Please forgive the naive question, but how long has Vegas 3 been out now and is there any sense that Vegas 4 is right around the corner? Here's why I ask...
I'm a big user of Sonic Foundry's audio tools. I've had a license to nearly every version of Sound Forge, ACID, the Acid Loops subscription, even some of the directx fx packs they had out a while back.
Anyway, I've been into video purely as a "hobbyist" for a while now, but have been using a DV Raptor (from Canopus) with Premiere (came bundled). I like it OK, but have pretty much decided to move over to Vegas for video because:
1 - Sonic Foundry apps don't crash for me. Seriously... they've been stable as can be in my experience. Premiere gets a little dodgy after a while and I never know when I'll need to re-start to get it to behave.
2 - They're developed specifically for Windows. I always get this "not realy quite a Windows app" feeling from Premiere. I run WinXP Pro on a 2Ghz P4 with 1GB of RAM, so I like the idea of something that's optimized for my system/OS.
3 - The specs compare well, as far as features, capabilities, etc.
I know I'll need to replace the DV Raptor card (with cheaper, plain old firewire card) and that's fine -- heck, it lets me use some external firewire drives as well.
My concern is that Sonic Foundry usually offers repeat customers some amazing deal when a new version comes out and then the price goes back to "normal" a month or two later. I don't want to go drop a few hundred on version 3 only to find out that 4 is just around the corner and I "just missed" an upgrade window. Note that I got Vegas Video LE bundled with something or other and see an LE->VV3 upgrade for $199, which may be the route I go.
Any insight/advice from you video gurus?
-- jeff
I'm a big user of Sonic Foundry's audio tools. I've had a license to nearly every version of Sound Forge, ACID, the Acid Loops subscription, even some of the directx fx packs they had out a while back.
Anyway, I've been into video purely as a "hobbyist" for a while now, but have been using a DV Raptor (from Canopus) with Premiere (came bundled). I like it OK, but have pretty much decided to move over to Vegas for video because:
1 - Sonic Foundry apps don't crash for me. Seriously... they've been stable as can be in my experience. Premiere gets a little dodgy after a while and I never know when I'll need to re-start to get it to behave.
2 - They're developed specifically for Windows. I always get this "not realy quite a Windows app" feeling from Premiere. I run WinXP Pro on a 2Ghz P4 with 1GB of RAM, so I like the idea of something that's optimized for my system/OS.
3 - The specs compare well, as far as features, capabilities, etc.
I know I'll need to replace the DV Raptor card (with cheaper, plain old firewire card) and that's fine -- heck, it lets me use some external firewire drives as well.
My concern is that Sonic Foundry usually offers repeat customers some amazing deal when a new version comes out and then the price goes back to "normal" a month or two later. I don't want to go drop a few hundred on version 3 only to find out that 4 is just around the corner and I "just missed" an upgrade window. Note that I got Vegas Video LE bundled with something or other and see an LE->VV3 upgrade for $199, which may be the route I go.
Any insight/advice from you video gurus?
-- jeff