More Plug ins for Vegas Video
 

Once again the same very generous software developer has added another plug in for Vegas and Premiere.
See link below. Very exciting to be a Vegas user at this time!
http://www.debugmode.com/pluginpac/

From announcement on the debugmode site:
PluginPac is a free suite of special effects video plug-ins for video editors/NLEs like Vegas Video, Adobe Premiere, Wax etc. Currently 3 plugins have been completed and made available for public download. These plugins are called 3D LE (Lite Edition) Shatter3D and PixelStretch are available only for Vegas Video (3.0c and above). A few other plugins are being developed and also being extended to support Adobe Premiere and Wax. These extensions and new plugins will be available in future releases.

Thanks, Rick.

I'm just slowly making a list and pricing computer parts for a Vegas setup. It'll take me a couple of months---in my spare time. I have one question for you, however, Vegas related.

How much does the Vegas 3 software bundle cost? (I haven't yet had the time to get the price.)

Thanks, again!

shopping around for vv3 can save you a lot of money. If you have a student ID, you can get vv3 for an incredibly cheap price of $159.00US. If you can't get a student discount, DVDirect has it for $350US. If you want a bundle with Sound Forge, Noise Reduction Plugin and Acid4 with 5.1 surround sound recording capability, the bundle will run you $1000US at Videoguys.

I think it would be wise to act soon, because the rumor is VV4 will be released early next year and the price will be much higher. People who are already SoFo customers have always been given huge price discounts on the purchase of upgraded software.

Hope this helps.

http://www.dvdirect.com/shop/product.asp?sku=SFD2021

This company is selling it for 350.00 on-line.
Hard copy.

This software is the best deal going.
Don't let the price fool you.
It matches almost feature for feature to software for 600.00 to 2,000.00

Good luck with your new system.

Get a gig of DDR Ram, and the fastest CPU at the sweet point.
ie: P4-2.6 or 2.4 is at a good price right now.

Cheers,

The cheapest way to purchase Vegas (if you don't have a student ID) is directly from Sonic Foundry. Go to their website and purchase Video Factory for $70. Wait for the e-mail with the serial number and then purchase the *update* to Vegas for $200.

I'd like to note that 3d plugin pac works with earlier builds of Vegas than c. I have a or b, and it works fine. Don't know why anyone would want to know this, but it's out there now.

So, why not get the FREE upgrade to "c"? The lastest version has many bug fixes and works great.

BTW, you have to have either 3.0 or 3.0a since the file I sent you would not open and the file changes came with version b. Plus, version b was only available for about a day.

I want C, but damnit, it's 30 megs and I got other stuff do besides sit and wait for a download. I'll get it tonight.

Do you know what the video capture update does?

Thanks, people. $350 US isn't bad. When I get my system together, I'll just try to get the latest version. Oh, and I'm no student, and I'm pushing 50. (Everything still works, though, well sort of.)

"$350 US isn't bad."

You bet! Like I said, after you find out how powerful and user friendly this program is you will wonder why they don't charge more.

Cheers,

Don't worry...they're gonna charge a lot more for VV4

As they should.


Unfortunately people predictably act with suspicion by price=quality
perceived value wins over true quality 9 out of 10 times.

Exactly!! I happened to mention at the VAST tour that I attended in Denver that I had hesitated to buy VV3 because I didn't think the price point reflected professional grade software. My comment received a note of frustration from DSE with the comment that "I've heard this more often than I can say". And, the subsequent statement that this would be "fixed" in version 4...there ya go!!

>>And, the subsequent statement that this would be "fixed" in version 4...there ya go!!<<

Gee Bill, thanks to you the price is going up. Thanks a lot. Really, it's all your fault darn it. hehehehe. lol.

Ya go ahead and blame the faceless in the crowd....hahahahaha

Forget about the price, I still can't believe I bought a software package called "Vegas Video".

Sounds like a real crap shoot to me. What are the odds it will work, and so on. What marketing genius thought that one up?

"Vegas Video" strikes me as only slightly better than 'Girls Gone Wild' Video. I'm sure there would be no shortage of plug-ins for that one.

Rick

Jersey City, NJ ?
and your complaining about Vegas?

