufacturer is the most sorry example of a "How To" I have ever seen. The application also offers video tutorials but they fall woefully short on delivering the level of information a reasonably intelligent beginner needs. I have no doubt that, with time, someone can figure out all the bells, gongs and whistles but unless you have experience in professional video editing , this program is NOT for the average individual. Too bad something this slick can't provide a better user manual!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome price / Lots of features
Review: This product is a great buy. Most video editing software with this many features easily runs for about $(...). Video deLuxe is easy to use and came with a load of features .....for (a lot less).