1) Vegas Pro 9.0b

2) Slight stutter when starting playback in the preview window.
Memory usage in 32-bit. Get ambitious with complexity, and the render will fail.

3) Only SCS knows. 9.0 came out a few months ago, so 10.0 will be at least a year off. 9.0c will come when it is ready. I wouldn't be surprised to see it before x-mas, then again, I would not be surprised to see it wait till after.

4) I have no experience with Windows 7. But from what I've seen so far I'd have to suggest 64-bit. Even if some plug-ins are not yet ready.

5) Quad Core at least. Intel i7 (or AMD Phenom II) (faster IS better here), and lots of ram. Get multiple good/FAST harddisks as well.

1. Current version is 9b
2. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Currently I'm hoping that the next major revision supports something like DirectCompute or OpenCL
3. My sense of it is that major revisions come out every 18 months. There are usually 4-5 minor revisions in between, and sometimes a minor revision includes a big new feature
4. Read the forums on a regular basis. There's always something...
5. How much computer for HD on a professional level? I think you need to define some assumptions but here would be mine:
--Intel Core I7 or I9
--8 to 12GB of RAM
--Plenty of PCIe slots. Consider that you might want to be able to support a high end Xena card, and maybe something that drives external storage.
--Storage needs consideration. You might want RAID, you might want external storage that can be moved to other computers, or you might even want to think about shared storage (we use a few fiberchannel arrays from Rorke)

The problem with trying to future-proof a new PC is that you often over-spend. Yes, you'd like to think that you'll add XYZ in a year but the truth is that by the time you seriously think about upgrading an existing PC there'll be something much better on the market. So I wouldn't base my plans around the "bird in the bush", I'd base them on the "bird in the hand". Just get a good fast PC and don't pour extra money into something that you won't need right away.

Rob Mack

Another question is what kind of user are you? If a pro to whom time is money, then fastest processor, lots of RAM, fast HDD's etc.

If you are a casual user, then some of the annoyances exitsting in 9.0b are probably not going to matter a whole lot. The fastest processor in the family may also not be worth the money.

Also, the flavors of HD that you want to edit are a consideration. HDV is not too difficult for most any new computer. AVCHD is another matter.

Im running the full version of windows 7 and I havent run across any issues. Im using the 64Bit version

> 1 - What is the current version of Vegas?

Vegas Pro 9.0b

> 2 - What do you guys see as the major issues, bugs & improvements needed for the next version?

There's still some issue with AVC/MPEG-4 support as an editing format, both in terms of compatibility with some camcorders (not necessarily Sony's fault, but still an issue) and definitely in terms of speed. However, one general thing I'd like to see improved is overall editing speed. They ought to use all available processors, and, where useful, GPU acceleration, to get the edit-time rendering as fast as possible.

> 3 - When is the next Version of Vegas due out? Is it a new version patching the current version or a major upgraded edition?

Sony released Vegas 9.0 only a few months ago, so chances are, around a year I would guess. I don't speak for Sony, but the best answer should be "when it's appropriate, and ready". In short, they should have the product incorporate enough new features to make it a tasty upgrade, and tested enough to ensure it's stable.

They typically do produce incremental releases... such as the current, 9.0b. If you buy Vegas Pro 9, you get all of the incremental upgrades free... you have to pay for Vegas Pro 10, whenever it's out.

> 4 - Are there any issues I should be aware of running Vegas (current or new versions/editions on Windows 7?

Dunno. It works fine in Vista, and by all accounts, Win7 is largely Vista. Well, Vista with some of the bad ideas removed and demons exorcised, let's hope.

> 5 - How much computer should we buy to setup a professional HD work station > to run Vegas?
> - Quad processor?
Definitely. While that doesn't help much on the editing side of things yet, you get a nearly linear speedup on video rendering per CPU core.

> - Intel or AMD?

Yes. Intel's i7 is the fastest thing around, but AMD has recently at least made it back on the price/performance curve with their latest stuff. What you can spend may answer this question.

> - Ram Requirments?
RAM is so cheap, don't think of "required" but "comfortable". 4GB is really good... if you got to a 64-bit OS, you can add more, and that will presumably be better still.

> - Special Video Card(s?) (we want dual monitors, of course)
Yeah, dual 1920p monitors is kind of a minimum for serious work of most any kind... well, short of that of a novelist. GPU acceleration does make video playback run much faster, though not video editing or rendering, yet. So there's no serious demand for high-end graphics cards. I would certainly get a real graphics card with its own memory, just to keep the graphics activity away from my main memory bus.

If this is mainly for video editing in Vegas, get the Bella DV Keyboard, Vegas edition. You won't be sorry.

Hi,
Do you have a recommendation for 1920p monitors?

illvutar said:

There are not really any 1920p monitors around, unless you tilt them 90 degrees.

Having said that, I have to say that I'm very happy with my Samsung T260, which runs at 1920x1200 pixels.

Thanks for the tip. Do you any reason to believe the Bella Keyboard won't work with Windows 7?