Vegas Pro on a Mac Pro (Early 2009) Machine

efiebke wrote on 9/2/2011, 2:44 PM
Hello -

Thinking about upgrading/updating to Vegas Pro 10 (I have older versions of Vegas on a real old and dieing Dell Precision Workstation computer). Currently use Final Cut 7 on a Mac Pro (Early 2006). Presently, I'm not interested in Final Cut Pro X. And, I hold fond memories of using the Vegas Pro software when my happy Dell Precision Workstation was working properly (which it ain't now). I purchased a (newer) used Mac Pro (Early 2009, 2.26 8-core machine) which should provide plenty of horse power for editing video and using my VERY CPU and memory intensive 3D animation program.

I would LOVE to put Vegas Pro 10 on this (newer) used Mac Pro machine, hopefully using the 64-bit version.

Here are my questions:

1) For those people who have Vegas Pro on an Apple computer, what's the best way to install a Microsoft operating system? Using Parallel 6? Using Boot Camp?? Using some other program or method?

2) Which Microsoft operating system should I consider using Vegas Pro 10? Windows XP, 64-bit version (if it's still available for purchase)? Windows 7 (64-bit version)?

3) Should the Microsoft operating system have its own dedicated hard drive or can I create two partitions on one drive, each dedicated to its own operating system (Apple's Snow Leopard on one partition and some version of the Microsoft operating system on the other)?

4) For those of you who compose original music scores for your videos, which audio recording/sequencing program do you use?

5) I LOVE Apple's Logic Pro audio/sequencing program. I've been using Logic since it was owned by eMagic. (It's still on my very, very old Dell Precision Workstation.) Can I create videos that will work well for music scoring purposes using Apple's Logic Pro computer?? I guess they need to be Quicktime videos? Yes? No?

6) Finally. . . For those who use Vegas Pro on an Apple computer, please feel to share your success stories and/or your frustrations with this combination of software/hardware. Especially, please share any and all suggestions on how best to make Vegas Pro work on a 64-bit Apple computer. (I'm still using Apple's Snow Leopard operating system and have no plans to upgrade to Lion for quite some time.)

Please know that I sincerely appreciate your time in reading this post and sharing your experience and in-sight.

Respectfully,

Ted

Edited to add: My sincere apologies. I see that I created a similar topic a few months ago and received some very thoughtful answers to those questions. Still, I would like to read any suggestions on successfully using Vegas Pro 10 on a Mac Pro (Early 2009). And equally important, how well does Vegas Pro 10 videos work with Logic Pro 9??

I tell you. . . If I can successfully render videos to use for film-scoring purposes using Logic Pro 9, I'm downloading an Upgrade of Vegas 10 Pro tonight! I really loved working with the earlier versions of Vegas, during my pre-Apple days.

Thank you! :)

Comments

efiebke wrote on 9/3/2011, 8:45 AM
My biggest question is:

Can I successfully render video files from Vegas 10 Pro to work with Apple's Logic Pro 9 for music-scoring purposes??? At this point, this is probably the most important question and concern that I have before I purchase an upgrade to Vegas 10 Pro (to be used on a Mac Pro machine).
rcdanek wrote on 9/3/2011, 9:47 AM
I have one of the older Mac Pro's (verions 1,1). When I upgraded to Lion, I had to kill my Windows XP partition. I thought that would be a cool thing to do because I had planned on switching to FCPX. In fact, I attempted to buy it via the App Store but was informed that my system wasn't compatible. I had to upgrade my graphics card and that would cost almost as much as FCPX. So, I considered upgrading to Windows 7 64 bit instead and reinstalling Vegas Pro 10. (There were some technical problems with this approach and there was enough info online to help with the process.)

Regarding your questions:

1) For those people who have Vegas Pro on an Apple computer, what's the best way to install a Microsoft operating system? Using Parallel 6? Using Boot Camp?? Using some other program or method?

I had to use VMware to install Win7 first as part of the procedure to getting everything working with Bootcamp. So, I started with this, completed the procedure, and now have a Bootcamp based Windows 7 partition. I prefer working by booting directly into Windows 7 because I find the video editing performance is best.

