Color Me unimpressed. Like you said, it seems like its more geared towards DVDA4 but what I dont get is how for the last year we have had HD shoved down our throats claiming to be the wave of the future and then we get stuck with SD DVD stuff. Frankly, those features in DVDA4 should have been in DVDA3 as most serious authoring apps have included them over the past couple years.

SADLY, if this is what Sony is offering, then I hate to say that in years passed where they broke new ground, this year it looks like they are trying to catch up with Premiere Pro 2 and Encore. I have it on very good facts that right after Sony releases V7DVDA4, Adobe is coming out with their next gen HD authoring updates for their Studio Production line. Perhaps Vegas 7d a year or so from now can get caught up with Adobe.

It really does look like its time to jump ship. Its been fun though.

Seems they do this every year .. little blurb up for a short time, let a little buzz go around then take it down. And watch it fly....
Little sadistic critters..I love it !

Hopefully the HDV timeline can be monitored in really real time with all the stuff.I see no Bluray or HD-DVD mention. I'm a sucker for upgrades anyway. Count me in.
JJK

Well the better support for SDI MIGHT be good news, hopefully Madison and BMD have smoked the peace pipe and finally we don't have to use antiquated drivers, who knows we might even get the bugs ironed out of render to BMD codec. This has been a major PIA and source of embarrasment for me.
What does annoy me is this should have done right in V6, I'm not wingeing about having to pay to get it fixed, I'm whining about having to wait to get it fixed. The cost of the upgrade is less than what this has cost me in hair transplants.
However I have to agree with the comments about PPro, I'm no fan of having to go down that path but without support for 10bit Vegas is falling behind. What really astounds me is given the prevelance of analogue formats like BetaSP in the USA why this isn't more of a deal breaker for anyone working in broadcast in the USA. I know a few here have tried using Vegas and BetaSP with pretty bad outcomes.

Bob.

This time of year is six months later than this time of year last year. Having upgraded over the last couple of years, it is interesting to note that the new features are based on the Version x.0 release and not the Verison x.0d release, hence mention of iPod and PSP compatibility.

Nothing really grabs me about the new release until the enhanced HDV , improved HDV playback performance and improved workflow details tools are described more. Then again, I didn't think nested .veg support was useful either in the version 6 release - I use it all the time now.

In the end, it is the small things that count and Sony delivers on that. And they do deliver throughout the year too.

I mssed the blurb but I had hear that there would be "more details" put out last week. So thanks to the cut and paste of what was put out.

I didn't see any sort of Line 21 support listed for DVDA though. Wonder if that is in there or not.

... and of course the BIG question ...... will Smoothness default to Zero?

Wow Patrick...downer from you?
Whilst I can't comment on V7's content/features, I find it a bit funny that some recognize that there might be a marketing "tease" vs what is really in the app(s).
If you're at WEVA, I've been given permission to show a very few features of the app. Hope to see some of you here.

DSE, downer for now. Perhpas I am having a rough day and my expectations are too high. That scenario is more likely. While the entire feature set has yet to be released, from what I see so far, Im disappointed this is what they have come up with so far in a year and a half of development. Perhaps if Dave would have followed through on my beta commitment and NDA, I wouldnt feel so down about it but that heres nor there.

I have seen what Adobe has come up with in the same time table and admit that their latest offerings are worlds better than what they had with the PP1.5 line. I expect Sony to be able to continue to being the leader and innovator and from the small blurb that I have missed and has been posted, I just cant seem to get excited.

Vegas' greatest feature has been consistent though...It JUST WORKS. I love that. But after not having a new version at NAB this year, many like myself figured Sony must have had something big in the works to not release at NAB. Thus far, the cards havent been shown.

I am positive there is bigger features that Sony hasnt let out of the bag yet but little bits like this only succeeds in increasing my aniexty rather than my anticipation. Call it being burned by major companies hyping yet failing to deliver (MS, Adobe, etc..) At the very least, give us a date instead of coming in September. Its not like its May and we are getting that blurb. September is less than 10 days away and with my luck, it wont be til late September after I already start working on a new project.

guys,
I've been waiting for 7 from v5. Heres my question...
If I make a purchase of 6 now (for stability) will I get a free upgrade to 7 if it is released in sept?

I am a bit leary of 7 not being stable and having to wait for build b.

If I was able to upgrade I would be able to purchase 6 and use it if 7 proves unstable.

HOWEVER if I cannot upgrade or if it is not released in sept then I"M SCREWED!!! for owning 7 in the near future.

Any suggestions?

Auggy

p.s. about v7...
I hope there is more especially blueray. What good is HD if I cant burn a HD DVD? Im using Arc 3 with veg5.

I wish more audio tools were being built into vegas. While I love the tools that are now there I wish it also had Midi and ASIO adapting to use Gigastudio directly in it. VST would be AWSOME to play a virtual synth like atmosphere and stylus right within the video. This would put Vegas into a categeory WAY above adobe or pinnacle.
For those who don't play music then direct ACID editing withing would be killer since no playing abilities are required. But for us Sound FX Gigastudio, atmosphere and Stylus would brign this all to another level. Perhaps combining Soundforge into vegas (a lite version) would also help as well.

