So what is the best flavor of Vista to run Vegas8. Any major draw backs to Home Premium? Will it run on 64 bit as the 32 bit Vista will only "see" 3 to 3.5 gigs of RAM?

Thanks,

Konrad

Took a look at the screen shots. Am I missing something? - looks almost exactly like 7. Not a bad thing, I just thought I'd see more of a change to reflect some of the features.

Where does it say BluRay burning? I looked on the Sony site and I didn't see any mention of it. Ofcourse its late, I need to go to bed, and so I may have missed it. Thanks - PK

Is the new DVDA going to have auto save???*#!!

I'm basically in the same boat as you. I can do without the authoring just so I can have a BD. And it will still be sometime before I have a BD burner and player anyway. Maybe by that time Sony will have an interim relaase to DVDA to author BDs.

i've read about the issues with authoring BD. it has to do with java and basically learning how to code java in order to author the BD disc. if you do not want to code, someone (like the vegas programming team) must create templates of codes so that we can achieve certain fx.

this means vegas9 might have BD authoring capability?

Look at some of the sub-pages - you'll see a couple of Vegas screens you haven't seen before!

Vegas certainly is not progressing at the same rate as the big guns (FCS2 is amazing, for example). For me the highlights of Vegas 8 are 32-Bit Floating Point Video Processing, Multicamera Workflow, and ProType Titler. Considering the titler should have been much better to begin with, I can't consider it an upgrade. I don't do multicamera shoots yet, but I hope the 32-bit float processing will make a visible difference. That's it for me...

BD-J is necessary for the most advanced, interactive features, but it's not necessary. I believe that no Blu-ray title currently on the market yet uses BD-J. I seem to remember that Disney's "Cars" will be the first disc to include BD-J. It will list all makes and models of cars featured in the film, and will let you go to the scenes for each type of car.

At NAB I spoke with a Sonic representative. They were showing the pro version, which cost $5k. Their consumer version (not at the show) cost $500, and was similar to consumer DVD authoring packages (basic menus only.)

Considering that there are still no BD-J titles available, I don't know that the $5k Sonic package includes BD-J. It might be that you author Java in a separate tool, such as J-Builder or Intelli-J, and the Sonic tool lets you integrate the Java code. However, I believe that you can author basic animations and such without Java, but you need Java to implement interactivity over the Internet.

Anyway, I believe that there are these levels of authoring:
0) Burn only (like in V8, apparently)
1) Menus only (consumer grade)
2) Menus and animations (pro grade)
3) Menus, animations and Internet-enabled interactivity (advanced, with BD-J)

If you go by "look," then Vegas is the same as it was nearly 10 years ago. Changing the over all look and feel of an application is not only expensive and challenging, it's often bad juju. People get comfortable with an appearance and then don't want to learn a new workflow or layout.
There are many significant upgrades in Vegas8 from the Trimmer and Titler to under the hood/less visible changes. For instance, seeing a frame marker on every event is very useful/helpful, but certainly not a bullet point feature.

Perhaps the different "look" is from the changes mentioned by Sony:
"New in Vegas Pro 8 software are some radical advancements for customizing the layout and positioning of the traditional Vegas layout. The timeline can now be at the top or the bottom of the application. Docking window tabs can be at the top of bottom of the dock."

Those particular options are already available in version 7.

DSE,
My bigger wish (since Vegas4) is an overwrite mode and a track lock button. Two very basic features.
In the Sony forum, very few people asking for this and after seeing the V8 screenshots, I have no illusion: V8 don’t seem to have those features (so paradoxical for a product with “PRO” in his name…)
As a beta tester, please can you tell me if you know some editor using Vegas as a cutter (on long documentary project)?
How are they dealing with this lack?

TIA
Gilles

If I understand you correctly, there is a lock button in tools, and to replace an event with another one, there is "replace" in project media, or to overwrite an event by another event at the timeline level there is the "Takes" feature. But maybe you have something else in mind since you say that you have been asking for this for a long time.

I am using Vegas to edit a feature film.

True, there is no button but the feature is still available to lock an event:
Edit -> Switches -> Lock

To replace media: Right-click a file in the Project Media window, and choose Replace from the shortcut menu.

You can also use takes as Paul Fierlinger suggested.