I'm very pleased! I was so impressed to see Vegas using 100% of both my CPU's. DVD Architect is MUCH better also! Only dissappointment so far is I was hoping for SMART RENDER...

1- nested veg files -RULES -
you break your video into manageable sections, chapters, scenes, whatever... then you make a new file called "The Whole Shebang" and drag the VEG files for each chapter into place - it renders each veg file, super quick. When you realize the revisions you need in any individual file, you right click that chapter and Boom! The original chapter files opens - make your changes, resave the file - go back to "the whold shebang" and all the revisions are in place - whoopee.
2 - I've always used two screens to edit on (old AVID MC guy) - now my second screen is FULL SIZE - whoopee.
3 - render speed - noticeably faster w/o any machinery changes - faster is better - whoopee

yeah... me likeee
v.

Just opened the same .veg file in 5 and 6. Render times out to the same preset look like this:

Vegas 5 -- 00:02:07
Vegas 6 -- 00:01:13

That's very nice. As others have said, it feels much more responsive and "snappy" (e.g. opening projects and rendering audio waveforms happens damn fast).

Didn't like the install steps, but would've minded them less had I been forewarned. Still, in all it's not a Big Deal for me, but something I could imagine for a classroom environment would be a huge PITA. A "heads up" from the Sony team, say, a week ago would've been nice -- a short email to all registered users with links to DX9.0c and Net 1.1.

Going to print out the manual for the first time since Vegas 4 -- the Media Manager alone seems like a bit of work to wrap my head around, but since I'm one of the guys who screamed for better media management since 4, I'm all grins over here.

From the looks of it, those who said "this will change the world of NLE's for EVER" may have over spoke. This will, however, change the world of Vegas considerably -- a lot of these new functions will at the very least shut the naysayers up and I'm betting put Vegas in several pro environments (finally). Not that I ever considered switching seriously, but any doubts I may have had in the past with Vegas versus x NLE are completely evaporated now.

A huge thanks to the Sony team for listening to requests I and others made repeatedly. It's funny looking back on my Vegas 6 features thread now:

Better media management -- something I'd assumed was a given for 5, especially all the word play it gets on just about every Vegas related forum, or has gotten in the past. And now I see Frank Capria at DV Magazine cites it as one of Vegas's glaring cons. Take some cues from the better capture and logging utilities out there and go from there.

AAF/OMF/EDL support -- I know it's not going to happen, I just figured I'd put it down for the sake of posterity :) Another Capria con in the recent DV review, incidentally. -- I'm happily eating crow over this :D


Now, if I can just skin the UI...

- jim

This seems to be one of the most On Topic posts I've ever seen. Hopefully, we are not going to get gunshy on this forum.

First impressions:

1. Installation
If you have SQL Server running on the box you install Vegas on, it seems to cause some glitches in the install of Media Manager. Media Manager uses MSDE (Microsoft Desktop Engine) for its database capabilities. The install doesn't check to see if SQL Server is already installed and runs through the MSDE install. It does create its own instance called MSSQL$SONY_MEDIAMGR, but that instance does not start on my box if I already have SQL Server running. I am not yet convinced that this isn't specific to my machine, but it's worth mentioning.

This same problem also resulted in Vegas not shutting down when I exit it. Both problems were resolved by stopping my SQL Server instance and relaunching Vegas.

2. The Rest
I'm still digging in, but this is a super upgrade for me. My previous version was 4.0.

My impression is that there are a lot of nice convenience features that don't get press but will be quite nice to someone who spends a lot of time in Vegas.

Jim

Vegas 5 scripts... does i work in 6? Any problems?

diggin it - diggin it.

THANK YOU SONY!!!!

PLUS - (I'm not too sure this is accurate - but I THINK it is)

It looks to me like the new V6 is automatically databasing my entire drive of captures - I know I didn't do it - but there it is - unBELIEVEable!

I use dozens of outboard drives (one at a time) for different jobs. Looks like each drive now has a complete video database -

someone (Spot?) help me here - don't have time to verify this fact - could be completely wrong - but.... there they are... great media management stuff -
ok - coffee break is over - back to NAB -

Love the way Vegas 6 works with HDV m2t files (no more sound tracks that are shorter than video tracks), also, it runs faster than V5.

