Topic: is vegas video the shit??

[Thomas]

I am about to get a video camera, and am going to edit and burn on my pc.  I have seen a piece on tech tv on vegas video, and they made it sound like the best moderately priced thing out there as far as editing went. 

Has anyone used this program, what are some pros and cons.

Has anyone used the dvd architect that comes with vegas? comments?

[Ed.]

i like it a lot more than adobe premiere...however, i'm used to working with soundforge and the two are similar in a lot of ways.  its definitely a great program.

[Elvis Hitler]

I use Vegas and DVD Architect and have been happy with both programs.   Haven't really tried anything else to compare them to, though.   I'm sure every software has its pros and cons.

[Thomas]

Good to hear

thanks

[hyperplane]

as far as Vegas goes, from what i've read, that package does do quite a bit of good stuff - and is quite the "bang for your buck." i use Premiere Pro myself, but everyone who i've talked to who uses Vegas loves it.

as far as DVD Architect, i didn't like it very much during the hour or so that i played with it. and most of the DVDs i've received that have been authored using it have too many menu screens, e.g. main menu -> click on "song selection" and it takes you to another menu, then you have to click *another button* just to get to the chapter/song selection screen; another example is a DVD i recently received and when you click "play concert" it has to go to a song selection menu first. pretty annoying... but it could just be that people don't know WTF they're doing, and not necessarily a bug with the software itself.

[wilsondmb]

trash that PC and get an apple.....finally cut pro owns 

[hyperplane]

trash that PC and get an apple.....finally cut pro owns 

LOL. word. 

but for the rest of us who don't have a couple grand to splurge on a G4 or G5, a PC will have to suffice. 

[NewHomebrew]

I've used several different programs and I LOVE VEGAS.  It makes me all happy to work with it because so far I have been able to do everything I wanted to do with it.  I use it for DV capture, editing and restoring video, editing audio, rendering, converting, just about everything.  You can find lots of free plugins on the web if you need them and lots are included with the software.  You can overlay text, fade in still images, you can paste in .psd files directly from photoshop with the transparency intact, mix multiple video sources, just about everything you can imagine.  It's particularly useful for synching audio.  The limitation for me is how well I know how to use the features.

The keyframe functions are a little bitchy to make work, that would be my main complaint.  It's also not possible to import an elementary stream like an .mpv file nor can you drag and drop vob or ac3 files.  However, you can create system streams from those files in another program and then import.  I'm not sure if all programs are like this or just Vegas.  Overall, I found Vegas more fun and useful than Adobe Premiere or things like avisynth and less expesnive utilities.  The major benefit of Vegas is that it is about as close to a one-stop shop I can think of.

I like DVD-Architect too, but I also use DVD Lab pro depending on the project.  The major benefit of DVD Architect is that chapter stops are more accurate, and you can actually see AND listen to your files when you are making chapter marks.  You can't do that in DVD Lab Pro and chapter marks are far sloppier.  Downside to DVD-Arch is making transparent menu buttons is a major headace.  Someone mentioned that it creates needlessly complex menu strucutres - I would say that is more related to the person authoring the DVD or maybe use of an inappropriate template.  You can make a disc with no menu, or a menu that only pops up when you hit the menu button, or you can put 100 buttons on a menu page.  It's up to you.

[sabre]

I like DVD-Architect too, but I also use DVD Lab pro depending on the project.  The major benefit of DVD Architect is that chapter stops are more accurate, and you can actually see AND listen to your files when you are making chapter marks.  You can't do that in DVD Lab Pro and chapter marks are far sloppier. 

I was checking out the DVD Lab website and noticed that with the Pro version of DVD Lab, there is a plugin (Pro Extensions) that allows you to preview the audio stream at the same time as the video stream. I haven't actually tried it out though.

[NewHomebrew]

nice, I'll have to try that out.

[silverbullet]

Luv Vegas and DVD architect. I also purchased some tutorial DVDs and for me it was well worth it. I do multiple video tapings per show so I also purchased a plugin called Excalibur which helps a ton if you have multiple camera angles.

http://www.vegastrainingandtools.com/

[BJ]

Luv Vegas and DVD architect. I also purchased some tutorial DVDs and for me it was well worth it. I do multiple video tapings per show so I also purchased a plugin called Excalibur which helps a ton if you have multiple camera angles.

http://www.vegastrainingandtools.com/

hoily bejebus those tut dvd's are expensive.....would be nice to have them...but it would take 10 years for me to save 300$ for tut videos...thanx for the link tho

[silverbullet]

I really knew very little about video editing so for a newbie those DVDs are great and I still refer to them from time to time. On the tutorial disc for DVD Architect there is a hidden track or "Easter Egg" Go to the scene selection chapters, Easter Egg, then press the right arrow and enter. The hidden chapter teaches you a bunch of cool stuff on the Excalibur plug in. So it does much more than just help you with multiple camera angles and syncing up A/V.

[BobbyHurley]

Assuming one is fairly comfortable with computers and with transferring, editing, tracking audio (Wavelab) ... how easy is it to learn to use Vegas Video?

I've got a Sony mini-DV cam, and have a half dozen tapes I need to transfer, edit, add music, etc and burn to DVD.

[silverbullet]

I'd say it's pretty easy. Just wish I had someone to give me a half hour lesson in the very beggining. Once you get the hang of it you'll go through your tapes quickly.