I agree.

That's the best spot about Vegas I've ever seen. It focuses on CHANGE, which is, in my opinion, the main feature of Vegas: a new approach to editing, different from the past.

Sony should believe more in Vegas, support it more and make it better and better over time, since such a product really deserves it and represents a great business for Sony itself.

Bye.

that spot seems like it has a bunch of bad edits in it. Must have been cut on FCP.

jab

That was so bad I couldn't stomach watching or listening to it to the end.

Bob.

I hope this wasn't uploaded by Sony or created by Sony.

1. The audio glitches are frequent and annoying. If someone doesn't know Vegas, they can't help but wonder if Vegas is the cause of these glitches. If Sony uploaded this, then the spot should be pulled until a properly encoded version can be uploaded.

2. The promo is filled with all sorts of empty promises, statements, and generic marketing claims (like "flexibility, power, control") that are never actually "paid off" by showing how the product's features actually lead a person to those conclusions. This is typical "big company" air-head marketing.

3. There is nothing that grabs you and makes you say, "I gotta have that!" More specifically, if I am a FCP, Premiere, or Avid user, is there even one thing -- especially in the first two minutes (not many people will watch for seven minutes) -- that makes me sit up and take notice?

No, there isn't.

I could go on, but this video perfectly illustrates how Sony/Madison marketing continues to completely miss the opportunities to get people to switch to this still-remarkable product which helps you get things done quickly, easily, and directly. I am sorry, but "flexibility, power, and control" are way too abstract and sound like something that an MBA would come up with. By this I mean: these are cerebral, not gut messages. Instead, the message for Vegas, like all good marketing messages, should grab you and should appeal to your gut instincts.

So, how would I re-cast this horrid promotional piece? I'd change the opening to the following, cut it to four minutes, and focus on three to five "payoffs" that support the main premise. Here's how I'd open (this is meant to illustrate the message; the actual words would have to be more clever):

Sony Vegas: Do everything you can do in other editors, but in half the time, twice the quality, and without the headaches.

In other words, promise the results. Ultra Brite toothpaste understood this back in the 1960s with the slogan "Ultra Brite toothpaste gives you sex appeal." It was, certainly at the time, the most blatant illustration of promising results rather than focusing on arcane features. Many other toothpaste commercials of that day focused on the ingredients used in their product. Who the hell cares?

So, in the same vein, does anyone care about "control," or "flexibility", or "power?" No. But, tell me that the girls will love me, my breath will smell better, I'll be richer than Midas, I can go home early and have a beer with my wife (or my girlfriend) (or my wife, and then my girlfriend) at 5:00, and I'll sign up in an instant.

So, I'm afraid I had the opposite reaction and think that this promo is not very good and not likely to be effective.

[edit] I see that Bob posted while I was writing. He was much more succinct, but obviously I agree entirely.

I have to disagree with both farss and johnmeyer

This ad does show what Vegas Pro 8 has provided for me - I'm sorry but I get so tired of the blah blah blah of Vegas Pro bashing (and yes - I was one not too long ago) that it gets old. I don't see anything that would sway me to move away from Vegas Pro 8 - The ad is right - the methodology for editing in virtually any other NLE app is arcane and not productive at all - especially for shooters like myself - if I can get out into the field with a laptop - ingest footage from my cameras while on a shoot, edit and deliver - without having to meet some imposed hardware standard - that gives me power, flexibility and creative control in post - just as the ad says it does.

VP8 is by no means perfect - but anyone who isn't willing to accept the fact that content is moving at an ever increasing speed towards multiple platform distribution channels - broadcast - broadband internet and mobile devices - in addition to DVD, day rates are going down, and every financial resource now is more important than ever - sorry, but that's playing the ostrich head in the sand routine.

The audio glitches I'm sure are a direct result of the pathetic Youtube encode - which I have experienced. I'd like to see this ad shown on vimeo where they do a much better job of encoding.

VP8 is being marketed to the new generation of multimedia content creators - not traditional video shooters and editors. IMO, If you 're not integrating various aspects of multimedia content creation (shooting, editing, audio produciton and using web technologies like CSS, xhtml, and web 2.5 apps) into your work - you're going to go the way of the DoDo - it's already happening to broadcast shooters and newspaper photojournalists and the trickle down effect is already hitting those who are unwilling to make the changes necessary to keep them in the competitive fray.

