With 20 years of Vegas experience, my perspective on Vegas Pro 23.

vagnerdesouza wrote on 10/10/2025, 1:55 PM

Hello everyone. I've been a Vegas user since version 4 in 2004. After submitting dozens of items on my "wish list" and seeing none of them fulfilled, I decided to switch video editing software.

Below is my technical evaluation of Vegas Pro 23 "Trial" (which is only "trial" in name!)

1. 30-DAY TRIAL? This is NOT true. VP23 only lets you try the program, but it doesn't allow rendering without a very huge watermark on the file, which is rendered useless by the presence of the "Vegas Pro" watermark on every frame. EVERY!

2. VP23 doesn't export markers as chapters in the MP4 file. (DaVinci Resolve does).

3. You can't change the software's language after installation. (DaVinci Resolve allows it at any time). When installing Vegas Pro 23, there's no option to choose the program's DEFINITIVE language. If you have a Portuguese-language Windows operating system but want to install Vegas Pro 23 in English to follow tutorials in English, forget it! No way!

4. VP23 only allows you to export MP4 videos with AAC-LC stereo audio. It has issues with HE AAC and HE AAC v2 audio in the timeline.

5. VP23 doesn't import or export MKV files. (DaVinci Resolve does!) Just to upset the critics: MKV DOES NOT MEAN PIRATE VIDEO FILE!

6. There's no LUT for videos made with the GoPro Hero 13 in LOG mode.

7. Most transitions of VP23 are from the SonicFoundry Vegas 4 era. They haven't evolved!

8. The upgrade price is barely different from the perpetual license price. I found the price too expensive!

9. After applying the stabilization effect, the video loses performance in the timeline, and this is on an AMD Ryzen 9 32-thread @ 4 GHz machine with an NVidia RTX 4060 graphics card. In DaVinci Resolve, it runs smoothly at 59.94fps after stabilization

10. VP23 still with only one timeline per project.

I stopped at item number 10. I only tested the program for less than 1 hour, but I was already able to form an opinion about it, and I already uninstalled the Vegas Pro 23 "trial"

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 10/10/2025, 2:12 PM

@vagnerdesouza Thank you for your honest opinions.

RogerS wrote on 10/10/2025, 10:19 PM

VEGAS does support MKV files, such as those produced by OBS. There are many combinations though for what you put in it- what is in your MKV?

Check out GL Transitions- these are new and customizable.

Doesn't GoPro issue their own LUTs you can load?

Adis-a wrote on 10/11/2025, 3:33 AM

@vagnerdesouza

No questions?

jetdv wrote on 10/11/2025, 7:38 AM

#2 File - Render - open the cog to the left of the "Render" button - check the "Save project markers in rendered media file" option.

Steve_Rhoden wrote on 10/11/2025, 9:49 AM

@vagnerdesouza Likewise, i have been using Vegas for over twenty years. But fortunately my perspective is quite the opposite of yours. I am very satisfied with what i can do in Vegas Pro and pleased with how far it has come....... Sorry to see you go, but that's life, we choose what works best for us. Thanks for sharing.

Wolfgang S. wrote on 10/15/2025, 2:06 AM

@vagnerdesouza I also started with Vegas Pro 4. unlike you, I focus to the MAJOR points of the editor - since that are the most important points to speed up the editing. So most of your points are not my focus really.

But if you prefere Resolve, well go for it.

VEGASPascal wrote on 10/15/2025, 2:29 AM

Thanks for testing and your feedback.

I understand some points, others are grossly exaggerated. There are ways to change the language afterward, and a watermark for a trial version is not uncommon. YouTube is full of Capcut and Opus watermarks. Unfortunately, the development team is quite small compared to DaVinci, and there's no cross-financing via hardware, so you can't "give away" the software.

3POINT wrote on 10/15/2025, 5:53 AM

and there's no cross-financing via hardware, so you can't "give away" the software.

That was the benefit of the Sony days, you got Vegaspro as a free gift when purchasing a Sony Camera. That's how I came to Vegas.

Alex-Pitel wrote on 10/15/2025, 9:55 AM

VEGAS does support MKV files, such as those produced by OBS. There are many combinations though for what you put in it- what is in your MKV?

Check out GL Transitions- these are new and customizable.

Doesn't GoPro issue their own LUTs you can load?

I already made a lot of shaders for GL Vegas transitions. I'll post it in a month or two (want to make some more). But main transitions like seamless and others already done. Maybe can you tell what transitions do you want and I'll try to make it.

ChrisD wrote on 10/15/2025, 1:07 PM

...In DaVinci Resolve

I use both. Right tool. Right job.

Vegas for editing and Fusion for compositing and tracking. Yes, I miss Mocha Vegas, but here we are.

However, hang around in the Blackmagic forums for awhile -- there are plenty of bugs, and posts from people with their hair on fire.

RogerS wrote on 10/15/2025, 8:11 PM

OP seems long gone at this point.

Steve_Rhoden wrote on 10/15/2025, 8:55 PM

@RogerS Nope.... lol

ajizu-t wrote on 10/15/2025, 9:08 PM

yeah, HE AAC was always bad in vegas. i am tired of using ffmpeg to "fix" it. and oh yeah scream point number 10 louder. every single editing software has multiple project opening/multiple timelines system yet vegas can't do it for some reason

EricLNZ wrote on 10/15/2025, 9:30 PM

multiple project opening/multiple timelines system

Vegas, apart from Steam versions, can have multiple products open. As for multiple timelines doesn't nesting provide the same?

