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Videoon 10/7/2016
Sony A7Sii editing in VegasPro
I evaluated several cameras over the summer and it came down to the A7Sll and GH4. Vegas had such difficulty handling native 4k files from these cameras that I did my evaluations in Premiere Pro and Resolve. Resolve makes it very easy to apply custom LUTs that I was able to create in Photoshop, but learning their interface is like learning to speak Klingon. Premiere also does LUTs - at least they say they do; their Help system was not very helpful in figuring out how. I'm currently evaluating plugins by Boris and Hitfilm and - at least for chroma keying - Hitfilm's performance is much MUCH better. With native GH3 1080-24p footage at Full/Best quality, Boris is 6fps with Open CL turned on and 7fps with GPU acceleration turned off, whereas Hitfilm plays 24fps seamlessly with GPU acceleration turned on (Radeon R9 200 series GPU). I don't know how 4k will affect these plugins, but my guess is that Hitfilm will perform better. Wolfgang - I'm picking up a GH4 today and will be shooting with a Ninja 2 at 1080-24p ProRes 4:2:2. What settings/workflow do you use with Vegas? Is it possible to get Good/Full playback?
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Videoon 10/4/2016
Is there a good way to do chroma keying in Vegas?
Hitfilm's chroma keyer is realtime at Full Best quality, which is Great News. Unfortunately the trial version plasters a semi-transparent logo over my key, making it difficult to evaluate the result. I also noticed random single-pixel color sparkles in some dark areas. I've never seen this with the Boris or Adobe keyers and didn't have much success trying to remove them. I also had a small amount of blue spill that I couldn't get rid of. I'll check for additional tutorials that go more in-depth than the ones I've seen. Thank you all for responding! Guy
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Videoon 10/4/2016
Is there a good way to do chroma keying in Vegas?
I'm downloading a trial version of Hitfilm as we speak, thanks for the suggestion! I also liked BCC's lightwrap, it's a subtle but very noticeable improvement to my chroma key. I just wish the performance hit wasn't so profound. As an FYI it crippled timeline playback in PP CC as well as Vegas.
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Videoon 9/14/2016
Hey Magix! Add this to Vegas MX:
We're starting to do a lot of chroma key work and the Vegas keyer is inadequate. Also need LUT support.
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Scriptingon 8/25/2016
Namespace change coming for VEGAS Pro 14
What I get from this is that Magix is caught between a rock and a hard space: Sony demands that all traces of its branding be wiped from Vegas, even from the internal code that only programmers and 3rd party developers will ever see. I suspect this is a non-negotiable trademark issue, but whatever the legal reason it's an unpleasant reality that Magix developers and end users must both deal with. This may be a painful change for some users, but isn't this level of communication much better than what we had when Vegas was owned by that other company? Kudos to Gary for sharing this with the user community well in advance of V14's release! I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't vent our frustrations, but I do hope that at the end of the day we will show the Vegas team a little love. I for one look forward to seeing what they will do once this distraction is behind them.
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Videoon 7/6/2016
video intros on YouTube
It depends on what "Very high-end" means to you. High end can be simple, elegant graphics and typography, complex motion and transformation, or d) All the above. You can create a graphic with a photo/graphics program, save the individual pieces in separate files, and animate/transition them onscreen with Vegas. If you want complex motion and transformation then you're probably looking at a specialized motion graphics program like AfterEffects. AE has a high cost (Creative Cloud subscription is required) and a steep learning curve so I don't recommend it unless you will be using it often. There are a ton of AE templates available, but customizing them can be worse than opening Pandora's box. I suggest giving biteable a shot: "Make your own animated YouTube Channel Trailers online in minutes with the free video maker at Biteable.com." You can experiment for free and pay $99 to download a high quality render if/when you create something you like. Bottom line, if a high-end motion graphics intro/ending will help you make money off your videos I would keep it simple and use a graphics program/Vegas, an online source like biteable, or I would pay to have someone do it. The opportunity cost of DIY in a motion graphics program will be far greater than the other options.
