Several year back I was an Ulead user. I had their Media Studio Pro editing software, the DVD Workshop (best in class at the time) etc. I even had 3D studio. Towards the end of Ulead as a player in that space, I noticed them falling behind. Features never came. Stuff never happened. Technologies weren't supported. Finally of course, Ulead pulled out of that market entirely, not that they have told anyone, they are still selling the software on their website (which I think is bordering on fraud).
In a way I am getting the same vibe from SCS right now, and it worries me.
DVD Architect has not been seriously updated in a long time, 4.5 was a marginal upgrade at best, which means nothing serious has happened to it since 2006, and even that was relatively minor.
Vegas has had a bad run since about 7.0d, and it doesn't seem to get fixed properly, quite the opposite, where Vegas was once the pinnacle of stability and efficiency, it now struggles just to stay on its feet for an extended period of time, particularly when you are working with HDV etc.
I have been in the technology business for a long time, and I know what often happens when companies are acquired. The best developers and the best sales people leave. The product teams fall into disarray and chaos, and nothing much happens. At least, not a lot of the good that happened prior to the acquisition.
So, Sony, honestly, I'd like to see things improve a little. Just a little.
For starters, you really need to release a BD burning version of DVD Architect. Seriously. Everybody else has had offerings out for quite a while, and this is starting to look pathetic. I mean, I've read the spec, this isn't actually rocket science. We are talking about encoding into AVC (done), supporting UDF 2.x (easy, you can license any of the many drivers out there) and writing an XML file to disk besides the video. Not magic. Not something that takes years to develop. This is Sony for P's sake, the main backer of the bloody format!
So, honestly SCS, pull that thumb out of that butt and get moving. This just isn't the way it should be. You have some great software here, and right now, as a customer with experience from software companies disintegrating, I am worried. Not enough to go elsewhere, but enough to start thinking about it.
In a way I am getting the same vibe from SCS right now, and it worries me.
DVD Architect has not been seriously updated in a long time, 4.5 was a marginal upgrade at best, which means nothing serious has happened to it since 2006, and even that was relatively minor.
Vegas has had a bad run since about 7.0d, and it doesn't seem to get fixed properly, quite the opposite, where Vegas was once the pinnacle of stability and efficiency, it now struggles just to stay on its feet for an extended period of time, particularly when you are working with HDV etc.
I have been in the technology business for a long time, and I know what often happens when companies are acquired. The best developers and the best sales people leave. The product teams fall into disarray and chaos, and nothing much happens. At least, not a lot of the good that happened prior to the acquisition.
So, Sony, honestly, I'd like to see things improve a little. Just a little.
For starters, you really need to release a BD burning version of DVD Architect. Seriously. Everybody else has had offerings out for quite a while, and this is starting to look pathetic. I mean, I've read the spec, this isn't actually rocket science. We are talking about encoding into AVC (done), supporting UDF 2.x (easy, you can license any of the many drivers out there) and writing an XML file to disk besides the video. Not magic. Not something that takes years to develop. This is Sony for P's sake, the main backer of the bloody format!
So, honestly SCS, pull that thumb out of that butt and get moving. This just isn't the way it should be. You have some great software here, and right now, as a customer with experience from software companies disintegrating, I am worried. Not enough to go elsewhere, but enough to start thinking about it.