Just curious: How many you have dedicated PCs for running only Vegas?

studio-4 wrote on 6/4/2021, 2:46 AM

I began my Vegas journey with a brand-new SSD with a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (plus all current updates) on a 3.5GHz Xeon machine with 32GB of ECC RAM—no other applications running on the machine.

I just bought VMS build 221 and my install was fairly problematic: Vegas would go though its normal boot-sequence, but when "finished," the program never actually started. I performed three install/uninstall cycles before I finally uninstalled all the Magix add-ons and only installed VMS.

I suspected some of Magix' non-Vegas add-ons (e.g., PC checker) may have caused some kind of issue—I don't know. All I know is that when I only installed VMS, the program finally opened. I subsequently installed/authorized the bundled FXhome Intensity plug-in, and everything continued to be okay. Later, I installed Blackmagic's Media Express ingest-utility for my Intensity Pro 4K card without any further issues.

I realize that those who report issues here are likely in the minority, and those with happy machines generally don't post at all, but the number of software issues reported here is still a bit troubling.

That said, I'm fortunate that I have several other computers to do other stuff (all macOS-machines), so I have the luxury of running only Vegas on this machine. I currently have no plans to install any other third-party apps (beyond the Blackmagic utility), other than more BorisFX plug-ins.

I was just wondering if the majority here have dedicated NLE PCs, or are many here also running other applications (e.g., Photoshop, Lightroom, Chrome, Microsoft 365, etc.), alongside Vegas without issue?

Comments

Ross-Jackson wrote on 6/4/2021, 5:59 AM

studio-4

I do like your observations and comments. Very interesting.

Even though I am not an expert like yourself or others, I am lucky enough to enjoy Vegas Movie studio as my main source of entertainment. Sad, I know. But in lockdown it's a lifesaver.

Ran multiple programs on my Laptop. Adobe Premier Pro, Photoshop, Xara, and installed a trial copy of Vegas Pro. Due to cost, stopped with Adobe and installed Serif Affinity, Photo and Publisher. One-off purchases without subscriptions. Never had a problem with the installs but machine ran hot and would cut out. so wanted to upgrade. Vegas pro tipped the scales to upgrade. Looked for a laptop to cope. £800+. Ah well, never wanted to use Vegas Pro anyway.

Then, saw:-

DELL i5 4th QUAD DESKTOP TOWER PC & 22' TFT COMPUTER SET 16GB WINDOWS 10 1TB HDD

Purchase for £189 as new, from ebay.

Purchased and installed VMS 17 Platinum for a bargain price, £29.

No problem with the install. Everything runs smoothly all the time. No conflict with the Serif Applications..

Rendering in 720 is easy. 1080 takes longer (double) but time is not an option. Learning via video is great. Udemy and the combination of Steve Grisetti tutorials is so enjoyable. Can do basics. Still rubbish. But it's my rubbish, produced by me.

The Forum is also really interesting. No Divas, just interesting questions and answers.

Regards to all.

Ross

Dexcon wrote on 6/4/2021, 7:37 AM

I was just wondering if the majority here have dedicated NLE PCs, or are many here also running other applications

I've never gone the dedicated NLE PC route. Everything's on the desktop: MS 365, Edge, Chrome, PaintShop Pro and a few low-end image editing software, lots of audio related programs, etc.

I'm not sure that taking a break from video editing on the desktop to check emails or the news means having to go to another room to use the laptop is all that convenient. And using Vegas Pro, there are links from that NLE to both a selected audio editor and image editor, so all those other programs really do need to be on the NLE PC. Not to mention that if another computer is used for audio or image editing, it would then be necessary to copy/paste twice via a memory card/stick or something like OneDrive (wait, wait and wait for it to load) in order to get that media over to the dedicated NLE PC.

In my view, dedicated NLE PCs are more applicable to work environments like professional editing companies where, besides security concerns, would probably rather not having their editors easily taking time-out on their NLE PCs to check emails and browse the internet. In any event, at the pro level, many levels of the editing process are actioned by dedicated departments, so the color grader doesn't need to be concerned by what's happening in the audio department.

Can do basics. Still rubbish. But it's my rubbish, produced by me.

@Ross-Jackson ... I bet you that its not. You are clearly proud of your 'rubbish' - which is excellent. In the early days of editing, every edit, every FX, and every transition is a step in you developing your individual editing 'style'. After a while, that 'style' will become second nature to you - and then the fine-tuning kicks in, as well as exploring more editing concepts.

But often 'less is more'. A few years ago on a river cruise in France, an eager videographer (not me) proudly presented his video project of the cruise to those on board at the farewell dinner. He giddied a lot of us because he must surely have used all available transitions in his laptop NLE in that few minutes long video. Taking that aside, his content was actually very, very good.

studio-4 wrote on 6/5/2021, 2:39 AM

Thanks for the replies, guys! Ross, I am FAR from expert at Vegas or any other software—I can barely use Apple Logic Pro after five years and still stumble when using Photoshop (even though I've been using it since v2.5). I was all-PCs up until Apple released their first aluminum iMacs in 2007. Now, I'm all macOS and only just bought the Xeon PC to run Vegas.

I've had my share of system re-boots, BSODs, BIOS, and REG EDIT tasks Windows required of me when trying to get one program or another to run on my homebuilt PCs in the 90s, so having those Vegas installation issues on my first venture back into Windows-land made me kind of nervous.

Anyhow, more of a curiosity than anything else. Cheers!