Stable & Reliable

burchis wrote on 9/14/2003, 2:39 PM
Hello everyone,

This is my first post so be gentle, especially you Billyboy. (ha ha)

I am currently a user of Pinnacle Studio 8 and dissatisified with the amount of usefull production that I get given the amount of time that I invest. Way too many system lockups. freezes, doesn't work as advertised, and etc. I am ready to switch to something that works.

I know that Vegas 4.0 leans more towards a professional product then Studio 8 does but still Studio should at least delivery as advertised. I was very happy with Studio v7.0 but v8.0 was a backward more for me.

Okay, enough foundation, here's my question for today. I have read though the latest 20 or so postings and haven't found much on reliablity or program disfunction. Is it safe to assume then, that Vegas 4.0 + DVD is a rock solid program that will deliver?

I realize that the learning curve for this program will be much greater then Studio so before I cross-over and invest the time needed to learn Vegas I wanted to get some input from happy and/or unhappy users from this forum.

Thanks for helping make my decision.

Comments

GaryKleiner wrote on 9/14/2003, 2:42 PM
Vegas is a very stable program that hardly ever crashes. That's one of the reasons we love it so :-)

Gary
TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/14/2003, 2:44 PM
I've found Vegas as stable as a mountain. But, you can download it yourself and try it. :) The demo lets you do anything (even use plugins), except for the following:
1) no saving
2) no mpeg support
3) can only play timeline for 2 minutes at a time.

give it a try. You won't be disapointed.

note: it's interface is different then most NLE's out there (who model after AVID).
JakeHannam wrote on 9/14/2003, 2:44 PM
Burchis,

I think you will find Vegas 4.0 to be rock solid. I have never had a crash due to Vegas. That is why you will see few, if any, posts complaining about reboots, crashes, blue screens, etc. They just ain't there.

Some people, especially those coming from other NLEs, have problems in the beginning getting used to the Vegas interface and the way Vegas works but once they have it mastered, very few go back to anything else.

You also might want to check the SOFO Products page because I think there is a competitive upgrade (lower price) from other NLEs. Pinnnacle may be one of them.

Jake
JakeHannam wrote on 9/14/2003, 2:47 PM
Here is the link (they mention Pinnacle Edition as a qualifying product - is that the same as Pinnacle Studio 8?).

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/products/showproduct.asp?PID=844
BillyBoy wrote on 9/14/2003, 2:52 PM
Me too. Vegas has got to be one of the most stable Windows applications I've ever used, and I go back a long way to when nobody but a few geeks knew who Bill Gates was. I'm not going to say it doesn't crash, other people have said it did, so I guess at times it does. The likely reason more often than not is Windows itself, not Vegas.

I used Pinnacle once way back. I know what you mean by frustration.

Your best bet is download a trial and play with it. Its been a long while since I used a trial version, so I may be wrong, but it should be a fully functional version with only the MPEG encoder disabled due to licensing things.

Hope that was gentle enough. ;-)

PS

Vegas also has an EXCELLENT PDF format manual, plus the built-in help is exellent also.

Visit my site, I've written a few tutorials, and I link to all the known sites that offers something specifically about Vegas too.

http://www.wideopenwest.com/%7Ewvg/tutorial-menu.htm

** If you have some for Vegas on your Web Site, and I haven't linked to it, tell me...
Chienworks wrote on 9/14/2003, 2:55 PM
I think the fact that you couldn't find much in the forums about program stability or disfunction should be a pretty strong indicator of how stable and reliable Vegas is! People will complain about problems. If you don't see complaints about a particular topic then it probably isn't a problem.
burchis wrote on 9/14/2003, 3:02 PM
Thanks everyone that have taken the time to post their replies to my question. I am very impressed on the response time. If Vegas is half as productive as your post were then I will be very pleased.

JakeHannam- Thanks for the link on competitive upgrades. However, the Pennacle product that I have (Studio v8.0) doesn't qualify me for the special pricing. I don't mind paying full price as long as I get a great product, and it sounds as though I will.

