this is true but does he really do any of his own editing and is it really Vegas. Like the OP said the intro to "his training" is always the same footage and all he does is rewind and run the same event over and over never changing anything.

I can verify that he does indeed use Vegas. I can also say that he has a team of editors that work for him that edit his footage. Now, with that being said, he has a large part that he plays in the editing process and he is very hard on his editors... in a good way. He wants great editing, not good editing. He wants to push them to get the best episode possible with the footage provided.

I can't speak to the training series though as I don't own it.

j razz

Yea, I don't have problems with Les himself and I'm not speaking to his tv series or editing capabilities, but I guess rather more to Sony using Les as a marketing tool saying he is "hosting" the pro training series - in which every month a new free episode is posted on the main page of SCS. I don't see him as "hosting" the episodes, but Sony regurgitating the same intro and outro over and over again calling it hosting. The least they could have done is create new ones for each episode. Kind of a half azz attempt on their part IMO.

BTW...I do not believe he is utilized in the dvd series...just the free ones on the main page.

Oh well, I've got bigger things to worry about, just wanted to vent. THANX.

I second Jeremy's comments. Les was the FIRST surviver. I read an article on him and his shown a while back. I think it was in DV magazine.

The other guy, I forget his name, schleps around with a crew. Most of his stuff is staged. He even got caught faking something recently, don't recall what it was. Anyway, after watching a couple of his hows, it's hard to take him seriously.

As far as "hosting" goes, from a technical point of view he does "host" the videos in that he introduces them, much like what Hitchcock did on his TV show. I do agree it would have been nice if they had shot a different intro for each "lesson."

The other guy is "Bear Grillis" or something like that. And say what you will but guy is one tough mother. He doesn't think Les wouldn't even think about less attempt.

As for "surviving." Lets just say that when you know the crew is going to pick you up in seven days and you have a radio to get out in an emergency that's a little different from really having to survive with no known "getting out" date.

I enjoy both shows and think both guys are pretty darn tough.

FWIW, Bear Grylls is chuckled at in the extreme sports world. Caught staying in motels when he was supposed to be in the wild, his skydiving sequences are stunted (I know Les skydives for real), his advice was commented upon as "entertaining" by the RCMP when he went running through the woods, thinking he'd heard a grizzly bear (Don't run when you see/hear a threatening bear). Between BASEjumper.com, Dropzone,com, and Rockclimbing.com, the camera operators on those sites have fairly well fried Bear Grylls. Allegedly his show was pulled for a couple of months when he was discovered staying in hotels while the show is edited to make it look like he's staying in his "set."

He may be ex-SAS and probably a very tough guy but bottom line is, Les is alone with no crew, doesn't stay in hotels during his "events" and if you've met or worked with him, he's a totally straight up guy.
Besides, he's a really good musician, so that grants him points in my book. :-) He and his cousin have done a good job building the show from the ground up, including his show music in many instances.

For those that don't know, he was a cameraman for years before coming up with the idea for his show. And yes...he edits with Vegas.

You guys may have heard this

That camera operators in Africa filming around lions wear tiny bells around there necks so as not to stumble on an unsuspecting sleeping lion
Always keeping an eye open for fresh lion droppings

Lion droppings are easily identified as they often have little bells in it

> The other guy is "Bear Grillis" or something like that. And say what you will but guy is one tough mother. He doesn't think Les wouldn't even think about less attempt.

You can't seriously compare what Bear does to what Les does. The reason that Les would not attempt some of what Bear does is very simple, if Bear falls and cracks his skull jumping recklessly from rock to rock and lies unconscious, he has a camera crew to take him to the nearest hospital. If Les falls and cracks his skull jumping recklessly from rock to rock and lies unconscious, he dies! I'd say the stakes are just a wee bit higher for Les than they are for Bear "comfy man with a crew" Grylls. While Les does have a satellite phone, you have to be able to reach it, be conscious to use it, and wait twice as long for rescue. Les doesn't take those chances and you shouldn't either, which means that if you follow Bear's example you will probably die in the wild unless you had a camera crew with you to bail you out. I've seen Bear do some pretty stupid stuff that someone who is alone should never attempt.

Bear also doesn't have to set up cameras, walk into the distance then walk all the way back to retrieve his cameras, only to set up cameras again, climb a up a mountain ridge, then climb down again to retrieve his cameras. Les is doing considerable more work when he's out there than Bear. So while Bear may be tough, he has it a whole easier than Les does. I'm not knockin' Bear as a person. He is still the youngest guy to climb Mt. Everest. I'm just saying his show is a bit staged.

