I have used Media Studio Pro 6.5, which at one time I thought was tops, and Premiere 6.5 because it came bundled with my Pinnacles DV500 board. I now continue to use Premiere and the DV500 board mainly for final output and for the times I need an occasional special effect that VV does not offer (eg Boris, Hollywood FX). I do most of my editing in VV3 (with VV4 on order) because I have found that ultimately VV is easier to use. Things like PIP, panning etc. are just easier to get at. Keying is so much easier also.
At first I found the different interface in VV somewhat difficult to use, but in a short period of time it not only became understandable, but easy to use for the basics and some more advanced features.
Barry

All I can say is 'Audio Audio Audio'!! Sonic Foundry has been making award-winning audio tools since the digital stone age, so their algorythms have matured like a fine wine. The entire audio engine of Vegas beats the pants off any NLE competitor, hands down. The Vegas integration with my loved Sound Forge allows me to do 24:1 sample accurate editing, up to 32bit, which means I can preserve absolute fidelity before I downmix for CD or, now thanks to the 5.1 surround plugin and DVD Architect, DVD. The video functionality is a plus, even though I don't use it much. The beauty of Vegas is that if I only want my audio tools to be viewable, I can customize the interface to meet my exact needs. Dockable mixer, dockable edit details, dockable preview window, etc. I can burn Red Book CD masters with Vegas as well. The environment of Vegas is very comfortable, and for the price it cannot be passed up.

I used Premier 6.0 in the Pinnacle DC-2000 system. Premier was very difficult
to learn, too many small hard to find arrows to activate menus, very sensitive
to memory, sensitive to too many fonts, timeline instability, hangs up
about once every two days for no reason, the longer the movie the slower
it performs, too many hidden procedures not in the manual, manual very
difficult to understand, cdrom tutorial had the same problems that I had,
and reminded me of a college professor lecturing you not caring wether you
were understanding it or not. I did not want to try Vegas but when they
had a deal going I bought it and was blown away. It was everything that
Premier wasn't. There were times I got so mad at Premier I smashed my fist
into the keyboard. Adobe really can't see the forest for the trees with
Premier. I was using Win2k Pro with 786 mgs ram, 1 gig intel processor.

JJK

For the record-- I used Premiere 5 for awhile, I have 6 lying around somewhere which I never installed (it came with a capture card that I used to use) & I have Avid Xpress 3.0 (educational version, although it's functionally identical)...

I started with Vegas, oddly enough, because I started using Acid. I picked up Acid Techno 2.0 a few years ago after hearing a co-worker go on and on about a product called Acid Jazz (which I, to this day, don't know what he was referring to-- perhaps Acid + the 'On the Jazz Tip' library). I was looking for a way out of Premeire & I actually started with Vegas because the interface was so similar to Acid.

The reason that I've never looked back (even after picking up Avid Xpress) is the easy of use & flexibility of the tools. I was able to use Vegas out of the box-- I mean, I wasn't cranking out anything great, of course, but for simple A/B cutting, there was no learning curve at all. Then there's the audio tools-- I have to admit (and sorry SoFo!), after picking up Vegas, I haven't had a whole lot of use for Sound Forge...

But, what does Vegas offer? It doesn't crash. It doesn't take the latest, greatest computer to run. The workflow is simple. The effects & flexibility are amazing-- it will do a good chunk of what After Effects will do (although I still use AE a LOT, but that's mostly out of habit).

I always fall back on this phrase-- 'There's nothing I can't do in Vegas faster than with any other NLE.' Period.

David.

I have used the Toaster, Toaster (2), Matrox with Premiere 6.0, Screenplay and Trinity Play and I now use VV for all my daily NLE needs. It's sharp, clean and very uncomplicated. Once one learns the interface, the rest is intuition, just the way the techies intended it to be. From capturing to output, the quality is great and the proof is in my many satisfied customers.
Burt Wilson

The reason I have Vegas (VV3) is for the multi-tracking capability...I had sonar131 originally, but I either got tired of it and all the doodads or both, and wanted a change; I'd been totally cakewalk since 98...the first sofo product I bought was acid 3 then sf5; I upgraded both of those, got VV3 and later, CDA5. I still have Sonar, but it's not in my computer. If I was a video freak I wouldn't flinch at all at getting vegas; even on my limited purview I can see it's a stellar video app...I'm still pondering moving to VV4, but it would be audio only, and I would tweak it accordingly...

