future of sony vegas

[Jurgen Bauwens]

Does anybody know if sony will continue to update sony vegas now that they have the catalyst suite? I think there was no sony vegas on ibc anymore this year. I have been on vegas for about 10 years but if they are pulling the plug on vegas, I think it's time to try something else like avid media composer. Any thoughts?

[Rainer Listing]

There's a mega-thread on this topic on the Vegas Pro forum. Consensus is further development of Vegas Pro has ceased.
People who came to Vegas from Media Studio Pro will see certain parallels - that product became increasingly unstable after version 6 and was be abandoned by users. More recent versions of Vegas also were unstable on many systems also causing many users to go elsewhere.
I'm also thinking there's some resemblance to what Apple did with Final Cut Pro 7 - Apple introduced FCPX which initially looked pathetic but has now matured into something usable. So it may be with Catalyst. There are still a lot of FCP 7 users who haven't switched, If Vegas is working for you there wouldn't be any immediate need to switch to another product and perhaps Catalyst also will mature. I think it's a real shame the Vegas was never properly developed or marketed and that too few people knew of it's strengths. It may be too little too late - for example, my current (Windows) system is five years old. I'm going to have to upgrade soon and I'm seriously thinking of switching platforms.
(btw, despite it being "industry standard" I can't get over how clunky and outdated Avid is)

[Jurgen Bauwens]

Sorry, missed the topic.... I also want to upgrade my hardware, that was the reason I asked about vegas. I have always been very pleased with it and it has always worked for me with minor problems. I have also purchased a lot of full preset packages from red giant, tiffen, newblue and it's a pitty to just throw them all away but If I change the hardware it must be to a future proof platform. For the moment I am trying media composer, also want to check out the new dnxio box for it....

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by Rainer Listing

Consensus is further development of Vegas Pro has ceased.

A little bit of misinformation here guys. I used to be on the Vegas Beta test team and still have contact with SCS and the latest emails I have received from Michael Bryant, Director of Marketing, are as follows:

"Hi Chris. I'm on the road right now and that link is not workingg on my phone right now. But its OK with me if you post back that you just spoke with the director of marketing and there have been no lay offs at Sony Creative Software and in fact the team is currently working on another update for VP that will go out later this summer.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Best regards
Michael"

and

"Hi Chris;

Don’t think of this as a Vegas Pro replacement. It’s definitely not. It’s aimed at a different workflow. Rather than a craft editor it is more focused on fast, simple edits and 4K, RAW type formats. But you’ll find that much of the prep work you do in Catalyst Prepare – Library creation and clip organization, Color Correction, Audio Channel Assignments, Trim in/out, Storyboard rough cut – flow right into Catalyst Edit. Both programs will enable you to export to VP (and other NLEs) if you need to finish up with some craft editing.

Have fun exploring and I’ll share your comments with the team. The next features we work on adding will come directly from our customers.

Michael."

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So Vegas at this point in time is still a happening thing. For 4K work on slower PCs use Vegas 13's "Create Video Proxy" mode.

If you're working on a system with limited processing power, creating a proxy file will streamline the editing process and allow you to preview your project.

Video proxy files are not used for rendering your project.

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1.Capture or import your high-definition clips.

2.Start a new project.

3.Add your high-definition clips to the Project Media window.

4.Right-click the clips in the Project Media window and choose Create Video Proxy from the shortcut menu.

Vegas Pro creates video proxy files (.sfvp0) alongside the original files in Windows Explorer. You will not see these files in the Project Media window or Vegas Pro Explorer.

Proxy files are created automatically when working with 4K video.

5.Add your high-definition clips to the timeline and edit your project as usual.

The Preview Quality setting in the Video Preview window determines whether the proxy files or original files are used for editing and preview:

◾When the preview quality is set to Draft or Preview, the proxy file is used. (I tend to use Preview Auto)

◾When the preview quality is set to Good or Best, the original file is used.

Finally render out at 4K or HD or whatever flavour you want.


Happy cutting guys!

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

[Mark Holmes]

Hey guys, been following this closely, as I do hope Vegas lives on, but this quote makes me wonder:

"A little bit of misinformation here guys. I used to be on the Vegas Beta test team and still have contact with SCS and the latest emails I have received from Michael Bryant, Director of Marketing, are as follows:

"Hi Chris. I'm on the road right now and that link is not workingg on my phone right now. But its OK with me if you post back that you just spoke with the director of marketing and there have been no lay offs at Sony Creative Software and in fact the team is currently working on another update for VP that will go out later this summer.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Best regards
Michael"

So people are understandably concerned, with IBC having passed with no updates (and no display in the Sony booth) and summer ending yesterday... Have you heard anything else from Michael?

[Rainer Listing]

Originally Posted by Christopher Young

A little bit of misinformation here guys

Not from me. Just reporting the very widespread speculation about the discontinuance of VP which SCS has done nothing officially to resolve. "There have been no lay-offs" doesn't say anything about the future. I also note that the Catalyst forum is on the Sony community site rather than the SCS site. Certainly hoping VP continues, but it would be nice to know.

[Nick Hope]

Chris, I don't know what the date of that email was but videoITguy reported a nearly identical email in his post of 5/16/2015 2:03:12 AM on RE: Catalyst Edit - Sony Vegas Pro - Video Forum. So it looks like he was referring to build 453 which was released the following month.

[Christopher Young]

The last communication I had with Michael Bryant was on June 27th and I don't believe anything has altered since then. The reference to the layoffs was because someone else on this forum was told by a system integrator that everyone had been laid off from the SCS team so I queried that statement with Michael and it turns out to be incorrect. if you hunt on the forum you will find that thread.

I can add no more at this point. Maybe I will drop him a line and ask him to clarify things because once the rumor mill gets going it's hard to sort fact from fiction.

From my POV I hope Vegas continues as we have had sterling service from it since v2.0. With, and I mean hundreds of TV shows, corporate productions and dozens of TVCs and the official govt "History of the Royal Australian Navy" series being cut on Vegas I wouldn't want to jump to another NLE any time in the near future. If I do it will be to Edius which I have also been working with since v2.0 as it is getting better with every upgrade. It's just that Vegas to me is the most intuitive NLE around.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney