I've wondered the same thing. Considering that most of our delivery is on DVD, with the rare occasional of Web video, I'm not certain there is an advantage for me, not yet, anyway.

And from what I read here in the forum, like MV said, it appears to create more headaches than it solves. Still, I'm sure there are those who are breezing along with it very keenly.

Do I get better visual qualities? Am I going to be able to access better plugs?

At present one of the reasons to go 64bit would be to allow my system access beyond 3gbs of RAM. Now, what in VP64bit would be the value in access more than 3gbs?

I'm not being a wise arse here. I'd really like to know.

Grazie

The Sony 10 System Requirements page (see Sony Software tab at head of page) suggests that only 1Gb of RAM is required but recommends 2Gb. I have only 4Gb on my new PC with both the 32 and 64 bit versions installed and this seems more that adequate from what little experience I'v gained so far.

The 64 bit version of Vegas is supposed to be quicker but, apart from this, it also allows the use of Open FX Plug Ins which, as I understand it, will not work in the 32 bit version. I'm told that the creation of Plug Ins in this way is the future and that, as the 64 bit architecture (Windows 7 for example) replaces the earlier OSs, the availability of 32 bit Plug Ins will start to reduce.

With all that said, I've only gathered this from reading this and other forums and my state of knowledge of computers is such that I am still easily led (or probably more likely, misled!).

Richard

All of my current plug-ins are 32-bit. I'm in no hurry to replace all those, assuming 64-bit plug-ins are even available. It will be some time before all the 32-bit stuff is replaced, I'm guessing.

Thanks guys.

Does 64bit, when being used in that all important 64bit CPU and 64bit VP10 does this make files like AVCHD files work better?

I'm really reconsidering any UG if it isn't going to give me a net sum gain.

Grazie

In general, in the long run, a 64 bit system has the potential to do everything faster than a 32 bit system simply because it has the ability to process twice as many bits per cycle.

However, the practical side is that almost all video and audio data is 16, 24, or 32 bits. Each pixel and sample has to be processed atomically. So that means that when an RGB pixel is fetched and operated on the 64 bit processor works on 24 bits of data. The 32 bit processor will also work on 24 bits of data. What does it really gain to have an extra 40 idle bits instead of only 8 idle bits?

I'm sure there are some code efficiencies in very well written 64 bit software that do take advantage of the rare situations where, say, two pixels can be processed at once instead of one, but that probably isn't very often compared to all the other processing going on. And that's also only with the best well written 64 bit code. Lots of applications that were born in the 32 bit world and ported to 64 bit aren't going to get a lot of those efficiency tweaks added.

For that matter, last i heard, Vegas / Forge / Acid still claim to do internal processing with 32 bit floating point precision, not 64 bit.

So yes, it may gain you something, but probably not a whole lot more than that carbon-frame bike will. Personally i'd go with a more, cheaper 32 bit cores than fewer, more expensive 64 bit cores. Vegas has proven it's ability to utilize more cores very nicely.

Thanks, again, Kelly. That explains it pretty well. I'm confident that was what Grazie was looking for. Works, for me, anyway.

Kelso, as always you lend some important reality-math to the proceedings, which wasn't what I was even thinking about. But you have given that all important scientific view that I wouldn't have a clue about! But you've made it very easy to understand. Thanks.

Jay, you weren't a million miles away.

I could add ram, should I? I could go to four new gigs if ram? Should I bother?

Grazie

If I understand correctly, adding more RAM is of little or no value. XP and Win7 32-bit doesn't recognize/use anything beyond the original 2GB.

I like running Win 7 64 bit with added ram even while running Vegas 32 bit. The reasoning is I can also run Photoshop and other memory intensive programs concurrently. FWIW we've had a few issues with V Pro 64 bit of the "Vegas Has Stopped Working" variety, usually when mixing different flavors & multiple tracks of avchd media. So for now, we're staying with 32 bit Vegas but digging 64 bit Windows 7.

12 GB ram may be a bit much but I won't have to upgrade for awhile.

I like running Win 7 64 bit with added ram even while running Vegas 32 bit.