~jr

Instead of seing Les just talking about his use of Vegas in the canned start to the tutorials I would Love to see his actual edit process, now that would be very good if he really uses Vegas. That would show the "nay sayers" that Vegas CAN and IS being used for serious broadcast work.

This would be a very big boost to Vegas and a vindication for all of us who KNOW that Vegas is a great NLE.

If anyone here know's Les or how any of us can contact him and request something like this please post it.

I have watched his show and let me tell you even if he has a crew fairly close, he is still all alone. I know that I would not be brave enough to go where he does.

I do apologize for my previous post and I have deleted it.

> Instead of seing Les just talking about his use of Vegas in the canned start to the tutorials I would Love to see his actual edit process, now that would be very good if he really uses Vegas.

This is what I thought it was going to be as well and I was disappointed in the canned opening too. I don't even mind that he isn't doing the training. It would be better if each week he talked about how he uses the technique you are about to learn. That would set the context for how he uses Vegas at least.

~jr

Editguy43 and Johnnyroy are both more in line of what my original complaint was about. It is directed more at Sony for promoting or giving the impression that Les would be doing the tutorial. I know it was said that Les is "technically" hosting the tutorial, I don't disagree...but hosting could also include doing the tut...or at least opening the tut with a brief discussion about the upcoming material, not the same canned one. I think that Sony would get alot more mileage out of it that way. Maybe they didn't want to pay for that...? or maybe Les couldn't really do it...? I don't know. Could be any number of reasons.

However, Les is why I starting checking back every month to see the new tut, because I thought "hey, here is a tv guy that says he actually uses Sony Vegas, maybe we can see how someone is using it professionaly".

Anyhow, I personally don't care about comparing Bear or Les with their surviving capabilities. No offense to anyone-just not interested in that.

thx

When Ahmad Rashad hosted "Real TV" he was on screen & did the VO work.

I'd say sony should pony up the $$ & get this les guy to do all the VO's & what not. I like his voice better (thanks for pointing these tut's out, I never knew they existed!)

I think the whole Les Stroud discussion is a little silly. What counts are the tutorials and they're not bad, just a little on the light side for most on this forum.

What is more important is that Sony is at least giving it the old college try. The problem is that Adobe is eating their lunch with the Lynda.com stuff that they have on adobe.com and tv.adobe.com for their CS3 and CS4 product line. A First Class Act. Adobe is to be congratulated. Sony has some catching up to do. We should all encourage them to do so.

@ Spot,

You have a lot more background info on the guys than I do. I was only commenting on what I've seen on TV. Les is definitely a tough fellow and does play a mean harp. And for a survival show his is definitely more realistic and he endures MUCH more during his week.

Bear is more of an entertainer for sure. I was just commenting on some dumb things I've seen him do that one would never do if you're really trying to survive for fear of injury or sickness, which of course would finish you off right quick.

But the one where he climbs the tree down the embankment or eats the decaying flesh is pretty cool if only for the entertainment value.

But yeah Les has some guts. Too walk all that way to get a camera shot in the snow or sand, then trek all the way back to get the gear an move on... all after not having eaten for 3 or 4 days must take some serious discipline!

Two totally different shows. Les is definitely a real survivor while Bear is going for shock value.

"The problem is that Adobe is eating their lunch with the Lynda.com stuff"

Yes I have gone to Lynda.com and asked them if they will ever add more Vegas stuff and they said that if they had more demand for it maybe, so we need to send them emails requesting that they update thier training.

Also yes SCS is doing better with training and tutorials but if they just had more content and utilized the talent they already have to really show what Vegas can do that would make all the difference, being able to see PRO's that are on TV using Vegas and how they use it would be great.

I likes Vassts s :) training stuff (bought the one for Studio) before I got 8Pro but sometimes $ money $ is tight and I cant pay for it, tha is why I look forward when SCS puts out FREE training, but it needs more substance, more real world stuff.

wish I had all the money to buy all the toys I wanted...( sigh)

Les is an Avid-certified editor, he's been a camera guy for decades, and knows our side of the screen in/out very well. He does use Vegas.
Dunno why he's not the 'voice' of the trainings, other than it could get expensive to produce it if they're taking Les out of his musical tour, production time, or other show he's writing producing on location even now.

Lynda.com HAD a Vegas training series, but then choose to do other things....They have the content, and have had for nearly 3 years. They've grown so broad that video is on the lower end of their ladder.