Why isn't DVA3 sold seperately?

HeeHee wrote on 6/1/2005, 1:22 PM
Is there anyone else out there that wonders why Sony doesn't market DVDA3 as a standalone application instead of forcing people to buy the latest version of Vegas along with it? I am happy with my current version of Vegas, but would like to benefit from the much improved options in DVDA3.

I think Sony is missing out on some business from people using other NLE's that are looking for a robust DVD authoring application.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/1/2005, 1:29 PM
Probably you'll want at least a 700MHz processor, though you'll be an awful lot happier with something speedier. 256MB of RAM will do. More is helpful if you often use lots of still images or want to do other tasks while Vegas is rendering.

The graphics card is just about the least important part to consider. Almost anything made in the last 5 years is probably vastly more than you'll need for Vegas. 4MB of video memory is more than sufficient. Unless you need the TV output for playing games on your big television, don't worry about it. The best output from Vegas comes from the firewire port. Having a dual display capability would be nice for when you have a second monitor to plug in as you'll have a much larger desktop to play around on. I would also consider 1024x768 to be the minimum acceptable resolution. 1280x1024 or bigger will make your life easier.

Some laptops have a less than full feature firewire port. You may have to get an external port through a PC card adapter. This will also be useful when you start adding more external hard drive space, which you most certainly will be doing.

4200 rpm is iffy. It's ok if all you use it for is the system & software drive and capture to an external firewire drive instead. If you're going to be capturing directly to the internal drive you'll probably need something faster.

While these recommendations may sound very primitive, lots of people were using something like this as their cutting edge video editing station only a few years ago.
HeeHee wrote on 6/1/2005, 1:43 PM
Kelly,

I think you responded to the wrong thread. ;-)

Lee
HeeHee wrote on 6/1/2005, 2:38 PM
Nevermind, I did some research and found out that Sony is probably selling DVDA3 for a loss and make that up by selling it with Vegas.

I guess DVDA3 alone is well worth the price of the Upgrade to Vegas +DVDA3.
p@mast3rs wrote on 6/1/2005, 3:01 PM
The cost of DVDA3 upgrade is worth the cost alone in AC3 licensing of the encoder. I would guess the reason they dont unbundle them is that the cost of DVDA3 would be fairly higher and there would be plenty of people that would not pay the increased cost for DVDA3.

Also Vegas 6 and DVDA3 drive each other sales wise. In order to get DVDA3, you have to buy V6, which equates to two sales where if it was unbundled, an owner of V5 could just buy DVDA3 which results in one sale. Its business 101.

Furthermore, by only offering it bundled, Sony offers a bundle that is a better value for buyers than if they had to purchase both producst separately. I would assume DVDA4 will drive sales even more with the upcoming HD-DVD/Blu Ray standards.
Tinle wrote on 6/1/2005, 3:54 PM

I purchased DVA3, but I couldn't possibly justify the price based on the AC-3 encoder licensing.

NERO has had AC 3 stereo included free in their basic package for a long time and now sells the 5.1 encoder for US $19.99.

I'm not suggesting that these two are otherwise equivalent. Only that I'm unimpressed by the competitiveness of the AC offering.
Chienworks wrote on 6/1/2005, 4:48 PM
Test ... where does this go?

edit: Weird!!!!! When i reply to anything in this thread i get the subject: "RE: OT: Bare Minimum Laptop Recommendations". My reply to the minimum laptop requirements ended up here and replaced my original reply to this thread. Very strange.

edit edit: Anyway ... i'll try to reconstruct my original reply ...

I suspect that the price difference between Vegas and Vegas+DVD is insufficient to make it worth SONY's while to sell it individually. The cost of supporting it would eat up any profit they get from it. I'm sure that part of the Vegas sale subsidizes the DVDA support. If SONY were to charge enough for it to make it worth selling on it's own it would cost much much more. Then again, when you look at some of the competing products that are in the $1000 range and higher, the price of Vegas+DVD looks pretty cheap in comparison, and you get a first class multitrack audio & video editor in the bargain.

Also, from a marketing standpoint, selling it only with Vegas probably increases Vegas' sales numbers as well. True, that doesn't make customers feel any better, but i'm sure it's good for SONY.

edit edit edit: Whew! It worked this time. I suppose i should have changed the subject though. Ah well, it'll just give Forum Admin something to ponder about. ;)