It was nice reading through this forum. I am looking forward to using, learning, and hopefully eventually contributing help here.
cswain wrote on 9/14/2003, 4:38 PM
I've just finished my first big project with Vegas -- 113 min. fiftieth anniversary family photo slideshow in 15 chapters!! I'm a hobbyist, coming from Studio 8 with LOADS of dissatisfaction in its stability. I had two error messages during this Vegas project of an 'unknown error' (or something similar) where I was told to save my work and restart the program. I did so, and didn't lose a beat. Simply amazing to me after many, many crashes with Pinnacle. At first I missed the Pinnacle interface, but after a few days had a WONDERFUL time working with Vegas, creating interesting panning/zooming movement in the still photos -- it REALLY was fun. The dvd debuted yesterday -- my family thinks I'm the greatest and I think VEGAS is the best. I'm definitely glad I spent the money on the program. There -- my two cents.
riredale wrote on 9/14/2003, 5:03 PM
There are lots of us who have come over from Studio7 or 8. You can do a lot with Studio, but there are numerous benefits with Vegas (including rock-solid stability) that make it vastly superior. Plus, you get this message board, which is full of great information--try the search feature.
hugoharris wrote on 9/14/2003, 5:12 PM
I moved to Vegas from Studio 8 myself - I know what you mean by frustration. That, however, is just the start.

Vegas is fun! I think that's its biggest selling feature, regardless of price range. I found it very intuitive, very powerful, and you can accomplish very complex editing and effects very quickly and easily. This shouldn't be work! Read some of Grazie's posts to see how excited you can get when the software keeps out of the way of the creative process.

And by the way, I did a few side-by-side comparisons with DVDs created with each package, and the mpeg encoding in Vegas is far superior. Quality matters to me, and the difference was huge.

Try the demo. Cost up front, in this case, equals less frustration in the end.

Kevin.
donp wrote on 9/14/2003, 10:21 PM
I'm a former Pinnacle Studio person too got into Vegas back when it was VV3.
I use VV4d exclusively now and as everyone (almost) said it IS rock solid in stability unless you are over clocking the processor or have something else out of whack on the PC. Also in lieu of DVDA I use DVDlab for authoring my DVD's.

All my captures have been flawlwss. Some credit goes to the Canopus ADVC-1394 though for that. But Vegas takes it all in. I do a lot of print back to tape too with no issues there either.

I hope you will equally satisfied as I am with Vegas Video 4d.

The presence of Sony-Sonicfoundary support is great too.
johnmeyer wrote on 9/15/2003, 12:58 AM
I used the Studio programs extensively. They crash all the time. I then switched to VideoFactory. I don't think it ever crashed. (Think about that and compare that to your experience with the Studio products). Vegas is just as solid.

Of course, as far as power, price, etc., you are comparing apples and oranges (Studio vs. Vegas). If budget is no problem, get Vegas. If you want to try something in the same price range, then try VideoFactory. There is more on this topic (comparing Vegas/VideoFactory vs. Pinnacle Studio) at this thread:

VV4 vs Pinnacle studio 8
kentwolf wrote on 9/17/2003, 10:04 PM
>>Is it safe to assume then, that Vegas 4.0 + DVD is a rock solid program that will deliver?

Absolutely, yes. I came from Studio 8 for exactly the same reason. Fortunately, someone posted about Vegas in a Pinnacle forum. I would never, ever go back ever.

>>I realize that the learning curve for this program will be much greater then Studio...

Yes, it is. It is different, but it is vastly more powerful then Studio 8. This forum is extremely helpful. Chances are you can search for your answer and will find it. Posting complete questions, listing details, also yields good results. This forum does not have to concentrate on the latest patch-of-the-day or crash cause. Vegas is an extremly reliable/stable program. If it's not, there's a problem with your system.

>>...invest the time needed to learn Vegas

It is well worth the effort. It's not all that daunting of a task, but there is a learning curve.

...and there ya' go.