My opinion. Go for 9d. I'd say your Quad Core 6600 is probably a bit light weight for working with native AVCHD or HDV but you should not have a problem in SD. 9d has been very stable for me.and I, too, love the new white balance feature. No show stoppers in 9d for me.

I've got a Q6600, edit full HD MXF files and everything runs well. Except for the preview, it's spastic at times, depending on this and that.

After seeing 9.0d at NAB and chatting a bit with the folks in the booth I downloaded the trial version as soon as I returned. I have found that is vastly superior to version 8.1 when editing mixed HDV 1080 and AVCHD 720p on the same timeline and will definitely purchase the upgrade.

If you're not dealing with HD video, and if your current version works fine, then the only real question is whether the new white balance tool will save you enough time or improve your final output enough to warrant the cost.

FYI, if you plan on upgrading to a 64-bit OS you may find that version 9 uses a lot more of your CPU when playing the timeline. I saw CPU utilization jump from 20% in 8.1 to 90% in 9.0d (Vista 64 and 64-bit versions of Vegas).

For editing SD V9 is a big step backwards compared to V6. The resource demands of the interface seems to render the GUI useless for the core functions of editing. Maybe on an 8 core firebreather with 32GB of RAM its OK. I'm in no mood to throw another $10K at Vegas to find out.
I have one project under V9. ONE track of SD DV, two cuts. Under 20 tracks of audio. The performance is pathetic. V6 on much lesser hardware, no problems.
Someday maybe someone will use the fate of Vegas to write a thesis.

" Except for the preview, it's spastic at times, depending on this and that."

In other words it is useless, sorry to be blunt but we've all let the product slide downhill by being so accomodating. I hit play, it must play. I hit stop it must stop. I play over a cut it must show me exactly how the cut looks, not drop a frame or two. This is the basics of editing. If Vegas cannot do this it is unfit for purpose.
I have no interest in what happens when FXs are added or during dissolves or compositing. Vegas is sold as a NLE and it is now failing to be one. The icing on the cake that keeps getting added is nice to have but the cake is now unpalatable.


Bob.

I am using a 64 bit OS windows 7 and I did notice with the trial that it seemed to use more of the CPU's power all 4 cores.
I have been using version 8 pretty much since it came out and it has been quite stable, I like the new darker color of 9 and the White balance still looks very good to me.
I am a bit concerned with the performance issues that some have mentioned, since I am still on SD land.
Is there anything out there other the build in CC that will do the same thing as the new white balance as quickly as it does.

and thanks for the honest posts.

The most significant problem with 9d is the problem with the VERY slow opening of veg files. If you're not having problems with that, and Version 9 has elements that would help your workflow, I'd say go for it.

I've had a horrible problem with the files opening in 9d (takes about 20 minutes to open the veg), but once it's open, I'm not having the red frame problems that I had in 9c.

As you mentioned, I found Vegas 9 in Windows 7 64bit to be a huge difference when rendering vs. version 8. I always said that didn't matter, as I could just start the render before going to bed and it was ready in the morning. But now that I have Windows 7 64bit, 12 GB RAM, and an i7, I can render in just a couple hours what took the overnight. So if I notice a little glitch after previewing a render, I'm not totally ticked off... I just render again.

"Is there anything out there other the build in CC that will do the same thing as the new white balance as quickly as it does."

Not that I know of. Some color correction tasks require more (channel blend) than what CC brings to the table. I don't know how advanced the new white balance FX is. I hope it does more than what can be achieved with manual tweaking of CC.

I'd imagine a better CC FX would be welcome by many. Add a ring around the existing offset circle for phase rotate. The channel blend FX is diabolical to use.

Bob.

Is there anything in the boxed version that is not in the downloadable version (other than the box) :-)

If you analyze the complaints, you will see the same half-dozen or so names on the posts. The vast majority of us have no problems and are happy with 9.0d.

You are correct, all you get with the boxed version is a DVD and the box. Not worth the extra $$.

Thanks Steve and all others for the help, I just payed for it and downloaded and installed, one very nice thing is now I have DVDA Pro instead of having to use the studio version that I had.
I think that the new additions to the software are going to be very helpful for me and the editing that I do.

Again Thanks and Happy Editing...

I have to chime in here; especially now that you have made your choice.

Vegas is not without warts. I can tell you that I have fewer crashes and problems with Vegas that I do with other NLE's including FCP. I have really only had the red frame problem with version 9. None of the other problems complained about have materialized for me. I take that back, I had a couple of problems with hangs when 9 first came out, but it turned out that it was related to my system and I took care of that. Again with 9.0d I had an issue with .mxf, but that came back to my system not installing the upgrade properly and with a fresh install, it was happy and playing fine in the sandbox.

Some of the issues guys have found and SCS has confirmed do exist. They just aren't a part of my daily work flow (12 stations) so they have not really been an issue for me. Then there has been FCP which will crash without warning or freeze. Those stations drive me nutz. In all fairness, if I were running on Mac Pro's for FCP, I would probably be happier with FCP the way many others are. I still prefer Vegas though for easy and speed of edit.

KK

Thanks KK
I have been very happy with vegas ever since I started using it back at Vegas Movie Studio 6. It fits my workflow and I do enjoy the speed that it affords me. I come from Avid (Pinnacle) Liquid and Pinnacle Studio and find vegas much more accommodating for my workflow. I never likes the way Liquid worked and outgrew Pinnacle Studio (although I still use version 14 for slideshows) I just like vegas better.

I have never had red frames, what are they exactly so I can watch out for them.

Paul B

Red frames are the oddest thing to me. On the timeline, the storyboard images will go away and the event representation will just be a red frame instead. The vent is still working and the correct video shows in the preview and render. To make them go away, you save the project and reopen it. They occur for me at random times and have never cost me any problems. Most of the time I just keep working.

I have never had that happen perhaps because I am only in SD and mostly old VHS and 8mm conversion to DVD. but as long as they cause no real problems seems like an annoyance I will keep an eye out.

thanks again..

I'm still running 9.0b ... been trying to work up the courage to install "d" - keep up the good words guys and I'll do it yet !! (mostly SD stuff on an XP machine with a P4).

mikey