V5 at version '5.0a' still in beta

Phil_A wrote on 5/15/2004, 4:00 AM
Let me first state: I LOVE VEGAS!

but my experiences and many experiences I've read in this forum would indicate that we are paying for the priviledge of beta testing... and I don't appreciate that. I understand that the demands of the marketplace dictate a certain excellerated rate of release, but V5 doesn't seem 'ready for primetime.'

I was EXTREMELY ANXIOUS to get my hands on V5 and I might have still payed for the privilege of beta testing, but I should have been told so. Instead, I purchased my upgrade the day of release and by the time I'd installed it, there was already a new version (version a). And version 'a' is still remarkable unstable. New features are great... and I'm always anxious to see them, but... if new features are added at the expense of reliability, the software ceases to be useful. (Would you continue to eat at a restaurant, if you knew that sometimes the food would make you gag?)

The first problem: While attempting to install as an XP user with 'ADMINISTRATOR' priviledges, it locks up and I'm told by tech support I need to log in as the actual Adminitrator to install (small, but not insignificant problem).

The second problem: While working on a project, resizing an event (by draging the edge of the event), V5 just disappeared! No blue screen of death... No warning that the program was not responding... It just disappeared!

The list of instabilities goes on.

I'm running V5 on a 'near virgin' WinXP Pro, Pentium4, 3GHz 1GB ram system which should accomodate. I was running V4, on this system, with rare problems, but V5 has been nothing but problems... Shouldn't an 'upgrade' be at least as stable as its predecessor?

I define idiocy as: performing the same task, multiple times, with the expectation of different results... and yet... this happens in V5 all the time.

So... when I need a dependable NLE, I'll use V4. I'll check out V5, from time to time to determine its level of stability.

I don't mind beta-testing (actually I enjoy it), but it would be nice to know that's what I'm doing!

Thanks for listening to my rant. If ANYONE can tell me that they've had no V5 problems, with the same features of V4 (not including features new to V5 or features that have been deliberately changed), I will be delighted to hear it and I will assume that I need to spend more time getting 'up-to-speed' with V5.

I still love Vegas, but I'll be depending on V4 for awhile.

Comments

PDB wrote on 5/15/2004, 4:38 AM
My main problem I that I can´´t open Vegas 5 a second time...It just hangs..

Im sticking to Vegas 4 till I find a solution..

Cheers,

Paul.
Jay Gladwell wrote on 5/15/2004, 4:55 AM
Phil, although I understand your frustration, I'm not entirely sure that what you've experiened in indicative of what everyone has experienced. In the month I've had the Vegas+DVDA Production Suite, I've edited two projects, one that was 45 minutes, and another than was 105 minutes. The only problem I had was a rendering issue. I have reason to think that it was something I did (or didn't do), but I can't prove it, one way or the other.

Then again, my editing demands may not have as many requirements as yours, and that may have some bearing on this issue.

Your installation problem sounds to me like an computer configuration issue. I'm running Win XP Pro and I installed V5 without a hitch.

In resizing your event, again, I've done the same and not had any problems with it. Not having the depth of technical skills that so many here do, I can't even begin to think, or tell you, what the problem might be. My apologies!

Based on the above, you mentioned that Vegas closed without warning. Come to think of it, Vegas did that once while I was working on the latter project. At the time (and I don't recall what I was doing specifically), I assumed it was something I did. However, when I reopened Vegas, all I had to do was click "yes" on the auto saved file message thingy and I started right where I left off.

Don't misunderstand, your points are well taken. I guess what I'm saying in a long winded way is that based on my experience, many of the problems I read about people having are probably computer and/or system specific. I mean, wouldn't make sense that if Vegas was all that unstable that 100s of posts here would be reporting the same problems? I don't see that happening.

One question I do have is, As a registered user, why am I never made aware of the version upgrades? I hadn't heard a peep about 5a until I read your post!

I hope you get everything worked out to your satisfaction. Best of luck!