This is the best approach right now - especially if upgrading your hardware is on the table. Get the new gear in place...install Windows 7 64Bit with a minimum of 4GB of RAM and then continue to use 32apps and 32bit plug-ins.

This gets you the instant benefit of being able to use more memory concurrently to run additional apps/processes etc. But like many others in here have noted - a 64bit Vegas doesn't really bring anything earth shattering to the table in terms of better performance etc.

But if one has modern hardware - I would definitely be running a 64bit OS with 4GB of RAM at the very least today.

VP

The 64 bit version of Vegas is supposed to be quicker but, apart from this, it also allows the use of Open FX Plug Ins which, as I understand it, will not work in the 32 bit version.

This is not the case. One can compile an OFX plugin either for x86 or x64 architecture. For some specific algorithms it may require quirks when having to deal with 64 bits objects in a 32 bit adressing space but I do not think such issue should occur with Vegas plugins. You can check OFX plugins available for Vegas and see that the two architectures are supported.

At present one of the reasons to go 64bit would be to allow my system access beyond 3gbs of RAM. Now, what in VP64bit would be the value in access more than 3gbs?

It really depends of your use and your needs. Some of my tests with BCC told me that a part of the memory reserved for preview is used by Boris plugins. And for some of them, the more you have the better you feel...

I actually run several versions of Vegas on top of Win7 x64. I tend to move slowly on x64 but I have to keep x86 for old 32 bit plugins compatibility...

One though about that memory stuff: with a 8gb mobo running Win7 x64, you can run Vegas x86 with a full 4gb addressing space. Quite a nice thing giving Vegas more memory without having to deal with the plugins compatibility.

Since Vegas binaries and DLLs are not compiled with the /LARGEADDRESSAWARE switch you will have to use the CFF explorer hack described by blink3times or, if you have the Windows SDK, to use the editbin utility to modify this flag. Until the flag in the PE COFF headers is changed, the 2gb barrier remains.

See How to determine the appropriate page file size for 64-bit versions of Windows

With the hope it helps.

[i]This is the best approach right now - especially if upgrading your hardware is on the table. Get the new gear in place...install Windows 7 64Bit with a minimum of 4GB of RAM and then continue to use 32apps and 32bit plug-ins. [/I]

This I like! I have an option to have this with 8gb and dual boot system. But rethinking this, again, why bother with a dual boot. All my 32apps will play in 64bit? Correct?

So, in essence, no need for me to step up to VP 64bit. Just leave well alone and have 32bit Vegas swim around within the 64bit environment and have that extra RAM available for "other" 32bit apps. That makes sense?

Grazie

Yes, it makes sense. 32 bits apps run like a charm on Seven x64

Now I'm excited. So, no need for dual boot then?

Grazie

Definitively useless.

Happy Grazie ? ;)

"...install Windows 7 64Bit with a minimum of 4GB of RAM and then continue to use 32apps and 32bit plug-ins."

And what is the benefit and/or advantage?

I have 8GB of RAM in my laptop. Practically speaking I notice three things when working with Vegas:

1/ I can have a larger amount of RAM allocated to shift B temporary renders.
2/ I can work with bigger photographs.
3/ I can work with photoshop on large graphics files at the same time.

win7-64 has save me countless hours. My projects are usually large (some approaching 2 hours) and painfully complex 60p, with lots of greenscreen, blurred masks, etc. They NEVER render in 32-bit versions of Vegas (unless I cut them into 2-min. segments, or even shorter, rendering each segment separtely . . . a huge time waster), but ALWAYS render in 9c-64 (presuming that all my clips are in Cineform codec, and I'm rendering out to Cineform; from there I degrade it to DVD / MPEG2, or 24p for the web, etc.).

Until V9x-64 came along, I was about to abandon Vegas.

Having said that, I always edit in 8c (32-bit), for v9 has always been a bit buggy for me while editing (I've put it on several computers, with same sad results); same for v10 - so far. Now I always run 8c in Win7-64 while editing, then open it in 9c-64 for rendering - 100% quirk-free living.

