Vegas on a Mac

decrink wrote on 10/27/2007, 10:24 AM

I've been PC forever and used Vegas just about that long. My old custom made laptop that I used for offsite recording has died and I'm considering a Mac laptop to be compatible with audio and video capabilities at my college. I will never give up Vegas but would love to use it on the Mac. For those who are doing it successfully, are you using Parallels, Bootcamp or something similar? Does the burning of CD's and DVD's work pretty seamlessly with DVD and CD architect? Any info you might give that would help in making this decision/switch would be appreciated.
Long Time User

Comments

LSHorwitz wrote on 10/27/2007, 2:17 PM

I installed Vegas 7 and then Vegas 8 on my top-of-the-line MacPro Quad Xeon, using Bootcamp to allow me to directly run Windows XP rather than take the penalty of running Windows and Vegas in a Parallels virtualization mode.

When booting directly into XP and running either version of Vegas, the results were very disappointing for several reasons:

1. Bootcamp only allows the first 2 GB of RAM to be used despite the fact that that I have 5 GB of physical RAM present which Tiger handles properly when running OSX but not Windows.

2. None of my PCI Express slots are present / enumerated when running Windows even though they are also properly recognized in the Mac environment, and therefore no hardware support exists for any add-in cards.

3. Even though Vegas has been properly configured, only one of the two Xeons is recognized, leading to rendering speeds which were no better than my prior 4 core MacPro when using Windows.

4. The most disturbing of all is the fact that the MacPro would crash for no apparent reason at random times when running Vegas, but was stable as can be with Mac software, and the very same Vegas software ran rock solid stable on my Dell.

In researching and seeking remedies for these problems, I learned that the first 3 problems are well documented, and others have reported the same lack of hardware support on their MacPros. I have yet to uncover what the cause of the 4th problem is.

My bottom line is:

If you want to run Mac software, buy a Mac.

If you want to run Vegas, buy a PC.

Larry

Cheno wrote on 10/27/2007, 3:55 PM

I'll admit to wishing bootcamp read more than 2 gigs of RAM, however on both MacPro and a MacBookPro, both are running Vegas and CS3 on the PC side and have been nothing but rock solid, stable - My only problems are with Vegas 8 and they're already documented and posted on this forum -

I think everyone has both good and bad experiences with both platforms - I wish I could afford a new PC just for PC stuff and a new Mac just for Mac stuff but it wasn't in the bottom line hence why I love the dual-operability of the new intel Macs -

working fine on both ends - at least I can capture HDV right now with FCP - have to use Vegas 7 if I want to do it on the pc side (still troubleshooting that one...)

bigcreek wrote on 10/28/2007, 6:57 PM

Running Vegas 7 on a Macbook Pro w/bootcamp. Not a single problem. Runs DVD architect as well. I did add MacDrive to the PC side to be able to move files both ways. Works great.

I have bought but not loaded Vegas 8. - in the middle of a few projects, and I learned the hard way that you don't upgrade till you finish!

AndyMac wrote on 10/29/2007, 7:56 AM

I purchased a little MacBook when the Intel version first came out, because it offered a powerful and extremely portable solution for when we're traveling [we cover trade shows].
Put Bootcamp on and installed Vegas 7, and I was really impressed - it's run rock-solid ever since.

My colleagues have MacBook Pros and have done the same thing - works a dream.

I've not had a problem, and the only small issue I've found to date is a general one, in that when you close the lid, the screen doesn't shut off unless you chose a 'hibernate' power-saving mode - which'll screw up rendering ;-]

For laptop use, I strongly recommend it.

Andy Mac

John Lutz wrote on 10/30/2007, 4:13 PM

I am about to buy the new 24" iMac2.4 2gig Ram,320 gigHD, Leopard,
I want to run Vegas 8, HDV Rack, Ultra 2 on XP Home.
Should these run on Parallels 3.0 or Bootcamp (If I use Bootcamp the Mac systems drive will need to be partitioned With XP Home, correct ?
I think about 100 gig should be fine for the XP side).
That leaves 220gig for Mac side with Final Cut Studio 2
I will use external drives for video storage.
Thanks for your help.
John

Cheno wrote on 10/30/2007, 4:36 PM

Run Bootcamp - Parallels and VMWare are both emulators where you run Windows from within OSX - neither have firewire support and multiple drive mounting is still finicky IMO - Bootcamp is a true dualboot setup. I tried and loved VMWare and it was FAST but the lack of firewire support made it a no go for my external monitor - didn't like that :)

Your internal drive configuration is up to you - looks good to me - I'd figure what OS you may be doing more work on and leave more room for that --

-cheno

Nat wrote on 10/30/2007, 8:14 PM

Regarding problem number 2, I found this explanation (and partial fix) :
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5679253

the__rhino wrote on 11/2/2007, 11:08 AM

I'm waiting for "flying pigs" to bring me a copy of OS X that can run on any x86 hardware...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/08/14/leopard-successfully-run-on-non-apple-hardware When Pigs Fly