Help!!!

capitalP

capitalP

Veteran
Here's the problem, I have to edit a short movie by the end of the month, but I'm saving up for a G-5, I'm getting that in December, so in the meantime does anybody know where I can download a full copy of "Sony Vega" or "Adobe Premier" basically, any decent editing software so I can edit this short and make this deadline.

I appreciate any help, thanks.
 
Jubal28, yes I forgot to include for free, LOL! thanks Spot for the link.. I have a question, have you tried this trial version? Will it allow me to do the basic, upload my video file from my Dvx through a firewire and then edit. Is there anything that it won't allow me to do to complete the editing process?

I don't want to start editing and soon as I'm about to make a DVD, it says $499.99.

This Dvx site is amazing, any question and anything someone has to say, there is someone on here willing to help, that's incredible. Hopefully I can help somebody the same way once I know enough.. ok enough with this mushy stuff,

thanks guys.
 
I don't want to start a flame war or anything like that, but I am going to put forth a very solid piece of advice, and trust that people will support my opinion.

Stop saving for your mac and invest into Vegas. If you are shooting with a DVX there is nothing better than Vegas to edit on. It will handle all of your needs and you will be completely set up to move forward. I was looking for the recent discussion regarding PC v. Mac, but I couldn't find it. Oh well... Vegas is your ideal system to edit the DVX, NO PULLDOWNS!!!
 
i'll second yankee on that.
i was a hardcore mac zealot from '91-'00 and switched because i hated the fact that little kids down the street had faster machines and knew more about computers than i did. i put together my first pc a month after i bought one of the first G4s to come out. i spent $5000 on the mac. scsi-uw burners external scsi drives the whole bit and the $800 pc i built with 1/4 of the memory smoked it constantly.
everyones experience will vary but i refuse to get caught up in marketing hype. macs and pcs are just tools but mac users tend to treat it like some kind of weird religous cult (former member).
i'm a music producer and most of my friends thought i was nuts till i built them systems. between me and my friends we have a ton of credits from platinum selling albums to soundtracks and it was all done on pcs.
i'm making the transition to filmmaker and the dvx100a and vegas 6 combo floats my boat like a mutha****
 
TheYankee said:
Vegas is your ideal system to edit the DVX, NO PULLDOWNS!!!
Click to expand...

There's pulldown.

You just don't have to worry about it.

As for the demo version of Vegas, you will not be able to render your video to MPEG-2 or your sound to AC-3; you will have to do that with some other piece of software, perhaps your DVD authoring app.

You should be able to render a DV .avi, but I'm not 100% sure of that.

Once you look at the interface, don't be fooled. It's customizable to your heart's content. You want something in a different place? Move it. Something's too small? Make it bigger.

Personally, the first thing which turned me off about Vegas when I saw it initially was the tiny preview window at the bottom left. Fortunately, I figured out quickly how to take care of that . . .
 
i dont want to tell you what to do either, but i have to agree with yankee.Save your money and buy Vegas.Your already a step ahead by trying the demo.
 
I've navigated while other people cut on FCP, and I've cut with Avid and Vegas. Vegas is by far the most intuitive and easy to use.
 
I take everyone's opinion on here serious because from reading the many threads on here you guys know your stuff. But, from listening to people and doing some of my own research, Mac(Final Cut Pro) has a reputation of excellence, I've heard only serious filmakers and pros use Final Cut Pro, is this not true?

I hope I'm not making a costly decision by purchasing a Mac rather then a PC, the question is, is there anything Final Cut can do, that Vegas can't? Because reading all these opinions, I'm seriously thinking taking my $1500 and buying a pc, rather than saving another $500 to get a Mac, but Final Cut Pro has such a good reputation. Anyway ultimately I guess it's a decision I'll have to make on my own, I do appreciate all the words of advice.

Thanks.
 
It's a choice you can only make for yourself. But . . .


capitalP said:
I've heard only serious filmakers and pros use Final Cut Pro, is this not true?
Click to expand...

That's just unfounded hype. For a little bit of anecdotal evidence, check out the NLE poll in the Cafe. You'll find that Vegas edges out FCP for usership here, for example.

Vegas handles 24p better, and can edit pretty much any file type, any frame rate, pretty much anything, all on the same timeline, whereas FCP can't. Also, the audio tools are markedly better, and Vegas can mix and export Dolby Digital 5.1 surround-sound tracks. It also has the advantage of being a whole heckuvalot less expensive and runds on hardware that's a whole heckuvalot less expensive.

But overall, they're pretty comparable. FCP has been used to cut a few major Hollywood films; Vegas hasn't, to my knowledge. But unless you're cutting Hollywood films, that's not really much of a concern. At the DV level, it doesn't matter.

You need to try both to see if you truly like one or the other better before you lay down that kind of money.
 
There is another point that the Vegas Pitbull skirts around, and that is that the Hollywood system is already built around macs and that is is monkey see monkey do. FCP has an established following, but no one is going to not take your work seriously because of what you cut it on. No one will know the difference between what you cut on.

