Switching to Vegas or Media Composer

[Kent Nguyen]

I have been using Avid Liquid for years and it has served me well in term of works flow. It is pretty fast and reliable. I am now thinking of another NLE system to get better effects and titling or, if any, better in exporting quality. Sony Vegas is simple and friendly pricing. Avid Composer looks handy and professional. I really don't know which to chose. Have any body here in this forum could give me advices?

Many thanks.

Kent.

[Chris Medico]

I used Liquid for many years and was very pleased with its ease of use. I took Avid up on its offer to upgrade to Media Composer back in the summer. I had 3 copies of Liquid so it was the best cost option for me. I've not regretted moving to MC. The one thing I've noticed as I interact with others in the area here is many of the pro edit houses have both MC and FCP. Learning one of these could make you more marketable in the community. Something to consider.

What I can say about making the switch to Media Composer is this - Its very different from Liquid in how you do things. MC5 has improved on those differences a lot. You can do many more things with the mouse similarly to Liquid. But some things you just have to learn to do MCs way. Once you get used to it there is no problem and I'm actually faster on MC than I was on Liquid. The keyboard is your friend in MC.

What I've read from others is the learning curve between Vegas and Liquid is easier. I still have a workstation with Liquid on it and do still use it some but I'm finding myself going to is much less than I thought I would.

If you are a registered Liquid user you may want to contact Marianna at Avid and see if there are still any discounts you can take advantage of to upgrade to MC (if you choose to go that way). She is Avids customer advocate and works very hard to help us all out. I can't say enough good things about her and what she does for the user community.

Her email is - Marianna Montague <marianna.montague<@>avid.com> (be sure to take out the extra <>. ;)

Its not an easy choice to move from Liquid to the next thing. I really wish it was still a current product being developed. Some of the stuff I saw in the NEXTGEN that was never released is actually in MC (Script Sync).

Good luck with your decision.

[Perrone Ford]

Well, if you are trying to get better effects and titling, this should be a simple choice. Vegas does not come with an effects package, and it's titling program is notoriously poor.

There are only a few effects packages which plug into Vegas, and the cheapest of those that is full featured is Boris FX, which costs more than Vegas itself. There are a number of things Vegas does extremely well, but effects and titling are not it.

Avid MC is on a totally different level as a NLE/Suite. Really, the two are not comparable.

In Vegas' favor are that it can do higher than a 1080 timeline (handy for finishing out 2K or 4K projects), and it has some very decent color correction tools. It also understand a great many formats, though Avid took a GIANT leap forward with MC5. Basically, if it's in a Quicktime container, Avid can read it. That was hugely important.

Try both out. See what you think. I've used Vegas for 7 years but now mostly cut in Avid. There is an $1700 price gap between the two. And it's there for a reason.

[Mike Calla]

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/what-hap...ml#post1599547

The following is recent post i wrote (almost word for word)

"Vegas is awesome but DON'T BUY VEGAS!
Vegas is great but not in "professional" environment!.

Harsh words yes, but its true! not to say those of us who use it are not professionals, but off the top of my head, i don't know ANYONE but me (and you guys) who uses Vegas in a professional setting!!!!!! Almost everyone uses FCP, and i know a few top tier guys who use AVID!

I wouldn't dare mention to my clients that i edit on Vegas unless i have to and that is usually well after many days of rough cuts when they finally come in and sit in on the final edit and by that time the edit speaks for itself! I even have cracked copies of CS4 and Avid on hand just in case a client inquires (they almost never do and i never ever use those apps). Same with Protools M-Powered! I bought it (well it was free with gear), but never use it. I do everything in ACID (multi tracking, mixing, mastering, composing, etc).

I love Vegas COMPLETELY!!!!!!!!, I've rarely had problems since version one, but lets face reality; 99.9% of professionals have probably never seen it before and would dismiss it with a wave of their hand.

If you are producing and delivering by yourself, then you can get by easily. But even some dupe houses ingest via avid and fcp using project files! Beware!

Plus, in the future if you don't know FCP, AVID and even PPro, sorry, jobby go bye bye for mr.Vegas user:)! (ever see an ad asking for Vegas editors? EVER??!!!!?)

Take it from someone who's been at it while. Don't use vegas! Buy a iMac/FCP - or hell, find a student who can get a educational discount and get AVID!

Lastly support from 3rd party manufacturers and software developers routinely neglect Vegas! Where as FCP, Avid and even Adobe get new hardware/software constantly. CONSTANTLY!!!

Vegas is awesome but DON'T BUY VEGAS!"

[Dan Asseff]

Kent, I took Avid up on up grade. It was $500. At the time of the up grade it didn't do AVCHD so I was torn to get it. With the upgrade they made in MC5 it was a game changer. It will edit almost anything. I still haven't learned it but think it is a great program. Look at what movies they cut with it. I got vegas 9 off of the classified section for $120. I think some one has it for sale there. If you can learn MC5 will will not be sorry. Good luck, I know how hard it is to decide. One thing to think about is who will be here in the long run(Avid).


Dan
Forever Moments Video Productions

[Mike Calla]

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

I've used Vegas for 7 years but now mostly cut in Avid. There is an $1700 price gap between the two. And it's there for a reason.

Perrone, now that its been quite a while since your conversion to MC5, what blatant differences are there between Vegas and MC5?

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Mike Calla

Perrone, now that its been quite a while since your conversion to MC5, what blatant differences are there between Vegas and MC5?

For me, the primary differences are speed and confidence. Avid is a lot faster to cut on, organize my video assets with, and inspires me with confidence every time I use it. This is not to say it's been flawless, because it hasn't. But it's usually only crashed with I've done something supremely silly, or for some reason, used BCC Stabillizer on something longer than 5 seconds long...

For example, in Vegas, when I added Magic Bullet to a clip on the timeline, that had to be rendered to have a look. In Avid, MBLooks is a real time effect. It generally just plays right out.

The Scriptsync feature has been a Godsend. Multi-camera just "works". The ability to do create "reference files" for rendering has saved me HOURS in workflow. Like trying to go from my timeline to DVD. I can just render a reference file in a few seconds, and take that straight to DVD. No more two-stepping.

Having an accelerated codec that allows for just tons of effects and layers without issue. Have real titling built in and a full effects suite..

One of the things that people don't mention much is the support network. Avid has a support structure built around Hollywood. I literally have hundreds of people around the world who've been using avid for a decade, that I can pose a question to if I get stuck. I've opened tickets with SCS and had them unresolved for months.

Vegas is a good product for what it is. It's just not Avid (or FCP or CS5). And people expecting it to substitute for one of those will likely come away disappointed. Truthfully though, most people don't really NEED that level of editor. But if you're doing multi-camera, 10 layer videos with compositing, and other things, then the big 3 tend to pay off well.

[Kent Nguyen]

I have been out of town for the holidays, and just got back.

I used FCP once before, years ago when I was in film school. Back then I had no idea about tons of editing software out there.

I spent 9 years in film school, so for me, challenging is not an issue. I will try to step up on Avid. But guys, I am not sure if I can find a good deal on them. However, again, you guys are great, and I am so obliged.

Love.