Give it a try
 

There were many great responses on why Vegas, but hey the best way is to try it. That's how I made the switch, I downloaded the demo, gave it a try and never looked back.

I love Vegas! great app. I have been using it sinc v3. and my last project was on v7. I am selling my pc though. I decided to switch to FCP last Oct. and i am having a rough time adapting to FCP. First off I am teaching myself which is tuff. But Apple says FCP edits real time, i dont think so.. Vegas is REAL TIME. I can make adjustments to keyframes, transitions, and audio, as the program is playing the time line. I love that kind of power and ease of use. I am having hell with my audio in FCP.. I hope the new version they are releasing at NAB will be a REAL TIME NLE program. So i decided to dual boot my mac and set up Vegas 7 on there too. I do feel that FCP makes a more pro looking video, i had hard time compressing my videos and having them look clean in Vegas.

On the fly
 

VEgas seems to be the most "on the fly" edit app. I used Liquid (horrible!), avid (better but everything seemed hidden or part of a seperatly purchased plugin), and yes even Windows Movie Maker.

Since I never used any of them previously I seemed to "click" with vegas fastest. Then I found this forum which pretty much taught me almost everything I know.

It was also cheaper than anything else and included DVDArch. for mastering.

That allowed me to buy the $3200 alienware system to power it.

big plus here
 

I never could understand why there was this need to render in order to see what you were working on. That was a big plus for vegas.

Peter J. also mentioned looping playback with on-the-fly adjustments. I use this more than anything else. Set the loop, hit playback, adjust color correction, adjust audio, adjust in / out points, etc etc. That is my single most used feature.

jason

Right. I was doing a little project on FCP this morning and only wanted to apply light compression to a VO. Strangely, playback stops when you want to adjust an audio filter parameter. OK, I know enough about audio that I had minimal hit-and-miss to get to my desired settings, but I was reminded how good Vegas is for this type of thing. Loop, listen, adjust while listening.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no power user of FCP, maybe there's something I'm missing.

I moved over to Vegas from Avid Liquid... I find Vegas one of the most stable editors that I have used... slick interface too. The Avid liquid 7.2 update is coming out... supposed to fix all the bugs and add a few things.... too little, too late for me.... won't be returning to liquid.... Enjoy Vegas way too much.

I thought this was good --

Excerpt from blog:

Vegas is in may ways heading in a similar vein to Adobe but in the somewhat opposite direction - rather than half a dozen apps in one box, Vegas is embracing complete editing, audio production and effective compositing in the one app rather than across different apps. Sound Forge is amazing audio surgery, Acid is an incredibly powerful multi-track recorder and sequencer but the truth is that Vegas doesn't Need either to function is a very holistic manner for end to end production. Vegas is very much part of the new bread and the three A's would do well to watch very closely what Vegas does every step forward form here as it has always been two steps ahead of them.

http://blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc.c...entry/20070411

I started using Vegas at the end of 2006 and I must say I really like it. I do have to develop my skills however. A lot can be done but you really need to take the time to find everything out. I have Douglas' book as well as all Vasst Vegas training DVDs which are really helpful. I am now editing a large project and when I am done I going to continue with the book and the dvd's.

What I really like is the visibility of everything. It is really intuitive. Douglas once mentioned that creative people are more likely to love the Vegas interface and mathematical people like the Avid/FCP look and I think there is truth in that. One thing I do miss are the double monitor screens. But I really need to start loving the Vegas loop region way of achieving the same more easily.

For me, the program really works. I only need to start remembering the shortcuts so I can get my editing speed up significantly!

I have Vegas 7, PPRo 1.5.1 and Edius Pro3. For realtime Edius is the only one that can output realtime to tape from the timeline for almost all effects,transitions etc. I have DVRaptor RT2 card and use this to monitor or output DV. Vegas is the slowest for real output ( to tape or file). So if there are no issues that require fine keyframe control etc then the editor of choice is Edius. If I need to pan, rotate image and keyframe almost anything I do it in Vegas( or PPRo as this has numeric input for some things like rotation and easy traveling matte controls) same for all audio mixing too. But because of the really slow encoding/rendering I usually do just the piece that needs the changes then take it back into Edius.
I think its important not to get too stuck on one program, I even use Womble and Ulead Moviefactory sometimes.
This is all a hobby for me, has been from before I retired and have used Vegas from first release( mainly for audio), Edius from first release and also Premiere from first release, tried Ulead a few times too!!!!. Used Fast Video Machine before that. I tend to use the tool that does the job best rather than make the one tool do everything. I like all the programs I have for what they do best. I have my Shuttle controller set up so that the buttons all do the same thing for all the NLE's make switching between them really easy.
Ron Evans

