@Dr Zen my comment wasn't directed at you, but others that say that MS18 is [add in your expletives here] without having used it but only for a brief moment. Your assessment of MEP is absolutely correct, and I agree with you. That was my point. You've been a stalwart in the Vegas community. My comment was directed at the frustrated ones who felt betrayed by the emails/popups touting an upgrade to find out it was a lateral to new software, and in the heat of the disappointed say rash things that are not necessarily true about a product most have not used.

I've been through this before when Corel bought Pinnacle from Avid. There was the "weekend" edit software, Studio, and then there was Avid Studio, for those who want "more" editing abilities. After the sale to Corel, Avid Studio became Pinnacle Studio, and legacy Studio was "retired". Avid Studio is an entirely different editing program than "Pinnacle" Studio was, and edited different. There were no similarities between the two. The user forum experienced the same angst that is happening here. Loss of a "friend" with the "new kid" having almost the same name but who was not related at all. But Pinnacle gives refunds, and there were tutorials ready to go to help those that wanted to use the "new" Pinnacle, and long time forum members that use Avid Studio along with forum moderators were there to help ease the pain. Many remained with the "new" kid and never looked back once they got use to it.

The saddest part of all that has happened besides the inferred reference to MS18 as an upgrade, is the refusal to refund the purchase to those that want their money back. Damage has been done to the credibility of Magix. It's a bad move on their part and most definitely affects future sales of any of their products.

@Reyfox From your comments it appears Corel are a better company to deal with than Magix. Unfortunately they don't provide a free trial for the current version of Pinnacle Studio, which is the favourite among my real life video friends.

@EricLNZ Pinnacle Studio has it's own issues. Trust me. And some are "deal breakers" for me. But they do give you 30 days to use the software fully since you paid for it. I wouldn't wait until 30 days, but in a couple of weeks, you will know if you like it or not. Digital River (Cleverbridge) handles the refund which would be in 5-7 business days.

When I look at software purchases, I also look at 3rd party support also. NBFX, Red Giant and NeatVideo used to have plugins for Pinnacle. Not any more. It's a consumer editor with some compelling "pro" features, and great assists in creating video, but the implementation and performance of some of the features need help. And like Vegas... around the end of August, another version is set to hit the selves. The Ultimate version is the only one worth considering. It's inline as a product with Magix Movie Edit Pro Premium. Relatively easy to use, but you can create complex projects.

Support depends on really the user forum and the facebook groups, but they do email. At one time, they remotely connected to my PC to see my problem, and a week later, sent me a .dll file that sort of fixed my problem. Maybe I'm special. 😁

I gotta pipe in again, briefly, to say in spite of all this Magix Mess, this has been one of the most functional, mature uses of a web forum I've experienced in many years. Kudos and thanks to all involved.

P.S. I almost forgot that I was a dedicated Pinnacle Studio user for a long time, wayyy back.

Going back to around 2003/4 with ULead VideoStudio (now Corel) - which is where I started with video editing at home - the biggest limitation for me was the only 2 audio tracks I think it was which made getting background and music placement and mixing a bit of a challenge. The next version had 3 audio tracks which allowed the introduction of narration - Whooo!!! But that was great at the time.

There was a problem with rendering back to my Panasonic Mini-DV camera (which was also the original media source) and ULead was absolutely excellent at addressing the problem and providing a couple of bug fixes to resolve the problem - which it ultimately did. ULead were impressive in this regard - but its different times now. These days, I just don't get the same impression of such good customer service with Corel. That I remember ULead's response to a technical problem more than 1.5 decades ago I think is a testament to just how important individually targeted technical assistance is.

To be fair, I had a couple of purchase problems a few years ago with both Corel and MAGIX where multiple purchases inadvertently happened, and both Corel and MAGIX were very quick at crediting the multiple charges back to my credit card. Not their fault, but my credit card provider still charged the international exchange transfer rate for all the multiple purchases over and above the intended original purchase notwithstanding the credits.

When I look at software purchases, I also look at 3rd party support

I'm not influenced by TP support. Especially when FX are bundled with a project there's no guarantee they will work with the next version. Some folk like to accumulate FX on their pc like the fonts that you end up with and rarely, if ever, use. It's the editing capabilities and the ease of achieving them that matter to me. But having said that, should I ever move up to VP Vegasaur and HOS look interesting.

Support is also important. The Vegas Community here is great but Magix support does not have a good reputation.

@EricLNZ the reason I bring up third party support is many years ago when video cameras were not good in low light (not darkness), the video would be noisy. Shooting a wedding or event, or even home videos could give you low light situations. And sometimes, the results were just too ugly to watch. NeatVideo would help in that situation. People now are used to hearing about "LUT" filters. Using Red Giant's Magic Bullet Looks had me ahead of that "curve", years ago. Knoll Lightfactory, Cosmo and Shine from Red Giant allowed for distinct looks to titles, adding lens flares, etc.. The same with the ability to add video stabilization to save shaky footage that even with the excellent IBIS in my camera, there are times I want it smoother. These things all from from 3rd party plugins which say, Pinnacle did have for years, but no longer have. With today's color toolset, you can create your own "LUT", but the other tools just make adding the finishing touches easier.

Yes, editing is first, but adding the specials touches for me is important. You are absolutely right, some people collect plugins like fonts. But that one time you might need that particular font, it's there. It gives the user more options to be more creative.

Nowadays VMSP has its own stabilizer, auto looks, glow, lens flare, light rays and many others. Of the additions in recent years I have found Bézier Masking the most useful.