Just as I keep reading from others about the technical inferiority of cameras like the Canon 5DMKII, it doesn't matter near as much as they say it does - people want compelling content - not mediocre content shot on a 5 figure camera and top end Mac edited with Final Cut Pro. That's for the tech weenies in my opinion who seem to derive some sense of egoic fulfillment from that. The vast majority of shooters are guys like me - we have to do it all - and do so within budgetary constraints - show me another NLE that can do all that Vegas Pro can do for the price - so far, I haven't been able to find one.

Cliff Etzel - Solo Video Journalist
bluprojekt | solo video journalism blog

i got a stiff neck just watching the ergonomics of the layout ;-)

Seems like a good video to introduce a new editor to Vegas. I don't think it says much to address it's true power/strengths which is what the seasoned editor wants to know. It gives me no compelling reason to switch from or even think it is as powerful as Avid, PP, or FCP. It actually looks really ''amateurish' and more-so for the Home User. maybe that's the target audience?

I think YouTube is the right place for this particular video. If there was one on SCS... I think it should hit a bit harder.

I'm not bashing Vegas; I'm bashing this promo. I wouldn't post as often as I do on this forum if I thought Vegas was lousy.

You say that compared to Vegas "the methodology for editing in virtually any other NLE app is arcane and not productive at all."

I agree completely.

Unfortunately, as I stated at length, the ad completely fails to convey that. You even used basically the same word I suggested: productivity. It sounds to me as though if you had done this ad, it would have been spot-on perfect, instead of mediocre corporate pablum.

In fact I agree with almost every single thing you said. Too bad that none of it was captured in the video.

Oh, and the glitch problems are not YouTube. Despite YouTube's many deficiencies, audio glitches are not one of them. Instead, it is a lousy encode. And Vimeo, in my experience, has its own set of problems, most notably it often stalls for a few seconds because it can't deliver the stream uninterrupted, something I seldom experience with YouTube.

Sony Vegas: Do everything you can do in other editors, but in half the time, twice the quality, and without the headaches.

Half the time?

Check.

Twice the quality.

Umm, how are you going to defend that?
To me, it seems video looks the same in Vegas, and for many effects and filters in Vegas there is an alternative in some other NLE or its add-ons that is visibly better.

Without the headaches?

Hmmm. How about, "with different headaches?"
There is always something (in every NLE), and to claim otherwise seems brave.


Just as I keep reading from others about the technical inferiority of cameras like the Canon 5DMKII,

Where did you see that?

Did someone feel hurt because I said that all 5dMkII videos I have seen so far show the need to pay attention to lighting the shadows just like when shooting film (which is the opposite of shooting with video cameras, where the attention needs to be on the highlights instead)?

Its output can be gorgeous, but it won't replace mature full time video cameras across the board.

There's a right time and place for every tool, and I don't think a tool has to be right for every situation to be useable.

a) No, the audio problems are not the result of something Youtube has done. I watch a fair bit of Youtube content and not once have I heard it do that.

b) I totally agree with your premise. The industry is changing. Some are telling me FTA has 10 years left if it's lucky. Where is Vegas in all this, nowhere. No support for any low budget high end production. Think Red, SI-2K etc. etc.
No support for low end production or mobile devices. Adobe added Device Central to their suite some time ago. With that you can check how your video looks and the playback controls work on just about every mobile device made. What should a Vegas user do, buy every mobile phone made just to check it works?
And no real support for AVCHD. The competition lets you use hardware decoders. nVidia and ATI video cards have this, check out this page. $30 to end all the dramas Vegas users have with AVCHD.
c) No, Vegas CANNOT render to multiple formats. Don't know about Ppro but AE can. It can render each frame and encode that to multiple codecs and resolutions in the one pass, huge timesaver.

d) Yes, people want compelling content. If it looks and sound like crud they will not watch it. That ad is a great example.

Worst of all is the degree of false advertising in that ad. What "seemless integration" between Vegas and DVDA? That's one thing that most of the competition has that Vegas doesn't, huh?
Then it talks about XDCAM and metadata etc. Well not if you own an XDCAM EX, sorry, Vegas is now one of the few editors that doesn't fully support Sony's latest and greatest.

I nearly spit my coffee when they started talking about legacy editing. Here we have V8.0c that finally makes some weak attempt to catch up with the rest of the pack's "legacy editing". Mimickry is the greatest form of flattery and perhaps however edited that ad mightn't have made so many bad edits if he'd used that feature.

JM is right on the money. Vegas DOES have many great features and it has a place in everyones toolkit. Sony just doesn't have a clue how to market it. Some sad stand at NAB showing skateboard videos being edited, I just wanted to shrink, that was beyond the pale.

