VMS-10 on Dell XPS 8700. Should I upgrade VMS?

MrVivona wrote on 10/17/2020, 4:24 PM

I currently am running VMS-10 Platinum on a Dell XPS 8700, Windows 10(64), i7-4770, 3.4G, 4-core (8 Logical processors) CPU and 16GB RAM. GPU is NVIDIA GeForce GT635 with 1GB RAM.

I use VMS for editing home movies and recently upgraded to a Sony FDR-AX53 camera. I only shoot in regular 1080-30fps HD which outputs to AVCHD files with an MTS extension. I render to 1080-30fps video to MP4 to play from a USB chip on my TV, or on a mobile device.

My current PC runs all my current software without issues, including VMS-10, so I have no compelling reason to upgrade the hardware.

Here are my questions:

1. If I am pretty happy with my current hardware setup, and VMS-10 is very stable, what would be the compelling reasons to upgrade VMS to a later version?

2. If I do upgrade, which level between VMS-10 and 17 would start to have problems with my hardware, especially the GT635 GPU?

3. Are the later versions of VMS as stable as the earlier versions up to VMS-10? My main reason to choose VMS years ago was that is appeared to be the least crash-prone video editor. Is that still the case, or will I find the later versions to be more trouble-prone?

Comments

EricLNZ wrote on 10/17/2020, 5:46 PM

There have been many changes since VMS10. Download the 30 day trial and find out for yourself whether the many improvements appeal to you and how well it runs on your system.

MrVivona wrote on 10/17/2020, 10:11 PM

I had thought of trying the latest trial version, but with my setup I didn't know if I would gain any performance, i.e. faster renders, better previews, etc. or if all that was due to the GPU advancements not present in my PC. As to the newer features, if the newer versions of VMS are less stable, I'd rather have the solidity of VMS-10.

Also, do the later versions have more/better encoding codecs?

MrVivona wrote on 10/20/2020, 9:35 PM

So, nobody knows if the newer versions of VMS are as stable as VMS-10? Trying the 30-day trial may not give enough time and circumstances to see how it runs long-term. I was looking for the experiences of long-time users that have been through several version upgrades over the years. Did the transfer from Sony to Magix create any problems? Are the newer versions as good?

Another question is since VMS-10 is a 32-bit program and VMS-17 is 64-bit, will I have any issues loading a project file that was created in VMS-10 into VMS-17 for re-editing? For instance, are the native audio and video effects the same, or will I have to re-configure all the effects again? I have some older non-Sony DX audio effects that work fine in WMS-10, will they work in VMS-17? Anything else I should expect?

EricLNZ wrote on 10/20/2020, 9:42 PM

Whilst "Trying the 30-day trial may not give enough time and circumstances to see how it runs long-term" it would answer most of your other questions.. VMS10 is now very old and VMS has come a long way since then.

Steven-Schmitz wrote on 10/21/2020, 12:27 PM

Hi, I am not the most experienced or knowlegable user here. Like you I value stability and in addition, I am old and do not like change.

So to my point, I loved Movie Studio 13 Platinum. It was doing all of what I needed as the best I work in is 1080p. However, I did make the mistake of buying MS 16 (basic) and was not happy because of reduced functionality. But that was my fault for not researching. I needed the platinum version because the basic has some strange anomoly where it automatically puts clips on the timeline and you can't turn that off. So, I bought MS 17 Platinum and really think it was time for that upgrade as I got a newer PC.

Any changes in operational functionality over 13 were easy enough for me to pick up. I'd say I see no stability difference but my editing is more on the basic side. Your system specs are a tad better than mine also. So unless finances are too tight, I'd do the upgrade :)

Cheers!

j-v wrote on 10/21/2020, 12:55 PM

2. If I do upgrade, which level between VMS-10 and 17 would start to have problems with my hardware, especially the GT635 GPU?

No, but with VMS 17 Pl you only miss the possible velocity to render when you use the special Nvidia renderoptions. You need also to upload the drivers for that Nvidia to the latest possible Nvidia Studio driverversion.

Another question is since VMS-10 is a 32-bit program and VMS-17 is 64-bit, will I have any issues loading a project file that was created in VMS-10 into VMS-17 for re-editing? For instance, are the native audio and video effects the same, or will I have to re-configure all the effects again?

All effects and extra's delivered with the upgrade will work. For 3th party ones you have to install the latest version of them downloaded at their sites.

Also, do the later versions have more/better encoding codecs?

Much better! So try all out for 30 days.

vkmast wrote on 10/21/2020, 1:01 PM

"Try before you buy"