I wish I could find Jarred's thread on what he went through with FCP & mac's recently. Anyone know where it went? Simply brilliant discussion from a hands on user who has tons of experience with PC and went to mac & FCP because of the hyper and regretted it. Bear in mind, this is an experienced user also.

I have a mac in addition to my PC. It is a G3 350mghz. I bought it to run a midi studio several years ago. What do I use it for now? Coaster. If anyone wants to buy it, I'll sell it. I'm just saying, don't go with the hype because that's what your expected to do. You're borderline on making an expensive mistake. $1000 will get you an incredible system and you can take the extra money and get Vegas. I promise you will never regret it.
 
I completely agree with all of these guys. For me, I was contemplating getting a G5 but than what else can I do with it besides edit. I wanted a system where I could use my favorite editor (Vegas) and play some of my favorite games (BF2) without spending a terrible amount of money. I built my custom PC with everything I wanted for $2000. That was $1000 less for me than the G5 I wanted.

I couldn't use Vegas on the G5 either, which sucks. I learned how to edit on Avid using a Mac and I can tell you that I would rather use Vegas on a PC. Avid is supposed to be one of the premire programs to use. I mean come on Star Wars was edited on an Avid. I honestly can't stand Avid, but of course everything is about personal preference.

You should do what you want to do, but I would listen to everyone else and just buy Vegas 6. If your using the DVX as your main camera, you won't be sorry.
 
I agree with all of you, I bought a G5 to use with FCP but once I tried Vegas, I got rid of the G5 and bought Vegas and it's been so much easier working full time it now, I've yet to learn all of it but so far I think it's what best compliments my Dvx.

Ed
 
I just shot a feature on the DVX and edited entirely on Vegas. I've worked some with Fcp, and yes, it has the reputation as the "serious proffessional edit program". I don't buy it. Vegas has the best DV codec, it was the first program to support 24p video, and continues to set the bar as far as features and user interface. Don't get caught in the trap that something is the best just because it's the most expensive. Look at the features, and the results, and I'm sure you'll be more than happy with Vegas.
 
look dude mac is like a religion. mac users BELIEVE they are superior users with superior hardware. i know, i was an early adpoter of macs in music production since circa 1991. but you have to understand you are dealing with artist mentalities. artist tend to jump on trends blindly based completely on hype and they are also really loud so people think "well they must be right look at how passionate they are". so tell me what's inside a mac G5? pci buses (first in pcs, because macs were still nubus for a long time after pcs went pci) ide hard drives (macs also followed this cost effective standard way after pcs), pc memory and now the same f**ker who claims to build the fastest personal computers in the world is switching to intel chips because he feels the motorolas cant give him the performance he needs to keep up with the market, aint that a b**ch! now if that's not a slap in the face, what is?
and you know what an upgrade on a mac is? it's called a new mac! about every 6 freaking months and oh your software may not work with the new 10.xx version. WTF!! pc guys can go out and buy new processors for the price of tennis shoes. i upgraded 2 mac processors for a friend last year one was $800 and the other $1000. just the freaking processor!

sorry for the rant but i've been around the block too many times to ignore comments like "only real professionls use such and such" and "your not really a pro if you don't have so and so"
use wtf you wanna use but people need to get that ignorant bs out of your head or your just gonna be part of the sheeple that run scared wasting money on whetever the f they can scare you into buying.
i'll be honest i use vegas for video but i'm used to steinberg (nuendo/cubase) on the audio side and they make truely beautiful looking software and i can't stand the way sony/sonicfoundry crap looks like but i use that ugly mofo cause in "my" experience it kills the competion for simplicity, reliability and cost efficiency. i love that ugly lil f-er.

once again sorry for the rant
just dont get me started on pro-tools *vomits* i'll probably get banned
 
capitalP said:
Because reading all these opinions, I'm seriously thinking taking my $1500 and buying a pc, rather than saving another $500 to get a Mac
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't think you'd be able to get what you need for only $2K out of a Mac ... at least not the more powerful stuff you'd need to run FCP5.

Trust me, I've been tempted MORE than once to shell out $5-6K for the dream Mac with FCP, and all the pretty tools (live type makes me drool a little), but I can do everything in Vegas that someone else can do in Mac ... I can even make the fonts do the same thing as live type, though not quite as automated ... at least not yet.

Bottom line, I believe Sony knows that Vegas still has a long way to go to break that "professional" barrier with regards to what the industry thinks of it, so they'll continue to come out with newer & better (and it's already GREAT in so many ways), until one day people will RESPECT you because you use Vegas ... in the meantime, who cares what they think as you'll be able to run circles around them with the extremely intuitive set up, the fact that it can run on a dog of a system compared to its competition, and comes built in with a TON of professional level tools.

It's late, so I've probably not made sense in half of what I've written, but it sounded good in my head.
 
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