For a company that sells a product to be used for media content creation SCS is so far behind the curve I wonder if there's any hope. Everything I watch from Apple, Adobe and the rest of the pack, be it advertising or training has high production values. We thought about carrying some Vegas produced content but it was so poorly produced we just couldn't watch it much less have our name associated with it.
Vegas is very fast to work with and as capable of producing content as good as the rest. It still takes time and effort with anything to get things right. As a friend of mine keeps reminding me "you're only as good as your last job". It doesn't matter if you did it for free or got $500/hour or what camera it was shot with, a jump cut is a jump cut etc.

Bob.

got buzz words,, they even use one of my favorites from the world of corporate stupid " transparent technologies" gimme a break

I've stewed over this for a while. Just the basics are wrong and this follows on from what JM has said. It tries to win by casting the competition in a negative light. That never works.

Adobe on the other hand are much smarter and more sensible. Several times now I've heard their people speak and read copy that attracts potential users to the advantages of having their product as well as your favourite NLE.
"Even if you prefer editing in Vegas and I can understand that....". Pretty certain that's an exact quote from one of their ambassadors.

So how about "Even if you prefer editing in Ppro or FCP...look how easy doing a mulitrack mix is in Vegas" Shot of Mackie HUI running with Vegas. Heck that even looks sexy :)

I know one local Vegas user who sends his work out to an expensive audio post house for mixing and sweatening. He did not know he could mix in Vegas.

Bob.

I hope this wasn't uploaded by Sony or created by Sony.

The final seconds show "(C) SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE" so your hope was in vain.

And Yikes! Amazing that Sony would let loose this audio hatchet job. Words added without proper timing, smoothing, or intonation.

Problem #2: Using a professional voice-over artist who is not a Vegas editor, not even an user of any NLE.

It is just too obvious that the VO guy has absolutely no idea what he is talking about.

Bob, you’re right on re Adobe.

They're even going to FCP users with, "We understand you love FCP. Adobe has a great solution for you to create Blu-Ray disks from your FCP projects. Check it out, it makes a great complement to FCP for taking care of your BD needs!"

Totally brilliant!

And of course they're pushing this as part of their "Production Premium" package which many higher level FCP editors want anyway, containing in addition to the Encore DVD/BD creator also After Effects and a few other goodies. Oh-by-the-way, the included Premiere Pro CS4 doesn't have to be used, it's just there as a freebie...

(Apple's DVDA equivalent doesn't do Blu-Ray.)

Still, I think PP even in its CS4 incarnation isn't that attractive, and the famous Dynamic Link roundtripping doesn't work for even just moderately complex projects the way it does in limited demos.

After Effects is just getting better and better, and Adobe has really been listening to broadcast designers and Hollywood post gurus, an A+ product in a way that PP can't even dream about yet (but may reach some day).

I have to agree with Farss & Johnmeyer.

The audio makes me want to puke.... its has the same affect on me as when I walk around NAB.... mindless sales hype dictated by a "professional", incredibly unbelievable voice over artist - my mind just shut out the dribble he was saying after about 10 seconds.
Use some believable 'no BS' person -' Cliff or DSE type' to get the message across to the bulk of the people. This video would appeal to blue-suit salesman - those stuck-up unreal plastic people that inhabit the booths at trade shows. This is hardly going to appeal to the next wave of young edgy users.
Hope I didn't offend anyone on the forum, but no apologies to the marketing decision maker.

Ok Ok even as bad as this is I do have a question, around 1.47 of the vid the guy is rolling over what seems to be clips and they are zooming in or getting bigger, is this a feature of vegas ( as i have never seen this ) or is it just more hype.

OK figured it out it is media manager, never used it before.

Problem #2: Using a professional voice-over artist who is not a Vegas editor, not even an user of any NLE.OOh, I forgot to mention that one. Both Course, and quokka are absolutely correct: it is unforgivable to have someone speak words when they don't know the meaning. It's reminds me of listening to old war movies and some guy like Gregory Peck is supposed to be fluent in German (Guns of Navarone) and speaks his lines with the worst American accent imaginable.

I have seen such audio problems with YouTube when someone sends an encoded MPEG2 file and YouTube re-encodes it.

If you wanted to provide "negative" advertising, how would YOU go about it - <wink>

Grazie

I had to laugh when they touted the 32-bit mode. They should not mention it if they do not plan on fixing it.

They should not mention it if they do not plan on fixing it. If doesn't work, don't break it.

No, wait ...

If it breaks, don't make it work.

That's not it ...

If you break it, you buy it.

Well, I'll figure it out some day ... probably about the same time Sony figures it out.

If it doesn’t work, take a break. That should fix it