You do have to admit that users who have the add-on transition/filter pack and the AC-3 encoder have a legit gripe. If I were in their boat I would want SF to step up to the plate and do something.

"You do have to admit that users who have the add-on transition/filter pack and the AC-3 encoder have a legit gripe. If I were in their boat I would want SF to step up to the plate and do something."

Can we not give them time???
They're busy trying to get all this together, and we're asking for everything NOW.
I bet the final prices aren't nailed down yet. Maybe they haven't had time to think of all the pricing structures yet. A PARTIAL price list was given, not mentioning anything about "special cases" which still need to be addressed, and people are all concerned. Again...SoFo has always been fair with their pricing, but you need to give them a fighting chance!

¢¢

People--listen to DSE (SPOT). He knows what he is talking about and seems to be offering hints that many of us are going to be very pleased with some of the information we will recieve in the coming weeks.

I'd like to second about SF's tremendous customer service. It's because of the customer service I am not only a customer, but a loyal customer. Busy doesn't begin to describe my schedule (I'm tempted to elaborate but won't). To make a long story short, SF's customer service has to be the best in the technology industry and must rank up there with Nordstrom's and other "Built to Last" type companies. I found out because I had to write them once to help me solve a problem and they came through in an impressive way. I was so impressed that I took some additional precious time to write the president of the company. They converted me from a nervous skeptic to someone who has become so loyal that I can't beleive I am spending my lunch time looking at these boards.

Hope you see this Nancy--I'm still impressed with how you helped me! :)

Look... I am not going to get into a shouting match over this. I plan on buying both VV4+DVD-A. I know that SF is golden with its customers. They have always been great to me. I just hope they deal with those special situations.

And, I hope they don't over-price the VV4+DVD-A upgrade path from VV3. If they do over-price, I certainly will NOT make the move. I suspect they are hoping that most users choose DVD-A to help them open an entirely new business area. They would be wise to give existing customers every reason to move into VV4 and DVD-A. It seems to me that a lot of VV3 users are fine with a $300 upgrade price for VV4+DVD-A, but not a $400 upgrade price. I know $100 may seem trival, but price points are all about getting that buying impulse working. Please keep it at $300 for the loyal SoFo customers. Thanks.

Roy

Spot
First of all I’m not a liar!!! Second you may be good at writhing books and other kind of stuff. But you are lacking the most important things to know, to understand, to feel some of us end users are going thru with misleading information from your customer service people. I’m not the liar; they are the one to give me the wrong information. And you Mr. Spot. To represent Sonic Foundry with that kind of tone of voice it is absolutely unprofessional. As everyone can see and read my posts I would never ever allow my self to use that kind of language you used MR. Spot. Now I can see why they are in financial trouble. You can have the best product in the world, but with poor customer service you are not going anywhere. I do surf this forum most of the time and I came across a toping of new VV4 about 3 or 4 month ago and that was the reason I asked your customer service. You can call me a liar MR. Spot, but you can’t trick the rest of the end users like me because they do see and read. Also they can see the most replies to my inquiries are comings from your employees not the end users. Another last thing MR. Spot I love this company like you do and don’t forget that honesty always comes first. I called customer service this morning. But like before with no help.
Frederick

Roy
I agree %100 with your pricing.
Frederick

I just finished shooting a short dramatic 'film' on the Panasonic DVX100 24p camera. I planned to edit on my VV3 even though my producer insisted the best choice was to hand it all over to a pro editor using a Mac with Final Cut Pro. In the past week, I was 'lectured' by an NYU-Tisch editing student who virtually insisted I hand him the footage to edit on his in-house monster Avid Media Composer setup with Pro Toos, blah, blah. And THEN, on a Manhattan subway last night, a young filmmaker saw me reading "Firewire Filmmaking" and ALSO butted in to lecture me on the necessity of using Final Cut Pro and gosh, you'd better spring for a Mac before you screw up!

Perhaps because I'm originally a Southerner, all these events only motivated me all the more to upgrade to Vegas 4 the MINUTE it's posted. I now realize that, in market terms, SoFo has stepped up with the product that does what Adobe failed to do--a Final Cut Pro for Windows.

