Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Anybody know if Sony has any plans to create a Mac version? Seems Premiere Pro is cleaning up right now by supporting both platforms, in addition to having great software in a great suite. Vegas on the Mac would do well.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Vegas runs fine on a Mac - as long as you're using Windows. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a Mac specific version.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Vegas leverages too much of Windows for there to be a Mac OS version.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Why should Sony almost double the development and support costs just to include a minority platform?

Steve

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

One thought could be a higher percentage of the creative types using mac compared to the overall general market. Although, if it's cost effective to develop a mac version so may be another question. I guess if you want a Vegas type NLE on the mac you'll currently have to go for FCP X.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Despite a large part of the mac's market lying with the creative media user, I doubt whether that fits in with Sony's corporate strategy including that for Vaio products. They have a track record of supporting one market from another product range, e.g. PS3 giving Blu-Ray the winning edge.
Adobe on the other hand is after all just a software provider with their main market in the professional graphics business and publishing.
Other than avoiding the need to buy a PC to run it on, I can't see what the mac as a hardware platform would do to benefit video editing in Vegas.

Steve

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Yes, Sony is in the PC manufacturing camp, so I guess that makes it as likely they'll make a mac version of Vegas as for Apple to make a window version of FCP.

I guess you could always boot into windows on your mac. Some people are doing that with Lightworks beta pending the mac version becoming available.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

The purpose for this post was more to see what you guys thought of Vegas going dual platform. Do you see the emergence of the Mac as a threat or opportunity for Vegas - which I see as perhaps the best editor available for many levels of users.

I'm watching my friends and colleagues switch to Mac in droves. At work Mac will probably garner well over 50% 0f 1,200 employees as we update computers over the next 12 months. I'll be getting my first Mac in April at work having used PC's exclusively since 1984. I'll likely try bootcamp or parallel with Vegas on the Mac, but still have a PC at home.

To answer the question why Sony would add complexity by supporting two platforms; it seems two things are happening:

1. We're in a two platform world and the Mac is winning market share. Companies like Adobe have much to gain by supporting both platforms. FCP, Vegas, and other single platform NLE's/graphics have much to lose if sharing is difficult or impossible.
2. Mac has made the integration of phone, iPad, to iMac/Air... incredibly fluid, painless, and productive. It just seems to "work".
3. Fewer and fewer of us are willing to be IT technicians setting up hardware, networks, and troubleshooting. My Apple friends just seem to have less problems and their systems work longer.
4. Computers are becoming so capable that ultimate horespower isn't as important as it used to be. Perhaps editing is one of the last bastions valuing elite hardware. but even we are on the steep curve of diminishing value returns.

My 2010 i7-950 and GTX 470 is plenty capable and now easily bested by newer hardware. In my next system I will place more value on stability, ease of ntegration, and longevity over processing speed. I'll dip my toe into Mac waters and I'm sure I'll be the wiser to its warts and limitations.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

I don't see where the Mac is particularly more "emergent" these days as compared to how it's always been, particularly in the video editing field (i.e., ~9-11% of the overall computer market, and probably a majority of the "prosumer"-level editing world; it's been pretty consistent all along). I don't see where it affects Vegas either way any more than it always did.

But in any case, as I said above, Vegas leverages Windows for a lot of its internal functions, so porting over to Mac OS would probably result in a very different program. There is no reason to think there's any plan to do this.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Here is the problem with your logic:

1) Most of the Apples sold these days are those all-in-one machines that cannot be upgraded at all (or have their internal components permanently sealed from user accessability) - and their performance is only on a par with a good laptop PC at best. They do not support more than one single hard drive internally (video editing requires a minimum of two fast hard drives - but most currently available consumer external hard drive kits are too slow for use for anything besides backups), and they come with laptop-class GPUs (no desktop-class GPUs) and often low-power, lower-performance CPUs (this is to minimise or even avoid the risk of overheating in such cramped systems when they are stressed by such taxing video editing programs - and again, at the serious expense of performance).