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Videoon 6/29/2016
Vegas Pro - Time To Think Again
<< just trying to understand motivations behind posts.>> That's a fair question, here's my take. Many years back I read a post about Vegas in the Canopus (Grass Valley now) user forum from someone who was as disappointed with the Canopus/Premiere editing experience as I was. Then a couple more users chimed in that they had also started using Vegas. I had seen Vegas at NAB a few times but ignored it because at that time most NLE's were buggy and/or poorly executed and I didn't believe that an audio company could turn a multi-track audio program into a decent video editor. I decided to try Vegas because it was recommended by peers, and its speed, workflow, and reliability has been a real game changer, allowing me to quickly and reliably produce high quality work under tight deadlines. But I'm not a "Loyal Vegas User". Far from it. I'm an editor who uses the best tool to accomplish the task at hand and for years (since ver 4) that tool happens to be Vegas. My motivation for posting is to thank the members of this community who have helped me immeasurably over the years. The transition to Vegas could have been painful but you helped make it painless. Secondly, as a working editor I rely on the ideas, insights, and opinions of other professionals and would like to continue hearing them. Could I glean insights elsewhere? Yes, and I do. But the ideas I value most are from working professionals using the same editing app as me, whether that be Canopus/Premiere or Vegas. Finally, to the OP, thank you for posting. I agree that Adobe is doing a nice job with Premiere. I recently compared several DSLR and mirrorless cameras and appreciated Premiere's editing performance with 4k native and ProRes 10-bit 4:2:2 files. I could easily apply custom 3D LUTs I created in Photoshop, and having Lumetri color grading integrated into Premiere is very nice. I'm sticking with Vegas for my next project but feel a backup plan is wise "just in case". Guy
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Videoon 6/21/2016
Captions
<<...but YouTube does not auto-create captions for all of my videos.>> YouTube will not even attempt to create captions for certain videos, or the captions created are unusable? I've wrestled with the captioning issue myself and it's not a trivial problem. Dragon software is an interesting idea provided you're recording the same person and the person is willing to help train the software. Once you have the transcript in plain text format, YouTube will auto-sync it to the video. We did not find YouTube's auto-sync acceptable because of how it split up sentences, but it's likely just fine for your purposes. YouTube has a very nice facility for manually captioning video, but the process is time consuming. The type of captioning file used for YouTube may or may not be compatible with your DVD authoring software. The last time I tried (about 18 months ago) YouTube's format was incompatible with Encore and DVD Studio Pro. EDIT: I thought through this a bit more and I can only think of a few reasons why some videos are not being automatically captioned. A random glitch in YouTube, a speaker isn't speaking clearly, or the audio quality isn't sufficient. Here's what I would do: I would render the audio portion with a low res solid white background. If I wasn't 1000% certain that the audio quality is perfect, I'd roll off the mid-bass starting at at 240Hz to reduce room reverb and cut everything below 100Hz to eliminate rumble. I'd upload that to YouTube and see if it can auto-create captions. If successful I'd download the caption file, upload it to the original video, and fix any errors.
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Videoon 6/21/2016
POLL - Should MAGIX change the name?
They should definitely change the name: Vegas 14. Every time I click on the Vegas icon it brings back fond memories on NABs past... Getting booted from the Stratosphere... The buffet at RIO... Downtown, where my kind of people hang out... Going to Hoover and taking the dam tour... Seriously, it's like a mini vacay every time I edit!
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Videoon 6/14/2016
GPUs and Sony Vegas
I can confirm that after switching my home and work systems from nVidia to ATI the crashes stopped, rendering was improved and - most important to me - timeline playback went from 12 - 15fps to real time with 1080p AVC or MP4 camera footage at Good (Full) or Best (Full) quality with transitions, color correction, and audio processing. My system specs are posted if you want details.
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Videoon 6/6/2016
SURVEY: Would you upgrade to VP14 if...
Yes, even if all you suggested is not implemented.
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Videoon 5/27/2016
Great news from MAGIX!
GREAT NEWS!!!
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Videoon 5/12/2016
Early Brain Death
Sounds like you have early-onset O L D. I have it too. I think. Can't recall for sure...
