Vegas Pro 9.0a Status Report

Butch Moore wrote on 8/6/2009, 7:02 PM
Like many, I'm struggling to keep my workflow in tack while dealing with the challenges of V9.0a problems.

I'm sure the guys in Madison are working hard to get things straightened out. But in the meantime, has there been any official or unofficial word as to when we can expect revisions?

Right now, encouraging news would mean a lot to those of us who depend on Vegas for our livelihood.

Thanks

Comments

ushere wrote on 8/6/2009, 10:07 PM
echo'd down here too.

i think 9a COULD be great if it wasn't for a couple of horrific showstoppers, lost text being the main one.

still, it's better than anything else out there
JJKizak wrote on 8/7/2009, 4:55 AM
It would be nice to have a "Quickee 9.0B" for the text and the rest of the stuff later.
JJK
murk wrote on 8/7/2009, 5:57 AM
Yep, with 9.0a I had a couple of cases where the Pro Type Titler and the Text Generator lost everything (just became blank generated media events). Luckily I had saved recently, but this could really jack you on a larger project.
CorTed wrote on 8/7/2009, 8:57 AM
I do not understand the thinking of a software company that has a showstopper bug in a release, and not immediately come out with a fix for this.
I have said this before and will do so again. SCS is too slow in responding to new releases or major bug fixes.
It seems they like to wait a few months, mulling things over, then come out with a patch for various fixes at the same time.
I would prefer them to release many interim versions.... b, c, d all the way up to z if that is what it takes, and do this whenever they fix a problem.
In my view you would have far happier and loyal customers.....


Ted
blink3times wrote on 8/7/2009, 10:09 AM
"It seems they like to wait a few months, mulling things over, then come out with a patch for various fixes at the same time."

A few months!?! heck, that's nothin'. Go to Avid. I can remember waiting an entire year... and that's no joke.
CorTed wrote on 8/7/2009, 10:15 AM
That's great Blink. Still does not change my view.
I am not talking about AVID.
Any software company that waits too long for critical updates will lose customers

Ted
rs170a wrote on 8/7/2009, 10:29 AM
I do not understand the thinking of a software company that has a showstopper bug in a release, and not immediately come out with a fix for this.

What do you consider "immediately" to mean?
1 week, 2 weeks, a month?
We know from past postings here and on other Vegas forums that they're short-staffed to begin with.
Add summer vacations on top of it and we'll just have to be patient a bit longer.
I feel sorry the most for brand new users who don't have 8.0c as a backup.

Mike
KSmith wrote on 8/7/2009, 10:41 AM
Thanks, Mike. I am one of those unlucky's.

Add to that, I'm new to the game, newly on Vista, and a new machine (so the whole boat is rocking anyway), and now this. I went back to 9.0 and as someone said elsewhere, it's messy. Especially so with rendering using Main Concept mp4's for some reason.

I have worked out how to do titles in a graphics prog and drop them in as png's. Is that what you guys are doing?

Once I get current projects finished, I'm going to archive them and reinstall 9a. At least, that seems most sensible to me.

Any advice on what others are doing for workarounds would be welcome.

Keith
rs170a wrote on 8/7/2009, 10:57 AM
I have worked out how to do titles in a graphics prog and drop them in as png's. Is that what you guys are doing?

Yes Keith, that's been my workaround and one that I've suggested to several other users as well.

Mike
CorTed wrote on 8/7/2009, 11:26 AM
"What do you consider "immediately" to mean?"

Mike, of course immediately would mean yesterday.
But I get what you are saying, and I'm sure SCS will take whatever time they need to fix this.
On the other hand the question might be " how long SHOULD it take them to fix this?"
Having done my share of software development, I would think they should have a fix for the Text bug in about a day's time.
Why could they not release this fix the next day and have some happy customers.

Ted
winrockpost wrote on 8/7/2009, 11:41 AM
regarding the text media ...It took them 2 or 3 months to break it.........sooooo,, 70 or some fixes from9 to 9a , somewhere in the"fix" they screwed this and 45. rotation,who knows what else up..,cant repro the mp4 audio deal , 9 is in my garbage , Q/A is drinking, and I am about to join them

edit :rotation may have been messed up in 9.0,, don't remember.been drinking
blink3times wrote on 8/7/2009, 11:46 AM
"I would think they should have a fix for the Text bug in about a day's time."

You're kidding right?!

Everybody on this site seems to have their "share of software development". With the shear number of "software developers" here I wonder how Sony is making money selling this product. Why heck.... you should have the talent to whip up a Vegas 10 or 11 pro in what.... about a day's time? ;)
CorTed wrote on 8/7/2009, 11:56 AM
I knew I would set off Blink on this one....

No, I am not kidding!!
And no I am not talking about a re-write of the entire software.
I am talking about fixing a text bug. If that takes more than a day's time, they do not know their own software. ;)

Ted
Brad C. wrote on 8/7/2009, 12:03 PM
Maybe the dedicated text task handler of the team is on vacation?

=P
blink3times wrote on 8/7/2009, 12:57 PM
"I knew I would set off Blink on this one...."

You haven't set me off at all. In fact I haven't stopped laughing at your silliness.