2) The only Apples that are IMHO any good for video editing are the super-expensive (and internally user-upgradable) Mac Pros - but those machines have not been updated at all since the current iteration of the line debuted in September 2010. And their internal components are clearly previous-generation, which means that the future of that line is uncertain. Worst of all, Apple has not reduced the price of the systems at all - and they continue to charge exhorbitant prices for any available hardware upgrades (as much as seven times what those exact same parts sell for elsewhere). That pricing is another reason for the uncertain future of the line.

3) Increasing video resolutions (in the future) will only demand even more processing speed. There is absolutely no way at all whatsoever around this fact.

So in other words, Apple is shooting itself in the foot as far as the Mac platform is concerned. On the one hand, they are investing in newer-generation hardware - but then, they are resticting the use of such newer hardware to their lower-end all-in-ones where performance expectations are relatively low to begin with. One step up, two steps back.

By the way, my current main editing rig, powered by an i7-2600K, is clearly being held back by the GTX 470, which does not perform all that much faster than a non-Ti GTX 560 or an even older-gen GTX 285.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

More than that, I suspect the Mac may be on the way out entirely, as more and more of Apple is devoted to consumer electronics and music downloads.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

With Steve Jobs dead, does anyone seriously expect Apple to continue coming up with new and revolutionary products?

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Thanks for your input. This computer's main purpose is for office work and travel, although I sometimes edit single camera pieces from a point-and-shoot camera or a t2i for business presentation purposes. If the MacAir can't handle that, I have editing PC's at the office and at home loaded with Vegas Pro & Adobe.

On a side note, the firms we hire at work for high end graphics and video work overwhelmingly use Macs. I'll be watching carefully to see if they switch platforms given the disappointment of FCPX and the comments on this and other threads about Apple steering towards the average consumer and away from the high end user. Adobe CS appears to be positioned beautifully in the market right now.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

They mightn't need to change, since AVID and Premiere, the main NLE programs that people seem to being considering for replacing FCP7, can be used on either PC or Mac.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

But this is not new .. that has always been the Mac wheelhouse ... creative types. If anything, from my viewpoint, it's PCs that have crept more and more into Mac territory in that arena. It used to be that you could hardly find any kind of graphics, design, etc. software being used by pros on a PC - it was all mac --- now you see a lot of PC, not only for video, but graphics as well.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Ken,

At work we recently purchased a dedicated system for CS5 and after talking with Adobe, they recommended the HP800Z over the Mac as their preferred platform. Another person in the company went for the Mac desktop for the same application. I've been meaning to run a few render comparisons, but haven't gotten around to it.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Adobe CS runs better in Windows, especially Premiere, and Premiere has a bit more functionality in Windows as well.

Plus there are more GPU options for taking advantage of the MPE for Windows machines.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

(is there) Any Hope for the Mac? ;-)

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Not really, once it ceases to be regarded as a fashion accessory. I doubt that Job's successor will have the same religious following.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Does anybody know whether VMS and Vegas Pro's market share is growing/shrinking and by how much?

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

i would think with the problems plaguing 11 that pro's market will be shrinking, if not now, then upon next version release.

okay, that isn't based on anything but my, and few other peoples opinion (i don't think there's any 'official' release figures for scs). we will NOT be buying into 12 until it is proved stable and reliable. i expected some hic-ups with 11, but we're nearly a year into release (?) with a couple of updates and it's still dodgy - most certainly for many NOT enterprise ready.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Im writing this on my Hack Pro.
I use both platforms, Ive tried a few times to get Vegas going on the Mac side with VMware fusion, the closest to usable was a very light install of XP on an SSD with Vegas 9.
Was ok for quick edits, but anything heavy would slow it right down.
Mac's are nice, no doubt, installing and un installing software on OSX doesnt seem to wear down an OSX install like it does on Windows.
Pretty as they are, I dont think they are worthy of the 'Fanboy look down my nose at Windows users', type attitude that some people have. It is changing now though, the amount of guys coming back to Windows after the FCX release is amazing.
The handy part about having a Mac in your arsenal is that when you have to deliver to somebody else in Pro res you can just say....ok.
But now I think you are good anyway with 5DtoRGB to convert to Prores from Windows.
FWIW I have just ordered a new system, For fun I tried to configure a new Mac Pro to get similar performance to my new box, 3930k 32 gb ram etc
The cost of mine was sub 3k
I stopped playing with the Mac configurator when it got past 10k.
Interesting thoughts about Vegas 12, is 11 that bad? Ive had issues with the GPU but apart from that I thought it had been ok.
Vegas 12 will be up against a whole new OS (Windows 8 ) which will have to make things more complicated for everyone concerned, there are enough bugs now on one OS apparently, soon the SCS boys will have to chase down W7 bugs AND W8 bugs.... fun times ahead, lol.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

hi gerald,

my observation was based 'loosely' on info gleaned from assorted user groups, friends, and somewhat on my own personal experiences.