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Videoon 4/21/2016
NAB 2016 - No Sony Creative Software Showing???
<<I did find two very nice (white shirt) "junior" Sony ladies...>> I was there Monday as well. Didn't see any signage for editing software so I asked if any editing software was shown... And was led to a station running Adobe Premiere. It took 20+ minutes to finally find someone who could get me to a station showing Sony software. The station was manned by an INTERN from Baylor who was demoing Catalyst and hadn't seen the software before the show. "I edit with Premiere...". She went on to tell me that everyone else wearing a light color shirt was an intern. I only had a day at the show so there was a lot I couldn't see, but I did camp out at the Adobe booth long enough to talk with a product manager who was able to walk me through a couple of tricks that will help mitigate some of the workflow issues that make cutting with Premiere slower than Vegas. It seems to me that Adobe's long term push to improve Premiere is making it the app to beat. VR was a big thing this year and I saw a beta feature that lets Premiere edit VR footage. I'm not going to need this feature in my foreseeable future, it merely demonstrates that Adobe is on the cutting edge and will likely remain there. Of more practical benefit was Sony SLOG support and the integration of Lumetri color grading within Premiere - significantly better than last year. If Vegas were to be sold, I'd vote for GoPro. They have the resources to develop the product. They bought Cineform, and that CODEC is alive and well, so why not some nice editing software to go along with it?
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Videoon 4/14/2016
Vegas Pro 14? Maybe
I'm headed to NAB this year after skipping several years. I'll be camera shopping and looking for a Vegas replacement when we eventually adopt 4k. I'd love to see a new version of Vegas that supports 4k. I have Adobe CC and re-evaluate Premiere with each new release. I've also tried Resolve, Catalyst, and FCPX. Each app has significant strengths but their workflows are significantly less efficient vs. Vegas for the short form corporate work that I do.
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Videoon 12/7/2015
My initial impressions of Catalyst Edit
Hi Travis, thanks for posing the question. Vegas' lack of a defined workflow is the thing I appreciate most because I can choose the method(s) that work best for me and for the particular project I'm working on. For my application (product videos and interviews), Vegas' Trimmer + Regions and Markers = Very Fast & Very Focused. I set Regions in the Trimmer and hit "a" to send them to the Timeline. The ability to work with audio in the context of an edit is also an essential component of Fast & Focused because I have the ability to record, edit, and polish a VO and effects right on the timeline as I edit. In terms of grading, I prefer to do my color work in the context of a finished edit and appreciate Vegas' ability to apply color correction to clips, entire tracks, and the final output. The Catalyst workflow may be a good fit for some, but many have found Vegas' fluidity and user-centric workflows essential to delivering high quality results on tight deadlines. I know that many of us would hate to lose that. I hope that your marketing folks have been listening to what their Vegas customers have been saying, and I hope they appreciate the implications of a Vegas user base with a large number of Adobe CC subscriptions. Guy
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Videoon 9/23/2015
no Vegas Pro 14 :(
<4th in that poll. 4TH!! I don't think they'll close it down.> I hope that proves to be true! The biggest barrier to improved market share is Sony itself. The solution isn't rocket surgery, it's really pretty simple: 1. Improve support. Many have complained about slow support. I once had an occasion to reach out to the support team – I waited TWO WEEKS to receive a canned response that was entirely unhelpful. After a month I gave up. My issue was solved via this forum, not by Sony support. 2. Product stability. Publish a CURRENT list of known good hardware configurations and maintain an updated troubleshooting page. Many here (myself included) claim problem-free editing; with better communication others may achieve the same results. 3. Titler. This has been covered in many posts; an update is long overdue. ProType lacks the user friendliness and Vegas-like interface than many desire. 4. Media management. Not an issue for me, but others have expressed a desire for more robust media management and I can certainly see their point. 5. Marketing. The shotgun approach doesn't work. Vegas isn't for everyone, pick the groups it's well suited for and focus on what makes Vegas the best solution for them. As an example, I use Regions extensively, and when I demonstrate their use to other editors that work with long clips that may have multiple In/Out points the concept instantly makes sense to them - you can see the light bulb go off when they realize how powerful this features is. Finally, take an active interest in your product. Participate in this forum. Publish a tip of the week. Spotlight a user. Do something. DO ANYTHING. Connect with users and let folks know the product is alive and vital.