I started out with Ulead because its Video Studio was about the only low-level NLE that worked well with a seemingly very buggy Pinnacle DC10 analog capture card. But I never discarded SoFo's Video Factory because the interface was so innovative and intuitive. Now I work in DV mainly, and don't use the same capture card. Upgraded Video Studio to Media Studio 6.5 Director's Cut, then a year later, upgraded Video Factory to Vegas Video 3. Almost immediately after getting VV3 I stopped using Media Studio, due to the lower learning curve and universal real-time rendering in VV3. I only use Media Studio now for its capture utility, which displays the footage being captured on a bigger screen than VV3. But I'll soon be capturing on VV4 too, thanks to the enhanced functionality of bins.

I have VV4 on order and have put all my editing projects, including a dramatic film, on hold until it arrives. With the new color correction tools I don't see the need for any other NLE (except for those working in the industry, where you either are skilled on Avid or you don't work). Would be nice if SoFo considered a more aggressive market approach to industry use of VV4.

When you say, "Major Editing Systems" I am assuming you mean "professional," not "popular." I moved up from Studio7, which is certainly not a professional system but it is probably the #1 NLE in use today, simply because it is so darned easy to use for its sophistication.

Even so, I really appreciate VV for a number of features that were difficult or impossible in S7:

--more intuitive user interface when dealing with crossfades
--audio waveform stays in sync with video when zoomed in
--pip and numerous FX
--track motion and pan/crop
--audio manipulation
--terrific user group
--STABILITY.

Switched from Premiere 6 because:

1) Real time previews out thru camera to TV and
2) much, much better audio features like Directx (I came from the music world, so the thought of not having complete control over audio and music tracks with my video was unthinkable).

So glad I switched.

G

I am not a professional. I'm new to PCs (Mac user for about 15 years). Since finally getting a PC, over this past year, I have spent close to $1000.00 on video editing software (not counting Vegas Video). I got so frustrated with freezes, lockups, crashes, failed renderings, (I could go five pages on gripes alone).

Finally, about a month ago, I bought Vegas Video 3(VV3). The outstanding feature, of VV3, is that it does what the folks at Sonic Foundry (SF) say it will do. And, it hasn't crashed, locked-up, or done any other bad thing. All said and done, I could have saved a thousand dollars had I known about VV sooner. Sure, it has more features than I may need right away, but at least those features are there, so I won't be hamstrung if I decide that I need something extra.

The only area that I see, where SF can improve, is their approach to retail marketing. I don't think they have one. I found out about VV quite by accident. And, I believe that there are a lot of novices like me out there who don't mind paying the price for quality, and ease of use, AND the use of such a great forum as this! Considering what I shelled out for crap, Vegas Video is a total bargain. Even though I am new, I'm upgrading to VV4 with the DVD option.

Simply put, it does EVERYTHING that I can think of that any other NLE does, and its not layed out moron-style like most NLEs. Adobe makes everything so backwards, it's one of the only software companys that put out software that you can get a degree in (IE Photoshp, Premiere). As far as final cut goes, its on a MAC. MAC hardware is inferior and expensive, not exactly a wining combination, several bench marks have been done to reflect this. Avid suites are nice, but over priced for what you get. insync's speed razor lacks ease of use and is also over priced. If your seeing a trend here, good for you. Vegas does 99% of what NLEs priced at almost 3 times the amount do, and now with version 4.0 + DVD i'd almost say 110% of what other NLEs do. As far as sound goes, if coupled with sound forge, it is 500 times more effective then ALL other NLE software available for PC or MAC. Rock on SF.

Used Premiere for 3 years with various capture cards and got to know the Premiere interface very well. But I always felt like my creativity was held back. Too long to wait and render effects to see if you really got what you wanted (Even with DV500 realtime color-correction was limited). Had Acid 3.0 and always felt that whoever made the software were geniuses and kept looking at Vegas as a possibility. Finally at a point of frustration with Premiere I bought Vegas and will never look back. I feel like my creativity has been unleased. Imagine it, then do it. That's Vegas!

Finally, because Vegas is such a sterling NLE, you find their forums are chock-full of satisfied hobbiests and professionals offering tons of advice and help to get you over any humps. Because users love the program so much they're willing to jump in and help others.

I have been using Vegas since it was Audio Only as an adjunct to Premiere.

I was always amazed by Vegas, but I never had the time or the attention span to sit down and learn Vegas as much as I needed to in order to abandon Premiere. I just could not slow down my work and re-learn.

Once I did, largely in part to DSE's VASST tour I have been falling deeper and deeper in love.

Audio tools are a huge part of my preference for Vegas. Compositing is another. Multiple instances of Vegas make it FASTER than realtime for some of my biggest projects. The workflow of Vegas just got better with the improved media bins (yay)

I can do more... faster. Time is Money.