They did their way baby!

Yow, you down there in Phillie, we call Jersey City the extreme west side of Manhattan.

If those folks in Minnesota had just named Vegas something else I wouldn't have waited so long to buy it.

They really should should change the name. Avid has a nice ring to it. No, I guess that is already taken.

"Yow, you down there in Phillie, we call Jersey City the extreme west side of Manhattan".

More like:
YO. yuse down nare e Phildefia,


-Canopus orphan

Out here in the great Gobi desert, everything east of the mississippi is considered NYC...hehehehhe

"Maybe thats the problem at Sonic---they need a new marketing guy---"

Or maybe one not so fond of showgirls.

Rick

You guys are C~O~L~D. SoFo is great because they are responsive to users(aka you 'n me) needs and inputs. You don't really want marketing guys involved or we'll all regret it.

Yeah, but I doubt it'll cost as much as Avid, or FCP. If it will, I'll just kiss it off and wish it luck. (Being a guy, I have experience with this, if you know what I mean.)

<<<-- Originally posted by Bill Ravens : You guys are C~O~L~D. SoFo is great because they are responsive to users(aka you 'n me) needs and inputs. You don't really want marketing guys involved or we'll all regret it. -->>>

It is all in fun. I truly want SoFo to succeed and bad marketing can tank the best products and the best company.

Bill, Just for the record. I love Sonic Foundry and promote their products to everyone who might be interested.

Vegas is closer to editing nirvana then any other editor I've used.

Cheers,

LOL...I know...just kidding you guys.

My feelings on price increase is this. I can understand that, as software becomes more powerful and sofisticated the price should increase. No problem with that. Howbeit, it should be in accordance with it's current base price. To increase price in an attempt to attract a particular market is by no means a way to increase sales. The worth of the product will inevidably do that. It's not an overnight thing. When I started using Vegas (about 8 months ago), there was very little mentioned about it in forums that were not specific to Vegas. Now, the Vegas name is dropped just about everywhere. What does that say?
As for me, I research beyond how much a product costs when I need to make a decision of it's quality. (my budget dictates this). If, as mentioned by another poster, and I'm sure there are plenty more out there, the price of Vegas moves to the FCP or Avid arena, I will be staying with version 3. Maybe when version 5 comes out, I will be able to buy a discount version 4 on Ebay or something.
If the price goes up, and by this I mean...way up, I can imagine what type of posts I'll read next year. Probably something like..."Vegas is a really good product, but if you don't use EDL and can organize you clips in explorer (like so many do), then see if you can find a copy of version 3....version 4 costs too d--- much!"

just my 2 cents

Pricing is complicated. A friend of mine, an entrepreneur who has made a few million here and there, a skill that has never rubbed off on me somehow, was test marketing a new line of computer painted portraits. He found that the acceptance rates went up as he raised the price, within limits. Or at least that a lower cost caused folks to wonder about quality and value.

IF Avid Xpress is seliing at $1,500 and Premeir goes for around $600, it is silly for Vegas Video to have a street price of $350. Buyers relate price and value. SoFo cannot price like Avid but should probably consider positioning themselves at or slightly above Adobe.

(Of course, speaking as a VV3 buyer, upgrades from 3.0 should be free. ;) )

Rick

I used to work for an aerospace manufacturer a few years in the past. Their pricing philosophy was to basically sell their quite technologically advanced product at cost. Then, they made their profit on the maintenance and spare parts sales of that product. This philosophy worked quite well for them. As I said before, we don't want marketing people to get too deeply involved in the design and sale of a product.

OTOH, if you've read the recent articles about AMD's slippage in the development of technology, that's a case in point of how net profit is rolled back into a product to fund its development.

I can very clearly understand that SoFo may introduce their product below market value, then raise the price as it becomes well known and popular. If they didn't do this, they can't keep up with technology. I'd rather pay more for a good product, than pay less for a product with a limited lifetime. The real world of IT is quite a competitive environment in the best of times...and we're all suffering in the worst of economic times.