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Videoon 9/16/2015
no Vegas Pro 14 :(
"... there will be no version 14" I recently completed a 16 minute video on how to perform a service procedure. It was shot in real time as the tech performed the repair and described what he was doing. I had ~25 minutes of raw footage and condensed it down to 16 minutes. It took 518 edits to do so. To make each step as clear and concise as possible it was necessary to unlink the audio from the video, splice together phrases, words, and syllables into concise, cohesive thoughts, and then chop up the video to match. When watching the finished result even I can't see or hear most of the edits - it looks like a carefully planned and shot piece. This was - by far - the most difficult technical edit I've ever done, and would not have been possible with Premiere Pro CC, Final Cut or, from what I've seen, Catalyst. For the type of work I do Vegas is, quite simply, irreplaceable. Yet it looks as though that is what I'll need to do. Guy
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Videoon 7/10/2015
I swore I would never ask this type of question...
B&H has the A58 with 18-55mm for $448. They also the A58 + 18-55mm + Sony 18-135mm for $746 (18-135mm alone is $500). Two friends have purchased Sony A-series cameras with the Tamron 18-200mm. This lens isn't as good as the Sony 18-135mm but it does very well for casual shooting and is a steal at $200. Keep in mind that the A58 fully supports pre-DSLR Minolta A mount lenses, and these are absolute steals. A friend picked up a 50mm Minolta lens for $80 on eBay. It's tack sharp and with the crop factor makes an excellent short portrait lens.
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Videoon 7/6/2015
I swore I would never ask this type of question...
<Who has experience with Sony a58?> I've recommended Sony Alpha series cameras (33, 57, 58) to several co-workers and they all love their cameras. Two purchased body+Tamron 18-200 zoom, one was able to find the A58+Sony 18-135 at B&H for an absolute steal - the Sony 18-135 is a very nice lens. Although I generally shoot with Nikon (stills) and GH3 (video) at work I almost always recommend Sony cameras because they do a nice job with stills and they autofocus very well when shooting video whereas Canon and Nikon do not.
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Videoon 5/28/2015
Video clips from GH4 load longer video than audio
Same thing with my GH3. It was annoying at first, but I got used to it pretty quick. I edit most of my clips in the Trimmer, so this isn't an issue at all. But if I bypass the Trimmer and drag an entire clip into the Timeline, I'll position the Play Cursor at the end of the audio (easy because the cursor will snap to it), press Alt + ], and BAM, the extra audio is gone. Again, not perfect, but after a very short time I didn't even notice it. Maybe it's a matter of perspective because I've been at this since 1994 when computer-based editing was very, very iffy at best. My last project was the Edit From Hell - 518 edits in a 16 minute video. Most of these were audio edits that required me to ungroup the audio from the video (for almost every clip on the timeline!!) so that I could slice and dice the audio to match what was happening on the video. During the entire edit session, which took several days, Vegas never crashed - and I'm using my graphics card to accelerate timeline preview. At the end of the edit I touched up the audio using Vegas' exceptional audio processing capabilities. I have Premiere CC on my edit machine and, although it could be done, I wouldn't even attempt this type of technical editing on Premiere. I'm not trying to convince you that this obvious bug shouldn't be sorted out, just suggesting a relatively painless work-around so that you can enjoy all the stuff that Vegas does really, really well.
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Videoon 5/28/2015
Expand track layers annoying 'feature'
This drove me crazy too! Fortunately there's an easy way to return to normal track view: Just hit Esc!
