Hello, Sony, are you listening?

Yes 4
No 40

Like others, i don't have a real need for it so it is the first to be turned off.

I can see where it would be really handy to use if I had a lot of clips to catalog. However, it appears it would be a nightmare to tag and catalog all the clips if I had lots of them. ;) Perhaps now would be the best time to start using it.

We lost another yes again, so the total is actually

Yes 5
No 40

Still 8:1 against. Goodness.

However, it appears it would be a nightmare to tag and catalog all the clips if I had lots of them. ;)

Yes, but it shouldn't be. If the feature had been designed instead of simply bolted on, much of the tagging could be done automatically. Every capture move and every edit decision should add information to a database about that clip. If you label track headers, for instance, that information should be stored in each piece of media on that track. All those markers and regions you create in a project should become part of the media database as well. By contrast, forcing a user to go through an entire, separate process actually ADDS to the workflow timetable, rather than making it simpler.

If Sony is listening -- which they probably aren't -- I'll share an epiphany I had fifteen years ago when I wanted to run a scanning software company. I had this great idea that if everyone could scan every piece of paper in their inbox, they could instantly retrieve any information, and could do away with filing cabinets. As I discussed this with people already in the scanning business, one of the senior member said:

"People will only scan documents if the value returned exceeds the effort required."

Many people during the Internet craze failed to recognize the amazing truth in this simple statement. If it takes me an hour a day to scan all my documents, and I only save five minutes a day because I can retrieve a few documents a little faster, I won't want to waste that time. However, a company like American Express was able to justify spending $100 million in scanning equipment, and people to run it, because they could then retrieve, reproduce, and "clear" every printed transaction from every credit card. It was an immense up front and ongoing cost, but the savings were even bigger.

Media Manager fails on both ends of the equation: It takes far too much work to tag assets because nothing is done to make this tagging happen automatically as part of the workflow, and the benefit for most users is far too small.

Too bad, because properly implemented, media management could save ALL of us, even those with small asset inventories, a HUGE amount of time. The thing Madison keeps missing -- and I think they are going to miss again in Vegas 7 -- is that the competitive landscape in this mid to upper end of the video editing market is all about workflow. Can I get my job done more quickly? With fewer mistakes? Less headache? Obviously we want quality, but that's a baseline, not a competitive edge. Fast, efficient workflow is what it's all about.

No 41
Yes 5

I just never had time or interest to get to know how it works. I once used the ACID manger and got totally confused and this put me off.

Michael

I feel Sony could make better use of R&D than MM.
or an option to or not to install MM.

I have no need for it, add me to the No list!

Yes 5
No 42

Tony Mac

Yes 5
No 43

Why not?
- Initial installation problems
- Initial performance problems
- Initial stability problems

Not that I don't like tagging things... I use IMATCH as my photo database manager and although the interface needs a lot of work it's incredibly powerful for the money. Not so good with video though. But I have everything in dynamic categories which pretty much eliminates the need for tags. (And I have a script that uploads photos to Flickr, converting the categories to tags on the way.)

I too have been impressed with Adobe Bridge. It is very powerful and intuitive. Would be nice to see MM decoupled from Vegas so it runs standalone like Bridge, but somehow retain the capabilites it has now for people who are happy with it.

Relating to the scanning issue---I was going to scan all my bills into a database with the latest OCR software until I found out that I would have to proof read every scan because there were about 10 errors per scan. Then I thought of BMP files but they were too large for the hardrives at the time. Now I can convert the BMP's to JPG's and load everything no problem. And there are no errors period. And they are in color too.
JJK

Yes 6
No 43

I use it, no problems. Very handy for having track music and various sound FX at your fingertips.

Many forum software packages (i.e., vBulletin) allow users to start a survey. Sony developed their own forum software (I asked them about it back when I was switching my industry forum), so they would have to create it from scratch. It would allow us to better respond, plus it would really help their product managers to gather quantitative market research.

I think they need to sit down and see how people actually use this program... that way they will get how certain shortcuts are backwards, how the program can be more intuitive, etc.

Not trying to rag on the developers, Vegas is still my favorite NLE hands-down... I'd like to see it get better.

Yes 6
No 44

Why not?

I have had several attempts to use it, but the effort required didn't seem to result in any massive returns. Also several attempts at tagging my files just confused me.