Ron Grandia

I kind of found Vegas by accident too. I started with Vegas' little brother Video Factory after playing around with everything from Video Wave on the low end to that "P" thing on the high end. Just saw Video Factory at some larger computer super store and figured what the heck for a few bucks I'll try it.

The first night using Video Factory, I already liked it better than "P" mainly because the interface was intuitive and it didn't crash. Plus one of my little pet peeves I have is if I can't figure out how to use an application without first looking at the manual or using the online help in my mind it already has two strikes against it. So as many others have said, the easy of use, it don't crash, and it does as advertised sold me. Several months later I upgraded to Vegas and never looked back.

I had used Premiere 6.1 since July 2001. I switched to Vegas due to the INCREDIBLE buzz in the dv-editors forum on Yahoo Groups. I've been working with and around computers for 10 years, and I've NEVER seen such enthusiasm for a software project in that time. No one has anything bad to say about Vegas. No one.

DV-Editors is agnostic, btw. So I knew the Vegas buzz was genuine.

So I tried out the Vegas 4 beta. At first, I must admit, I didn't get it. The interface seemed foreign, and I quickly decided that I didn't want to invest the time in learning it. But the buzz just wouldn't stop. Folks were talking about the incredible stability, the speed, the intuitiveness of the interface.

Bottom line: I really felt like I was missing out on something. No one talked about Premiere like this. Even the most loyal Premiere users speak of the program with a stoic indifference. Not the Vegas crowd. They speak of VV with almost holy respect.

I've been using V4 for about two weeks now. I can't put a finger on why I like it so much. When I first purchased it, I kind of hedged by thinking to myself: "No problem. It's an inexpensive NLE, and if I don't like it, I can always go back to Premiere." Suffice to say, I haven't opened Premiere ONCE since I purchased Vegas. As one Vegas vet said, "there ain't nothing Premiere can do that Vegas can't." Once I realized that was true, I really haven't looked back.

One final note: my first real project in Vegas was the best work I've done yet. I don't figure that I suddenly got better at this. No, I think it's the speed and the easy-to-use power of Vegas that freed me to be creative. Vegas feels like a partner in creativity, whereas Premiere felt like a stodgy old dude that I never quite felt comfortable working with.

As for specifics, I love the real-time previews, the built-for-Windows interface, the stability, the auto-scene detection, the color correction wheels, and on and on.

If you're a Windows user who doesn't own a bank, there really is no choice: Vegas all the way.

Speaking about SF's marketing V4, I really think that most of the video mags out there purposely snub Vegas. There isn't a month that goes by that there isn't some Avid or Premier related tutorial in their stupid mags. Those NLE's get so much free publicity that way. Like some people here, I came across Vegas by accident. I thought that Premier was the best thing since sliced bread. I was very wrong.

I almost forked out the cash to buy one of those Pinnacle or RT cards, thinking that was the way to go. That would have been a terrible financial mistake. I am very happy and pleased with Vegas in every way.

I first got into NLE using a Canopus Raptor capture card. It came with the Raptor NLE which I didn,t use at first. Instead I used the Premiere LE version that came with it because I had read this is the editor that the professionals use and I was determined to learn how to use it. I had many problems with this and thought I might do better with the full 4.1 version, which was then current. I still found it difficult to learn and use efficiently, and it was forever crashing. I spent a lot of time "On Hold" trying to contact Customer Service, and when I finally got through I found them to be not very helpful. Then, after a few months, they wanted to start charging me something like $75 each time. Then the 5.1 version came out with a big fanfare, so I upgraded again. It still had the same old problems; frequent crashes, ridiculously long render times and not easy to use. I even invested in a new computer with 1.5GHz P4 and 512Mb RAM, with no improvement. I came to the conclusion that this new Premiere was the same old software in a different package. Rather like buying a Thunderbird with a Model T engine and tranny in it. So after two years of this I installed the Canopus DV Raptor, and it was great. Transitions were dead easy and rendered in a couple of seconds. I found the Customer Service Department extremely efficient and helpful. The main problem I had was that it had only had two audio, and two video tracks, I needed more and the upgrade to DV Storm was mucho dinero.
About that time, as the owner of SF Acid,I received an offer from SF on VV3 which sounded to good to be true. I read all the brochures and checked out the website and it looked relly good and complete. I gave it a lot of thought and finally bought it. I have never looked back. I could do my main assembly with automatic transitions all on one track, which did not need rendering - instead of three tracks as on Premiere. It is all so easy and intuitive to use, including the audio. In almost a year I have never had a crash, and I can't tell you what their Customer Service is like, because I have never had to call them, although I have no doubt they are as good as the rest of the package. Add to that this Forum which is so informative and enthusiastic, why would I go anywhere else. I will be upgrading to V4 in a few weeks.
RonR

I switched to VV as an audio app. From N-track. Great cheap program that crashed way too much. I started wanting something more robust and about that time started thinking about moving to digital video as well. Vegas got such good reviews and I've been an avid <sic> user ever since.
I do big musical projects and video projects all in the same app with support from SF6, Acid4 and lots of musician friends.
Now I'm starting to salivate over DVD possibilities.