Just thoughts.

Auggy

I really don't see the marketing value of just waiting until Vegas 7 is delivered to explain what is in it! First, I would think you want to stop purchases of competitors products in July by hyping Vegas 7 for September. Sony should have been releasing small amounts of information the past 3 months to build excitement about the product.

Im using Arc 3 with veg5.

How did you get DVDA3 without buying Vegas 6? Ebay I guess.

As for the bluray or HDDVD, I hope as well they include some way to author these formats or at least promise a free update for Vegas 7 that will include BluRay authoring in the very near future.

So let's say they do not include a way to author BluRay, then what are you going to do? Wait? I don't see myself shelling out 50 grand for Sony's current BluRay authoring tool. So, I am at the mercy of Sony unless someone else comes out with a method to author that I can afford.

j razz

Bummer - No DVCPRO / P2.

Hello, Premiere.

New! Enhanced hardware support for Blackmagic Design DeckLink™ and AJA

Neat... Vegas 7 will support AJA hardware. Hopefully this will end the situation of drivers not working.

2- Is it too soon for Vegas 8 requests? ;)

Not to be too Pollyanna (for the younguns, that's an OLD Disney flick) but I look back over the past 10 years and it's amazing what we virtually demand in an NLE by now. I'm reminded of Star Trek 4, or was it 5, the one with the talking whales, where the crew goes back in time to 20th century San Francisco and in an office, Scotty walks up to a computer and impatiently says, "Hello, computer..."

I can get away with offering insights like this because I'm a writer far more than an editor (hyphenated indie maker). If there's too much disappointment, guys like me can hibernate a while in programs like Dramatica Pro, Power Structure, etc. But then dabble a while with FrameForge Studio visualization and BAM, just when I think I'm out, they pull me back on the timeline.

Sorry to admit it, but as long as I'm not laid off I'll be buying every single friggin' upgrade of Vegas.

sorry i looked and it is arc2 with v5. Man I thought I had v3 hahaha

Anyhow should I buy the 6 upgrade or will it be a waste of money.
I don't want them to tell me I don't qualify for the v7 upgrade???

Auggy

I'll wager Panny isn't supporting DVCPro for long. P2 as a storage may or may not last, but DVCPro is antiquated and on its way out.. Given that it's a DV-based, it only makes sense. MPEG in one form or another is where everyone in the industry has gone, and now Panny has finally joined the masses. Sony, Ikegami, Grass Valley, and Canon are already there. Efficient decoding of highly compressed MPEG based formats whether it's spatially or temporally (or both) compressed is where the future lies.

Not to say that this is definite, but if we can learn anything from the past, I upgraded to V5+DVDA2 about 2 months before the current Vegas+DVDA came out and I was eligible for the free upgrade. I think the same held true for those going from V4 to V5 within 3 months before the release. Again, if the past means anything and sense they stated September for a release date (on the page they pulled down, unless I just imagined it) you should be good, but don't base your decision on what I say as I do not work for Sony or know what they will do.

j razz

I wouldn't stop using Vegas just because one upgrade sucked. Everybody has had a lame release. Besides, the upgrade costs are so much less than switching to another system (unless it's from someone else's to Vegas, of course).

However, releasing any feature 'tease' with "Render to iPod" is a joke, if you're already using Vegas 6. If a smaller company would have written this, we would be joyously laughing along with them, instead, because we don't hear from too many Sony Admins, you kinda almost wonder if they meant it.

What if they said you could render to VP6? Being able to render to the current flash format would be a good thing. Or maybe if they just offered the assurance that if you bought On2's VP6 encoder you'd be able to render straight to it from Vegas. That'd be reasonable.

Rob Mack

ok, not to go off on a tangent here, but i can call my virtual dog's name in to my DS & it virtually comes to me (sometimes with a frisbie!).

i'm not like you though... i'll get ~ every other upgrade. No reason to replace V6/DVD3 yet. I don't even use any of the features above what V4 supplied, i just REALLY wanted DVDA3. :) But my upgrade to 6 got my dad my old copy of 4 which he really enjoy's!

The list above would be hugely underwhelming if that is all they had to boast about after such a long wait. I think they removed the details because the list was incomplete. Remember the Vegas 5 to 6 upgrade was not much. Vegas 7 is supposed to quasi-rival Premiere in my book.

Either that or Sony is waving the white flag and accepting that Vegas is a B-list NLE. I can live with that considering it costs less. But I was really hoping for much more universal feature additions and a focus on the recent evolution of computing power and exciting technologies like GPU offloading and 3D composition. The dollar per dollar value of Vegas is not what it used to be when stacked up against the very latest releases of other NLE's.

This upgrade looks targeted to those few hard core folks who are probably most loyal to Vegas and use it the most. But the masses and hacks like me won't see much value in this upgrade.

The list of enhancements pasted above looks like a $59 upgrade from Vegas 6 to me. I really hope that's not it!! Someone have the rest of the list?

Am I alone in feeling recently that software developers at many mature companies have been aging and getting lazy lately? Especially in the Video editing and post production industry. The pace of innovation has been slowing lately. Only a very few companies are really pushing it these days. As a consumer, this drives me nuts.