Wayne

slight off topic:

i notice that the uninstall (add&remove - settings) for mm is only 6.8mb. is this the total size of the package - i keep reading HUGE mb for it's install?

can i uninstall safely without fu vegas?

do i need to worry about 6.8mb?

oh, decisions, decisions....

leslie

As the one who started this, I can clearly see that MM is potentially a great tool for those who have lots and lots of file footage that they need to find quickly. I was just wondering how many of these folks use Vegas, and how useful they are finding Media Manager. I do remember lots of calls for "better media management" and I'm very happy that Sony responded to this. (I also hope that V7 has Smoothness defaulting to Zero).

Nick Hope for instance, sounds like a classic case who can benefit - he has all this underwater footage, and with the help of tags he could log shooting location, type of fish, type of coral, etc etc etc, then when he needs to quickly find footage shot in, say, Indonesian waters including Gropers or whatever kind of fish, he could click, produce a list and use it.

Like several others, I almost always shoot specific footage for each job, and if I did require any "stock footage" I can easily have a folder somewhere called "Stock Footage" with sub folders etc - not the same as tags, but I just don't have that need.

Apart from not using Media Manager - I just about never use Project Media (formerly Media Pool) and am happily working from Explorer, and I would like to stress that I find Vegas the most brilliant editing software.

7 Yes
44 No

I make a lot of small clips and this saves me time.

Interesting thread (I've already voted).

It may be an oversimpification to ask who does and who does not use MM. It would be interesting to develop the demographics associated with users and non-users. If you've got a lot of stuff, video and audio, and you need to quickly identify and acquire at a moment's notice the precise attribute your edit requires, MM does the trick.

Darryl

8 Yes
44 No

Use it more in Acid than in Vegas. Problematic at first, it's okay now but needs much better performance, more flexible searches and better custom fields.

whats media manager

45 No
8 yes

Why not?

Still spending a lot of time learning more fun features of vegas such as the different ways to do masking, etc.

Media Manager is a huge, slow pig IMO. Vegas loads SO much faster now that it's turned off. :-)

8 yes
46 no

My turn?

I really can't see how MM would benefit me. I don't use the media bins and just manage each project in windows folders.

On the document scanning: I have scanned every important piece of paper in my home and office (same place) for five years and it all fits on a single data DVD. I scan to a JPEG image, every page gets a sequential number (called Bates numbers in the legal world) and every document is indexed in an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet contains links to the image files, so if I need to find a receipt, invoice or instruction manual, all I do is a data search in Excel then view the documents from the search results.

Steve M.

I use MM in Acid, and I'm experimenting with it in personal projects in Vegas.

9 yes
46 no

I have some database design background, and I am hesitant to devote a lot of time inputting data into an undocumented proprietary database that lacks import and export functions, and/or a fully documented external interface (ie SQL). Its also not clear to me where/how the metadata gets stored with the file when you do Save Tags and Properties to Selected Files.

After it got over initial bugginess, I find MM very fast and handy for previewing and sorting clips. I am experimenting building an SFX library with it, but won't commit to keying in data and tagging 1000's of SFX until Sony opens up the database. The features needed from my perspective include:
- a shortcut key to clear the search (uncheck all tags etc.);
- much better Resolve Offline Media functions, such as quickly resolving a whole directory of clips being moved to a different drive, or a folder being renamed;
- functions to move media and rename directories from within MM, to avoid the dreaded Resolve Offline Media headache;
- ability to define "global" tags that will have the same unique tag-ID when the tag is used in different MM libraries;
- ability to copy, move and merge data between MM libraries;
- import and export clip tags and properties to/from standard database file formats, incl .xls and .csv;
- fully documented database structure;
- documentation for externally saved tags and properties;
- external SQL interface, for example via MS Access or Excel (including triggers and data checks that ensure the user doesn't easily corrupt the database), or at least read-only access to the main tables;
- full function access via Vegas scripting;
- support and access to read, write and search non-MM file metadata, including EXIF, IPTC, Broadcast WAV, MP3 tags, etc.;
- tie MM fields to Explorer and Project Media fields, ie Comment, as previously mentioned;

I look forward to improvements in v7.

9 yes
47 no

I recently upgraded Acid to 6.0, and with the newer version of MM, am getting close to give it a try again.