5 Comments to “If You Love Sony Vegas Raise Your Hand”

1. Michael Yardley Says:
   

   April 15th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

   I started out editing using Vegas 4 and have been happy with the product. I began using Vegas because it was affordable, and it was recommended by a friend. Since that time I have made attempts to step up to “more Professional Software” like Adobe Premiere, and most recently Final Cut Pro, but when crunch time comes and I have to finnish a project in a short amount of time. I go to Vegas. If you are not conditioned to the still film like linier format of FC and the other editing suites, Vegas is the most intuitive editing suites available. In a video class I teach I can have students Editing and Compositing within a few lessons. There are a few quirks, and the other editors have there strengths, but I personally love Vegas, and use it far more than any of my other options.

2. Cliff Etzel Says:
   

   April 16th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

   With the changes in how video content is being produced in my profession as a video journalist, I don’t have time to waste waiting for the archaic editing methodologies of FCP, PPro, Avid, etc.

   Vegas Pro is hands down the winner in the usability front as well as near universal file format acceptance - without need to convert footage to the projects properties. When one can edit both video and audio on the timeline, as well as doing fairly decent compositing as well, I ask the question - Why ISN’T Vegas your favorite NLE? Essential tools like Color correction are done and can be reviewed in real time while the timeline is playing. AFAIK, none of the other big name apps have that capability - but I could be wrong.

   It never fails that the spin doctoring ad wizards at Apple and Adobe do their best to convince their potential market to convert to their application suites. Todays NLE has to be nimble and easy to work with - yet output to multiple file formats. Vegas does that - albeit not to Flash. That is the realm of the almighty Adobe applications ( I simply use a third party app to render out any FLV files I need to create).

   One man production crews like myself have to do it it all - produce, shoot and edit our work. Vegas makes the task of going to post much easier and simpler with as high a quality as the triple AAA suites - at a lower cost.

   Vegas is by no means perfect, but when you consider the hardware neutral quality of Vegas - it will run on virtually any combination of PC based hardware (and on MAC’s running bootcamp), why more aren’t using Vegas is beyond me. But that’s ok - it makes my life easier when bidding on projects with tight deadlines - I can get more done in less time using Vegas than I ever could using Adobe’s apps, and I gave up trying to be productive with FCS. My style of work isn’t conducive to those methodologies for working in post.

   Personally - Vegas is better suited for working under short deadlines as a Solo Video Journalist.

   Cliff Etzel - Solo Video Journalist
   bluprojekt

3. Ric Wake Says:
   

   April 16th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

   I prefer Vegas. My television station has FCS and Media Composer.
   Vegas is silly fast compared to the others and outputs the same quality. I think the concept of “it will be jarring….yadayada” is silly stupid. It’s a tool. FCS and Premiere, Avid and others are MUCH harder than Vegas. I come from a 10 year history with Avid and found FCP hard to learn. Two hours with a trainer from a Vast guy, I was cutting very capably.
   Closing comment; Vegas is fast. Very fast. To cut with, to output, and to learn.

4. Jan Ozer Says:
   

   April 17th, 2008 at 9:12 am

   Thanks for your posts. I was thinking about the factors that go into your choice of video editor, and it came down to three; the “complete product,” “first love” and sheer, subjective preference.

   First is whether it provides all critical functions in a convenient and elegant way. This is the “complete product” concept first described (I think) in Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm. If an editor doesn’t meet all your needs, you’ll move on from editor to editor until you find one that does. For example, Pinnacle Edition was the first editor I used with an internal multi-cam feature, which worked very well. But other aspects of the product that I considered important, like titling and DVD authoring, were subpar. I used Edition for a couple of years, but always had my eye out for a better solution.

   Vegas didn’t have multi-cam at the time, internally, and the VASST plug-in, though functional, felt clunky (don’t kill me, Spot). Apple couldn’t handle different formats like DV and HDV in their multicam tool (still can’t), and while Premiere’s tool has its limits (4 cameras), it’s exceptionally easy to use and does what I need it to do. Premiere’s titler is a great match for the codec analysis work that I do, Encore is capable and easy to get to, and the Photoshop integration is very handy. Sound Forge didn’t do multiple tracks until 9, while Audition did, making that switch compelling as well.

   Production Studio still isn’t perfect, and there are some definite limitations that I’d love for Adobe to address (SeeThe Moving Picture: My Adobe Production Premium Wishlist, at www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=40828. But Premiere Pro was the first product that did everything that I needed, and now works on the Mac, which I absolutely love. Though I use Final Cut Studio for a lot of projects, particularly AVCHD source video, and to create moving titles and some motion effects, it’s easy to go back and forth because the products are so similar. You can’t say the same about Vegaa or Avid.

   Because Premiere Pro was the first to meet all my needs, it became my “first love,” the standard by which all other editors are judged. It inevitably and more or less permanently shaped my view of what an editor should do and how it should work. Editors have literally hundreds of functions, and your first love does most of them right – that’s why you love it.

   Any editor that doesn’t work the same way is illogical, and therefore jarring, not just once, but each time you encounter another of those hundreds of functions. Certainly this feeling could be over come, but it’s definitely going to be there over an extended period of time.

   For example, I’ve used the Mac more and more over the last few years, literally every day and many days more than my Windows Computers. I do most of my writing on a Mac, all of my layout in inDesign on a Mac and lots of editing on the Mac. The hardware are usually works of art, and the operating system is so much simpler and cleaner to the eye, especially post-Vista. Yet since I’ve used Windows since ’93, I know it much better, and at least once or twice a week, find myself having to figure out how to do something on the Mac that’s totally second nature on Windows.

   This could change, after all, Edition was my first crush, but it would take a product that delivered an incremental benefit over Premiere Pro, and within the type of work that I do, I don’t see one that does. I think this is what Dave Chaimson was talking about when he said that it’s very hard to dislodge someone from a certain editor.

   The third element is simple, subjective preference, which is undoubtedly shaped by the first two considerations, but still a bit separate. I love chocolate ice cream and hate vanilla. Force feed me vanilla for 3 months straight, a la A Clockwork Orange, and I would still hate it. But I know that this is preference; I’d never criticize someone for liking vanilla ice cream (now pistachio, that’s a totally different matter).

   All this in mind, I’d never say that one editor is absolutely better than another. Any editor with hundreds of thousands of users is obviously meeting the needs of a lot of folks. I would say that Premiere Pro is the best match for the type of projects that I do, and that as my first love and preference, it would be awfully tough to dislodge. I’m hearing you folks say the same thing about Vegas and find the thoughts totally consistent.

   Incidentally, when I review a product, I consciously look to answer two questions; should the user upgrade, and for new users trying to select an editor for the first time, how does it compare to others. Like Dave Chaimson, I have absolutely no belief that a glowing review of Final Cut Pro would cause Premiere Pro users to come to Apple in droves. The forces marrying an editor to his or her product are just too strong, and the features differentiating the various products simply not that great.

5. larry czach Says:
   

   April 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

   ZAK - I moved to Vegas after some frustration. I’ve used Avid, FCP, and a longtime user of Premiere. Vegas is quite amazing in that as mentioned above will run on just about any PC. The previewing options are amazing. Currently I’m editing a Featurelength Documentary. We’re using an all Sony production workflow. I can’t be more pleased with how things are going. Yes, the nomenclature and look is different, but not much else.

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