upgrade vegas & camera

joejon wrote on 10/10/2006, 7:00 PM
I still have version 4 of Vegas+DVD. It suits my needs okay since I just use it for home use. Every once in a while I have some problems with the capture, but who knows if it's the program or the computer. With the deal from Sony on the upgrade until the end of October, I'm thinking maybe it's time to get the upgrade. I don't know for the casual home user though if it's worth spending the money. Has the capture utility been improved since V4? I read about a lot of new features, but I probably won't use many of them. If I do upgrade, will my V4 files work okay with V7? Do I just install V7, or do I have to uninstall V4 first? Now onto cameras. I have a Sony Digital8, but some of the controls have acted funny lately (probably the electronics). I'm looking at other cameras just in case mine goes out. I probably don't want to go with D8 since that looks like it's on the way out. Although I won't have a way to look at or transfer my previous tapes. (Any ideas how to solve that problem?) I know everything is going to High Def., but the lower priced cameras don't have a mic input. I use an external mic for recording my childrens' band and jazz music. Any suggestions on cameras? I keep mine for a long time, so I need a format that'll be around for a long time. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Comments

Harold Brown wrote on 10/10/2006, 7:19 PM
I guess it depends on the amount of editing you do. If you are on Vegas every week I say get Vegas 7. It is well worth $150. I am on Vegas at least 6 days a week, mostly for projects of my own and a few customer type projects a year. It is by far the best software package I have ever bought. You can find close-out MiniDV cameras for $200 and less. Just check out the features. I see them at Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 10/10/2006, 8:09 PM
I had V4 & waited till 6 to upgrade. DVDA has a load of nice features you'll probley use. There's also some smaller, less apparent, things you'll find usefull, you'll have to d/l the demo yourself & see.

Camera? I got a camera w/o a mic input (stupid me!). I'm planning on getting eighter a mini-disc recorder or a mp3 recorder to record my audio. Why? It's not part of the camera so I can do more with it: i can place it somewhere different, I can jsut record audio, i can have two different sources, etc. A little more $$, but not a bad idea.
Serena wrote on 10/10/2006, 8:10 PM
I started with v5 and found v6 a big improvement. You might consider buying v6 second-hand if you don't want to pay the v7 price. You can have all versions of Vegas similtaneously installed. Cameras: impossible question without price guidance. Since you want to keep for a long time I would say HDV format is the way to go. All of the Sony cameras allow external mike.
teaktart wrote on 10/10/2006, 8:25 PM
I have an older Digital8 camera and bought a firewire cable with the 4 pin connecters at each end and dubbed my extra special Hi8 tapes over to the newer MiniDv camera so I have two sets of the same material, one in each format, again, just in case the D8 camera dies one day.
(I have a lot of performance material shot in Cuba and obviously can't get back there for a long time "regime change here, please", so wanted to be sure I can still get to the original material by making that backup copy of tapes in miniDV)
Or, you could capture your Hi8 tapes via Vegas onto a spare hard drive and have your backup material accessible that way....for editing sometime in the future.

Teaktart
richard-courtney wrote on 10/11/2006, 6:20 AM
Beachtek makes fantastic external mic adapters. I assume you were talking about
they don't have XLR mic inputs. Most cameras have 1/8th inch jacks for an external
mic and headphones.

http://www.beachtek.com/products.html

models with a VU meter I think are a must have.
joejon wrote on 10/11/2006, 6:22 AM
HDV sounds like the way to go. Sony does NOT have external mic jacks on all their cameras. The HDR-HC3, which was the one I was looking at, records to tape, and does not have a mic jack. The other two resonably priced Sony cameras do have a jack, but one records to hard disk and the other to DVD; I'm not interested in those formats. Their other cameras are well over $3000.
teaktart wrote on 10/11/2006, 9:34 AM
B & H Photo has the Sony HVR-A1U for $2500 with a $300 mail in rebate which brings the price down to $2200 and it has the external mic and XLR connectors you want, etc.
I got this camera with a $500 rebate about 6 months ago which gave me a final price of $2000 so it might be worth monitoring it to see if you can get that price again. I bought mine from B & H as they are very reputable and will not rip you off like cheaper sites....
Teaktart
teaktart wrote on 10/11/2006, 9:45 AM
I just pasted below part of a response from another thread....

I picked up a A1U new on sale at B&H last month for $1,800 after rebate. I've only used it on one shoot in LA area and hired a shooter with major credits on their resume and Z1 experience. Just finished capturing the 6.5 hours of tape. I'm very happy with the way the A1U performed. Difficult shoots like a face into direct strong sunshine with the bill of a baseball cap casting dark shadow across the face did not have blown highlights and all the details in the shadow looked great. Everything was shot using manual settings and we were using the 100% ire zebra stripes.


Try the link below, hope I got it right!

Teaktart

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist.jsp&A=cart&Q=add&sku=384527&is=REG&addedTroughType=search&addedTroughValue=sony+a1u&q=1

joejon wrote on 10/11/2006, 11:10 AM
My mic has the 1/8th inch plug (Rode Stereo Videomic). The HDR-HC3 does not have an external mic jack at all. Sony's other two reasonably priced cameras have the jacks, but one is a hard drive model and the other is a DVD model. I really prefer a tape based camera. I haven't heard very good things about the DVD models and the hard drive setup doesn't seem to be that great either.