I have been using Sony Vegas pro 13 on my windows laptop for many years and wanted to upgrade it now. I am told Magix Vegas Pro 18 is available for me to upgrade. How different is it from sony vegas? Have I got to relearn editing from scratch with this product?
Not at all. It works the exact same, only with a ton of new features.
Be aware that Vpro18 needs recent hardware and as OS Windows10 only.
I encourage you to upgrade...there are some new GPU rendering options introduced a few releases ago that are worth having.
That said, I've bought every upgrade Magix has released and Sony V13 has remained my main editor.
Be aware that Vpro18 needs recent hardware and as OS Windows10 only.
Good points, so he better download the trial version first.
The above post also misses things like:
Motion Tracking
Color Grading
Hardware Video Decoding
HDR Support
8k Support
ProRes Support
AI Effects
Noise Reduction
Flicker Removal
and a ton of other features, as well as some upcoming features like:
Network Editing & Cloud Storage
A comprehensive network-enabled media preparation system.
& Much more (to be included as part of the VEGAS 18 purchase).
I just upgraded from V12 to V18. The UI is nice and crisp, yet familiar. They are plenty of new options available by comparison. I've only fiddled with it for about an hour, and it's crashed after simply applying and rendering slow motion.
But that's how Vegas has always been. The purchasers for the software become the last round of beta testers.
But that's how Vegas has always been. The purchasers for the software become the last round of beta testers.
VEGAS still isn't perfect, but that's pretty much the same for any NLE these days... even the "big boys" crash over nothing sometimes.
Also, many times these crashes come down to issues with the user's system, such as the need for a GPU driver update (which is why 18 now includes a utility to do that), or hardware not meeting minimum system specs. If I had a dime for every time that ended up being the source of the issue people show up with around here...
The utility for updating GPU drivers is for nvidia gamers cards only at the moment . Quadro's not yet but will in the future although pro's are supposed to be aware there being an nvidia drivers download website and don't really require such an extra utility ;-)
Rather than give you a laundry list of added features, I'll list just one memorable feature in every version that I've purchased. These seemingly trivial changes are top of mind when I think of the differences between versions.
13 to 14 (Add media to the timeline at project frame rate)
14 to 15 (GPU Encoding using my AMD RX480)
15 to 16 (I skipped 16)
15 to 17 ( GPU Decoding)
18 (I haven't picked a killer feature, yet)
Pixel Format: 8-bit Full Range probably won't be the one because my camera is neither limited range or full range (16-255).
But that's how Vegas has always been. The purchasers for the software become the last round of beta testers.
VEGAS still isn't perfect, but that's pretty much the same for any NLE these days... even the "big boys" crash over nothing sometimes.
I never said it was an issue that's exclusive to Vegas. But the fact remains. Those who buy a new version of software ARE the final beta testers, because not everything can be duplicated with a small number of people testing the product.
But that's how Vegas has always been. The purchasers for the software become the last round of beta testers.
VEGAS still isn't perfect, but that's pretty much the same for any NLE these days... even the "big boys" crash over nothing sometimes.
Also, many times these crashes come down to issues with the user's system, such as the need for a GPU driver update (which is why 18 now includes a utility to do that), or hardware not meeting minimum system specs. If I had a dime for every time that ended up being the source of the issue people show up with around here...
@fr0sty with all though respect, what you said is not true! Vegas Pro used to be as stable as other solid NLEs such as Avid Media Composer and DaVinci Resolve but not anymore since the last 10 versions! This is generally not the fault of the development team, but the fault of the old code of Vegas Pro! IMHO, it would take a miracle and great deal of efforts for the development team to make Vegas Pro as stable as the competitors, yet re-writing the code from scratch using the latest and greatest coding technology would be the ideal solution.
Since 1992 and until today, I have owned many of the most popular hardware based NLEs, and software based NLEs including, NewTek Video Toaster (Amiga PC), Fast Electronic, Adobe Premiere, Speed Razor (Matrox Digisuite), DPS Velocity, DPS VelocityHD , Harris VelocityQ, Grass Valley EDIUS, Avid Symphony & MediaComposer, NewTek SpeedEDIT on TriCaster, BMD DaVinci Resolve and almost all versions of Vegas Pro. In my long experience with all those, the most solid NLEs that NEVER crashed on me, not even once, was DPS Velocity, DPS VelocityHD and Harris VelocityQ but unfortunately all of them went out of business! Vegas Pro was also extremely stable probably in the first 10 versions! What I find now very stable are Media Composer and DaVinci Resolve but I stopped using Media Composer because of its complicated interface and workflow which I still dislike it and find it not user friendly, unlike Vegas Pro which is the most user friendly of them all followed by DaVinci Resolve.
My only wish is that one day Vegas Pro will be re-written from scratch to be as stable as Media Composer and DaVinci Resolve, then I will never look back, again.
The utility for updating GPU drivers is for nvidia gamers cards only at the moment . Quadro's not yet but will in the future although pro's are supposed to be aware there being an nvidia drivers download website and don't really require such an extra utility ;-)
@wilvan Totally agree. I do not find that feature important at all for pros. However, it might be useful for novice.
I have been using Sony Vegas pro 15 I can't find anything about it vs 18 .Would be nice to find a compare between the 15 and 18. I know 18 most likely as a ton of new stuff. Any help folks ?
Use the trialversion and look for yourself.
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-17-update-1-build-321--117238/
(unfortunately I can't find the release link)
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/release-vegas-pro-18-vegas-post-suite--122738/
By the way - @j-v I can only agree.
My private opinion... I think all NLE have the same worries and problems. They want to give all users the opportunity to have the maximum performance for each individual system. The performance can only be improved by the graphics card... but each manufacturer has its own framework... NVIDIA with Cuda, AMD with OpenSDK and Intel with OneApi (all of them support OpenCL and OpenGL). The problem is NVIDIA only supports the basic functions (OpenCL version 1.2) and AMD shows several problems and crashes with NAVI chips (known issue for AMD).
In addition, there are no restrictions for the user. Slow Motion is an incredibly hardware-heavy plug-in, but anyone can use it with any system configuration (even if it causes a crash).
I also advise using the trial first and I believe that the new possibilities and increases in performance will convince. Have fun with VEGAS 18!
... private ...
@VEGASPascal That word doesn't mean what you think it means. :-)
Otherwise I certainly agree with you.
The Vegas team may well be doing the best they can with the resources they have. In which case I would try to make the case to Magix that they need more resources. Either developers, in-house testers, beta testers or all three. One problem with increasing the testing load is the team has to have the bandwidth to address the issues found. Either way, IMO they need to be doing more to ferret out the problems before the paying customers get hold of the product.