Memories of Vegas Video 3.0

PeterWright wrote on 12/21/2018, 8:59 AM

I was using Adobe Premiere, and to preview a transition, effect or superimposed title, you had to "make movie", and wait watching a red bar move across a window while it rendered an avi. file just so you could preview it.
The only editing systems that did real-time previewing were hugely expensive hardware boxes, or later computer cards.

Suddenly Vegas 3 arrived - it did real-time preview from its software. Years before any other system, including Final Cut on the Mac. You could also throw video of any format or resolution to the timeline, and it played the lot seamlessly.
Vegas was still relatively unknown for years, then thankfully Sony, who bought it and many other gems (such as Sound Forge and Acid Music) from Sonic Foundry and now Magix, have recognized the quality of this software and it survives in Version 16.
I have automatically bought every version since 3.0, not so much because I needed the new features, but more to support it's future, which continues .

Comments

Grazie wrote on 12/21/2018, 9:33 AM

Hi Pete! I kinda remember I joined at the same time. I was coming from VideoWave via a Pinnacle product. And yes.... I was about to chuck my editing laptop out through the window. And then.... VV3 via VideoFactory. Night and Day.

Pete thanks for getting my memories to bubble up.

PeterWright wrote on 12/21/2018, 9:46 AM

Yes Grazie! Folks, to show the influence of this software, Grazie is someone I got to know through the Vegas Forums way back, and later met him in the flesh in London with a beer on the South Bank, as have several Vegas users from a great variety of countries.

Grazie wrote on 12/21/2018, 11:03 AM

Good to meet you too, Peter. To others hereabouts, if you’re coming to London, drop me a line and I can show off one of the best views of my Town whilst quaffing a Beer or 4! 🍻

OldSmoke wrote on 12/21/2018, 11:29 AM

I joined at version 7, coming from Media Studio Pro which was a great software at that time. It made us of hardware encoders on Canopus cards and also captures via firewire. However, making transitions was a pain with the typical AB tracks. It only took me a day to get used to Vegas and I was hooked.

fr0sty wrote on 12/21/2018, 11:31 AM

I want to say it was Vegas 4 that I discovered it, also having been tired of premiere's having to render ANYTHING to see any changes at all. That made things like proper color correction or experimenting with transitions pointless, as they took up too much time. I also hated how Premiere had (and still has last time I checked) a "transition bar" on its timeline that you had to drop transitions into, no just making clips overlap to auto-fade. Vegas' interface has allowed me to breeze through edits and have plenty of time to fine tune afterwards for decades. I'll never look back.

OldSmoke wrote on 12/21/2018, 11:43 AM

I want to say it was Vegas 4 that I discovered it, also having been tired of premiere's having to render ANYTHING to see any changes at all. That made things like proper color correction or experimenting with transitions pointless, as they took up too much time. I also hated how Premiere had (and still has last time I checked) a "transition bar" on its timeline that you had to drop transitions into, no just making clips overlap to auto-fade. Vegas' interface has allowed me to breeze through edits and have plenty of time to fine tune afterwards for decades. I'll never look back.

I can't quite remember if you had to pre-render changes in Media Studio Pro to show up in the preview or not but I do remember that pre-rendered sections, if no further changes were made to it, were rendered smart with no re-compression. This is similar to VP and SVP when pre-rendered sections are rendered with a smart capable codec like XACV-I in VP.

fr0sty wrote on 12/21/2018, 12:10 PM

Premiere was like that as well, if you'd already pre-rendered an effect or transition, it would fly by when rendering the final render.

David-Hague wrote on 12/21/2018, 10:58 PM

I remember Vegas ver 0.9 which between myself and Douglas Spotted Eagle and others we beta tested. Happy days :)

PeterWright wrote on 12/21/2018, 11:05 PM

Hi David - good to see you're still involved! Douglas is the other Vegas contact I've met - he did a workshop in Adelaide for Vegas 4.0 I think, and I popped over from Perth for the experience!

NickHope wrote on 12/21/2018, 11:07 PM

I'm pretty sure I was there in that Fremont Street bar with the SF boys when Vegas was first dreamed up 😉

PeterWright wrote on 12/22/2018, 12:36 AM

Nick - I'd love to hear more of that story!