Look.... if this was a one-man-band operation just starting out (like say.... divide-frame) and you had nothing else to concentrate on... and you were working out of your home where you could tinker between the evening commercials and at 3am when you couldn't sleep..... and you didn't have 1000 other clients trying to contact you with THEIR issues....blah, blah, blah..... THEN.... maybe a few days or a week.... but a day??? ...... get serious.
PLS wrote on 8/7/2009, 1:55 PM
I dont post often, but really, this whole debacle of Vegas Pro 9 has totally disillusioned me with Sony. Seriously, do they actually do ANY beta testing?? I think not....
drmathprog wrote on 8/7/2009, 2:05 PM
Apparently not enough.
CorTed wrote on 8/7/2009, 3:14 PM
".... maybe a few days or a week.... but a day??? ...... get serious.

But Blink I am!

One day is all it should take for a qualified person to find and fix the text bug.

But even in your scenario a fix can be found in a few days, which is perfectly acceptable. But the main problem I have here is that SCS still has not posted a quick update. (it has been more than a few days that this bug was discovered)

Ted
blink3times wrote on 8/7/2009, 3:35 PM
"(it has been more than a few days that this bug was discovered)"

No way!?!?! Has it been THAT long already!?!? Why this is simply treasonous! It should be illegal. We should march this straight to the highest court in the land! :)
CorTed wrote on 8/7/2009, 4:08 PM
No.... I still think I set you off........ lol
farss wrote on 8/7/2009, 5:03 PM
Leave Blink alone. Reading his posts above cheered me up no end.
I was feeling a tad depressed seeing as how I have to spend the day fixing a bug in my own software and get it released by Monday.


If you want to get a handle on how fast SCS do internal bug fixes divide the build number by the number of working days between releases. "A couple of days" would be right.

As for his other comments, well, yes, someone did write an audio only clone of Vegas in a few weeks. Same developer that writes WinAmp. A free program I've made very profitable use of to plug the holes in Vegas's audio side many times. I've no doubt this guy's work has done serious harm to SCS's bottom line.

It's even funnier when you consider the impact of Red One on Sony's bottom line. Amazing how a rag tag bunch of guys and a company that listens to their prospective users on their forums could actually "Get Sony".

As for the current gen media bug that's causing so much angst all I can say is yes, every product of engineering can have nasty bugs. Yes sometimes it can take a long time to fix the design, be it a wing spar, an air bag or a few lines of code. Failure to notify users of the danger to life or livlihood seems to invoke the term "reckless indifference" and yes indeed, it can go to the highest court in the land.

On the other hand I guess if you believe Vegas is only a consummer grade product, fit only for making home movies then ignore my comments and excuse yourself from this discussion.

Bob.
Cliff Etzel wrote on 8/8/2009, 7:33 AM
Well said Bob.

Cliff Etzel
Videographer : Producer : Web Designer
bluprojekt
VidMus wrote on 8/8/2009, 8:02 AM
rs170a says, "I feel sorry the most for brand new users who don't have 8.0c as a backup."

I have an idea that SCS might want to entertain. How about offerering a download version of 8c for those registered and licensed new users who have recently bought 9. Also those who have upgraded from versions erlier than 8.

This way they would have something they can use while the bugs are ironed out.

If there is a hurry-up job done in an effort to fix this bug then any number of other more nasty but not so noticeable bugs could happen. Also, it takes time to fix bugs. It is not as simple as looking at all of that code and say Oh, oops make a little change here and there and all of a sudden everything is fine again.

There is a lot of interaction between one part of code and another especially when certain DLL's and other routines are shared for the sake of reducing the amount of code and not have a ton of replication. (There is another word I wanted to use but I just got up and can't remember it)...

One has to understand how software coding is done to know why this takes time and WHY when one thing is done, another thing can become undone!

So fixing this bug can create a host of other bugs if not done correctly!

Anyway, a version 8c for those who have a new license for 9 would be a great help for the new users and even those who have upgraded from versions prior to 8.

Danny Fye
www.vidmus.com
KSmith wrote on 8/8/2009, 11:32 AM
That's a great idea Danny, and I for one would be most appreciative were it taken up by SCS!

My five week induction into the world of video editing has been interesting (to say the least). I bought Vegas more on intuition than anything else and despite the many issues I've had, I haven't come to regret the decision yet, although I've had my moments. I do find it amazing that I can dump just about anything in the way of formats onto a timeline and get something useful out the back end. Seeing it really work (in 8c) sounds like it would be a treat.

Throughout all of this though, I have found myself reminded of 2 things in particular:
1. Running Autocad on Win 98 (save save save!)
2. That quotable quote from around '92(?), by the then CEO of WordPerfect that upgrades were "insanely profitable."

We seem to be witnessing the undoing of Ponzi schemes on a weekly basis of late. It's funny that no one's talking about software in those terms. If Ponzi could be politely described as 'borrowing from the future', then I would suggest that most of the software industry is, in a way, similarly guilty. I see MakeMusic is flogging me Finale 2010 as of what, April or May 2009? Hmm.

Without having to go back to Pontiac Astre's etc., it's easy to see what happens when companies are run by their marketing departments. The need for something new (anything!) to prop up the quarterly bottom line creates a huge pressure on everybody to get something out the door. And as users, we share a fair amount of the blame in forcing sometimes unreasonable expectations on suppliers. at least IMHO. In fairness though, I think we've been trained to have these expectations by marketers.

I fully expect to run into bugs in new software and have grown to become somewhat philosophical about the grief they generate in my life.

What I really can't understand is the silence. Maybe I'm a suck, but I really would appreciate having my hand held, just a little bit, at times like these. I suspect a little humanity, like saying 'yeah, we blew it' and maybe a little news on how the fix is going, (like, 'we're really trying for something by next week') would go a long way toward making the userbase feel like they matter and haven't been abandonded.

Keith S