Vegas vs. Movie Studio

CVM wrote on 1/3/2008, 10:38 AM
I just thought I'd pipe up and let you die-hard Vegas users know that I recently purchased Vegas Movie Studio Platnium at my 9 to 5 job (we didn't have budget for Vegas 8). Anyway, I can't tell the difference between Vegas 8 and Movie Studio! Granted, I do not push the limits of Vegas in either of my jobs (but I do quite a bit of heavy production on both), but honestly, I CANNOT figure out what Vegas 8 has that is worth the extra several hundred dollars.

Can anyone give me a few bulleted items that could possibly justify the difference?

Comments

busterkeaton wrote on 1/3/2008, 11:08 AM
Vegas allows you to use unlimited tracks of video and audio. It also has a lot more color correction tools. The color "snapping" when trimming and editing is a great feature that is hard to see the value of until you've tried it. Scripting, nested projects and buses come in very handy as your projects get more involved.

VMS is very powerful though because it includes Vegas's most important feature, the ease of timeline editing.

Here's the official list.
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/product.asp?PID=457&PageID=110
TGS wrote on 1/3/2008, 11:28 AM
You obviously don't have a need for it.......now.
What is has, is the "Pro" stuff that most editors need. Some of this stuff, you may need to know in the future. Not owning Studio Platinum, I can't give specifics, except I know you can use unlimited video and audio tracks in Vegas Pro. But for the most part, all simple editing can be done with most programs. Consider yourself lucky if you're making money doing simple editing.
Vegas Pro has the 'Bells & Whistles' and somewhat of a learning curve. You don't really have a clue until you've owned it a while. Then you keep discovering new Bells or Whistles every once in a while. If you have a creative streak, these are like easter eggs that help spur you on. I haven't even figured out Vegas 4 and I'm on Vegas 8 now. There's still plenty to learn.
But....if you really don't need anything else..... you got a great deal. Of course an upgrade to Pro 8, for me, was only $139. Some only paid $99. How much was MS Platinum? I think Vegas 6 was available at B&H photo for $99. Which I believe some upgraded from that version.
Jeff9329 wrote on 1/3/2008, 11:46 AM
I am a former VMSP user and agree it's a very good product.

I went from VMSP to V7 via the B&H V6 cheap upgrade path to V7. I upgraded to V8 but haven't even installed it yet. V7e is working so well Im waiting on 8b to be released.

It takes a while to find all the features in the Vegas full product that are hidden in VMSP.

For example in the full product, in the Render dialog box, there is an Advanced button at the bottom not shown in the VMSP product that gives 4 or 5 tabs of render quality adjustments. I believe adjustments here result in better output quality than is possible in VMSP without it.

Tattoo wrote on 1/3/2008, 2:15 PM
Did Movie Studio ever get "scripting" support? A lot of folks write some pretty cool scripts that you can download free for Vegas (like the earthquake effect amongst many, many others), and I think some plugins, like VASST's Ultimate S, use the script feature. A lot of power here beyond the basic editing (which Studio is very good at).

Vegas Pro 8 also added the Pro Type Titler, which isn't perfect, but adds a lot more power & control to text presentation.

Movie Studio probably has more power/options than *I* truly need now, but it's nice to not be hemmed-in by limitations when the need arises, and it's also nice to gain some basic familiarity with the more advanced options for the time when I actually need them. Vegas costs more to upgrade versions (usually $150) than MS, so if ongoing costs are a concern, then you'd probably be best to stick with MS until you actually need the full Vegas.

jetdv wrote on 1/3/2008, 2:32 PM
Did Movie Studio ever get "scripting" support?

No. Scripting is not supported in the VMS versions.
Tim L wrote on 1/3/2008, 5:07 PM
I basically took the same path as Jeff9329. I was a VMSP 6 user, then bought Vegas 6 from B&H for $99, and as soon as I received it and installed it, I upgraded it to Vegas+DVD 7 for $149 (special upgrade price when Vegas 7 was released). I also have an as-yet-uninstalled Vegas Pro 8 package laying on my computer desk.

VMSP is a outstanding product -- I've was very happy with it. But the main feature that prompted me to move up to the full version was that VMS/P is limited to 4 video tracks and 4 audio tracks. Its real easy to run out of tracks just by applying a few titles on top of your video, or perhaps when "dropping" photos onto a background, etc.

Here are some of the main "step up" features when you move from VMS to Vegas:
- unlimited video and audio tracks
- bezier masks in the pan/crop window
- nested projects: can bring a .veg Vegas project file into the timeline of another "master" project (I haven't used this yet but it seems very handy)
- ability to select MPEG2 rendering bit rates from within Vegas (in VMS, only have a generic MPEG2 render template, but *can* specify bit rates from within DVD Arch Studio)
- ability to run scripts (I used the fantastic Deshaker script extensively last week when editing footage I recorded while hiking/backpacking -- fantastic results on shaky, jarring video that otherwise was almost nauseating to watch)

Of course there are lots of additional "pro" features that Vegas has -- scopes and waveform displays, 24-bit audio, XDcam support, multi-cam editing, etc., and subtitles, multi-language, and multi-camera angle support in DVD Arch (compared to DVD Arch Studio), but the features listed above are very useful even to a home user like me.

Tim L