Preview with V9 at DVinfo.net

Jeff Harper · May 11th, 2009, 10:59 AM

Preview performance, as best as I can tell is identical to Version 8. What it appears Sony did was find a workaround to avoid actually improving playback performance by adding the new auto adjust feature to playback. Playback of pan and cropped photos on the timeline seems marginally better.

I just did a render test and rendering times are identical to V8 with or without photos. I have never had an issue with rendering times and Vegas, so this is by no means a criticism, just an observation.

Edit: I want to add that with the 64 bit version playback does seem rather good. I just learned that Ultimate S 4.1 will work with 64 bit Vegas, so I might just be jumping on this train after all. I would lose magic bullet, but I could live with that.

Jon McGuffin · May 11th, 2009, 11:53 AM

Okay, well as you could imagine Jeff as I believe you are in the same boat... For me, personally, this is a bit of bad news. I was secretly hoping we'd see a small performance and quality boost with video preview.

Jon

Jeff Harper · May 11th, 2009, 12:11 PM

I don't want to sound harsh, I really don't, but this new auto-adjust feature for playback seems really lame to me. Lazy and lame. I'm sure there are plenty of other great features, but with HD where it is in the market, I cannot help but wonder why Sony seems to be deliberately refusing to remedy this thorn in our sides.

People have been complaining about this aspect of Vegas for ages, and now Sony has taken a piece of duct tape to fix it. This is how Red Green would fix the playback issue.

I cannot and will not ever understand software design, and I cannot imagine the issues those folks must deal with, so I really want to be kind, but it is difficult at this point. I still love the workflow of Vegas and until another can match that I'm sticking with this product, but until then I still feel like this product is a really good one, but the folks who sell it are keeping it from being truly great.

Bill Ravens · May 11th, 2009, 12:19 PM

Amazing! Yet another worthless Vegas upgrade. They put a sexy skin on the timeline, make a few simplistic, superficial changes, and call this a new version. At least, this time I saved myself $187 US. Sony seems to just be coasting on the work of people who have long ago left the company. What a shame!

What do they do, up there in Madison, besides swat mosquitos and try to stay warm?

John Estcourt · May 11th, 2009, 12:37 PM

well ive downloaded the trial today and I think the preview of HDV and cineform files has definately improved over vegas 8 but im not convinced the performance gain is worth the upgrade price.
I suppose if you are a RED user or XDCAM user then the upgrade is worth it.
I will wait and use up my 30 days trial before I decide and also wait to see what bugs others find.

Jeff Harper · May 11th, 2009, 12:38 PM

Jon, I must admit that since I got a 30" monitor recently my playback issues are much less. Because the screen is larger, I can have the preview window relatively smaller, and yet it is much larger than it was on my 24" , thereby giving me "better" preview.

The downside is that a 30" monitor seems almost too large in some ways. I NEVER thought I'd say the words "too large" in the same sentence with the word monitor, that is for sure!

Jeff Harper · May 11th, 2009, 01:16 PM

It does appear at this point that 64 bit version has the bugs worked out, so for those that don't need MB, the 64 bit version might be a great reason to upgrade.

John, I would not dispute your finding, but in 32 bit version I just opened an HD project and in Preview mode playback quality was actually dreadful when the timeline hit some graphics, I actually had to go to good quality to even read the text in the graphics. The HD footage was fine, but I didn't find playback performance to be any better, but I'm talking mt2 files, which may not be fair.

If there is an improvement, I just might be missing it.

I have always liked to have the latest, but after the disappointment I suffered with Vegas 8, I might not go for this one.

I'm taking a wait and see attitude and waiting for more reactions.

Jeff Harper · May 11th, 2009, 01:22 PM

Actually, I have found that preview performance in the 64 bit version does appear to be superior to the 32 bit version, its not bad at all.

John Estcourt · May 11th, 2009, 01:34 PM

Jeff I think i just found a problem here, i just had a single line of hdv cineform video on the time line then above that i put a simple one line title.
The play back was spot on at 25p (best full) until it hit the text. It then defaulted to preview half but dropped to 6 fps!
Not only that but once past the text it remained at 6fps until i stopped playback and restarted it again....is this a bug.