Really love the new way it shows transition times. Now it is fast and easy to get just the right transition length without having to guess or template it - excellent and bravo!!!

New monitoring feature makes setting up two monitors a breeze.

HDV is looking much more editable now, even on my P4 3-gHz HT.

This Vegas 6 and DVD Architect 3 seem to be a no brainer upgrade.

So far I'm very happy with the new feature set - YES!

Yep, nice upgrade. It definitely renders faster, which is VERY good. The nested timelines feature alone was worth the upgrade price. I'm particularly interested in the new Media Manager, now all I have to do is wrap my head around it.

The DVI/VGA secondary monitor preview is a terrific addition. Very cool!

However, I'm not completely sold on the new color scheme of the forum. I'll get used to it though.

John

Lots of cool features and the boys at Sony did listen to their customers. My only concern is the implementation of some of the features. I have already mentioned the scrub button being hard to manage, and the media manager event icons not consistently getting larger when you pass your mouse over them.

I see that when you pick through the Media Manager options, you can put all the thumbnails in a default folder -- it would be EXCELLENT if the same could be said for .sfk and .bak files. Hopefully they could add this as an update option -- with all the other features in V6, I'm not sure I'll need to upgrade for a long while :D

- jim

If you have a moment, check out the avid forums and watch them all flip out. They are starting to turn on Avid big time. Many feel Avid has flopped this year at NAB and many are gawking at the FCP Studio crowd ( I have to admit I am too, it looks really sweet but when you figure in the cost of a new G5 and then the software, youre over $5k to do what we can do for much less.)

I do envy DVD Studio Pro 4 offering H.264 AVC HD-DVD's. Hopefully we dont have to wait for NAB2006 for this option from Sony.

Still would like to open AC3 files in Vegas but dont know whether its a licensing or cost issue. At least I can get rid of Avid HD and Encore DVD once I purchase V6+DVDA3.

Was hoping that would have two preview windows (similar to PPro and Avid) but the awesome media management more than makes up for it.

Definitely a kick butt release.

If you have a moment, check out the avid forums and watch them all flip out.

Hrm, not seeing that...

It's under the forum heading of "Avid Xpress Pro - PC"

Mostly just rants. Nothing about Vegas so much as FCP.

It's under the forum heading of "Avid Xpress Pro - PC"
Mostly just rants. Nothing about Vegas so much as FCP.

Weird.... Why would PC users be raving FCP? Seems if they were on the PC side, they would at least mention a PC NLE.

The reason Avid fans are upset is that Apple has delievered to FCP what Avid users have wanted for Avid Xpress Pro HD.

Owning Avid HD, I totally understand their gripes. FCP will be able to edit HDV natively, Avid cannot do that not to mention multiple HDV streams real time multicam editing for FCP.

I think thus far, Apple has had the most impact at NAB with Sony right behind them. Unless Avid has something up their sleeve (which I doubt), then Avid has laid an egg this year which is why Avid users are pissed.

Vegas 6 installed without any problems. Feels faster than before. Love the new feature to preview on secondary monitor.
VidCap does recognize my HDV-FX1 but always gives me an error "... in use by another application". Also I'm somewhat disappointed by the workflow to transfer m2t to intermediate format. There's no scene detection with HDV either.
Glad to see all HDV-color issues have been solved.

I feel the huge size increase (some 30 M to 90 M) "just" for the media library isn't really worth it (I'm on ISDN bandwidth here and the download was about two hours on a dual-line connection).

All in all I think the last upgrade (4 to 5) brought much more new features (especially for those not using HDV or those who already bought Cineform's package there's really no big news in Vegas 6).

Just curious, anyone tried the Magic bullet fx and compared render times from V5 ? Is it the same?

I'm getting the same problems with Vid Cap not capturing my FX1 with the "in use by another app" warning.

HDV cap. was the only real reason I upgraded so hope this gets sorted out ASAP.

mdopp and wlfrose

Have a look here:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=380796&Replies=11&Page=0

Version 6 must have been rushed to be released in time for the NAB...how did the beta testers miss such a simple bug as the sharpen filter fiasco (sharpen fx now blurs). Did Sony corporate tell everyone "to sit down and color"? :-)