Why do industry publications snub Vegas Video?

haze2 wrote on 2/23/2003, 10:43 AM
I'm a video hobbyist and think VV is a magnificent product. In the current issue (April 2003) of Camcorder & Computer Video magazine they feature an article on NLE's called Moving Up. I was anxious to see their review and evaluation of the new VV4 and was horribly disappointed to see that Sonic Foundry and VV4 received a complete snub. Not even a mention. In all fairness, the subtitle was High-End Nonlinear Editing Suites, and they were talking about hardware as well as software. However, Premiere received full mention as a stand-alone product.

I realize that these magazines need to strike a balance between featuring their advertisers products, and providing their subscribers with the best possible information on new and current video products. And I realize that Sonic Foundry doesn't seem to have any advertising presence in the trade publications......but a complete snub.....come on! With VV4's great new features, ease of use, superb support, fabulous user groups, acceptance within the educational community, and great pricing, these publications ought to at least acknowledge its existence. They are really dropping the ball as far as I'm concerned. Of course, I think Sonic Foundry is also dropping the ball with their complete lack of marketing.

So why do they treat such a beautiful lady like the ugly step child?

Frank

Comments

ibliss wrote on 2/23/2003, 10:57 AM
"I realize that these magazines need to strike a balance between featuring their advertisers products, and providing their subscribers with the best possible information...."

Any magazine working on the priciple that it needs to please it's advertisers is a)unprofessional and b) not worth your money. If this is their basis for articles and reviews, how can you trust ANYTHING that they write? A product does not deserve a good review simply because it is advertised in a mag.

"In the current issue (April 2003)..."

The publishing date really isn't much of a guide how up to date the content is. I would imagine most of the content was written in January (allowing for editing, printing, distribution etc through February). In this case, Vegas 4 was but a 'mere' (sic) beta in January - it would not have featured. VV3 really should have been in there though. Call it ignorance on the part of the author.

Write a letter to the mag to express your opinions. If it's published, you'll acheive the following:
a) a (weak) explanation for the exclusion of Vegas
b) an indication of the mags attitude
c) a plug for Vegas both to the mag and it's readers :)

If it isn't pubished, you can only hope that whoever recieved it will add Vegas to their 'to review' list.

And ask Sonic Foundry to send them a review copy of Vegas 4....
VIDEOGRAM wrote on 2/23/2003, 12:14 PM
I am a subscriber of VIDEOMAKER magazine. They will have a feature on VEGAS VIDEO 4 in the next issue.
But you are right. Look at the publicity in magazines: SoFo advertizes SoundForge 6, but no VV4 while competition take the rest of the page to sell their softwares, capture boards, etc ...
You always like to give a "plus value" to your client (or future client) by reviewing his product, everybody does this.
Once they see the kind of product that VV4 is, they will talk about it. That's for shure.

Gilles Verreault
TheHappyFriar wrote on 2/23/2003, 12:59 PM
Do any of you guys read DV magazine? I haven't seen anything about VV4 yet, but last yer they reviewed VV3 and gave it a higher rating (not much though, maybe .5 pts) then Avid DV and definetly Premiere. I don't even know how Premiere can be considered a "high-end" NLE with all the bugs in it... but, they do make Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, After Effects... They gotta get reviewed or they might start whining. :)
stusy wrote on 2/23/2003, 1:36 PM
That's why...read somewhere that if you don't know how to run Avid apps you ain't workin...that's the deal...I'm a small time audio type of guy who likes to have maybe a little video stuff on the side...maybe...just for goofin around with, but I've toggled all that stuff away in all practicality...so for me, it's comparing VV3 with V4 and how does it stack up with my other sofo apps in the audio realm of things, and whether to just tuck it away, and up for another mobo/cpu in 8 months...certainly I've been satisfied with the price and quality of sofo prods, albeit I enter a little later than initial release tho, and I think sonar131 is nice for me, but no more...see, I don't use machines or software much for my creative ideas; that's pencil and paper, that's handier for me...it's the edits that I use machines and software/hardware...
JJKizak wrote on 2/23/2003, 4:03 PM
Videomaker is definetely an Adobe Premier biased magazine. You can lead
the horse to water but you can't make it drink.

JJK
wcoxe1 wrote on 2/23/2003, 4:40 PM
Regardless of what you think of a particular magazine, I'd like to suggest that we all write to each and every one of them PERIODICALLY (quarterly?), suggesting coverage of Vegas 4. Reviews, techniques, anything. Enough of these requests and they'll start thinking about it.

Further, if a magazine should actually cover Vegas, we should certainly all write and thank them for the coverage, and, while we are at it, correct any misconceptions that may have crept into the article because they just happen to be ignorant of the true merits of Vegas. Then, encourage them to do more in the way of Vegas articles, even suggesting why you abandoned other NLEs in favor of Vegas.

Such a campaign doesn't have to be big, just vocal. So, lets be about it. In fact, we should certainly write Videomaker immediately, hoping to encourage their upcoming article. (And, again after publication.)

I just wrote my first to DV Mag. Camcorder and Computer Video is next, then VideoMaker and anything else I can find. Wonderful how many letters a good wordprocessor can turn out, just changing a little address here and there.

I shall also let Camcorder and Computer Video know just how disappointed I am that they didn't cover a modern, stable, wonderfully better product like Vegas 4 when they had the chance. (Yea, Yea, I know it wasn't out, but I'll drive the nail home, anyway.)

Enjoy.
rdpete wrote on 2/23/2003, 5:49 PM
add Tech TV & Cnet to the list....
mbru65 wrote on 2/23/2003, 7:48 PM


Question--are Sonic Foundry relying solely on word of mouth for Vegas, good
though that word is. I have never seen an ADVERTISEMENT for Vegas! Having
come so late in the game, you would think that some money would need to be
lavished on selling the thing. Avid have been around since the year zero and
Premiere almost as long. I hope it isn't arrogance on SoFo's part. Having
said that, it does make Premiere look retarded! And it's as good as Avid Xpress.
ibliss wrote on 2/23/2003, 7:58 PM
I don't know about paper-based ads, but I've seen a few banner ads for Vegas 4/Vegas+DVD put in sensible places (video orientated web sites).
Paradox wrote on 2/23/2003, 9:28 PM
Many NLE Suites have proliferated from the top-down. Starting with a professional base and reaching down to the prosumer/consumer. Most Pro suites of the past were based upon hardware solutions. Vegas is turning the world upside/down and the paradigm will take some time to catch on. It taps the windows operating system as no other editing solution has before it. Therein, lies some of the limitations (though temporary) of Vegas in the eyes of the pro-world. When outfits like ArtelSoftware (BorisFX) and others start plugging into Vegas, watch out! We're all just part of a well-kept secret. Enjoy it and edit away -- faster, easier, and creatively.

Vegas' day is coming.