J--
farss wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:06 AM
Although I haven't had V5 spit the dummy I'll admit it just doesn't feel as rock solid as V4 does. V5 seems a bit slower to respond in some odd way and I know there's a response time threshold that affects how we percieve an action/response. Once it goes over that we become acutely aware of the delay and that's certainly the case with V5. Could just be me, could be my system.

But one thing I'm certain about and I'll add my voice to. Why the heck when I'm bombarded daily with offers of little blue pills to enhance my performance don't I get notified about those little blue pills for Vegas and the other Sony apps that I've also registered?
I can usually keep up with the Vegas stuff but I've also got SF7 and only by chance discovered that it was updated to 7.0a a long time ago.
MCampos wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:11 AM
Has any of you seen a 100 MB (!) veg before? I have got a few. I noticed this the other day when backing up my veg's because that backup process was taking way too much time.
JJKizak wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:28 AM
I'm running a P4-3.4 800 with 2 gig ram and the majority of my problems were assimilating a V4 file into V5. I had one dissappearance related to running out of memory, one related to saving, one related to
render crash with the LFE track being empty, and one with the 5.1 not using the rear speakers with the V4 to V5 file only. Upon start-up the external preview was jitterbugging between applications V5 & DVD-a2 but it settled down (ADVC-300). The first thing V5 does when you run out of memory is the preview window vanishes. I also had one save that really didn't save some of the 5.1 audio changes only. Also when playing the project the cursor in the surround master volume track blinks. I have had none of these problems starting a new veg file in V5.

JJK
roger_74 wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:39 AM
"As a registered user, why am I never made aware of the version upgrades? I hadn't heard a peep about 5a until I read your post!"

Wasn't 5.0a the first version available for download on the day of the release? The packaged version is 5.0 though.

Also, isn't this what Net Notify is for? If you want to know about updates, don't turn it off (I always do, so I don't know if it works or not).
TomG wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:40 AM
Well, ain't that a kick in the teeth. As farss mentioned, I too have SF7 but was unaware of an "a" release. I guess Sony just assumes that it is the user's responsibility to keep up with service releases.

TomG
Jay Gladwell wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:49 AM
Also, isn't this what Net Notify is for? If you want to know about updates, don't turn it off (I always do, so I don't know if it works or not).

Several of us here do not have our editing computer connected to the Internet. One less thing to worry about affecting our NLE!

J--
Jay Gladwell wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:51 AM
Wasn't 5.0a the first version available for download on the day of the release?

Yep, you're right. Boy, do I feel silly!

J--
SonyEPM wrote on 5/15/2004, 7:18 AM
"While working on a project, resizing an event (by draging the edge of the event), V5 just disappeared! No blue screen of death... No warning that the program was not responding... It just disappeared!"

Phil A- Has this exact thing happened more than once? If so, can you reproduce the problem with a specific set of steps? Anyone else seen this?
Phil_A wrote on 5/15/2004, 1:24 PM
"While working on a project, resizing an event (by draging the edge of the event), V5 just disappeared! No blue screen of death... No warning that the program was not responding... It just disappeared!"

"Phil A- Has this exact thing happened more than once? If so, can you reproduce the problem with a specific set of steps? Anyone else seen this? "
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SonyEPM - I have been unable to duplicate this problem... and as it just went 'POOF,' with no error message, I have no specific info to pass on.

Do you know of any specific issues involved when running both V4 and V5 on the same machine?
busterkeaton wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:32 PM
running V4 and V5 here without issues.
Jsnkc wrote on 5/15/2004, 5:53 PM
I've been running V5 on a daily basis since I got it and I have never had a crash or problem of any kind, so a lot of the stuff probably isn't a "bug" more of a system setup problem I think.
bakerbud9 wrote on 5/16/2004, 4:48 PM
SonyEPM,
Usually when programs just disappear like that its because of stack overflow.... most other types of exceptions will get caught by the OS and be reported to the user. I've seen this behavior a lot in, uhm, software I've written myself...
-nate