Talk me into Vegas 6
 

Every time I buy a Sony Z1, they (either Sony or B&H) keep throwing at me a copy of Vegas 6. So I was wondering… should I install it?

I am a committed Adobe person (works fine for me), with absolutely no plans on moving to Vegas for regular editing. On the other hand I’m open minded and without any preconceptions – if there is anything Vegas 6 can do better than Adobe, I wouldn’t mind fragmenting my editing process and throwing my footage into Vegas for a particular step. I will not upgrade to Vegas 7 (please refrain from trying to convince me) – I’m simply trying to put to work something I already have.

The bulk of my work is native HDV editing with PremPro 2 & suite (Audition, AE, Encore, Photoshop) with mostly SD DVD as final product. One particular area where PremPro is weak is the softness when resizing HDV to DV and encoding for DVD. I am not sure if Vegas 6 can even handle HDV but I assume it can since they supply it with an HDV camcorder.

Can you export standard definition AVI from the HDV timeline? In other words, if I import the finished/exported M2T from PremPro to Vegas and export to SD… how’s the quality of the resized footage compared to say VirtualDub (that’s what I use now)?

Can Vegas 6 encode to MPEG2 either directly from HDV or at least from DV? Opinions on the quality?

Thanks,

Yes you can - with excellent quality.

Yes you can - same as you can with DV.

However, you're talking about Vegas 6 when Vegas 7 is current and does a better job editing HDV.

Best bet - install it, give it try, and see if YOU like the results.

Words from a recent Adobe convert are probably the best I could offer...

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=101543

I was an ostrich for about 2 years. While everyone was raving about Vegas, I said I didn't need it, and I continued to use Premiere. This spring I bought 6 and upgrade to 7 through BH, and very inexpensively. Since then, I have learned that Vegas has a lot of great advantages. Color correction is easier, once you get over the difference in GUI, it is actually easier than Premiere, and the encoding to various file formats seems to be superior to Premiere.

I don't remember if 6 comes with DVD Architect, but I think it encodes better than what I've done in Premiere Pro. Can't speak for Encore...

If you want to use Vegas, go to 7, if you don't, stick your head back in the sand....

On every new release of Vegas there has been "some" essential improvement to the tool-set. If you have the time, go read the "What's New" part of past releases. This is exactly what makes Vegas, for me, both enticing and innovative, it's its way it keeps pushing its capabilities - and consequently allowing me more creative freedom.

It was this attitude, to creating change, that I had seen happening from Vegas3 to Vegas4 that convinced me to invest my time=money in being part of the movement towards an ongoing Vegas Experience. And what I quickly gathered and garnered was that it was the professional and passionate way its Users were asking, an already listening group of dedicated engineers, to "make it happen" for them, which in turn fostered my confidence to continue with it, to make it happen for me. Simply put: I heard/read of changes wanted > I then saw them happen!

Hey! Why am I telling you this!? You may end up as a competitor?!??

OK, the Facts, for me:

* Has to have the simplest timeline procedure ever - mind-numbingly, oh so simple Timeline that just has to be experienced to be believed

* Looping Editing procedures that lets me assemble a "draft" piece in almost viewer realtime.

* Media Manager for aggregating media under "on-the-fly" Tagging and relational database searching and reporting ON User definable criteria

* Real Time Colour Correction tools that once seen (I've actually demonstrated this to FCP-ers and PPRo-ers!) makes for an immediate sale!

* A truly extensive range of "must-have" audio tools PLUS a Seamless connection to and from Sound Forge - so seamless that an SF adjusted audio event comes back into Vegas as an alternate audio take!

. . . I won’t go on!

Bring on V8!!! Bring it ON!!

I second Edward's advice - install it, try it out, see how it works for you in the specific areas you find weak in Premiere.

No point trying to convince you to upgrade to the latest version because you seem to have made your mind up about that, but you'd already be one major release and four further point releases out of date - soon to be two major releases. I think you'd be missing out on aspects that improve even further on weaknesses in Premiere.

What version of Premiere are you working with? Are those problem areas not improved in CS3?

I do sometimes wish I'd started out with Premiere, if only for the tight integration with other Adobe products (AE in particular) but Vegas just does it for me in the way I want it done (most times) and I can't find any other good reason to make the move.

I know of people that keep PPro on their machine. It doesn't have to be ONE or the OTHER? Who says? Nobody here is?

If I too had the integration of other Adobe products viz AE then sure - keep it live. You have Adobe products you want when you use Vegas? Keep 'em going.

So the convincing would be about what then?

As I said, my take on it is that there IS an evidential, historic USER<>Engineer relationship going on. To me, this is priceless. If you wish to read about that, then go visit the "What's New" bits.

It's in the spirit of the process of development, rather than the content. But then that tool-set of Vegas is truly flexible and intuitive.

I'd like to know why you haven't installed the demo? Now THAT would be interesting, as any convincing can only come with experiencing it - whatever we say kinda is playing the game of "Why don't you?" > "Yes but . . . "

Give it a go!!

Grazie

I think he hasn't installed the demo because he's already got the full copy with his cam purchase!

(Not sure who your last post was aimed at, Grazie!).

If you DO install Vegas 6, make sure you have the most current version. Here's a link to the 6.0d update:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...p2.asp?DID=579

The PPRo stuff was additional to your comments about PPro and AE.

The item about not knowing if he had or hadn't was - er - addressed to our friend. I still want to know WHY he hasn't tried it out? Demo or the full version - I'm not fussy that way!

And my last comment was a kindly reflection on our attempts for him to be persuaded? He's got the s/w - try it out!

Grazie

Got it! Ta!

I see that Sony probably will be releasing a Vegas Version 8 at a show on Sept. 7th. Hold out before you buy Vegas-7. You may be able to upgrade to Vegas 8 for a good price.