P.S. The only really good, inexpensive DVD editor at the moment, at a good price, is off all things the buggy Pinnacle Studio 8--until the SoFo release.

See you at the festivals.

(small rant on)

It saddens me to see "pros" complaining about a few bucks for a product upgrade. I too bought the extra plugins, and feel that just using them once in a client production, has paid for itself. So what if I "buy" them again in Vegas 4? I'm pleased to have them!

My last edit system cost me over $30,000.00. That was 8 years ago.

I'm not complaining one bit about a few hundred dollars for an upgrade to Vegas 4!

(small rant off)

Sorry if I offended anyone, although I shouldn't have. Sonic Foundry deserves our support, and to me, that includes financial support as well. I'm already looking forward to seeing what the "elves" at SoFo will come up with on Vegas 5!

See you at the VASST in LA!

David

I think SF has been the best in upgrade pricing. Consider this. I got into SF products thru this and just see how much I paid totally.

Here's my case

Original purchase - ACID DJ= $49.00
SF offered upgrade to ACID PRO3.0=$99.00 (comes with SoundForge LE)
SF offered upgrade to SOUNDFORGE 5.0=$99.00
SF offered upgrade to SOUNDFORGE 6.0=$99.00
TOTAL=$346.00 for two very fine full products. If I upgrade to ACID 4.0 ($150.00). My upgrade cost will be $496.00 which is still below the total retail of $700 for two full products. My two full upgrades comes with VegasVideoLE and upgrading it to VV3 full will cost me $199.00. For $$700, you can get 3 XXXcellent products. Damn, I already spent $350.00 from AdobePremiereLE to 4.2 to 6.0 to 6.5 but still I only got one program which IMHO inferior to VV3 if you don't invest in additional video capture hardware. Now, can someone tell adobe that?

Wow! This has gotten out of hand :-)

fdooman - the product has not even been released yet. Pricing has not been announced yet. Based on our previous product releases, you know that we're going to have introductory specials. We always do! Call us when the product has been released and we'll work with you.

Ted

Ted:

There's just one thing I want to say:

NICE NAME! :)

Oh, yea. . . can't wait to purchase the Vegas 4.0 + DVD Architect upgrades! Great products! :)

Ted Fiebke, RN
www.toolivenurse.com

Hmm, as far as I am aware, SPOT is an ardent (and passionate) advocate of SF, but he does NOT work for them. Sure, he's a beta tester and close to the company, but he is also independent and I think it is misleading to characterize his comments as SF's.

Just trying to clear the air a bit.

Mark

That's correct. Spot (Douglas Spotted Eagle) is not a current employee of the company - BUT - he's certainly a competent, passionate and welcome spokesperson for our company, as are most of you on this forum. His knowledge of the industry space, our software, and that of competing products is widely known and respected, and Sonic Foundry appreciates his positive feedback, as well as the constructive feedback we receive from all of the forum participants. The hour draws near.....and we certainly hope that you'll find significant value in our new offerings once the promotional pricing is announced (yes...it's official, we will offer promotional pricing to all registered Sonic Foundry customers). As always, thanks for your support.

Dave Chaimson
Director of Marketing
Sonic Foundry

I might as well say something as well...

I purchased both the Vegas Video Plug-In Pack and the 5.1 Surround Plug-In in December (Roughly $340). When Vegas 4 was announced a few weeks later, I was disappointed to find that DVD Architect would not be offered as a standalone product. In order to get DVD Architect, I'd have to purchase Vegas+DVD, which comes with both the Plug-In Pack and the Surround Plug-In. Bummer.

Bottom line? I'm going to buy Vegas+DVD even if I have to eat that $350 I spent in December. I don't think SOFO will leave me high and dry, so I'm going to wait until I hear from them regarding introductory pricing. I have a feeling they're going to make it worth my while. If I still don't feel satisfied (which I highly doubt will happen), I'll just call 'em up and explain the situation.

That being said... I just can't wait!

Paul G. Fitzgerald
One Happy Camper

Have you guys ever gone into Walmart and seen the rack of software in CD jewel boxes for about $10 each? No one complains that they bought the $50 package a year ago, because they got some enjoyment a year ago.

