> Instead of investing in another NLE, invest in a PC that will run Vegas.

That’s actually quite possible. For the price for Final Cut Pro Studio ($ 1,279.95 at B&H) you could just buy a PC! Good point Jay.

~jr

Yeah, that makes the most sense. But if you've gotta do it on a mac, then Final Cut Pro is your best bet. It's quite different from Vegas, but it's also quite good. You'll be able to get just about anything done with it (though perhaps just not as quickly as with Vegas).

If I could go the PC route with Vegas, I would. That's the problem...

Company runs on Macs. Company buys the software. All I can do is recommend what software to purchase. That's where I'm looking for help. What runs like Vegas, but on a Mac platform?

Thanks.

Nothing.

If you are on the Mac Platform Final Cut Pro is probably your best bet.

How many editing machines will you have at work?

If it's just you. They should seriously think about getting a single PC just for video. You can output to any format you wish, so once you are done they can work with it. This is just like many PC based workplaces would do for with Macs only in the art department.

If you need Vegas talking points you can search this board, you can let your boss know that Vegas is stable, quicker and easier to learn. If they are worried about supporting the PC, just set it up as an editing only workstation, buy from a good PC maker and don't connect it to the internet and you should be fine.

There's always putting the dual-boot hack on an Intel-based Mac...

...or you could just change jobs.

(but seriously folks...)

Try to look for ways to do some "creative accounting". Maybe you can get them to authorize the purchase of some "video special effects hardware". You can get a decent PC that will run Vegas swimmingly well for under $400. Check out Dell's specials on their catalog. Just don't write on the requisition that it's a Windows based PC and you'll be surprised what you can get approved. Add in $100 for Vegas Studio as an "accessory plugin" for the $400 effects hardware. Once they see what you can do with that they will probably be excited about spending another $600 or so for the full version of Vegas+DVD.

Just add some nifty skins to the OS and keep the "windows" part of it your own personal secret.

Chien,

Great idea!

FlyakiteOSX can be used to make Windows XP look just like OS X.

(just rename "My Computer" to "Finder")

This is really no different from when Mac users got fed up with the low performance of G4 and G5 Macs for rendering, and hid PCs under their desks to do the job in a fraction of the time.

(Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Mac hater. They definitely do many things right, and I just forked over good money for my fourth Mac, an Intel-based MacBook Pro.)

> Add in $100 for Vegas Studio as an "accessory plugin" for the $400 effects hardware

I love it. Just tell them that the PC is a $400 dongle!

On my laptop have a patched Windows theme module that allows any themes to be loaded (apparently Microsoft locked their themes with a digital signature so you had to buy new themes from them) and I have a theme for my laptop that looks exactly like a Mac.

[Edit] I just realized that the site that Coursesesign pointed to has the theme patch too. ;-)

~jr

AWESOME - Who needs to buy a mac - when i can just get flyakite OSX :) - I'm downloading it now just to try it out :).

Thanks Coursedesign. That's a great little deal ya linked there.

Dave

I was just about to post a new thread on this very subject because it now IS POSSIBLE to run Vegas on a Mac. Possible but difficult. This week the prize offered for a hack to allow Windows XP to run simultaneously on a Mac with the Mac O/S was claimed. Instructions on how to install the hack are out there on several sites now. For a walk-through see this link:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060316-6393.html

Michael

oh man - I dig this flyakite deal - if only I had the corner mouse thing where it would bring a display of all my windows up. that's the one thing that I really jones for when I'm not on a mac.

Dave

As much as I hate to use the word "Avid" you might consider one of their DV products. They range from Xpress DV at $495 to Xpress Pro $1695. And, of course, the first question most agencies ask is "You guys edit on Avid?"

Avid Express DV
Avid Express Pro

It sounds like the lower cost Xpress DV would work for you.

Jim

If you really have to use a Mac, then Final Cut Pro is likely your best bet. It is cheaper and is fairly intuitive (whereas Avid is not).

FCP's interface is fairly different from Vegas'. I would just suggest learning FCP from a book or other training material. Avid and FCP have somewhat similar interfaces, Vegas is quite different.

FCP does not have the same audio capabilities as Vegas. Output to Soundtrack, or output an OMF to Vegas (may need that omf convertor tool; not sure) to get the same functionality.

On the special effects/compositing side, it's a bit different. The basic stuff is there... other things you can take into After Effects, Combustion, Shake, etc. Color correction is not strong as Vegas in my opinion... look at Nattress Film Effects to add basic curves, or Final Touch SD (FT SD has some issues though which I personally dislike).

To the original poster - I know you said the company runs on macs, but just one more plea for rationale that possibly your IT organization could understand. Maybe you could go at them with something like, You need a tool to get a job done. The "tool" is the combination of Vegas on a PC. I've seen the argument succeed many times in reverse - "I HAVE to have a Mac to run photoshop, it just doesn't work on a PC" (which is a load of hogwash, of course). The problem you're likely to run into, though, is a deeper lack of reason from the Mac zealots (and if the office runs on macs, I'd bet the evangelicals are there). They will say "of course you MUST do video with Final Cut Pro. It's the best!"

Best of luck, either way.

It's hard. I have struggled for five years trying to get employers to let me use Vegas. Just last week I lost a big job opportunity with a new studio being built here in town becuase I disussed using Vegas (or even FCP) instead of Avid. The employer is so hung up on spending $50,000 for an Avid system. It's the usaul hype from salesman that "Avid will draw customers in from their name" and "the extra tech support is worth having" (and you pay a lot for it, too). Been there, done that. Anyways it ended up with him telling me that Vegas is a consumers app. He even believes that Avid will make better pictures (all apps produce the same quality). He could save the money and pay me for a year instead and have the work done faster and better. He will end up hiring part time kids at low pay.

I hope someday that Vegas can be looked upon as equal or better than FCP and Avid... besides the users we have here.

To the original poster, go with the Macs and FCP at work. FCP is pretty good. Be glad it's not Avid.

GG