two quick questions: vegas 10 and preview monitor
 

i currently use vegas 8.0c and am quite happy

I've read quite a few negative things about 9, but was wondering if it's worth stepping up to 10?
it seems the greatest additions are faster rendering times and the stabilisation plugin?

also: can you guys advise me for a relatively cheap but good preview monitor?
I am quite tired of using my laptop scree with contant use of filters to balance the image for the known RGB issues?

re stepping up to 10 - try the demo. Whether it's worth it for you will depend on what you want to do with Vegas, I guess. Personally I haven't really noticed any significant rendering time improvement and the stablisation plugin is not so important to me (likewise things like 3D, better support for DSLRs etc).

For me personally, the things that make Vegas 10 a winner are, in no particular order:

- OFX support, which means we can use plugins like Sapphire and Monster from Genarts and Boris Continuum 7 - at least when the next point release of Vegas comes out, which is supposed to stop the frequent crashes. Oh yes, and if we can afford them! For me it's the generators that will be most useful, rather than the effects.

- individual effect parameter keyframing/curves. Brilliant.

- track grouping. Very useful for complex projects.

- audio event level effects. At last.

Those things (plus a few others) made it worth the upgrade cost - for me. I should add that I found Vegas 9/64 to be quite stable under Win7/64

For the monitor part of your question, try ebay. here's a quick search that threw up loads. Video Test Equipment items on eBay UK

For what I'm currently working with, the most important improvements in 10 Pro are:

* Huge improvement in dSLR previews, staying in their native format
* Open FX - the UI of OFX filters is friendlier, more usable, as well as opening a wider world of plugins.
* Keyframing on OFX filter params is outstanding.

Well worth it for my projects... YMMV

Previews
 

I have noticed that on my system, 64 bit OS, the upgrade has allowed me to view larger files 1280 mostly at least Good (full) resolution realtime. But as soon as I use a external monitor everything jumps back to like Good Half or even worse, Preview Half. I am using mostly MXF files out of the P2 card with Raylight 1.2.3 for better processing. I know there are better external monitor solutions like the AJA card interface, but that is not in my budget right now, but I believe that could help. If anyone here is using a real external preview interface, I would love to know if this has improved your real time playback previews to lets say at least Good (full) or better.

Thanks in Advance

John