This a similar type situation. Only the time frame has been compressed a lot. Each new version of software is constantly replacing older versions. And companies either mark the price down or put it into a bundle. I'm guessing that the plug-ins aren't selling like hotcakes the way SoFo hoped. So their next strategy was to simply bundle the software with the next release.

I don't know if SoFo gets a disount on larger quatities of AC-3 licensing or not. Perhaps that is the reason they decided to include it with DVD Architect.

But, like I said earlier and about 10 other people have said in the thread, once the prices are released there is a good chance that registered users will get different upgrade paths depending on what they own. We'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure they won't be giving people a full discount because you are paying for the use of the software and you've been using it for 3 months or longer depending on who bought the packages earlier.

Just figured I would add that to this growing thread.

JBJones

I'm sure all current customers got this email tonight, but looks like I'm the first to post on this thread about it.

I think this is what you were looking for. V4 upgrade for $149 and V4+DVD for $299.

Here's the link http://www.sonicfoundry.com/products/showproduct.asp?pid=808&spid=202

$300 for both applications is a steal!

-HeeHee

I just got that email, too. Knew it was only a matter of time, and SF wasted none in reaching out to us existing customers. March 15th is also a generous amount of time to keep the offer valid. Thanks, SF.

As a long time user/sufferer of Premiere, I am taken back by your disappointment. Sure, I purchased the additional effects too late last year, but I also used them and made money. I've also spent a bundle on Premiere upgrades over the years and generally got a heck of a lot less each time.

We use currently use Premiere on Canopus Storm machines. Real-time output aside, there's no advantage to that combo over Vegas. In fact Vegas presents a much richer set of tools overall.

Please look deeper into the 4.0 upgrade and you'll find a LOT more than bins my friend.

All things considered, $300 for Vegas and DVD Architect is more than fair.

Mike

I hope that I speak for the majority if not all but a small percentage when I say that SoFo is a company which has our support. It is a rare thing to see such an active user base with such zeal for a product and the company that produces it. Visable users/insiders/industry leaders like SPOT are an additional asset to that community as well as the product.

A lot of the support comes not only from the quality of the product, but the quality of support from SoFo tech support and customer support. Your reply here is just one example of the importance that SoFo places on what the dedicated userbase has to say and what they need.

I am very pleased at the offer that has been extended to users. Personally I can not see how SoFo can pay for the encoder and the time of your support staff from the price of the special offer. I will receive the full Vegas +DVD package for the street price of just the Dolby encoder (which was competitivly priced). Development that has gone into the product has to be paid for by someone?

I also support the new retail pricing. The new pricing will actually help your appearence in the market, but SPOT and I have said this before. It is still a better value than any other product line. You can still have special offers to capture the low price market. Within the pricing you have still be gracious to your long term users.

Accept our thanks and support and keep SoFo pluging along. I guarentee that the good will of the userbase will continue to create 'soft marketing' that will bring in more and more loyal users. We certianly try to do that.

Keith Kolbo

Well, I thing this should be the end of the line. I got the e-mail offer from Sonic Foundry $299.95 For Vegas + DVD and I jumped right on that sweet offer. This was this upgrade price I was expecting from Sonic Foundry. Thank you Sonic Foundry and sorry for all the trouble.
Frederick

timing is everythging in life...
$300 is small price to pay for being cutting edge in the digital video world!!
we all know 3 months is an eternity in the computer industry--but my sympathy does go out to those who spent dollars for other programs.
do what spot suggested and call sofo and work something out
i have had nothing but great service and support from them in the past and i look forward to more of the same in the future.
i do not work for sofo, but they rock
let's cut them some slack and praise them for such a great product
anyway, i hope fdooman works it out, because he sounds like once he learns the program he sill be a great contributor in this forum.

ladies and gentlemen this thread is now officially over!!
good night
enough said
sbsbsbsbsbsbsb

Not really. I have to eat a little crow as well. I said early that I hoped it wasn't true (I.E., we'd get a better deal) and voila SoFo comes through again. $299. is a really fair upgrade price. I'm hoping this release does something for my stock investment in SoFo... :)

Tom