As a long-time user of Vegas (back in the Sonic Foundry days), I always wonder why it is not considered in legitimate discussions of NLE programs. Its ability to process many media formats on the same timeline (and within the same project), real time previewing of effects (without the need to render to see the result), excellent audio capabilities along with a good community of users to draw from when the need arises, seem to me really solid features that put it as a competitive choice along with Avid, FCP and Premier. And it delivers professional grade media for final out-put.
And as I look at Tor Rolf Johansen's review of FCP X (10.0.3), he ends with: "The speed gains (from 64-bit code and multicore support), the two-thirds price cut, and some innovative new edit tools that make this update a true contender."
Well, all those items mentioned by Tor can also be said of Vegas Pro; fast, competitive price and key features.
And, as further "real world" innovation, a recent Vegas update added the ability to render straight to a YouTube account - including the HD formats that YouTube uses for its streaming. This may seem superficial at first glance, but when one considers that everyone has "official" media on YouTube - from big time Hollywood studios to an incidental kid in Nebraska named "Fred" - then perhaps this capability is not as trivial as one might presume upon first hearing of it. It certainly has made my life easier with rendering content and adding it to YouTube as part of my normal business/project workflow.
I have said for a long time that FCP was largely ignored by the industry until Walter Murch took a "leap" and edited "Cold Mountain" with it - and then won an Academy Award. The suddenly everyone jumped on the FC train. Sony Vegas would benefit from a similar circumstance.
But as long as Sony Vegas Pro is continually left out of professional conversations about NLE choices the likelihood of it happening is greatly reduced. People are losing out on a strong contender of choice; and losing out on the progress that comes from honest competition.
I hope you and other journalists will start giving some time to Sony's Vegas. I think the industry would do well by it.
I recognize this is a "love letter" for Sony Vegas and thus biased because of it. It must be love because I have no stock or any other monetary gain (that I can think of) by writing this.
Greg Wilker is based in Mill Valley, CA. He can be reached at:
jersey@well.com.