If you’re thinking about switching NLEs and won’t consider consumer NLEs, I think that you’re going to be up for considerably more expense than the occasional upgrade expense for Sony Vegas Pro even if it has become more expensive recently because of the introduction of tiered pricing. For example, Premier Pro is now exclusively by subscription so you would be paying monthly fees regardless of how often you use that NLE. Avid Media Composer is currently priced at $US1,299 – and that only includes 1 year of service and updates and thereafter there is an annual $US400 fee if you want to maintain service and updates – that’s more than the upgrade cost to Vegas Pro 13 that you have posted about.

Did you look out for other Vegas Pro offers during the year such as at the time of VP13’s release, or during the Black Friday offers? Perhaps you could wait until SCS release Vegas Pro 14 as SCS usually have a good intro offer for a short time after a new Vegas Pro release.

By the way, Vegas Pro 10 was released nearly 4 years ago, so the upgrade price to 13 of $349 actually works out to be around $90 per year.

Sony Creative Services is, after all, a business and needs to make a profit to survive as does any business. While they may have had a more generous upgrade policy in the past, it is not unreasonable for SCS - or any company for that matter - to offer better deals to their regular ongoing customers than occasional customers – it’s not all that unusual.

Perhaps it might be time to check out the current crop of consumer NLEs as they have improved markedly over the last 4 years. SCS’s Movie Studio 13 is a cut down version of Vegas Pro and has many terrific features, and there’s Corel VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio both with many great features. And these NLEs cost a way lot less to buy outright than the VP13 upgrade cost. It might be worth looking in to if you haven’t already done so, especially since you say that you are an occasional NLE user..

Other consumer level video editors to consider are Premiere Elements, Cyberlink PowerDirector, and the two offerings from Magix.

>>>So eg. I have Vegas Pro 10. It used to cost $99 to upgrade during the offers. Now all of a sudden, it costs $249 for an upgrade from the very last version and $349 for an upgrade from an earlier version such as my version 10.<<<
Judging by the SCS e-mail I got today (again), those prices are valid for the Vegas Pro 13 Suite+ Special Bundle offer ending Jan. 31, not for Vegas Pro 13 only.
The current regular upgrade prices are on the Purchase/Upgrades page.
I think the latest special upgrade offer (e.g. from VPro 10) for Vegas Pro 13 was in September '14 at $149. I've never needed to pay more than that for my 4 or so Pro upgrades.

It says $200 for my if I want to just upgrade my copy of Vegas to 13 from 10, which is what it's always been expect when a new release/sale happens.

Judging by your logic ("I refuse to pay $350 for an upgrade but I'll happily pay $600-$2000 to use a different program! Ha! Take that!") and you have one post and this is it, odds are you just a spammer.

Considering that, at this moment, I can upgrade my 10 to 13 + Hitfilm Pro 3, Production Assistant, Sound Forge 11 and plugins by NewBlue and iZotope for $350, that's a STEAL. Really, if I had the $ I'd do it just for SF 11 & Hitfilm.

I never remember upgrading from version 4 to 6, 6 to 8, 8 to 10 for less then $150 at launch. I always got the latest DVDA & DD encoder, maybe $100 was for the price w/o those, but I never paid under $150. Another reason I see "spammer" when I read that post.

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Busted!
Stop taking up space on this forum and let the Pros advise people who are trying to learn and burn.

@VidMus
Good looking out.

No offence intended, but this topic has elicited some good discussion for me.

I'm sorry to see what seems (to me) to be elitism on this forum. I've been around this forum for a while.

Instead of being snarky or dismissive, a better attitude is to address the topic raised as most in this thread have done. This way, readers can be edified. This way, sincere posters, whether they appear to be trolls or not, can be edified.

Thanks for reading. Again, no offence intended.
Keep calm, edit on.
j

+1 Jerald
I only upgrade when features benefit me. I am quite happy right now with VP11.

> "Until recently Sony Vegas Pro upgrades were offered for $99."

I'm not sure how long ago you remember that you upgraded for $99 but I believe that was back in the Vegas 6-8 days. For the longest time the early adopter upgrade price has been $149. Maybe the upgrade to Vegas Pro 10.0 was $99 but I don't think it was. It's been $149 for a few years now.

> "It seems now some marketing exec has decided that Sony can make more by upping the upgrade price massively and adopting a sliding scale of discounts depending on which version you have and how long it was since your last upgrade. "

That's totally incorrect. There is no sliding scale. Here is what the upgrade page actually says:

Upgrade to Vegas Pro 13 Edit from Vegas
Upgrade
Only $199.95

Upgrade to Vegas Pro 13 from Vegas
Upgrade
Only $249.95

Upgrade to Vegas Pro 13 Suite from Vegas
Upgrade
From $349.95

Did you see the word "any" in those statements? There is no sliding scale. Anyone with any previous version of Vegas Pro can upgrade for those prices.

