Upon entering the market several months ago, I faced the same decision except I wanted an editing system that came with a card(RTX100, Canopus, etc.). After scouring the web for reviews and comments, the path continued to lead to one program....Vegas. Yes, I was familiar with Sonic Foundry because of Acid, but didn't take them seriously when it came to the video side. I attended the DV Line shootout and was blown away by what the guy was doing on a laptop. I was so overwhelmed by the demo and positive internet feedback on Vegas that I bought it. I can tell you now after several completed projects that Vegas is an awesome program that delivers. I haven't even touched half of the features you read about frequently on this site. One intangible is the online community and support materials developed for Vegas. If you have questions, there are people with answers including SF support. You won't look back after getting Vegas....Premier/Avid who?

I think that Premiere7 will bring great new things. Encore is likely to deliver too.
However the fresh face of Vegas has won me over. Competition is good but Premiere6.5 didn't show me the sign that Adobe was "responding".

Sony/SoFo had better appreciate that firstly they have a fine fine application and that secondly they must always strive to be the best to even keep their current user base let alone gain yet further. I don't like the purchase occuring so quietly but then these are private negotiations. A couple of interim/point-release feature adds wouldn't go amiss for Jul/Aug. Vegas, DVDA and SoundForge.

If SoFo is good as it stands, let it truly stand as it is today. Don't just promise but then assimilate anyway. The bean counters will want economies of scale around the whole of Sony Pictures Digital.

I think that Premiere7 will bring great new things. Encore is likely to deliver too.
However the fresh face of Vegas has won me over. Competition is good but Premiere6.5 didn't show me the sign that Adobe was "responding".

Sony/SoFo had better appreciate that firstly they have a fine fine application and that secondly they must always strive to be the best to even keep their current user base let alone gain yet further. I don't like the purchase occuring so quietly but then these are private negotiations. A couple of interim/point-release feature adds wouldn't go amiss for Jul/Aug. Vegas, DVDA and SoundForge.

If SoFo is good as it stands, let it truly stand as it is today. Don't just promise but then assimilate anyway. The bean counters will want economies of scale around the whole of Sony Pictures Digital.

Oh...first of all you said somehting that I may be reading wrong but you said: "If I did get premiere I most likley would choose not to get AE. for the fact I am willing to pay for the best video editor I can, but not willing to double what I would pay for something that looks like I could get from VV" AE is NOT an NLE. Premiere is and so is VV. VV can do some things that AE can but VV is not AE so if you are looking for an NLE leave AE out of the picture. But like I said - I might be misreading what you said.

Other than that - yeah, read the other threads and bottom line it for yourself. What do *you* need to do. The other threads on the subject pretty much cover it.

I have Premiere 6.5 and Canopus DV Storm and I'm starting to use Vegas more and Storm less, even though Premiere/Storm has much more real time capability. If it were a choice just between software programs I would not even consider Premiere, it is a joke compared to Vegas and Adobe is the most unresponsive company I have even purchased software from. SF on the other hand is one of the best. I complained about no scopes in the last version and now we have some of the best color corrections tools around. In a longer time frame we had a minor (basically bug update) to Premiere ($150) with a few features thrown in and we're still waiting for them to fix other bugs. The only thing I really like about Premiere is the new titler. Hopefully SF is improving theirs.

Also the advantage of Premiere's ability to use realtime hardware is offset by major stability problems when doing anything other than basic projects. I've been through three systems, two operating systems, mutiple approved components etc. and Premiere dissapears the desktop mutiple times daily during heavy editing. Canopus has admitted that Adobe is not helping them to fix the problems and Canopus is also slow to update. I'll look at Premiere 7 but I don't expect it to work properly with Canopus for months at a minimum. If you want something that works now and you do not require true realtime hardware support, Vegas is really the only good option in my opinion. Unless you want to spend more of course.

BTW, I'm rendering a Vegas project while I'm typing this - DO NOT TRY THIS IN PREMIERE!!!

Good luck,

Marc

I used Premiere for 3 years before switching to Vegas about 3 months ago. The question you pose has many possible answers. The choice really comes down to what is best for you.

For the type of work I do, with the equipment I have and for the workflow I am best suited to then Vegas is the best option for me.

I miss many things about Premiere because I have not yet discovered how to achieve these within Vegas but would I give Vegas away and switch back to Premiere.......No!
Dave

In Vegas you can render some projects at the same time, on multiples instances, I don't know if this is possible on Premiere?.

If used Premiere 4.2 and Premiere 5, after thois I've discovered Vegas, and I never tried Premiere again.

Josaver.

Thanks everybody for your imput, it helps me out a ton...I just didn't want to get the wrong program, but I am thinking Vegas is the one for me...I still have research to do, but I am leaning way towards vegas.

Thanks again