I have been using Prem 6.5 for ages but with the bugs & crashes, I have been using Vegas 7 which is very stable. However, as Vegas doesn't provide an easy opacity line like P6.5 (I assume P-Pro does), and is not overly intuitive, I am thinking about the latest Premiere but I only need video & sound editing. I assume it would be Prem Pro 3 (or is it 4 now ?), encore for DVD, Audition for sound, and I hope this does everything that Vegas/Sound Forge does. I don't need Photoshop or any other of the programs in the master collection. Curiously though, even it, does not have Audition.

Matrox used to bundle an Adobe collection with their card which worked out cheaper than buying Adobe only and you got a card thrown in. Is this still the case. I don't know whether there is an up-grade path from Premiere 6.5 and I don't really need another capture card as normal firewire seems to work fine.

I am only a serious amateur with limited time and running a dual core PC. I am not into great flashy effects or web publishing. - Any suggestions.

Thanks,
Ron

Just FYI, Audition is not in the (somewhat) cheaper CS3 Production Premium bundle either. Instead, both the Production and Master bundles include Soundbooth. It's possible Soundbooth might meet your audio editing needs .... there are a few reviews of Soundbooth you can google that include some discussion of the differences between Soundbooth and Audition.

But nevertheless, both bundles have more than you want (e.g. AfterEffects) and so aren't your cheapest route.

Would the features of PPro 2.0 suite your needs? If so I might have an idea for you.

Would the features of PPro 2.0 suite your needs? If so I might have an idea for you.

Not to mention that Premiere CS3 still seems to have some bugs... a lot of people aren't too thrilled with the upgrade.

I have been using Prem 6.5 for ages but with the bugs & crashes, I have been using Vegas 7 which is very stable. However, as Vegas doesn't provide an easy opacity line like P6.5 (I assume P-Pro does), and is not overly intuitive, I am thinking about the latest Premiere but I only need video & sound editing. .

Thanks,
Ron

No easy opacity line ??? Vegas has an easy opacity line, if I understand what you are looking for. For reach line of video track, go to an empty point on the track, and right click and select insert envelope, then composite level. You then go to the blue line the top of the track, click on it, then select add point. Then add successive points to create varying opacity levels. I think that is what you are looking for, isn't it ?

It works the same way on the audio tracks, except when adding there, the blue line for levels starts in the middle.

This makes it very close to Premiere.

Thanks very much for that Chris. I understand the audio side of Vegas "points" but no one was able to explain to me, before, so precisely how you set opacity points. How silly of me, I should have used the word "composite" ! - This is why I am having difficulty learning this un-intuitive program, they use totally different jargon to the norm and don't give any cross reference in their indexes. Another example of this, is their "events" instead of "clips " However, from your encouraging words I will now probably "perservere" with Vegas for a while at least, particularly seeing that Premiere does not come with Audition which is more suitable to me (after checking), than Soundbooth.

Mind you, I still prefer the much simpler method in Premiere where you can set an opacity point with just 2 clicks ! - No going into menus etc.

Frustratingly, there is NOTHING listed in the vegas manual on "OPACITY" ! Now on checking "composite" in the index, it does sort of explain it but not as coherently as your few words above. Are you on the Vegas forum as well ?

Thanks again,

Ron.

Ron,

I am also an old premiere 6.5 user. There is an upgrade path for you to CS3 for $299 listed at

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/


You also may want to look over at videoguys.com to see what deals they are offering with the Matrox cards and CS3.

Thanks very much for that Chris. I understand the audio side of Vegas "points" but no one was able to explain to me, before, so precisely how you set opacity points. How silly of me, I should have used the word "composite" ! - This is why I am having difficulty learning this un-intuitive program, they use totally different jargon to the norm and don't give any cross reference in their indexes. Another example of this, is their "events" instead of "clips " However, from your encouraging words I will now probably "perservere" with Vegas for a while at least, particularly seeing that Premiere does not come with Audition which is more suitable to me (after checking), than Soundbooth.

Mind you, I still prefer the much simpler method in Premiere where you can set an opacity point with just 2 clicks ! - No going into menus etc.

Frustratingly, there is NOTHING listed in the vegas manual on "OPACITY" ! Now on checking "composite" in the index, it does sort of explain it but not as coherently as your few words above. Are you on the Vegas forum as well ?

Thanks again,

Ron.

Hey Ron: Up until about 6 months ago, I was all Premiere myself. I started using Vegas, and fought the "unintuitive" fight for a while. About 3 months ago I told myself that I just got to bite the bullet and learn it, so I forced myself to do a couple of projects in it. Pretty soon, I love it. Last night, I went into Premiere for the first time in 3 months, and, man, I felt I was out of place there... so I think it is a matter of just getting used to things. One day, you will be humming along in Vegas, as if it is second nature, and that is a feel easier to get in Vegas, I think, than in Premiere. I particularly like Vegas rendering process and results better than Premiere.

Vegas has about 3 ways of doing everything, and thats what gets confusing sometime.

Hi Ron

I've been using P6.5 with a DVStorm for 5 years and have found it reliable and have just ordered a new Matrox Axio system based around CS3.

The main thing that made me change was the requirement for HD, but also having a play with the PP demo. It's a big download from the Adobe site, but well worth a look. It's fully functional for 30 days (SD only).

A word of warning - if you have a go with it after using 6.5 you won't want to go back!!

Hope this helps

Graham

Chris,

Funny - for me it is the other way around! I love vegas workflow, but I still think Premiere renders better quality in shorter time.

So I'm thinking about stepping up to CS3. Alas, here in Sweden ADOBE has punished us for being alive - and set the price for its products 200-300% higher than elsewhere. So I'm seriously thinking about importing from the States.

----

Quality:

I feel that the import/export quality question really has grown since HD. Now we have codecs for BluRay, HD-DVD, h264 etc etc on our machines - for a while I used FFDshow but then several NLE:s got crazy! It would really be nice if there was an option in the NLE "Use only internal codecs". And if you wanted otherwise - You had to say so and tell the NLE wich codecfile(ax) to use.

// Lazze

Ron,
Excuse me if this is already a "given", but if economy is your main concern and you are a student, or have a friend or relative who is, you can buy just about any software legally at huge discounts on one of the student software sites, like Gradware.