> "So eg. I have Vegas Pro 10. It used to cost $99 to upgrade during the offers. Now all of a sudden, it costs $249 for an upgrade from the very last version and $349 for an upgrade from an earlier version such as my version 10."

I think you're reading it wrong. It's no wonder, Sony has made the same mistake that Apple did the first time Steve Jobs left with expanding their product line to an incomprehensible amount of models. There are so many combinations of Vegas Pro, Vegas Pro Edit, Vegas Pro Studio, & Vegas Pro Studio+ that it's impossible to understand what the heck you are buying. Someone needs to hit Sony with a "simple stick". Apple has Final Cut Pro X. That's it. Everything is included for $299. No confusion. Done deal.

It's also important to note that Vegas Pro 13.0 Edit is the same as Vegas Pro 10.0 and Vegas Pro 13.0 is the same as Vegas Pro 10.0+DVD. It doesn't help that Sony keeps changing the name of it's offerings so that customers and totally confused as to what they are buying. (BTW, if you have DVD Architect 5.0 you really don't need 6.0, it has almost no new features o just get Vegas Pro 13.0 Edit)

If you are looking at the prices for the Suite or Suite+ versions, that is way more software than you have today with Vegas Pro 10.0 so you should expect to pay more for the extra software in the bundle. BTW, the deal that Sony made with including Hit Film is outstanding. You practically get Hit Film for free. It's an incredible bargain.

> "However, several hundred dollars per year (or even 1 year) is simply too much much for me."

Again, if you had purchased Vegas Pro 13.0 during the first months of special pricing, you would have paid $149 to upgrade from Vegas Pro 10.0. Considering you were 3 versions and 3 years behind, that's $50 a year. Even a hobbiest should be able to afford that (it's only a $1 a week)

~jr

For the record, the absolute lowest price for a boxed copy of VegasPro13 which contained a defective build at the time from SCS was offered directly at $124.00 in US to US delivery for a very limited promotional time.
Of course the defective build could easily be replaced with a build373 from the website for a truly working build.
As far as NLE products go - that is an absolute best value cash price.

The mob has spoken...

Actually it is more subjective than factual.

V13 is the worse upgrade available worth nothing, IMO.

V12 was the best upgrade, IMO.

It's up to you if the upgrade price is worthwhile.

@lovelight - my experience was the other way around. funny old world....

Vegas13 Pro is almost an exact copy of the last beta form of the last build of VegasPro 12. Build 373 for VegasPro13 established correction for bugs that became added to the first build of VPro13...hence it is actually an improved stable version with a few more features over the last commercial build of VegasPro12. There is absolutely no reason to not settle for anything but VegasPro13 build 373.

I think you're reading it wrong. It's no wonder, Sony has made the same mistake that Apple did the first time Steve Jobs left with expanding their product line to an incomprehensible amount of models. There are so many combinations of Vegas Pro, Vegas Pro Edit, Vegas Pro Studio, & Vegas Pro Studio+ that it's impossible to understand what the heck you are buying. Someone needs to hit Sony with a "simple stick". Apple has Final Cut Pro X. That's it. Everything is included for $299. No confusion. Done deal.

It is simple. My software & scroll down & click "upgrade". If I want to buy I click Purchase - Software & the one I want. It's easier then buying a computer, that's for sure. :)

Well, it is true that being able to specify the bundle i want would be nice when that isn't in the lists of what's available. Apple assumed it's customers were incapable of making those decisions, so if you really wanted extra RAM, you might also have had to buy a 2nd floppy drive whether you wanted it or not.

With Time Warner, i can get TV, TV & internet, TV & internet & phone. I cannot get TV & phone without internet, nor can i get internet & phone without TV. OK, maybe in order to give phone service they have to have an active IP connection anyway, and maybe no one out there wants a cable connection without TV. But still, why can't i as the customer make the choice?

On the other hand, the marketeers probably figure people will go for the package that has everything they want even when it includes unwanted items and therefore get the higher prices.

> "Apple assumed it's customers were incapable of making those decisions, so if you really wanted extra RAM, you might also have had to buy a 2nd floppy drive whether you wanted it or not."

That's not what it was at all. When Steve returned to Apple, he started to ask people, why would I recommend a 3400 over a 4400? Or when should somebody jump up to a 6500, but not a 7300? And no one could figure it out. He figured if he can’t figure it out working inside Apple with all these experts, how were his customers going to figure this out? And he was right. So he axed the whole product line and created just four lines: for consumers there was the iMac and iBook and for professionals there was the Power Macintosh and PowerBook. It made is very easy for customers to choose. It wasn't about limiting choice but rather helping them choose. That's kind of where Sony is with Vegas Pro Edit, Vegas Pro, Vegas Pro Suite, & Vegas Pro Suite+. When do you buy which? It's time to get back to basics.

