Was the HiDef refering to the Sonic, or to the Video. It already applies to the Sonic, don't you think? So what are you seeing beyond that?

Was the HiDef refering to the Sonic, or to the Video. It already applies to the Sonic, don't you think? So what are you seeing beyond that?

Defucius,

Good question. The recent Star Wars movie was reportedly shot and edited in digital HDTV, and then transferred to film for showing in the theaters. The movie "Full Frontal" was reportedly edited in Apple's Final Cut Pro. I don't know if it was HD, but suspect it might have been.

With the possible exception of HDTVs, there isn't any affordable HD consumer or prosumer equipment. Even HDTVs are debatably affordable. But HD camcorders are exoticly priced, and I am not sure HD tape recorder/players exist. If they do, they would also be priced in the stratosphere.

The upshot of this is that the HD buyers are currently limited to corporations with deep pockets and the occasional billionaire hobbyist. We will have to wait for several years for High Definition to come down to the realm of the common man. So even if Sonic Foundry incorporated full High Definition support in Vegas 4, we still wouldn't benefit from it, except indirectly if some of the movie studios started using Vegas in addition to or in preference to Avid or Final Cut. We could get some favorable product publicity and name recognition from that, which could in turn expand our Vegas user base.

I personally can't wait for High Definition. I would love to have an HD camcorder to be taking my footage in HD. Even my frame grab stills would benefit from the higher pixel counts. But to really benefit from High Definition, we would need blue laser disc technology to become commercially and affordably available, so that we could burn our HD movies to discs that could be played on set top HD Disc players cabled to HDTVs. We probably would need terabyte hard drives.

I think all of that is a few years in the future. But it is good to be thinking about it. I think Vegas could and should give Final Cut and Avid a run for their money in High Definition. But HD video/audio software won't be really profitable until HD hardware becomes commonplace and affordable, so I think it is premature to agitate for Sonic Foundry to support HD at this time. At least, that is how I see it.

Hello Seeker,

Stars Wars WAS shot on 24P HD video using a Sony/Panavision camera system. Full Frontal was edited on Final Cut Pro in standard def....and Panasonic has an excellent line of mid-priced HD camera/deck gear out that doesn't break the bank. Ikegami has some new toys for HD soon to appear...the ball is starting to roll....


And there's the rub....as George Lucas pointed out in this very forum, until Sonic Foundry decides to invest effort into making Vegas Video: 1: Be compatable with high end edit platforms that are the current "standards" for video/film development and 2: Be capable of true 16:9, DV25, DV50 and beyond (HD) formats....like FCP is....Vegas Video will not get the recognition its so well deserves. Vegas is so well written...it deserves much more!

BUT: Why wasn't it written from the beginning as a true multi-threaded ap? Why wasn't it written to be resolution independent?

I love Vegas and am slowly porting all my efforts over to it from multiple platforms. I'm an avid (pardon the pun) fan of Vegas and am constantly touting its name to all my competitors with success!

I'm hoping that the SF elves are hard at work on VV4, because I see HD coming faster than most people think...why?

1: FCC has mandated to manufacturers that the first large TV's will soon HAVE to have DT tuners in them in 2 years, small-size TV's by 2005, mid-size by 2007.

2: Almost 1 in 4 TV sets currently sold are HD capable. (see any broadcast mag for info)

3: Congress is under tremendous pressure to turn the current analog TV frequencies
over to emergency services (law passed already but not implemented..pissing off many)and others who have been promised the spectrum....

4: Fully 1/3 of TV stations are now broadcasting DTV, rest will be compliant by 2006 deadline, or face heavy fines. Cable and Sats are taking a wait and see attitude, except HDNET, which is the ONLY true broadcasting HD network currently on air with Sports Programming.

Bottom Line: Vegas needs to be forward thinking RIGHT NOW....if they are to be a viable tool in the professional post-production arena.

As I see it...

David

Why wasn't [Vegas] written from the beginning as a true multi-threaded ap?
Vegas is multi-threaded. It does proxy and peak generation in the background, it uses multiple threads for audio FX processing, it uses a thread for DV compression so it can run on another processor while the next frame is rendered... However, we are rarely CPU bound; mostly things are I/O bound, so having more threads wouldn't help a bit.

Why wasn't it written to be resolution independent?
Vegas is entirely resolution independent. Special support DV was added due to the format's popularity (I hope you'd agree that it was a wise choice, cosidering that it's the format of choice for the majority of users). Bring up your project properties, and you can set any reasonable frame size, frame rate (including fractional), and pixel aspect ratio. Does it support HD resolutions? Not today (it maxes out at 800x800), but with current machines, resolutions higher than that are not feasible with a software-only architecture. All of that will change, of course, and as machines get faster and have more memory and I/O bandwidth, and Vegas will be there with ever increasing capabilities.

I love Vegas and am slowly porting all my efforts over to it from multiple platforms. I'm an avid (pardon the pun) fan of Vegas and am constantly touting its name to all my competitors with success!
Thanks, the more the better. It is truly in all of our best interests, to have more people using Vegas.

I'm hoping that the SF elves are hard at work on VV4
I'm pretty sure most of the Vegas engineers are over 5' tall <g>. I'm not sure who finishes my features at night, perhaps elves.

///d@

Hello Dennis,

<Vegas is multi-threaded.>

That's what I was told at NAB, but a friend spoke with someone recently at SF and they told him no...FWIW.

<Vegas is entirely resolution independent. >

From my point of view, if there is a limit, then its not completely resolution independent. Please remember, I compete heavily with Final Cut Pro people and have to put up with their "Resolution Independence" all the time. Though I'm the first to ask to see FCP run at 2K X 2K with an HD clip and see how it performs! So far, I haven't seen it...

<I'm pretty sure most of the Vegas engineers are over 5' tall <g>.>

Yep. met some myself. Though David looks like he's about 5'11"!! Seriously, I meant the term "elves" to be a very positive concept....as those who work tirelessly behind the scenes and produce miracles! <VBG>

Regards,
David