2) Which Microsoft operating system should I consider using Vegas Pro 10? Windows XP, 64-bit version (if it's still available for purchase)? Windows 7 (64-bit version)?

As stated, I installed Windows 7 Pro. (You need pro in order to be able to use all the cores, I believe.) Prior to my Lion upgrade, I used Windows XP pro. (Which had seriously degraded over time for some reason.)

3) Should the Microsoft operating system have its own dedicated hard drive or can I create two partitions on one drive, each dedicated to its own operating system (Apple's Snow Leopard on one partition and some version of the Microsoft operating system on the other)?

4) For those of you who compose original music scores for your videos, which audio recording/sequencing program do you use?

5) I LOVE Apple's Logic Pro audio/sequencing program. I've been using Logic since it was owned by eMagic. (It's still on my very, very old Dell Precision Workstation.) Can I create videos that will work well for music scoring purposes using Apple's Logic Pro computer?? I guess they need to be Quicktime videos? Yes? No?

I think Vegas Pro can produce video formats that you would need.

6) Finally. . . For those who use Vegas Pro on an Apple computer, please feel to share your success stories and/or your frustrations with this combination of software/hardware. Especially, please share any and all suggestions on how best to make Vegas Pro work on a 64-bit Apple computer. (I'm still using Apple's Snow Leopard operating system and have no plans to upgrade to Lion for quite some time.)

My system came with a 250 GB system drive. I upgraded that to a 500 MB drive and that, now is partitioned as follows: OS X gets 400 GB and Windows 7 gets 100 GB. The reason I can do this and still do editing is that I have the other three slots filled with bigger drives (all formatted to the Apple format). I can access all my drives from Windows 7 because I also have MacDrive installed. (This comes from MediaFour.) MacDrive lets me read/write my Apple disks directly and I've never had a problem with corruption. The only issue I had was when I created a DVD. I wrote the files to one of the MacDrive partitions and wasn't able to burn a DVD. What I learned is that I needed to write the files to the Windows C: drive. Then things would burn correctly.
rs170a wrote on 9/3/2011, 10:26 AM
Can I create videos that will work well for music scoring purposes using Apple's Logic Pro computer?? I guess they need to be Quicktime videos? Yes? No?

Not surprisingly, chapter 38 (page 1149) in the Logic Pro 9 manual says QuickTime movies only, no other format supported.

Mike
efiebke wrote on 9/3/2011, 9:14 PM
redanek -

Thank you for your response. My happy Early 2006 Mac Pro (version 1,1) is still going strong! At present, it is solid with Logic Pro 9 (latest version). The big reason why I purchased a newer (used) Early 2009 Mac Pro is for the extra cores and full 64-bit function that I seem to need for the 3D animation programs (and, hopefully, for more reliable video editing and rendering). Although I eventually will migrate the Logic Pro program over to the newer Mac Pro, I'm keeping it and using it on the 'ol trusty version 1,1 Mac Pro. But I ain't doin' "Lion", though. Not yet. It scares me. LOL!

Glad to read that your machine is solid for you. I've researched the MacDrive (by MediaFour) which you suggested in your post. It seems like a good addition if/when I do the Windows thing on an Apple computer.

Thank you!
efiebke wrote on 9/3/2011, 9:25 PM
rs170a -

I have the hard copies of the Logic Pro manuals stacked on the table (along with the Final Cut Pro manuals), right next to me! They're very unopened and extremely dusty! LOL! Believe it or not, although I am no expert, I know those programs pretty well. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't know the answer to the question that I presented. Thank you for the answer. Next time I should just consult those unopened, dusty manuals before asking questions on bulletin boards! LOL!

Sure do wish Logic Pro accepted different video formats, though. Still, it does work great with the Quicktime (standard DV) video files.

Thank you for your time and answer. :)
TheHappyFriar wrote on 9/3/2011, 10:22 PM
I don't have a mac But... if this were me and I wanted to run a program on a specific OS for a specific purpose I'd build a simple machine just for that then connect then together somehow. If Logic Pro supports device control could you possible use firewire out from a PC to in on your Mac to have the video fed directly in to your mac & then you could scrub just like using two decks?