I bought Pinnacle StudioDV and it crashed on installation. I tried it a second time and once again it crashed on installation. I left the firewire card in and tried VV3. I've never looked back. Anyone interested in buying a cheap copy of Pinnacle Studio 8?

In my opinion Vegas NLE is the best Tool for audio and video ever made and it will hit all those big names if we all (users) ask SOFO for more compatibility with hardware and Standards.
I am working as a composer, sound editor/mixer since 1987 and I have tried out all major computer based tools in music, sound editing & mixing, from Avid express XT to Final cut pro, from Cubase to Nuendo or Cubase XT and from Pro-Tools 24 mix plus to AKAI DDL 1500 or Sadie to the new Pyramix 4.0.
In one quick review I have all of them in this superlative software we are using: the Vegas!
In Sound editing: I have replaced Pro-Tools with Vegas 3.0 and now with V4.
I can do more actions in Vegas, even in a Motion-picture Audio post production.
But the weak point is I can not send my Vegas project to any other sound facilities because it is not a standard format. SOFO must give us an opyion to export our projects in standard formats.

In Sound & music mixing: I use Vegas 4.0 with my 3 MOTU’s 2408mkIII to get 64 TDIF digital I/O connected to two Yamaha 02R 96 digital consoles and I get all I need for a real professional mixing project.
But I wish for having Automation commands on Vegas 4.0.
In surround mixing: None of those big names in this field gave us this simple and unique option that Vegas provided: the Key-Framed surround panning! Do you understand what does it mean in surround mixing? You can have the most accurate panning with the picture with multi dimensional control for creating hard and heavy surround panning!
But it has to be enhanced and I wish for having hardware compatibility in surround panning so we would be able to use joysticks for real-time pan commands.

I use Vegas on 5 Motion picture audio post-production projects, more than 20 short DV-film editing and 15 music mixing projects & I have sold my old AKAI DDL 1500!

I will send more on Video editing next time (if you like?).

I switched from Premiere 6 because it crashed a lot and I found its interface cumbersome. Vegas seems strange at first but I liked its stability and could see the creators cared about the interface.

I had been a Sound Forge user for about 2 years and became interested in video editing. Our company's multimedia guy I worked with suggested Premiere, but I knew SOFO had its own editing product, at the time it was VV3. So I played with both, not having really *any* understanding of video editing. Premiere actually won the first battle, but not because it was a superior product. Walk into any bookstore and you'll find several books on Premiere, but not a single publication on Vegas. Even now, there are NO Vegas books available to help learn the product. I know DSE is releasing one soon, and I hope to high heaven that it makes it into very widespread publication.

But the 30 day trial of VV3 came with no tutorial, no startup guide, and finding a newbie tutorial was not that easy. So I got frustrated trying to figure this software out with no help and ultimately gave up on it in favor of Premiere and a nice tutorial book I bought. I never liked Premiere, but the market presence was there.

Then one day my multimedia friend and I were helping a 9th grader work on her graduation project, a music video, in After Effects and Premiere. To make a very long, sad story short, we had the project ready for rendering at 2:30pm. Between both of those Adobe piles of sh*t the two of us were up until 6:00am the following morning trying to get After Effects to render without crashing and Premiere to read After Effect's final render and printing the damn thing through a crappy Pinnacle card. In a nutshell, we finally used the demo version of Vegas to print the project to tape, and it worked the first time flawlessly. That was it; the last straw. I vowed to never use Adobe products again and I was going to learn Vegas if it killed me.

Picking up the Vegas keyboard and mouse methods was easier because I was a Sound Forge user, but I still had to dig hard to find some tutorials to get me going. Now that I'm over the hump, I'm a proud owner of Vegas 4 and carry the SOFO banner with pride.

Vegas 4 is an excellent product and blows Premiere away hands down (IMHO). Sonic Foundry's main shortfall is its lack of market penetration. With DSE's book in bookstores everywhere and a dedicated marketing campaign, I think Vegas will finally be able receive the respect it deserves.