OT: Upgrade policy question

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/5/2009, 8:46 AM

based on past practice, if they release it less then 1 month after you buy, it's free.

hence I think I'll hold off on cinescore... just in case. ;) (digital download never goes out of stock anyway).

blink3times wrote on 3/5/2009, 8:56 AM

"based on past practice, if they release it less then 1 month after you buy, it's free."

So it's highly unlikely that they would be unveiling any Vegas 9 before April 20 (the sale ends March 20). That would be kind of dumb on their part.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 3/5/2009, 9:30 AM

John, I'm using Vegas 8.0c with the EX3 and it works as smooth as silk. I really haven't had any problems. It's almost like working with DV.

What issues, if any, have you run into that have caused you to put off using the EX1?

craftech wrote on 3/5/2009, 10:31 AM

No real problems Jay. Slow adoption as a result of:

1. Extreme ripoff cost of SxS media before firmware 1.11

2. Being so used to using the VX2000 in theater shooting with little or no light. Combined with 83 minute tapes I could shoot rehearsals in LP for a long time.
When the work is steady, I am not willing to experiment. It's not like you can set up your own musical to play with the camera. I shoot alone.

3. Foolishly thinking Vegas 9 would be out last October without any real reason to think so.

Had no reason to upgrade to Vegas 8 pro when it came out because I didn't have an HD camera. As you know the upgrade price for the first month is $150. I am sure Vegas 9 will be the same price for the first month and I intend to buy it, but Vegas 8 is now $150 again until March 20 if I don't have to pay again after April 18 for Vegas 9. Otherwise it pays to wait a month. That is why I posed this question.

John

EDIT: I am shooting another musical this week and was thinking about handing a high school student my EX1 to shoot with. - YIKES!

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/5/2009, 11:15 AM

So it's highly unlikely that they would be unveiling any Vegas 9 before April 20 (the sale ends March 20). That would be kind of dumb on their part.

Actually, I was talking with my dad last night. This could be gold: get people to buy stuff @ 35% off right now. In a month or so release the NEW versions & those people get a free upgrade, instant adopters. People who already own it wouldn't buy it during the sale anyway so they wouldn't be affected.

farss wrote on 3/5/2009, 12:29 PM

Let's just hope they offer us native XDCAM support in V9.
I'm finding the read speed of SDHC cards a bit slower than SxS, combine that with speed at which the Clipbrowser does the rewrap and the time to get footage onto the V8 timeline is longer than realtime.
The other issue V9 needs to address is a better aliasing filter. Last job I shot in 1080p25 Vegas managed to produce 16:9 SD PAL that was an aliased mess when viewed on a CRT. The venue had dark rough textured brick walls with white mortar. Slightest vertical movement of the camera and the walls look a mess. I need to look into this in more detail but so far the competition managed to avoid this problem out of the box with no noticable loss of quality in the rest of the image. I'd hoped to avoid having to wrangle this in Vegas by shooting with Detail Off in the camera but not so it seems.

Bob.

rs170a wrote on 3/5/2009, 12:35 PM

Keep in mind that no one except SCS knows if there will be a new version released at NAB.
Feel free to beg, plead, threaten, pray, whine, moan, cry and complain all you want but they're not talking :-)

Mike

bStro wrote on 3/5/2009, 12:46 PM

I still have a screenshot of the first "free upgrade" coupon Sony offered, and for what it's worth:

* Vegas 5 was released April 18, 2004 (assuming I bought it the day it came out, and I'm pretty sure I did)
* The "free upgrade" offer was good if the previous version was purchased between March 1st and May 1st.

I honestly can't recall what the offer has been in the following years, though.

Rob

Jay Gladwell wrote on 3/5/2009, 2:10 PM

John, there are less expensive alternatives to the SxS cards! Were you aware of this?

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/138485-summary-sdhc-substitute-sxs-cards.html

craftech wrote on 3/6/2009, 4:27 AM

Yes thanks Jay. I have around seven of the 16GB Sandisk and Transcend SDHC cards. I have followed the threads in that forum closely. That is where I learned about the firmware upgrade and the express card reader and SDHC card testing those guys did for all of us who own EX1s and couldn't stand the ridiculous price of the SXS cards ($40 for a 16GB SDHC card vs Sony's nearly $1000 for their 16GB SxS card).

John

craftech wrote on 3/6/2009, 6:15 AM

I still have a screenshot of the first "free upgrade" coupon Sony offered, and for what it's worth:

* Vegas 5 was released April 18, 2004 (assuming I bought it the day it came out, and I'm pretty sure I did)
* The "free upgrade" offer was good if the previous version was purchased between March 1st and May 1st.

I honestly can't recall what the offer has been in the following years, though.

Rob
=================
That sounds encouraging Rob. Anyone remember the policy from last year?

John

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/6/2009, 8:29 AM

same one.

busterkeaton wrote on 3/6/2009, 9:07 AM

I thought the policy was reduced to around 30 days the last couple of times.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/6/2009, 9:37 AM

I seem to remember it's just the first day of the previous month, not exactly 30 days. But I could be wrong.

Tim L wrote on 3/6/2009, 9:56 AM

Official policy is 30 days before or after the "launch" of a new version:

From the knowledge base: http://www.custcenter.com/cgi-bin/sonypictures.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2336