I second that!

I mean having the option to save as an earlier format.

I'm not sure if that means I agree or disagree with Grazie.

kairosmatt

This isn't necessarily possible. Newer version of Vegas have features that did not exist in earlier versions, like OFX plug-ins or the new titlers. For example, if you built a project in v11, how would you suggest that a VEG file could be created so that an earlier version of Vegas, which knows nothing about OFX plugins or the new titlers, could open it? It's easy for v11 to be backward-compatible when opening projects done with earlier versions but impossible for an older version to be forward-compatible.

If you keep your project simple then you can easily do this.
File>Save As>
Under Save As Type, select EDL Text File.
Then start an older version of Vegas. Select File>Open and select the [filename].txt file saved previously.

I just tested this between V11 and V10 with 5 cuts only events on the T/L and it works a treat. Note that what Vegas saves is not an industry standard EDL but it is plain text and it is human readable. As the lines of text are very long best opened to read using the PFE32 text editor which a freewhare.

Bob.

Because I have an Adobe CS5.5 suite at home and Adobe CS4 suite at work I usually have to save Flash files as earlier versions. It's not a problem there, but then Flash has a lot of this sort of compatibility built into, including support for two different types of ActionScript.

I always get a warning that some features will be lost if I save to an older format. I can accept that.

Lot's of programs save to older formats. Excel, for one. And the data in a Veg file probably isn't that much different.

As for OFX support, VP 10 also supports it so you could at least save one version back if that was an issue.

Rob

Yes, of course, if it's something that an earlier version of Vegas can understand, like a cuts-only project, then exporting an EDL as text is an excellent and painless solution.

Yes, of course later versions of Vegas can do things that earlier versions wouldn't be able to recreate. But there should be a way to save as earlier versions while losing those benefits (the ones in particular that John Cline mentioned)

But the method that Bob mentioned is fairly painful. For example you will lose your envelopes. You also even lose grouping between audio and video from the same camera! Surely these sort of basic things, as well as SonyFX that have been with us for a long time, can be passed down.

The EDL method seems to be for passing between different programs, say one that wouldn't have envelopes or Sony Color Curves. But older versions of Vegas deserve a more elegant solution.

And if there is a format (AVCHD or whatever) that isn't supported, perhaps you can be given a replace media option (so you can Cineform it for example).

kairosmatt

Yes, of course, if it's something that an earlier version of Vegas can understand, like a cuts-only project, then exporting an EDL as text is an excellent and painless solution.

More broadly, this sort of functionality is usually overlooked and it shouldn't be. The ability to move a project from version to version, or even from NLE to NLE, could easily be seen as a killer application. (Could be "killer" if Vegas users could pick up their marbles and go play somewhere else. Maybe that's the fear.)

Years ago we were cutting a doc on Media100 while doing compositing on the same company's 844x hardware-driven product. There was very little interoperability between the two and it was kind of maddening. We've gone through two NLE's since then.

Rob

Or Vegas could do what Premiere Pro 5.5 does and open a converted version while retaining the original PrPro 4 file unchanged. Seems like the simplest thing in the world really.

< *)%%%%><(

My "ugly" comment relates to the experience Laurence is currently experiencing with Shift-B. Adding wariness to migrate to 595 fully for my paid-for year-long project.

Cheers

G

I just put did a little more experimenting with the text EDL as it's been years since I wrote a VBA app that converted a CMX EDL into a Vegas text EDL.

Very easy to open the text EDL in Excel.
It contains more than just basic cut data. It also contains quite a bit of audio data e.g. gain and fade in/out time.
If you're editing a longform narrative all you should need to migrate to an older version is there. You will loose any FXs. If it's an FX heavy music video with lots of comps it is useless of course however as the entire Vegas innards have been moved around to accomodate OFX I suspect as good as you'll ever get to rescue a V11 project back to V9.

Bob.

How difficuilt would it be for SCS to also SaveAs 'industry standard EDL' ?
Or, one of us writing a converter app.

The Vegas text file looks simple enough, semi-colon delimiters etc.

Nice feature really.

Paul.

Laurence, this does sound like a really smart idea. Except, the reason you're asking for it is not because you want backward compatibility, but because recent VP releases have been so spotty. Sounds to me like the real fix is...well, you know. :(

Can't you copy/paste between different versions of Vegas that are open at once? I know it can be done between two instances of the same version.

Somewhat related to this discussion - I wish when I open a veg VP would inform me what version the veg was created with. Then I could switch to the version of VP that it was created with. Sometimes (because I am lazy) I just open them with the current version, make my changes, and save into the new version. Someday this will bite me and probably then I'll start organizing my veg's by version, or something.

/jerry

Interestingly enough the copy/paste thing does not always work for me. Sometimes I can copy and paste. But other times, even simple cuts only timelines, I copy from Veg10 and paste in Veg8 and the cursor forward the right amount of time but absolutely nothing shows up.

I don't even know about envelopes and FX and the like, but if you accidentally try to copy something from 10 with a BCC on it (even if its unchecked) you are in for a world of crashes. I got the EDL route and redo groupings and other things if I have to.

And Jerry, I have gotten in the habit of naming the version in the file name. Its getting a bit complicated: Project X Opening Sequence Veg 8 06 is a typical file name!

kairosmatt