is Sony Vegas a good all-rounder software?
 

I plan to buy either a Sony Z1 or a PMW EX1r

either way I will handle mpeg 2 files.

I have a relatively simple laptop to edit

can someone suggest a good software

the requisites are
1) stable
2) not too complicated but still allowing for a few "extra" tricks
3) working with both PC and MAC

I saw good reviews of Vegas, not sure which version though...

It depends what you mean by working with PC and MAC. IF you really mean a product that works on the PC AND the MAC then Adobe Premiere is pretty much the only one though you would still have to buy two versions.
Vegas is PC only. Most NLE's will work with the Z1 HDV but not all will natively work with EX files. Look at Edius 5.5 as it will work with most all formats in native form.
You might find that your laptop may not be up to editing if its not very powerful and only one laptop hard drive.

Ron Evans

thanks Ron

the reason that I would like MAC compatibility is I might buy a mac pro soon.

for this reason, if I do so, I might even consider Final cut

I guess there are so many editing softwares that I feel a bit lost, and even the famous ones will have different versions (express, pro etc etc)

I am pretty sure I will most of the times shoot to create DVDs

Ron,

Both Premiere and Avid run on PC and Mac.

If he just means programs that can handle Mac files, then most any PC can do that as long as quicktime is installed.

Vegas seems to be stable for some folks and not for others. It's stable for me as long as I don't push it hard. If I just have my EX1 files on the timeline, it does pretty good.

Yes, I forgot about Avid. Vegas is stable for me too though most of my video editing is on Edius, audio on Vegas and Sound Forge.

Ron Evans

which version of Vegas do you recommend?
the pro?
is there an entry version?

If you are working with an EX1 or Z1, I don't recommend ANY entry level software. So yes, buy the Pro. Honestly, at this point, I'd recommend Edius instead. But if you must go with Vegas Pro, see if you can find someone to sell you a copy of 8.0c. The current release is v.9.0d. All the flavors of version 9 have been very buggy, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you NEED their capability.

Its really interesting how some people have "buggy" issues with Vegas, and other don't. I am thinking Vegas, was designed to run most efficiently with basic PC machines. It seems like to me the more complex the PC box is, the more issues people have. Machines loaded with high end graphics cards, capture cards, and raid arrays are the one experiencing issues. Not being that up on how all this works, it just seems to me that the more stuff you have on your box, the higher the probability is for some kind of problem. It also seems to me, the same applies to other NLE's.

For basic my basic off the shelf Dell 420 XPS, with 3 gigs of memory, runing at 32 bit. I have been running Vegas 9 c without appreciable issues. I use Cineform as my intermediate editing format, and that appears to help in my editing of Canon 5D avchd, relieving a lot of pressure on the system. I haven't moved on to 9 d, but I will be installing this weekend. I have read mixed reviews on that version.

I too would recommend Edius Pro 5.5. I have Vegas 9.0d, Edius 5.5, as well as CS4 on my PC together with several others. PC is Gigabyte X48-DQ6 MB, Q9450 Quad core, 8G RAM, ATI 3850 video card, running Vista 64. Hard drives are 250G boot, 250G temp drive, 2 x 750G RAID 0 on an Adaptec RAID card, 2 x 1T drives for storage, Quantum LTO3 backup tape drive. This PC is only used for editing and only accesses the internet for program updates, runs no virus or firewall software.

I have no problems running any of the programs on the PC or upgrading any of the latest updates like Edius 5.5 or Vegas 9.0d.

Ron Evans

Just for the record, Vegas Pro 8c is rock solid on my new i7, but all flavors of Vegas 9 are flakey for me (e.g., crash routinely). I mix a lot of images and cineform with multitrack 24-bit audio.

Don't the latest Macs boast that they run windows programs as well ? Hence any program should be OK on the Mac, but I am not a Mac person but my son is, & I have seen his run PC stuff.

I use Vegas and have had some issues but generally it is fine and offers good simplicity for fairly straightforward edits.

RonC.

I've always been suspicious about this too. Though in my little paranoid world, I suspect that it's the software we run. Virtual This, Virtual That.

I have Vegas installed on 4 machines. None have virtual anything. All a bone stock OS installs with a bare minimum of applications installed. My primary editing machine has no other purpose in life other than to edit video and that's all I have installed. I can't even read the help files on that machine because they require PDF and I don't have the reader installed on that machine.

Every flavor of Vegas 9 has been flaky for me. 8.1 and 8.0c have been very solid. I was chatting online with a friend Friday while dropping some dailies from my current film on the timeline. All XDCamEX stuff, and less than 90 minutes of it. I had to render it in 10 minute sections otherwise I got out of memory errors on a Win7 x64 bit machine with 8GB of RAM. It was absolutely repeatable.

I wouldn't touch that software if I was under the gun or on a paid project.

Well... it just WORKS for me. I drop the footage on the timeline, edit it as needed, and spit it out to the desired format. Boom - done - works.

Edward,


On numerous occasions, you've mentioned how well Vegas works for you. Would you mind very much giving us a brief outline of your workflow on a common project?

1. What type of files you're putting on the timeline (DV, HDV, XDCam, AVC-Intra, etc)
2. What length of project you normally do, and what would be considered a large project for you.
3. What type of editing you are doing. Cuts, transitions, dissolves, etc.
4. What type of color correction/grading you're doing? 3-way color wheel, MB Looks, etc.
5. What type of effects, if any, would be typical for a project for you.

I am curious about this because I can never seem to replicate the stability that you, and several others say you have. And I am wondering how far your workflow is from mine..

Thanks very much.

-P