RT hardware support for Vegas??

Elizabeth Lowrey wrote on 3/12/2003, 8:39 PM
Funny. Last week I wasn't looking at all for a new NLE. I was reasonably satisfied with my Premiere/Canopus DVStorm combo. But while researching for ways/product combos to upgrade my DVD production tools, and after having read rave reviews for Vegas 3, let alone the evolving buzz for Vegas 4, I decided to look into the Vegas 4 +DVD combo, mainly for its AC-3 audio and DVD app features. After reading up on and playing with the demo of the product for the last few days, I'm BEYOND impressed.

The only thing stopping me right now from plunking down the $ and scooping this bundle of joy up is the thought of abandoning all that wonderful RT multi-track/filter/transition performance that I get with the DVStorm board anchoring Premiere and the fact that with a hardware codec on the card I get live DV out directly from the timeline. Any thing that can be played in timeline without requiring a render can go directly out to tape in only the time it takes to hit "record" on the DVCR and the space bar on the computer. That means a lot of very ubiquitous filters like color correction, luminance, PiP, and chroma-keying filters and some favorite transitions, like customizeable alpha wipes, perform in realtime.

If I understand correctly, in Vegas I would have to prerender all such passages before getting DV output, requiring not only rendering time but, more significantly IMO, substantial additional disk space.

So my question is, since Vegas is obviously the greatest NLE to hit the PC platform for anything under several thousand dollars, has there been any move to integrate it with a firewire board (with hardware DV codec) so that true realtime performance and live DV output comparable to Storm and other hardware NLE systems could be achieved?

If not, let me just say that I'm SHOCKED that no hardware manufacturer has tried to hitch their wagon to this amazing product (or that Sonic Foundry hasn't pursued it). If teamed with a Canopus board, for example, nothing on any platform within several grand of the price could touch it, including the somewhat over-hyped, over-rated FCP.

So is their imminent hope for a hardware acceleration solution for Vegas or is that just a pipe dream?

Elizabeth Lowrey
Amore Productions

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/12/2003, 9:54 PM
Last I heard, noone has a hardware codec for Vegas yet. Probely because more people use premiere BECAUSE is comes bundled with the capture cards. However, I did read a post on the matrox RT2500 forum that someone ditched premiere and the real time hardware capability just to use vegas. Hope that helps.

rextilleon wrote on 3/12/2003, 11:33 PM
Hey---if you need to render under deadline then your point is well taken---REmember Vegas is a software solution---I hate Premiere so much I prefer to render out and I make up the productivity by using Vegas--
VIDEOGRAM wrote on 3/12/2003, 11:43 PM
Same here. I've used PREMIERE for years. I have discovered VV4 only a couple of weeks ago and I rarely edit in PREMIERE now. I feel that I save more time in editing than the realtime features I had with Pinnacle.

Gilles
DataMeister wrote on 3/13/2003, 12:18 AM
I guess the closest thing us Vegas users can get to hardware acceleration right now is a P4 3.06GHz cpu. But give it six more months and the new Intel Prescott CPUs and it's complementing Canterwood and Springdale chipsets (with 800MHz memory bus) will be out. In fact, by this time next year there's a good chance we won't have a need for dedicated acceleration hardware.

Of course then you've got HD video. And the process will start all over again.

JBJones
Dills wrote on 3/13/2003, 11:10 AM
I was in your boat, actually was in a position where Premiere refused to import a graphic I had used before; had to deliver a product to a customer so I purchased the serial number to unlock my demo version of Vegas to use just to complete this one project (I made a lot more than the $280 it cost me). The problems with Premiere were enough to drive one mad, and my experience with Vegas has been lovely, except for the fact it takes a while to render (especially since one of the things I have to put on my video is a "bug" with the clients logo over ALL of the video, requiring a looong render). But if you haven't heard yet, Canopus just announced Edius, an allegedly STABLE nle for your Storm. I'd wait for that if I were you, unless you don't have sound editing software, then the price for Vegas is worth it for that alone.

Geoff