Un-Biased Opinion, purchase Vegas or Avid

[Aaron Koolen]

Dan, I'm not sure I understand you, but do you simply mean dragging a clip (event) (From timeline, or trimmer) and snapping it into the end of another clip (event)?

I'm assuming you mean something else because Vegas most definately has this feature.

[Richard Alvarez]

http://avid.com/exchange/forums/6818/ShowPost.aspx

The above link will take you to a collection of reviews on Avid XpressPro

[Dan Euritt]

aaron, that will only work IF you pre-select the clip that's already in the timeline, using the right bracket key or CTRL-ALT-L/R Arrow that ed listed, before you grab the clip that you want to do the actual edit with.

which means that if i have to adjust the length of 50 clips during an edit session, it would take at least 100 keystrokes to do it... when it should only take 50 keystrokes at the most.

with automatic snapping, i don't have to tell the editing program where i want to snap to ahead of time... because every tail end and every head end of a clip on the timeline is snappable... as are all the leading and trailing edges of all the transitions and titles.

once you've seen how well this works, you'll want to know why vegas can't do it... i'm talking about an editing concept that was in the fast video machine software back in the early '90's.

and don't even get me started on how vegas 5 can't export the titles you create *#^$%^!!! did that ever get fixed in vegas 6?

thanks for the tip ed!

[DJ Kinney]

I am totally confused by this "snap-to" thing, but I have some subconcious notion that it has to do with the "automatic snap" functions being turned off. There definitely is a way to make clips snap to other clips in all circumstances. Additionally, they snap to points in envelopes, and loop region ends.

Is that what you mean? DSE will know what I mean. Also Ed. (and I don't mean to exclude others who know).

[Edward Troxel]

Snapping to an event on a different track doesn't work. In that case, it helps to put the cursor at the proper location to which it CAN snap. However, I haven't really had an issue with snapping.

[Dan Euritt]

ed hit the nail on the head... about the only way that vegas snaps between seperate tracks is when you create the snappable point by pre-setting the cursor... sorry i didn't make the seperate tracks point clearer.

lets say that you have 10 short clips lined up end-to-end, all on the same main video track... you put a graphic or title clip on a seperate track, and you want to line up one end of that graphic with a clip end located in the middle of the 10-clip row.

you must pre-select the target clip in the 10-clip row first(mouse click?), then tell that clip which end is to be snapped to(right bracket?)... before you can drag the end of the title/graphic clip to the snappable point, aka cursor(another mouse move)... you should not have to do the first two steps at all, it's inefficient.

i think that snapping was known as the magnet function in premiere 6.5?

[Graham Bernard]

Inserting a Marker at the end of an event - that straddles tracks - will allow what I call "snapping". But without readin the whole thread, what exactly are you trying to achieve? A/B roll? What?

Grazie

[Dan Euritt]

vegas has an unlimited number of audio and video tracks, but there is no easy snapping capability between tracks... "straddling" as you call it... do you understand the concept that you shouldn't have to tell vegas to "straddle", it should happen automatically at every transition point, in every track? no need to ever insert a marker again?

it's not clear to me why some people out here can't see the workflow advantage to auto-snapping... i guess that most of you have never added titles, graphics, xtra layers of video, or additional audio tracks to any of your productions :-)

[Richard Alvarez]

So... anyway... back to the original comparison. You can't dowload a full copy of XpressPro to demo. You can download a version of Avid FreeDV which is very limited, but gives you an idea of the workflow and interface. It's sortof Avid's 'moviemaker' software.

[Matt Brabender]

I agree, the free version of Avid along with the trial of Sony Vegas should definately be enough to give you a strong idea on the workflow you prefer.
They are both very different so give yourself a good amount of time to test them.

Dan, I understand what you are getting at, and I agree, it can be very frustrating sometimes.

[Carl Downs]

Thank you, Everybody

David for your excellent opinions with explanations.

Sounds like Vegas has you "NLE Whipped" DJ: thanks for your input.

Thank you Vince, like you I like the simple edits and rely on shooting and story.

I have downloaded the demo... and the .net thing... but since my editing PC is not hooked up to the net... I need to download a DirectX 9.0c now (found two full versions but were corrupted after download). Anyways... yes... I could try it out but other than that I greatly appriciate experienced user knowledge!! it cant be overlooked.

Matt, Thanks for your comparison... and for throwing in what is good about Avid compared to Vegas.

Robert, Really!!?? I can still use my DC1000 card?? "we still use the dc1000 for converting footage to dvd in rt, works great..." Meaning... how exactly? is the Vegas output compatible with the DC1000 card? I sure would like to put it to use! It has been a great RT card... and yes! I have been hearing about the vegas render times... the DC1000 card was RT! It seems like I will be going two steps forward (softwar) but then one step back (no RT card)...

A couple Gentlemen suggest the Demo... and yes, I will try it... but, like I said above... ask the User Experts for their opinions... excellent knowledge base.

Glen Chan, nice coloring tip... I don`t know what your talking about but I`ll try the demo then try this.

Dan, thanks for the "web output" blip. Yes... I have used the windows media encoder with my DC1000 / Premeire setup but... such a pain... Sorenson (the trial) is soooo sweeeeetttt....

"will he ever do enuf web encoding to understand the level we are talking at here? will he even be using two-pass encoding??"

Yes, I understand... I am a BIG believer in the net! I live half my time in Japan where everyone has Super Fast and cheap broadband (the new apartment buildings, all the rooms contain 100Mbs connections). So... forget DVD`s... the net, and video download to cheap hardrives is the future!!! Anyways... getting off topic... the reason I prefer .mpg is because everyone, with or without net connection and this and that codecs, can view them... and 2 pass, yes, very desireable. And... I hate (dislike?) Real player! what is up with those guys highjacking your computer!!? So... .wmf is good but .mov is lacking...

Yes, Richard... good thought, I will do this.

[Mike Costantini]

I don't know if this will help or not but as a total beginner to anything videography, I had to learn to shoot and edit footage to make DVDs to sell. I tried so many different NLE's (having never used anything before) and the only one I was able to start learning enough to be able to do what I needed to do was Vegas. I tried Avid, Premiere, etc and basically could not accomplish anything but looking at the screen. When I tried Vegas, it was much more intuitive for an absolute day 1 beginner..

[Brian Luce]

Originally Posted by Mike Costantini

I don't know if this will help or not but as a total beginner to anything videography, I had to learn to shoot and edit footage to make DVDs to sell. I tried so many different NLE's (having never used anything before) and the only one I was able to start learning enough to be able to do what I needed to do was Vegas. I tried Avid, Premiere, etc and basically could not accomplish anything but looking at the screen. When I tried Vegas, it was much more intuitive for an absolute day 1 beginner..

Okay but you realize that last post here was over a year ago. Rumor has it the guy who started the thread is guarding a electric generator outside of Baghdad so not sure if he cares much about editing...