We're getting off topic here but let's contrast Apple and Lenovo shall we (and I'm not making this up, you can go to Lenovo's web site if you think I'm kidding). Let's say I want a laptop. Here is what I see at the two web sites:

Apple
- MacBook Air
- MacBook Pro

Lenovo
- Thinkpad X
- Thinkpad T
- Thinkpad W
- Thinkpad Yoga
- Thinkpad E
- Thinkpad L
- Thinkpad Helix
- Thinkpad 11E
- Y Series
- Z Series
- U Series
- G Series
- S Series
- N Serie
- Yoga Series
- Flex Series

You can't make this stuff up! Lenovo has 16 LAPTOP LINES !!!! Each one of those has multiple models!!! OMG !!!! How is any customer going to figure out even where to start? I'll take Apple's approach any day of the week. My MacBook Pro edits HD in FCP X smooth as silk. I didn't have agonize over parts. Their hardware is designed to work well with their software and visa versa. I don't have to make forum posts about which laptop is best with FCP X. Duh, a MacBook Pro! No guesswork. BTW, the answer to which laptop works best with Sony Vegas Pro SHOULD be Sony VAIO but apparently Sony is incapable of designing like Apple even though they control both the hardware and software like Apple. But like I said we're way off topic here.

People are always asking what Vegas package to buy which indicates that Sony has totally confused it's customers will all the different version of Vegas Pro and all the renaming on top of all the versions. Think about it... Vegas Pro is no longer Vegas Pro. Vegas Pro is now Vegas Pro Edit. What was Vegas Pro+DVD is now Vegas Pro. Then there are two suites on top of that with various 3rd party software offerings. It's just too confusing especially when you go to upgrade and the product you're upgrading from has changed it's name. IMHO, Sony should go back to two offerings, Vegas Pro and Vegas Pro Suite and leave it at that. This would make it easier for customers to choose.

~jr

Disagree totally with you JohnnyRoy. I'll be the first to admit understanding and grappling with marketing strategy is not a great field of rationale, but there is undoubtedly a science and art to it that has been proven over the years.

Marketing Apple is not marketing Sony SCS - two different beasts with a need for very different strategies. SCS is doing what they need to do, whether either you or I like it or not. Their approach is to reach the broadest field of customers with as much penetration as you can muster. That is NOT an Apple strategy and never will be.

I digress as I am reminded of the former Apple CEO who was hired by JCPenney to market the company. Oh my my , what a mistake that was! Sure he had an innovative idea to market dresses in the stores, but it was totally incomprehensible by the JC Penney customer. This proves approaches for marketing have to be very much customized to fit the customer you are seeking.

I don't mind there being just a few base models. That's a good starting point. What i want is to then be able to add exactly what i want to that model without having those choices tied in to other options i don't want. It's true i haven't been an Apple customer in quite some years so it may have changed by now, but back when i was a regular customer all the models were sold 'take it or leave it', no configuration offered. That's what i objected to.

I don't understand the various version problem. I've purchased VP 11 then 12 and 13 and also upgraded to VP 13 suite. And I never had problem with understanding the differences.

I also know that SCS is not an author of all VP components. Many codecs and tools like stabilizing are third-party components. Probably the licence fee is based on number of users.
So, if you don't require extended functionality (for example to produce DVDs) you can buy the cheapest version. For me the deal if very fair.
Ane one more thing - let's be honest - Vegas pro is one of the cheapest professional NLE. This is a big advantage.

> "I don't understand the various version problem. I've purchased VP 11 then 12 and 13 and also upgraded to VP 13 suite. And I never had problem with understanding the differences."

I believe the confusion came in when Sony offered a different upgrade price for previous owners of Vegas Pro 12 Suite to upgrade to Suite+ and that was misunderstood as Vegas Pro 12 customers get one upgrade price while Vegas Pro 11 and prior customers get a different upgrade price which is the topic of this thread (sliding scale discounts). The original poster thought that they had to pay a larger upgrade price because they had Vegas Pro 10.0 than a Vegas Pro 12.0 customer would have to pay. I didn't make this up... this is what started his thread!

If everyone else is OK with this then perhaps just me and the original poster thinks that this is way more complicated than it needs to be.

~jr

My biggest wish for VP14 is that Sony finally fix the GPU issue. VP12-13 brought hardly anything useful for me apart from a little more stability. I was very disappointed in the $149 upgrade which, for those of us in the UK, cost over $200 incl. VAT. Strangely, even including VAT and allowing for conversion rates, Sony software download prices always seem to add on an extra little something to the UK price.

To the OP, the Suite is a great deal if upgrading from VP10 but it's quite an outlay compared to just upgrading VP. If VP10 is working fine then why not wait for VP14 to be released and get the upgrade intro deal then? Did much change between VP 10 & 13? The Hitfilm integration is useful but only if you own Hitfilm. GPU still doesn't work with new NVidia cards. Not sure if Titler Pro 3 is a must have unless extensive titling features are really important.

I upgraded to the VP 12 Suite but there wasn't a direct upgrade from that Suite to the latest Suite as far as I'm aware. The whole suite thing seems a dead end from version to version so I agree with those who want to see some kind of standardisation of the Vegas product line.