Sony and Magic Bullets - big disappointment

[Marius Boruch]

I am so disappointed with Sony; they created that great software - Vegas but they can not convey the message to the "professional" public to convince them that not all that glitters is Apple. I know it is hard to fight that "Apple mania" but having such a great product they should do more in terms of creative marketing. [not all professional editing is Apple FCP and Apple is not easiest and fastest software to work with].
They (Sony) can't even "convince" Red Giant Magic Bullets to produce 64bit version for Vegas. Just imagine how powerful platform would it be with set of MB filters on 64bit PC.
WHY is that!? Are these guys from Red Giant not interested in Vegas or something else is preventing them in working with/for Sony software. Hey Sony - what have you done so far in that matter.?????

[Edward Troxel]

If you're going to be mad at anybody, you really have two choices:

1) Reg Giant - for dropping support (and really never supporting well) of Vegas. Plus with the new OpenFX api, it should be even easier for them to support. Plus it was so slow it caused many people to not want to use it.

2) Your fellow Vegas users. Apparently not enough of them chose to buy MBL meaning Red Giant wasn't making any money off of it. No reason to not drop support if you're not getting any sales.

I just don't see how Sony can be blamed for a third-party dropping support.

[Marius Boruch]

Edward,
That's EXACTLY why I blame Sony;
having such a great third party plug-in (MB) and not being active enough to make it as :affordable option" for Vegas is what makes me disappointed.
they could:
1. spend some money to advertise it (yes to advertise third party plug-in which takes their software to different level); although it sound strange in the end it would benefit their software - Vegas
2. subsidize the MB plug-in (negotiate some good pricing/discounts) with Red Giant and sell it at discount through Sony web site as add on plug-in for those more serious users
3. negotiate with red Giant to offer free 30 trial with purchase of Vegas
4. if RG was not interested in all above - move their a... and develop Sony's own set of filters - it is not rocket science for Vegas developers.

but see all above requires to spend some cash [read invest in their product] as well as some pro-active attitude - so far it looks like they just don't care that much.

[Leslie Wand]

am amazed at the amount of 'dependence' put upon a plugin!

i used mbl a couple of times - it was way too slow, and, more importantly, i could recognise it's 'looks' in numerous productions.

if you want something similar look at genarts sapphire edge - or better yet. roll your own in vegas itself.

as for expecting ANY company to invest r&d, time, and money in some else's product.....

[Marc Salvatore]

I've tried a lot of plugins and have never found one that matches the look I get with MBL. They have white diffusion glow controls that add a really nice subtle touch. Just tried the Saphire and it's not the same. Plus MBL has many really nice additional tools.

Marc

[Chris Barcellos]

I keep wondering why you want a long rendering projects when you can do instantaneous looks with Cineform and Firstlight.

[Marc Salvatore]

I use firstlight but it is not the same as MBL.

[Nicholas de Kock]

Marc I completely agree with you on this and it's my mission to get MBL back to Vegas, anyone that says MBL is a waste of time clearly has no idea how to use the plug-in to begin with! Even with the long render times it's worth what you get out. If anyone can point out any another plug-in that does spot/gradient exposure adjustments, subtle vignette, proper diffusion and various other high quality effects as well as MBL please do. Vegas is crippled without MBL and it annoys me beyond words that Red Giant has no support for Vegas and they just don't care. Chris I also use First Light - it's no MBLooks. It's not about using presets, I custom grade with gradient exposure on almost every clip in my timeline.

[Marius Boruch]

Amen,
Nicholas, my point was that Sony seems not to be interested in (or is underestimating) MBL; it looks like they just don't care and that's a BIG mistake because they could easily compete with FCP adding more and more plugins, functions etc. It looks like thay are "To Big To Care"

[Edward Troxel]

Well.. see... Sony DID work out a deal with Red Giant. And a smaller version of Magic Bullets was bundled with the pro version of Vegas several versions back. Now people have the limited version - why are they going to buy the full version? And then was it's SLOW render time making the people who had it NOT want to use it. So who's fault is it???

[Marius Boruch]

Edward,
which MBL limited version plugins in Vegas 10 are you referring to?

[Nicholas de Kock]

Edward video is one of the biggest markets at the moment it's literally exploded overnight and cameras are better and cheaper, I think it's pointless for Sony & Red Giant to say sales aren’t good enough to validate development costs, the market is completely different now compared to 3-4 years back. I hate having to use Premiere to get access to MBLooks. Vegas is a shell that needs to be populated by plug-ins and extensions, even Excalibur makes Vegas 10x more powerful that other editing systems. What gets to me is that FCPX is cheaper than Vegas and they will get supported. I'm trying really hard to switch to another platform like Premiere for its plug-in support but once you are use to how easy Vegas makes editing it's really hard to settle for anything else. I have money please give me MBLooks Red Giant! I'm heartbroken.

[Jeff Harper]

The bundled version in Vegas 8 was nice, and MB is a great plug in, but it is not efficient for event users. It does take forever to process.

This topic has been brought up over and over, and has been beaten to death by folks disappointed about it. We're sorry for your loss guys, but it might be time to move on.

I loved the look I got from it too, but I got tired of the long rendering time and gave it up long ago.

[Marc Salvatore]

The bundled version was very slow and did take forever to render. But the paid version of MB Editors with an nVidea card was a different animal not that bad for rendering. I still use it on some projects in 32bit and like the ability to adjust it directly in Vegas without having to go into another interface. The next version called MB Looks was buggy for me, added it's own internal interface which took away the ability to see immediate corrections on the monitor and never worked with 64bit.

I just tested the latest release of MBL in After Effects and all I can say is WOW! I'm buying it just for the adjustable exposure masks. Relighting a scene has never been easier and the rendering is very fast. The amount of tools available is really amazing for the $99 upgrade cost. And the've added monitor output support as well.

I too long for the day when MBL will return to Vegas. I think if it worked like it does in AE people many Vegas users would buy the plugin because there is nothing else like it.

Marc

[Robert St-Onge]

Funny thing is they've got an Advanced Red Giant plug-in package bundled with Avid Studio and that includes MBL......... for a total cost of, including Avid Studio........... $169.99.


Mind you that the latest computers should be better in handling MBL's processing .