11 has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for me. at present we seem to be on a straight ;-) and going smoothly, even if i can't see what's ahead, i know what's behind was a mish-mash of bugs, bad communications from scs - and still is regarding gpu technicalities - combined with additional 'junk' suck as 3d which, afaic, should have been spruked in vegas studio rather than a pro nle WHICH still doesn't have any, even basic, collaborative tools such as edl export import.

so, 11 isn't that bad NOW, but if 12 + win8 is in the least bit like 11 + gpu, i'll give it a miss till i read that it IS solid and truly reliable.

i make my living from vid production and i am NOT a beta tester for released software!

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

I agree completely Leslie,
if a guy relies on his software to get the jobs out the door day after day all year you absolutely have to have something you can count on ALL the time. (Prob why the previous versions of FCP were so loved in the industry ).
I'm only really busy a cpl of times throughout the year, and then have the December rush of concerts and Weddings where the pressure is really on.
In my quiet time Im trying to learn other systems with the dream being, If one lets you down, change!
Already got my head around Premiere, Going to try LightWorks next.
On the exporting EDL front, Im sure I saw on another forum somewhere there is now an AFX script that will import a Vegas EDL.
If it goes into After effects it should then go into Premiere then you can get an XML and then and then..... lol jump through a hundred hoops.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

You sure did see it Gerald.
I grabbed this script off another forum some time ago and stuck it in a folder on my hard drive "just in case".
That "case" came up on a different forum a few weeks ago, I posted it and the guy loved it.
Here it is, just for you :)
Do a 'right-click save' as on the following link.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20488019/ImportSonyVegasEDL.zip

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

thanks Mike,
awesome :)

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

mike, i think you should post over at scs as well ;-)

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Sony Creative Software still has a lot of bugs to fix in their Vegas software...

On the other hand, there is good news for those who is considering purchasing a Mac (an upgradable tower Mac Pro, at that): Apple is reportedly working on a new line of Mac Pros, which will reportedly use Intel's new Ivy Bridge CPUs that are scheduled to be released this April. And even better: Apple's new 2012 Mac Pros will reportedly switch back to nVidia for their discrete GPU brand of choice, meaning that we may see those cross-platform editing apps such as Adobe's forthcoming Premiere Pro CS6 "officially" support CUDA acceleration on more Mac-specific nVidia GPUs than just a limited number of Quadros.

EDIT: I take back what I stated here. The above was based on rumours at MacWorld. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

So I've played with FCPX, and although very clever, isn't for me at this point. I've also downloaded CS6 and it looks fantastic. It combines upgrades from CS5.5 and incorporates some of the best things from FCPX - and works well while keeping some similarity to the NLE workflow that I'm used to - and its dual platform. Hate to relearn editing, but it doesn't seem to be a huge deal.

I think I'm a CS6 convert after using Vegas for many years.

Re: Any Hope for Vegas on the Mac
 

Going a bit Off Topic, when one considers the threads about ‘compatibility mode’ to help cure Vegas crashes and the explanation being that Vista and Windows 7 have eliminated certain legacy parts of Windows AND considering that my system is Vista with Windows 7 on top of it as in upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 instead of a total re-install and Vegas does not crash on my system, it is no surprise to me that with the various ways of installing Windows that some have a lot of crashes, some have few crashes and some have none.

Might also in addition to workflow be a reason for the replaced events problem?

Note: My work drives are kept clean. I have a T drive and a V drive. TV drives LOL!

T is for temp files and V is for video files. There is only one project on my system at a time. All other projects are on backup USB 3 drives that are offline while I edit. There are no available events from other projects to replace the ones on my current active project.

Sorry about the OT here but I thought this might be helpful.