RogerS wrote on 10/15/2025, 10:11 PM

@ajizu-t Take a look at Hub in VEGAS and there's a place where developers are surveying users about their desires, including about the potential to do multiple timelines. Vote for it if you think it should be this way.

vagnerdesouza wrote on 11/9/2025, 5:05 AM

multiple project opening/multiple timelines system

Vegas, apart from Steam versions, can have multiple products open. As for multiple timelines doesn't nesting provide the same?

Unfortunately, nested timelines in Vegas Pro cause slowdowns during rendering. It's not the same as using an NLE that supports multiple timelines.

Dexcon wrote on 11/9/2025, 5:37 AM

It's not the same as using an NLE that supports multiple timelines.

I completely agree. Multiple timelines aren't just for edits that are going to be used in the final project - the primary use of nesting in Vegas Pro. I've often used multiple timelines in DaVinci Resolve for 'technical' work such as transcoding Variable Frame Rate phone video to Constant Frame Rate 25fps, or for stabilisation, each timeline based on the location in which the original video was shot. None of those multiple timelines would ever form an 'edit' for inclusion in the final project via nesting; rather, that multiple timeline approach keeps all timelines contained in the one open Resolve project that, in Vegas Pro, would otherwise require many .veg projects to be opened at the same time to achieve near the same usefulness.

The comparison boils down to:

Open one project in Resolve and automatically get multiple (selectable) timelines in the one project; or

Having to individually open 2, 3 ,4, 5, 6 or more Vegas Pro .veg projects

Beyond that, project editing in Vegas Pro is and always has been a breeze.

VEGASDerek wrote on 11/9/2025, 6:11 AM

We badly want to redo the multiple timeline feature. I will admit that it was poorly implemented and was really never completed as we had originally spec'd out. Simply put, the wrong person tried to implement this and the result is the mess we currently have without the UX we wanted and the optimized backend we desired. Sometimes that happens when you have a small team trying to do too many things at once.

anthony-chiappette wrote on 11/9/2025, 1:02 PM

and there's no cross-financing via hardware, so you can't "give away" the software.

That was the benefit of the Sony days, you got Vegaspro as a free gift when purchasing a Sony Camera. That's how I came to Vegas.

That's exactly how I got started. The consumer version, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, came bundled with my Sony Camera. I've been upgrading ever since. I will admit, I preferred Vegas Movie Studio in the beginning, but I would switch back and forth between Vegas Movie Studio (Usually the Platinum version, but not always) and Vegas Pro. I have spent quite a lot of money buying both versions over the years. When Vegas Movie Studio switched to the Magix version, I did not upgrade and stuck with Vegas Pro. I tried Magix Movie Stidio trial, but it was Radically different from Sony Vegas Movie Studio. I've never installed and uninstalled a piece of software so quickly.

I'm a home user / enthusiast, and I have gotten accustomed to the workflow in Vegas as I find it pretty easy to do what I want / need. It's just the semi-constant crashes that ruin it for me. I am able to do what I need for the most part, but sometimes Vegas refuses to cooperate. Sometimes I can work for several hours with no issues, then all of a sudden, Vegas freezes.

I complain a lot, I know, but I am rooting for Vegas because it's what I know and am comfortable with. I've tried many other video editors, and I find them just too difficult to do what I can easily do in Vegas.

ALO wrote on 11/11/2025, 9:22 AM

You know... the "small team" argument isn't going to keep people using software that's increasingly impoverished and buggy compared to its competitors. You can and should be using Claude to fix VP's many existing bugs and design and architectural issues. That would allow you to start filling in some of VP's biggest holes (like no CST's or RAW support) and compete with studios of any size. I do wish you all the best but the clock is ticking

Reyfox wrote on 11/11/2025, 10:57 AM

Who is "Claude"?

RogerS wrote on 11/11/2025, 11:41 AM

An Ai assistant though unlikely it could make sense of the VEGAS codebase.

VEGAS does have limited raw support (Braw, Prores raw, cDNG).

Howard-Vigorita wrote on 11/12/2025, 10:48 AM

The Claude model requires training and comparative examples just like any other AI Language Model... I would think it's usefulness analyzing proprietary code would be limited to conforming it stylistically to popular beliefs. Modern development platforms like Visual Studio already do much more than that. At the risk of kicking off a religious war, I personally think it's the downside of entrenched, old-fashioned Unix-based platforms which dominate open-source thinking that are shooting us in the foot... which AI Language Models would just perpetuate in their echo chambers.

VEGASDerek wrote on 11/12/2025, 4:34 PM

Love these people who think that everything so simple to instantly implement or fix. We use AI tools to generate and analyze code and over time, as we train models on the 10 million lines of code that we maintain, these AI tools will increase in their effectiveness for us. In fact, we have had no choice by to use AI tools to aid in our development as our headcount has continued to decrease. At this point, while AI has benefitted us in much of the redundant coding tasks, it has only been marginally helpful so far for the more complex stuff like implementing new codec support.