Digital Video and Audio Production, Vegas 4.0 book

seeker wrote on 8/14/2003, 12:46 AM
About a year ago I purchased the Digital Video and Audio Production book for Vegas 3. It's a good book and very useful for getting familiar with Vegas. Now that the new version is out, I compared the free sample online module against the same module in my Vegas 3 version.

There were some cosmetic changes and minor editing changes, but about 80% of the material was carried over essentially unchanged. The flip side of that is that about 20% new material has been added, which is a good thing. In my opinion the 20% of new stuff would be justification enough to buy the new book even though I have the previous one.

All that said, I notice that the figures in the online sample module are in full color, which I think adds to their usefulness. However I strongly suspect that the figures in the published version are in Black & White halftoned gray tones. Only the cover of my Vegas 3 book is in color, and I suspect the same is true for the new Vegas 4 version.

I would like to have a full color version of the book, even if only in electronic PDF form, so that I could print it out in full color on my Epson printer. The mere fact that the sample module is in full color makes me think that the complete book exists somewhere in full color and that the published edition was in B/W merely to save printing costs.

My question is, "Is the full color version of the book available either in printed form or in electronic form?" Since this was printed by SonicFoundry Press, it seems plausible that SoFo could sell the color PDF separately. Or, at least, bundle it with the printed book. How can we get the color version?

-- Seeker --

Comments

seeker wrote on 8/21/2003, 12:03 AM
I think I need someone from SoFo publications to weigh in on this.
seeker wrote on 8/22/2003, 4:44 PM
bump
MyST wrote on 8/23/2003, 4:38 PM
Wouldn't it be faster to send customer service an e-mail?

M
seeker wrote on 8/24/2003, 3:22 AM
Apparently it would. I sent SoFo Customer Service an email containing the content of my original post.

-- Seeker --
24Peter wrote on 8/24/2003, 3:53 PM
I've got the Vegas 4 book and you are correct - it's black and white and gray. (Almost identical to the look of the printed portion of the users manual that ships with the CD version of Vegas.)

IMO - this book is of limited value. I've gotten more off this forum than from that book. It's good for newbies but I feel SoFo oversold this one. It covers only the basics.
seeker wrote on 12/18/2003, 11:29 PM
M,

"Wouldn't it be faster to send customer service an e-mail?"

Well, I sent them an email and I still haven't heard from them. So nothing fast has happened. So far nothing has happened. The Vegas 4 version of this book does have a significant amount of new material and the reused amount of material from Vegas 3 has been polished a little. And the price has been lowered, but the included CDROM no longer contains "Over $200 of Fully Functioning Software".

The Vegas Video 3 version of Digital Video and Production came with, among other things, a fully functioning Vegas Video 3.0 LE which could be upgraded to the full Vegas Video 3.0 for a bargain price, which made the $49.95 price of the book a very good bargain and a good entry path to Vegas ownership. The Vegas 4 version of the book is no longer an entry path.

I just think Sony Media Software should include a full color PDF of the book on the book's CDROM so those of us inclined to print out the full color version could. The sample downloadable full color Module 3 shows that they have the book in full color, so they could have easily included it on the book's CDROM.

Sony Media, are you listening? At least do this for the Vegas 5 version of Digital Video and Audio Production. In it you can also change all the references to Sonic Foundry to Sony and of course cover all the new features of Vegas 5.

-- Seeker --

**** EDIT ****

I expressed the opinion above that the Vegas 4 version of this book has more material than the Vegas 3 version. I was basing that on the sample Module 3. I notice that the Vegas 4 version is described as having "eight logically organized modules containing almost 30 lessons and over 80 tasks." Well, the Vegas 3 version also has eight modules, but it has 38 lessons and 107 tasks. That sounds like more than the Vegas 4 version. I suspect the Vegas 4 description is simply inaccurate. There is a lot of that going around.
seeker wrote on 12/18/2003, 11:37 PM
Peter,

"I've got the Vegas 4 book and you are correct - it's black and white and gray."

It really costs quite a bit to print a book in full color. But they could and should include a full color version of the book as a PDF on the book's CDROM. Quite a few computer related books do that. The PDF can be navigated and searched very quickly and has other added value things as compared to the hardcopy book.

-- Seeker --
busterkeaton wrote on 12/19/2003, 6:57 AM
Seeker,

If you haven't already you may want to check out Spot's Vegas 4 book, Vegas 4 Editing Workshop" It's very well done.


seeker wrote on 12/19/2003, 3:07 PM
Buster,

If you haven't already you may want to check out Spot's Vegas 4 book,

I agree. I have it on order from Books-a-Million. Hopefully it will arrive in the next few days.

-- Seeker --
BD wrote on 12/23/2003, 2:52 PM
The January 2004 edition of Videomaker magazine gave its highest review rating (5 points out of 5) to Spot's book. I bought his DVD set, which is excellent.

If I'm a good boy, his book might appear in my Christmas stocking. I'm trying.

Brandon's Dad
seeker wrote on 12/23/2003, 4:23 PM
BD,

My copy of Spot's book arrived today from Books-a-Million, along with several other books, including "Photoshop for Nonlinear Editors" by Richard Harrington. It contains a few pages of Vegas 4 specific material written by David Hill, who has been intimately associated with Vegas for quite some time. That section is titled, "Integrating Adobe Photoshop with Sonic Foundry Vegas."

-- Seeker --