How and with what program did you make and render this Side by side video for upload to Vimeo?

I quickly created inside Vegas Pro 14, nothing else done other than to put each clip side by side and title graphics - rendered out using the MAGIX h264 internet codec - VBR target 12,000,000 and max 24,000,000 encode quality and using the PC output on the chain for the preview window

By all means this isn't standardized test - This is more about observing the differences in how each program works in post and the output quality. I should try to do a more standardized test - Ideally doing the Vegas Benchmark test would be the benchmark, but I have no idea how to go about converting that to test in Premiere Pro and Resolve. Export an XML??? (color me clueless in this regard 😕)

I would have to see the original media to come to a more technical conclusion. But of the three images, the one I liked the most was that of Resolve 14. It is well balanced. The vegas was the second best, it's only a little clearer than Davince's Rasolve. The one in Premiere is apparently a more saturated and also darker compared to the other two. It would be nice to have the original also placed for comparison purposes.

To make this meaningful, you need to put a standard test chart through the same render process in each of your 3 options, perhaps once with the LUT and once without, but with no other effects. Then you'll know how each program fundamentally treats levels and colorspaces. I suggest the 1920x1080 chart from here: https://www.belle-nuit.com/test-chart

To make this meaningful, you need to put a standard test chart through the same render process in each of your 3 options, perhaps once with the LUT and once without, but with no other effects. Then you'll know how each program fundamentally treats levels and colorspaces. I suggest the 1920x1080 chart from here: https://www.belle-nuit.com/test-chart

Correct.

Thanks to all who have chimed in so far - I'm trying to figure out how to create a benchmark test that can be utilized in more than just Vegas Pro or Premiere Pro (Theirs is the PPBM test). I dont' believe Resolve has a benchmarking test right now.

@Former user - I agree with your assessment of which I prefer based on this simple comparison - Resolve looks cleaner with Vegas less saturated but coming in second. I was pretty shocked by the drastic difference from Premiere Pro which has been my go to editor for a number of years now. And given my version doesn't support AMD cards for the MPE, it now becomes less appealing for that very reason, and I'm sure not going to start renting my software from Adobe. Looks as though an AMD card is in my future later this month along with Retesting Vegas and Resolve side by side - determining if I should use both or just settle on one or the other based on the results when I upgrade the graphics card.

I did the simple render of the test chart - It's clearly apparent from this that Vegas crushes the blacks from a straight render. So it seems I need to correct for this by applying levels within Vegas in order to get the same results as Resolve and Premiere Pro

@Cliff Etzel

Thanks to your test I was able to figure out a way to solve this problem with Vegas rendering. For you to achieve the desired image you will have to go to Video FX and in LEVELS apply the Computer RGB to Studio RGB effect. After that the rendering of Vegas does not change the blacks of the image. Take a test on your machine and see if that works for you too.

I had also realized this difference for some time but had never really gone into it. Thanks to your initiative I was able to make this discovery. Thank you!

@Cliff Etzel

Thanks to your test I was able to figure out a way to solve this problem with Vegas rendering. For you to achieve the desired image you will have to go to Video FX and in LEVELS apply the Computer RGB to Studio RGB effect. After that the rendering of Vegas does not change the blacks of the image. Take a test there on your machine and see if that works for you too.

Is that applied at the preview window FX? I have the SeMW plugin installed and set the preview window to PC which I believe is the same as applying the Computer RGB to Studio RGB - am I mistaken?

If I'm not mistaken, that plugin just makes it so you see the image at studio RGB levels, not that the rendered output will be at those levels.

If I'm not mistaken, that plugin just makes it so you see the image at studio RGB levels, not that the rendered output will be at those levels.

So now I'm confused... I thought the whole point of the SeMW plugin was to allow you to compensate for what Vegas does to the levels/contrast of the output video so when you render - WYSIWYG in the final rendered video... If that's not the case then it's another tick against Vegas for me as it means I have to remember yet another step before rendering and as humans beings are prone to doing - we can forget...

Maybe @NickHope can clarify this...

@Cliff Etzel don't forget that Vegas treats still images differently from video and you need to apply the FX despite using the SeMW extension.

No. The SeMW extension is only for preview. Is not applied in render.

But it's simple to apply Studio RGB to Computer RGB throughout the project to render it. You only have to apply this effect to your project as OUTPUT FX. This causes it to be applied throughout the project.

I agree with you that it is disappointing to have to remember one more step before rendering a file in Vegas. Hopefully that will change someday.

This is the test I did.

Maybe this is not Vegas problem. Maybe it's a display player issue. I tested the rendered file in vegas where theoretically there is a change in the blacks of the image and to my surprise in the Power DVD 15 player the file is normally displayed. I do not know the causes of it. Then it's with the technical people.