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Videoon 4/29/2015
Best computer for Vegas Pro
My work computer is an HP Z420 workstation with a Xeon 6-core CPU. My home computer is self-built and uses a core i7 3770 CPU. Both computers were adequate for editing native HD video shot with a Panasonic GH3, but after switching both computers from nVidia to AMD graphics cards the performance of both computers improved by a tremendous margin. To be specific, I can now edit native HD video from the camera (i.e. I don't need to convert it to a different file format first) in real time, without dropping frames or crashing. On both systems I'm using SSDs for my boot and scratch (for temp files and rendering) drives. I'm only running 16GB of RAM on both and it's adequate, even with multiple programs running, but I would not recommend using less than 16GB RAM. No idea what the memory speed is, but it's not the fastest. My work computer is a bit faster, but not by much - and it cost at least twice as much as my home editing system. The biggest difference in my editing experience happened when I switched from nVidia to AMD, and at home I'm only using a mid-range (about $180 USD) card. I might consider upgrading your graphics card to AMD and making sure you have 16GB RAM. If you're using a CODEC that's especially difficult to edit you can always transcode it to a more edit-friendly format - HDCAM-EX has worked well for me.
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Videoon 4/9/2015
Need advice on LED Lighting...
I use Tungsten, Halogen, Fluorescent, and LED lights and they each have their advantages and disadvantages. 1. Battery life will depend on the light's power consumption and the battery's capacity. 2. You can mix LED with other lights; I recommend getting a light with continuously adjustable color. 3. Dimming and diffusion are different things. Dimming changes the light's intensity; diffusion changes the quality of the light: more diffuse = softer shadows. 4. Yes. No. Maybe. It depends, see below. 5. See below. If I'm shooting an interview I'll typically use a Lowel softbox. Of the ones I've used Lowel is my favorite because they are well-built, set up very, very quickly, and I like the quality of light they produce. I've also used a Fiilex LED as the main (only) light for an interview and it did very well (see below). I typically use KinoFlo fluorescent fixtures for product photos against a white background. The color is very good and the lights are dimmable without color shift. I have them on rolling stands and even then they can be unwieldy to position in a small 10' x 10' room. I've started using a Fiilex LED with the Kino Flo lights to punch up the images, with good results. I've used small, rectangular, bare-bulb, battery-powered LED lights for run-n-gun work and have found them to be disappointing. The color isn't great, the light can flicker when battery power drops, the light output isn't great, and the output is low - especially when a diffuser is used. Without the diffuser the lights can look harsh. I use these as a last resort. I would never use these on an interview unless I really disliked my subject, and even then...... Several months ago we purchased a Fiilex P360 LED fixture, and it's awesome. The light output is much less than a comparably sized halogen fixture (Lowel Pro Light, for example), but is adequate in many circumstances. The diffuser works well and attaches magnetically. I believe that there's a battery adapter for it but I've never used it on battery power. The light's color controls let me balance the light to daylight, incandescent, or anywhere in between. I often use it as a secondary light to punch up the KinoFlo's or Lowel softbox. I've also used it for location shoots as an adjunct to the existing ambient light: http://fiilex.com/ I recently bought an LED work light from Lowes and I have to say that it's quite impressive. I've not yet tested it with a camera, but I plan to. Using it for work on my home I've been impressed with how natural the colors look to my eye and how even the lighting is from edge to edge. It retails for $80 and comes with a light, sturdy, stand. It throws out as much light as a 500 watt halogen work light, but the quality of the light is much better. Once my house is livable I'll try to post some comparison images. I have purchased lights for my day job and for personal use. I've spent tons of $$ and I've spent relatively little. At one time my interview kit consisted of a Chimera medium (24" x 32") softbox, Westcot medium softbox, and 2x Lowel ProLights. I assembled this kit after much research and after watching a video and taking a seminar from a well-known and respected commercial cinematographer. These days I get better results with a $20 bare bulb fixture, $20 translucent umbrella, two small $50 light stands, and a soft gold collapsible reflector. "Better" meaning that I can make images that look good, but the setup goes much faster and is much less intimidating for the interviewees. The Fiilex P360 light is even faster to set up, but doesn't have enough light output to use with an umbrella or diffuser, even though these accessories are sold for it. My opinion is that you can get the performance you're seeking from LED instruments, but - today - the cost will be higher per lumen output compared to incandescent lights.
Guy S.
Offline, Last login 10/17/2017, Member since 8/24/2016