Vegas 8 Worth the Upgrade?

[Paul Kepen]

I've been using V6/DVD Architect for 2 years now. Just getting ready to install the $150 upgrade to V7 that I bought a year ago. V6 has worked fine for me and with overlapping projects I just haven't gotten around to installing V7.

Now V8 is out, but there are a lot posts about it being buggy. I've loved how bug free and stable V6 is. Everyone seemed to feel V7 was similar in this regard but had better rendering speed-a definite plus.

As far as the advantages of V8, it does multi cam (not a biggie for me cause I never use more then 2 cameras), and it has a better Titler, but still not as full featured as Boris or AE.

With all this in mind, I'd like to hear from those who have upgraded to V8 if they think it is worth it, or would they wait for V9 which hopefully will include complete BluRay authoring - ie menu based . Thanks for any input - PK

[David Rice]

I have tried Pro 8a four times. After each attempt I have gone back to 7d.

Unexplained shutdowns

Odd Error Messages : Code Error LP5

Unexplained black frames after rendering HD to HD

I'm back to 7d again. Which works like a charm.

I have a stand alone computer. Windows XP, and I use external hard drives to capture & video storage. There was no other software on my computer other than Pro 8a. Nothing to conflict with.

Maybe, I'm just not Lucky....

[Renton Maclachlan]

I began with 6, went to 7, and now 8.

I have had no issues with 8 whatsoever.

I've just edited a 1.5 hour, 3 cam shoot using the multicam feature and it is great. Love it.

Both 7 and 8 have highlighted snaping which is a fantastic feature.

Haven't looked at the Titler yet.

[Ian Stark]

Version 9 will likely introduce different problems for different users so there's probably the same %age risk in waiting until then!

Yes, there have been a number of reports from users that find v8 unusable but given that these forums are typically an outlet for problems rather than joyful, trouble free experiences, I suspect that the majority of users are not having terminal issues.

That's not to belittle the problems that some people are experiencing. It must be extremely frustrating to not be able to use Vegas with confidence that it isn't going to fall over or trash your project. I don't use the Titler for that very reason because it causes crashing problems for me (aside from the fact that I'm not particularly impressed with it! If you are an existing Boris or AE user you really won't want to upgrade just for the sake of the Titler). But everything else works fine for me, so v8 was worth the upgrade.

I guess your decision boils down to these choices:

1. Install the v8 trial in parallel and see if it works OK (don't forget to keep copies of your projects in v6/7 so you can go back to them if v8 fails - having said that, are you able to save projects in the trial versions? Never used one!).

2. Wait for v8.0b and see what reviews it gets from forum members.

3. Stick with what works. If there are no new features or enhancements that appeal to you at this time, why take the risk?

Or gung ho choice number 4. Just do it! Ha! I dare ya!

Cheers,

Ian . . .

[Mark Kovalcson]

Since I downloaded the 8.0a update my Vegas has been solid. I upgraded from 5 to 8 and skipped 6 and 7.

8.0 was very unstable on my laptop (Win 2003 Server, 2Gb RAM,), but since I updated to 8.0a it has really held up.

I agree that the snapping is great. I like the automatic resynchronize feature that turns the clips pink when they are out of sync. I have no idea how long ago they added that one.

I just finished a short video that I rendered to DVD, windows media 9, etc. with no problems at all. I used the new titler which I am starting to get the hang of. It is very smooth, and doesn't crash like it used to in the 8.0 version.

I ran about 5 audio tracks deep and about 7 video tracks deep with a lot of parent child and mask stuff going on and with about two video effects ( on average )

I'm still getting that hang of the new features. I haven't used the multi-camera stuff yet, but I will get use out of that feature soon. Like every update I am initially frustrated with DVD Architect until I see why something has moved or is more complicated and make use of the new features.

[Paul Kepen]

Thanks everyone for your very helpful responses. Some body summed it up quite nicely. There aren't any compelling additions in V8 for my needs, and why not "stay with what you know works." My system is rather standard- but 2 years old (AMD X2 dual core, 2 gig's ram, etc). Next year I will probably upgrade my hardware and that will probably be more compatible with the newer software - I'll upgrade then to V9. Thanks again for your input - PK

[Michael Best]

I'm at a crossroads as well, it was time for a computer upgrade and I couldn't find one with XP Pro they all come with Vista and V7 doesn't and won't support it so I either have to toss Vista and buy XP Pro or but the V8 upgrade which seems like a waste at this time. Any recommendations? I thought about taking the computer back but I am really in need of an upgrade for HD.

[Edward Troxel]

Michael, there are plenty of machines out there with XP. I just purchased a Sager laptop with XP pro installed. I understand if you purchase through the "business" division at Dell you can also get XP. If you look around - it's still available.

Having said that, I see no reason not to go to Vegas Pro 8. There's many interesting new features.

[Bill Ravens]

The single biggest reason to upgrade to v8 is the 32 bit floating point math processing option. Once you learn how this can be used to recover slightly blown highlights or muddy shadows, you'll never look back. There are some questionable things about how earlier versions were handling HDV. If you're not shooting in HDV, v8 is probably less useful than needed.

[Michael Best]

Perfect responses - thank you. That is exactly the reason for the computer upgrade, I couldn't really do HDV on my system so I needed something newer.
Thanks again for taking the time..

[Laurence Kingston]

Two excellent reasons to upgrade:

HDV smart-render. New Pro Titler.