Jeff Harper · May 11th, 2009, 01:36 PM

John did you disable the auto adjust feature of playback?

John Estcourt · May 11th, 2009, 01:40 PM

no not yet but will try now..

John Estcourt · May 11th, 2009, 01:48 PM

Yep thanks, that stopped the problem, not such a smart feature to have enabled by default!

Jeff Harper · May 11th, 2009, 02:21 PM

I'm not a big fan of it...I don't get it. Well, I get it, but I don't think much of it.

Bob Thieda · May 11th, 2009, 04:52 PM

I'm finding that the preview works much better in 8.0c than 9.0....
My "good" "full" in 8.0c is better than the "draft" "half" in 9.0 and it doesn't matter if its 32 or 64 bit, I tried all of them with the same veg file.

I must be missing a setting or something...

Jeff Harper · May 11th, 2009, 05:43 PM

Well Bob, I found that with 32 bit version it seems that the auto setting in the "Preview" quality mode is terrible, but full is OK. To get quality comparable to 8.0c "preview" settings I have to use Good full in v9 to look as good as Preview auto in 8.0c.

Like I said earlier, Sony seems to be adjusting the settings, but not much else. They really seem to be taking users to be complete fools.

I imagine the conversation would've gone like this:

"I have an idea...lets change the settings for playback to work better by reducing the quality and those idiots will never know the difference. We'll tweak a few items here and there, spruce up the interface, add Red support, etc. and bam we're done. You know what they say, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh_t."

Well, I admit it! I'm baffled!

May 11th, 2009, 10:59 AM	#1
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Preview with V9 Preview performance, as best as I can tell is identical to Version 8. What it appears Sony did was find a workaround to avoid actually improving playback performance by adding the new auto adjust feature to playback. Playback of pan and cropped photos on the timeline seems marginally better. I just did a render test and rendering times are identical to V8 with or without photos. I have never had an issue with rendering times and Vegas, so this is by no means a criticism, just an observation. Edit: I want to add that with the 64 bit version playback does seem rather good. I just learned that Ultimate S 4.1 will work with 64 bit Vegas, so I might just be jumping on this train after all. I would lose magic bullet, but I could live with that. Last edited by Jeff Harper; May 11th, 2009 at 02:26 PM.

May 11th, 2009, 12:37 PM	#5
John Estcourt Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Scotland, Ayr www.amour weddingvideos.co.uk Posts: 305	well ive downloaded the trial today and I think the preview of HDV and cineform files has definately improved over vegas 8 but im not convinced the performance gain is worth the upgrade price. I suppose if you are a RED user or XDCAM user then the upgrade is worth it. I will wait and use up my 30 days trial before I decide and also wait to see what bugs others find. __________________ john estcourt www.amourweddingvideos.co.uk

May 11th, 2009, 01:16 PM	#7
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	64 bit version appears to be great. It does appear at this point that 64 bit version has the bugs worked out, so for those that don't need MB, the 64 bit version might be a great reason to upgrade. John, I would not dispute your finding, but in 32 bit version I just opened an HD project and in Preview mode playback quality was actually dreadful when the timeline hit some graphics, I actually had to go to good quality to even read the text in the graphics. The HD footage was fine, but I didn't find playback performance to be any better, but I'm talking mt2 files, which may not be fair. If there is an improvement, I just might be missing it. I have always liked to have the latest, but after the disappointment I suffered with Vegas 8, I might not go for this one. I'm taking a wait and see attitude and waiting for more reactions. Last edited by Jeff Harper; May 11th, 2009 at 05:46 PM.

May 11th, 2009, 01:22 PM	#8
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Actually, I have found that preview performance in the 64 bit version does appear to be superior to the 32 bit version, its not bad at all. Last edited by Jeff Harper; May 11th, 2009 at 05:47 PM.