So do I need dual boot? Yup! My old programs from Adobe (Pagemaker, and several others) won't run in 64-bit OS. The XPmode that comes free with Win7 Professional didn't work well at all for me (it would stop working if it couldn't find the same disks that were in my computer when I installed it, but I usually keep about 10 disks connected and they often change with the project I'm working on; so no go).

If you don't want to dual boot, the free VMware player works well in Win7-64 IF you have a fair amount of RAM that you can loan to the VMware virtual machine. You can create your own Appliance to play with it so that you can set the RAM as high as XP32 can accept (about 3.2 GB) if you go to http://www.easyvmx.com/. It's free, but you'll need a legal copy of XP to install in it (you'll get a prompt to download and install VMware Tools after installation so that you can drag'n'drop files between your real machine and the virtual machine - and do a few other chores).

Even with VMware tools, I've had a few really old and really cranky animation programs that couldn't find the gpu and refused to open. For that reason, I still dual boot for maximum compatibility. Instead of using a boot loader, I simply use 2 80GB SSDs - one for XP32, the other for Win7 64. I have over 100 programs installed on my Win7 SSD, and only am using 51 GB (I don't keep the pagefile there, and I got rid of hibernate file).

As an added bonus, I can create an image file of the other while none of the other OS files are open - eliminating the need to use shadowing (which frequently doesn't work) or booting from DVD (which is slow).

So: How much RAM is needed? 8 GB is enough, in my experience, to operate Vegas and a couple of other programs, along with VMware (my VMware Linux Appliance that I use for browsing the web uses less than 1GB RAM - http://bagside.com/bagvapp/index.html; and my WinXP in VMware currently is set for 2GB). My new machine is 12 GB - for future proofing.

By the way - if you look at the rendering times posted on the newrendertest-2010 thread, you'll see that rendering times consistently are hugely improved with 64-bit versions of Vegas.

Conclusion: Absolutely get Win7 64-bit and see if all your programs install. If not, dual boot or get VMware so that you can open WinXP from within Win7.

And given the low cost of RAM, get at least 6 GB (3 x 2GB sticks) - it may be enough if you don't open many programs all at once - or 8 GB if your MB has 4 slots (my old quad MB had only 4 and worked well with 8 GB RAM). But if you notice sudden slowing as you switch from one to another program, then get another 6GB RAM (if you're using a MB with 6 slots).

"In general, in the long run, a 64 bit system has the potential to do everything faster than a 32 bit system simply because it has the ability to process twice as many bits per cycle."

Not so at all. The difference between a Win 32 bit system and a Win 64 bit system is purely the amount of RAM it can address. It makes no difference to the data buss or the CPUs internal registers.

Bob.

"I have 2gb RAM on 32bit with QUAD, just what is open tome by going to 64bit and 64bit Vegas?"

From my tests which confirmed the theory, things will run smoother, not faster. I compared V10 playing out HD on my Win32 system with 2GB of RAM compared to my Win64 system with 6 GB of RAM. On the former max preview RAM is 1 GB and it craps out as soon as I look sideways at it. On the 64bit system max preview RAM is 5GB and it seems much more stable and playback can be smoother. It does seem that V10 is using more RAM, when it runs out of it goodnight and goodbye.

Consider this. A single frame of HD contains 4 times the number of pixels that a single frame of SD contains.Fairly obvious then that to buffer the same number of frames of HD than SD requires 4 times the memory. On just that alone if you're happily editing SD on 2GB then you should be thinking about being able to use 8GB with Vegas.

There are other factors at play though e.g. Long GOP codecs, the switch by more people to 10bits per pixel, both rapidly escalate the amount of RAM that can be meanifully used. Not that uncommon to see turnkey systems spec'ed with 128GB or 192GB of RAM.

Bob.

"There are other factors at play though e.g. Long GOP codecs, "

With the lookahead / lookbehind of bipredictive frames being several hundred per GOP with AVCHD, that alone may account for far more memory demand than picture real estate alone.