Sonic Foundry may not be in business much longer
 

I thought I'd jump in to share these thoughts, which were offered a few weeks ago by a friend of mine who is both a Vegas video user and a Sonic Foundry stock owner (for the record, I'm not, at least not yet.) FYI the 5 or 6 people I discussed this with since pretty much all agreed

1 - SoFo has unbelievably great software engineers. Both their established sound editing software and the newer video products (VV especially) are amazing.

2 - SoFo made an unbelievably stupid mistake by using the word "Vegas" for a professional-level, otherwise excellent product. I'm one of the thousands (tens of thousands?) of people who initially completely bypassed the product when I saw the name. "Vegas"? What the H*LL were they thinking?!

3 - SoFo may not be in business much longer - or at least not among the heavy weights - if their marketing people and deal makers don't wake up VERY soon and do their job right. Why? Because their stock is at a very high risk from being delisted if it doesn't get back above $1 very soon and stays there. The consequences could be dire for the company and all its customers.

Fixes aren't that hard. Here's what he suggested:

- Replace the moronic Vegas name by something that would help SoFo establish credibilty and reinforce name recognition, like the obvious "Video Forge" or "AV Forge" which would echo Sound Forge very nicely.

- Make deals with MANY other companies NOW to get the product bundled with hardware, etc. as Adobe started doing once they realized that Premiere's king-of-the-hill status was threatened (it's a smart business decision, note that they don't *really* do that with Photoshop...)

- Keep the price much lower than competitors UNTIL the product is established and the company's future is less in jeopardy.

I too would like for Sonic Foundry to succeed. But are they listening?


MJ

FWIW....

The name "Vegas Video" has been discussed ad infinitum until the cows come home. SoFo has made it clear that there will NOT be a name change and has asked that the subject be dropped.

Many, many software makers and IT companies are currently at risk for having their stock delisted. SoFo is not alone and this is no surprise to anyone. NASDAQ will delist any company whose stock dips below 1$ per share....of which there are many companies, as I've already pointed out. SoFo is not in danger of going out of business.

Announcing this in the manner you did doesn't help anyone, least of all SoFo. I suggest we avoid panic statements and let SoFo (and the future) take care of itself.

"3 - SoFo may not be in business much longer - or at least not among the heavy weights - if their marketing people and deal makers don't wake up VERY soon and do their job right. Why? Because their stock is at a very high risk from being delisted if it doesn't get back above $1 very soon and stays there."

delisting does NOT mean BYE - BYE ... most stocks that gets delisted then go over to the NASDQ OTB board .. a further downfall would be the PINK SHEETS ... now it is more difficult to raise $$ when you are on the OTB ...

even filing for chapter 11 ( or is it 7) doesn't mean BYE BYE as you might see happening with UNITED AIRLINES - INFACT most companies come out of chapter 11 (7) in better/stronger financial condition because they get rid of DEBT ....

even PG&E is in chapter 11 which up till that filing date ALL so called finnacials adviser would have told you that the SAFEST place for your $$ was PG&E stock or PG&E bonds !!!

Ok folks, no one should count SoFo out but they are definately at risk. The stock falling from a high of around 64 to about 1 is a good hint.

Looking at their financials tells the story. Last year they had an operating loss of something like $16m on $26 million of sales. Sales were flat between 2000 and 2001. They burned through $14 million in cash leaving them about $9m left. Not a real encouraging trend.

This year has been better, if only by comparison. They have trimmed makerketing & admin costs and are still losing money but at a slower rate. In the first nine months of the year they burned through an additional $3m in cash.

My biggest concern looking at the numbers is that this will be the second year in which sales have been flat or declining. Anybody who says that the engineering is great so don't worry about marketing should take a close look at the financials.

Like my grandpa used to tell me, "If your income is less than your outflow, it is sure to be your downfall."

Rick

The tech bubble gave a lot of cash out to a lot of companies. Based on this reality.
Looking at the last three years of the companies financials is not a crystal ball by any means.
The bubble burst but forge will recover. It was doing well before the bubble and the trend looks good for a full recovery.

IMHO

For what it's worth, it's not in the name so much as in the reputation and with the growing number of satisfied customers. Speaking of United, they owe my wife about $2000 US. Don't ask, it's a sad, sad story. Personally, I feel sorry for their workers, but hope to h_ll the people running the show get their just reward. But this will never happen, of course.