Looking to upgrade to "big" Vegas

George Kaufman wrote on 2/2/2007, 11:17 PM
Hello,

I took a DVD compilation job from a friend that I really didn't want to do. I hate working for friends because I can't (in good conscience) charge them enough. In this case I'll get paid enough to upgrade to big Vegas. I don't really need more video or audio tracks than in VMS, but I could certainly use the nested projects to advantage. Also being able to accurately place chapters in big DVD Architect is a feature I could use.

I'd like to know if big Vegas can handle the video from my Canon S3 IS still/video camera. I was surprised to discover that little Vegas couldn't import the S3 video considering that the S3 camera is a consumer camera and little Vegas is the consumer version. I used a conversion utility to convert the S3 video, but I encountered "weirdness" when I tried to composite the converted S3 video with DV video. The S3 IS camera is a great still camera and a great video camera for quick and dirty filming. I have a 4GB card and could easily take 30 minutes of 30FPS video.

I've reviewed the feature chart which makes little and big Vegas look very similar. My question is aside from nested projects what are the killer features that make big Vegas worth the money. (BTW, I don't envision going to HD any time soon so HD features don't affect me).

Thanks for your help.

Best regards,
George

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 2/3/2007, 3:22 AM
Despite the "consumer" and "pro" lables often applied to the two Vegas products, they are almost identical in file handling capability. Vegas Movie Studio is really much closer to a pro application, just with some of the advanced features turned off.

So, yes, you'll still have to convert the videos from your still camera to use them in the full version of Vegas. There are probably better converters available than what you used. I found a generic MJPEG codec somewhere (sorry, i forgot where) and installed that on my computer. That lets me open the .avi files from my Fuji Finepix camera right on the Vegas timeline. Aside from being substantially lower quality than the clips from my DV camcorder, they work fine and play smoothly.
Paul Mead wrote on 2/3/2007, 8:58 PM
One codec package that a lot of people use for MJPEG is FFDSHOW. Do a search for it in the forums and you should find a description and a url. I don't recall where I downloaded it from, but I do recall that it has no guidance in how to set it up, so watch for instructions when you search the forum.

I have been using VMS for awhile now, and I am finding that I would like to have more video tracks for more sophisticated layouts. Also, given that I often work with less than ideal video I would really like to have the snazzier color correction that you get in the full version. I am intrigued by the advanced masking you get in the full version, but haven't come up with ideas of where I would actually use it. Audio busses are also interesting, but I am definitely not ready to take advantage of them.

Hopefully there will be another upgrade special sometime in the next year that I can take advantage of. I didn't go for the V7 deal and I kind of regret it.
WillGill wrote on 2/4/2007, 6:16 AM
Another stupid simple converter program is SUPER.
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
It's free and has simple drop-down profiles for converting whatever input to whatever output.
George Kaufman wrote on 2/5/2007, 4:39 PM
Hello,

Thanks for your replies, they are greatly appreciated. I downloaded the Morgan CODEC and now VMS can see my MJPEG video from my Canon S3 IS. I got some pretty good answers from the big Vegas guys. I also posted on their forum.

Chienworks: the video from the S3 is 30FPS and is pretty good. It is useful to me for quick and dirty flash video for my web site.

Paul Mead: I know that big Vegas has many more "technical" choices available, but what I was looking for was improved editing. I've downloaded the big Vegas 30 day trial and started working it last night. I don't see any difference in the interface. I didn't go for the V7 deal either because VMS was doing the job and I wanted to get fairly proficient with VMS so I could decide if big Vegas was worth it. I've gotten a lot of work done with VMS and never thought I was using a consumer product. I could make very good use of nested projects.

Willgill: I have super which is what I originally used. Thanks.

Best regards,
George
autopilot wrote on 2/7/2007, 1:36 AM
Once I went with Full Vegas, I've never gone back to VMS.

Disclaimer - VMS is great, although Full Vegas will bring out the creative side in you.
JeffD wrote on 2/8/2007, 5:47 AM
> Once I went with Full Vegas, I've never

I'm definitely tempted...

For autopilot and others who went from VMS(P) to
"big Vegas":

What would you say are the top 3 features/functions
of big Vegas that give you that "never go back" attitude?