It just works Great
 

You've probably gotten enough already, but here's my 2 cents.
Why Vegas? I'm a PC guy. I have both the adobe suite and Vegas+dvd. From what I can see, Adobe and FCP are similar. Anyways, I though Premier, was nicer looking (but really the Vegas interface shows you more detail of what you need to see) and yes the snob appeal of Adobe having a more "pro" image/reputation. Vegas works a little differently, but once you get the hang of it it is extremely flexible, capable, stable, and much much quicker and easier to work with - just like all the other respondents have stated. Oh yes, the dvd output image quality seems better as well, plus 5.1 sound support is included. I was reluctant to become a Vegas guy, but now I'm a confirmed diehard believer. I rarely fire up the adobe suite, except as a novelty on really simple projects. Not to sway you, but just try to find someone who has left Vegas for something else. Not too many out there, unless there job/career required them to use some other NLE.

Ron, the raptor with edius will be using the DV encoder/decoder of the card, not software..

one thing to note, is to not confuse the fact that vegas is STRICTLY software only... and unlike liquid, or prem pro, u dont need a HW gfx card (or encoder/decoder card) to get the most out of it... Edius is a brilliant NLE< but it carries its own flavour and to many, edius is not an easy NLE to learn

Shortcuts rule
 

I hate using the mouse all the time so I love an app that has lots of shortcuts. "Alt-V, W, 0" gets me to my rough edit screen layout. "Alt-V, W, 1" puts me in full track and color correction layout. How slick is that.

I have been tempted to buy the special editing keyboard with all the shortcuts as color coded keys, just to make it even easier and to jog my memory about some of the lesser used keys.

Jason Robinson

Why not EDIUS? Despite the praise heaped in FCP 6 and the solid package offered by Adobe -- the only NAB demo that really showed efficient pro editing was EDIUS 3.5. By "pro" I mean support for every format, dual monitors, true 3- and 4-point editing, and typical Japanese realiability and quality. Plus a GUI that is very sophisticated looking -- unlike either Premiere or FCP. (For example, full VTR transport control.)

"edius is not an easy NLE to learn." EDIUS is the easiest to learn because you edit without worrying about menus or memorizing short-cut keys. No need jog your memory with keycaps. It takes a day for any experienced editor to learn EDIUS. That's why NBC just bought 400 units and NHK uses EDIUS. Broadcasters can't have editors taking week long courses.

And, the timeline takes any frame-rate and frame-size -- plus has an HQ codec and the option of HD-SDI/analog component output for monitor. The later is not something a software-only NLE can do. Yet it is critical.

Unlke Vegas, it is missing 5.1, but you do get the best MPEG encoding tool around.

My 0.02:

Vegas for me is the straightest line between two points. It has the robustness to do most of the fancy things the quality editors like FCP, Avid, Premiere etc will do, but when you just want to take some clips, rough up a small 10 minute project, throw in some transitions, add some pans, drop a couple pieces of text somewhere, and get something out the door, I find Vegas to be a Porsche while the other editors feel like Chevys.

When I think of Vegas, I think clean workspace, no clutter, simple menus and tabs, everything intuitive. When I think the others, and especially Premiere, I think 10 steps and 5 menus in order to do that Vegas can accomplish in 2 steps and 1 menu. Vegas runs simple tabs at the bottom for all your main guts. You can quickly surf your PC for a file to import, hit your transitions, hit your clips, hit for effects. I really think a lot of editors try to make grey poupon out of mustard. Video production is still pretty straightforward. You have clips, you have transitions, you have effects, you have audio. Thats pretty much it.

Vegas lets you do 98% of the normal usage with all four of these tasks in a nanosecond. If you want that last 2% of brilliance, you have to work Vegas a little harder. But thats better than using another editor and having to armwrestle submenus, clips, bins, goofy settings, navbars, and all the rest to do what should be assumed to be an integral part of your everyday weapons chest thats parked right by your side.

I bought a book on Premiere thats 500 pages thick and went through 3 30-day evaluation copies and felt more lost and confused at the end than the beginning. I kept asking myself "That makes NO sense, why didnt they just do it THIS way...".

I bought Vegas almost sight unseen based on nothing but a solid recommendation. Within 20 minutes I was figuring it all out. Places I looked for things would magically appear because thats where a logical user would expect them to be.

Id prefer a few more effects, filters, and some other things, but I can cut a 10 minute video in Vegas and post it to the web faster than I can edit 10 photos in Photoshop, resize them, and post them online. I know it b/c Ive timed it! :)

Do you mean EDIUS 4.5?

What program do you utilize / recommend for 5.1 mixing?