As for fonts I find I have so many which look similar!

@EricLNZ you are right. Today's "consumer" editors come with a lot more features/function and ever before. Competition is wonderful. And the need for 3rd party plugins is less as premium versions of software do more. I've used the Vegas Pro stabilizer and it worked fine, but also have the Mercalli 5 Suite which gives me more options.

For a lot of people, what comes with an editor is more than enough... sometimes too much for some. But there are those times (NeatVideo for one) or a special need to create an accurate night sky with Boris FX, or to Dehaze easily. These are special needs for sure, and most plugins are for that.

Fonts? I have WAY too many that I've never used!

Fonts? I have WAY too many that I've never used!

Makes me curious of this one... discuss here

If I decided to upgrade to a future version of Vegas Pro (ex: 19, 20, 21, etc.) down the road, will it be similar to its original form OR will it look more like an advanced version of the new Movie Studio 18?

If I decided to upgrade to a future version of Vegas Pro (ex: 19, 20, 21, etc.) down the road, will it be similar to its original form OR will it look more like an advanced version of the new Movie Studio 18?

@StealthStarSwag I can tell you 1000% that Vegas Pro 19 will still be 100% a VEGAS product and will look like previous versions of Vegas Pro and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum. I'm very confident that Vegas Pro will continue to be Vegas Pro and not morph into a foreign Magix product from a distant galaxy, far, far, away.

@Dr Zen Thank you so much! At some point, I may decide to upgrade to Vegas Pro.

I feel terrible for all the young newcomers to more advanced video editing, however. The first Vegas product I owned was Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 10, and I was just a humble teen at the time. I couldn't afford Vegas Pro back then, but Vegas Movie Studio was an excellent, affordable alternative to Pro, and I learned so much from using it. The next generation deserves that, which is why I'm downhearted to learn about the death of the Vegas Movie Studio I grew up with. 😔

@Dr Zen Thank you so much! At some point, I may decide to upgrade to Vegas Pro.

I feel terrible for all the young newcomers to more advanced video editing, however. The first Vegas product I owned was Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 10, and I was just a humble teen at the time. I couldn't afford Vegas Pro back then, but Vegas Movie Studio was an excellent, affordable alternative to Pro, and I learned so much from using it. The next generation deserves that, which is why I'm downhearted to learn about the death of the Vegas Movie Studio I grew up with. 😔

@StealthStarSwag Wow! That's crazy. Your story is similar to mine, but I'm already a fossil, compared to a young pup like you. My first "proper" video editing program was Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 9. After being in and out of hospital because of a permanent medical condition, I was living back at home with my parents and very depressed. To stop myself from getting worse, I spent the little amount of money I had left on buying a Canon SD video camera and Vegas Move Studio HDP9. There were no good tutorials back then on YouTube, so as I started learning Vegas, that's when I got the idea to create my YT channel Movie Studio Zen and share what I was learning. I'm also sad about the opportunities for young people getting started with Video Editing. Next time I speak with my nieces and nephews (10 to 18 years old), I'll ask what they already know and what their friends use. 🤓

@Dr Zen I'm sorry to read about your medical condition. At the same time, I am glad to know that you found the hobby of video editing to help you get through that tough period in your life. It's sometimes during the darkest moments of our lives that we develop new passions and reach new horizons.

This new "product" has no moral right to be called "Vegas Movie Studio" or "Version 18". This is a spit in a face. Vegas is dead to me.

@LastofAvari, it is not called "Vegas Movie Studio". It never has been. The assumption that it "was" is evident in Magix marketing, placement of it with Vegas in the webpage selection, and the emails sent to VMS registered users.

Vegas had nothing to do with this if you had been following this all. Vegas is quite alive for me.

The assumption that it "was" is evident in Magix marketing, placement of it with Vegas in the webpage selection, and the emails sent to VMS registered users.

@Reyfox Plus add to the list the "upgrade" pop up that appears when you open VMS17 (if you have the Newsfeed option ticked in preferences). To me it's the worst of Magix's misleading behaviour. Why would anyone suspect it's not an upgrade to a genuine VMS version............

@Reyfox Movie Studio ALWAYS was a cut down version of Vegas Pro, so it's based on Vegas tech. You know what I'm talking about. The other point of taking the label and sticking it where it doesn't belong still stands too.

@EricLNZ I opened my copy of VMS15 and saw the popup. That leads purposely, someone to think that VMS has been updated. And still the website reflects that when you look at Vegas products on the VEGAS webpage and see MS there...

@LastofAvari we all know what Vegas Movie Studio was, but Movie Studio does not contain VEGAS in it anywhere as it did before. A "slight of hand", for sure, getting users to believe it's a VMS upgrade when it is a lateral to another product. Caveat emptor.

Here is a POST that says a little be more than before including pricing for those that want to remain in the Vegas ecosystem. It has a link to another post.

This should have been done in the beginning. Better late than never?

Note the option 2. mentioned here:

"If you want to stay in the VEGAS universe, we want to offer you alternatively to upgrade VEGAS Pro Edit which is the entry edition into VEGAS Pro. Here we have two special offers for you:

1. VEGAS Pro Edit 18 only for $99.00. Find out more at https://bit.ly/3ky7pHA.

2. VEGAS Pro Edit 18 and the next version of it for only 149.00$. Here's the deal: https://bit.ly/3hOzXev.

The option 2 did not make it to the OP of this thread, but has been mentioned on the forum e.g. here.