Maybe this is not Vegas problem. Maybe it's a display player issue. I tested the rendered file in vegas where theoretically there is a change in the blacks of the image and to my surprise in the Power DVD 15 player the file is normally displayed. I do not know the causes of it. Then it's with the technical people.

And yet - The Premiere Pro and Resolve test clips show normally in any player I try - this is the sticking point I have with Vegas - nothing is as it should be... I need consistency, not little detours in troubleshooting the technical side of things... Guess I'm getting irritated with Vegas again...

I understand you better than you can imagine. But keep in mind that all software has problems, so there are updates. I could list several that exist in Premiere and Resolve, but that's not the point.

I like vegas for simplicity and objectivity in editing. For me this has a very big weight when it comes to choosing a video editor. I am hopeful that one day Vegas will become stable and have the recognition it deserves.

But as a professional I will not think twice if one day find software that is better than vegas in the matter of simplicity and objectivity at the time of editing and that above all is functional.

Resolve is what pleases me the most. If Blackmagic continues with the work you've been doing, you'll surely have one more customer on your list. But it's too early to decide. While Vegas meets my work needs I will continue with Vegas.

I get what you're saying about there's no perfect NLE out there - if there were, everyone would be using it ;-)

Having said that - I see Vegas the same as you do - it is simple and really is an AIO solution for video and audio - but it comes at a price of having to unlearn the way just about every other NLE works - and that's a difficult thing to do. Having said that - Resolve is powerful - as long as you have the horsepower to run it, something my laptop is unable to do at this point (even Resolve 12.5). I dont' need much for laptop editing but given I like to stay in one app and hand off without the challenges of XML's not reading correctly back and forth between different apps (XML's from Vegas show tracks in reverse order) I'm thinking the hardware for editing in Resolve will probably usurp my sticking with Vegas or Premiere Pro. I'd rather become really efficient in one app than trying to wrangle between different NLE's. I truly love the outside the box paradigm of Vegas for editing, I just haven't gotten it to work for me the way I want no matter how much I try.

I've been editing in Vegas for ten years. But I'm always up to date with other softwares. Because it's always good that you have a second alternative not to be a slave to one. Premiere is very good and the operation and enjoyment of Nvidia's GPUs are infinitely superior to that of Vegas that is still crawling in that area. My problem with the premiere is that it makes a simple editing task difficult like putting a simple transition between events. It annoys me.

Took the words right out of my mouth about premiere... Its workflow sucks, otherwise it would be great. Vegas' "your transition is how far your clips overlap, just drag one onto that space, otherwise it's a fade" method is so much more intuitive.

@Former user I've gotten use to it over time as it is the way the majority of NLE's work. My issue with Premiere is the amount of resources it takes just to run, add to that project files that can be corrupted pretty easily (a known bug that has yet to be fixed and one I've experienced on more than one occasion) and the move to ransomware are the only reasons I haven't moved forward with newer versions with added features (Lumetri color technology in Premiere Pro now and the death of Speedgrade). TBH, every time I start Premiere to continue editing, I wait to see if the dreaded error box comes up saying the project file is corrupted and unreadable. I've even had that happen with auto saved projects saved every 5 minutes (20 latest versions no less!)

@fr0sty - The same paradigm also exists in Resolve so all the others reside in a fairy traditional paradigm while Vegas does things differently - which is one of the biggest appeals for me and why I've tried to make it work as my primary NLE.

Vegas in principle is how I think and edit - my ongoing challenge is getting all things to align like they have for users like yourself, @BruceUSA, @OldSmoke and others... Again I still come back to the idea that the weakest link for my computers are the graphics cards which will soon be dealt with for my desktop and will be looking to replace my aging laptop with newer old technology. The question is to I stick with Vegas Pro 14, upgrade to Vegas Pro 15 or wait it out and see what MAGIX does with Vegas Pro 16? And then the question comes back to - nVidia or AMD? It seems more convoluted now than before MAGIX added nVidia support to Vegas 15.

OK, this thread is a little strange for me - but I am trying to understand :) If I render a mp4 from Vegas without using effects it will look identical to the original. Which is what you want; sure don't want it changing without being told to!

So rather than taking some sample footage and applying cc/levels effects in three different NLE's to try to match and compare why not just go "bare." i.e. Don't apply ANY effects, just render (please use same codec and bitrate as far as possible) and compare. Original / Vegas render / Premiere Render / Resolve Render. Now, besides a slight quality loss from the render, all the images should look the same. Do they? Never mind differences from media players - judge compared to the original. Result?

PS Just tried this (again) to confirm I am not going crazy: Yes, Vegas render = same as original. Note however, that different media players DO change the colours (etc.), but of course that applies to both clips so they still remain identical WITHIN each player.