May 11th, 2009, 01:34 PM	#9
John Estcourt Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Scotland, Ayr www.amour weddingvideos.co.uk Posts: 305	Jeff I think i just found a problem here, i just had a single line of hdv cineform video on the time line then above that i put a simple one line title. The play back was spot on at 25p (best full) until it hit the text. It then defaulted to preview half but dropped to 6 fps! Not only that but once past the text it remained at 6fps until i stopped playback and restarted it again....is this a bug. __________________ john estcourt www.amourweddingvideos.co.uk

May 11th, 2009, 11:53 AM	#2
Jon McGuffin Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Carlsbad, CA Posts: 634	Okay, well as you could imagine Jeff as I believe you are in the same boat... For me, personally, this is a bit of bad news. I was secretly hoping we'd see a small performance and quality boost with video preview. Jon

May 11th, 2009, 12:11 PM	#3
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	I don't want to sound harsh, I really don't, but this new auto-adjust feature for playback seems really lame to me. Lazy and lame. I'm sure there are plenty of other great features, but with HD where it is in the market, I cannot help but wonder why Sony seems to be deliberately refusing to remedy this thorn in our sides. People have been complaining about this aspect of Vegas for ages, and now Sony has taken a piece of duct tape to fix it. This is how Red Green would fix the playback issue. I cannot and will not ever understand software design, and I cannot imagine the issues those folks must deal with, so I really want to be kind, but it is difficult at this point. I still love the workflow of Vegas and until another can match that I'm sticking with this product, but until then I still feel like this product is a really good one, but the folks who sell it are keeping it from being truly great.

May 11th, 2009, 12:19 PM	#4
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	Amazing! Yet another worthless Vegas upgrade. They put a sexy skin on the timeline, make a few simplistic, superficial changes, and call this a new version. At least, this time I saved myself $187 US. Sony seems to just be coasting on the work of people who have long ago left the company. What a shame! What do they do, up there in Madison, besides swat mosquitos and try to stay warm?

May 11th, 2009, 12:38 PM	#6
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Jon, I must admit that since I got a 30" monitor recently my playback issues are much less. Because the screen is larger, I can have the preview window relatively smaller, and yet it is much larger than it was on my 24" , thereby giving me "better" preview. The downside is that a 30" monitor seems almost too large in some ways. I NEVER thought I'd say the words "too large" in the same sentence with the word monitor, that is for sure!

May 11th, 2009, 01:36 PM	#10
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	John did you disable the auto adjust feature of playback?

May 11th, 2009, 01:40 PM	#11
John Estcourt Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Scotland, Ayr www.amour weddingvideos.co.uk Posts: 305	no not yet but will try now.. __________________ john estcourt www.amourweddingvideos.co.uk

May 11th, 2009, 01:48 PM	#12
John Estcourt Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Scotland, Ayr www.amour weddingvideos.co.uk Posts: 305	Yep thanks, that stopped the problem, not such a smart feature to have enabled by default! __________________ john estcourt www.amourweddingvideos.co.uk

May 11th, 2009, 02:21 PM	#13
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	I'm not a big fan of it...I don't get it. Well, I get it, but I don't think much of it.

May 11th, 2009, 04:52 PM	#14
Bob Thieda Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 541	I'm finding that the preview works much better in 8.0c than 9.0.... My "good" "full" in 8.0c is better than the "draft" "half" in 9.0 and it doesn't matter if its 32 or 64 bit, I tried all of them with the same veg file. I must be missing a setting or something... __________________ Bob T.

May 11th, 2009, 05:43 PM	#15
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Well Bob, I found that with 32 bit version it seems that the auto setting in the "Preview" quality mode is terrible, but full is OK. To get quality comparable to 8.0c "preview" settings I have to use Good full in v9 to look as good as Preview auto in 8.0c. Like I said earlier, Sony seems to be adjusting the settings, but not much else. They really seem to be taking users to be complete fools. I imagine the conversation would've gone like this: "I have an idea...lets change the settings for playback to work better by reducing the quality and those idiots will never know the difference. We'll tweak a few items here and there, spruce up the interface, add Red support, etc. and bam we're done. You know what they say, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh_t." Well, I admit it! I'm baffled!