Is Vegas 5 realtime?

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DeeJco1

Member
I'm thinking of purchasing Vegas or going with the Matrox rx100 realtime card with Premiere Pro. I'm going to be doing 24p editing but I'd like it to be in realtime. Does Vegas do color correction, transitions, effects, multiple video and audio tracks, compositing, etc in realtime outputted to an external monitor? Or does all that stuff need to be rendered? Rendering is too time consuming and if I'm going to spend money to buy something new I might as well spend a little more and get something good.
 
Let me put it this way--there is *no* software only NLE that displays as much in real time as Vegas. However, it's also dependant on how much horsepower you have under the hood of your computer. Vegas will run like the wind on even a mid-range setup, but if you start adding all sorts of effects, compositing, and audio tracks, the displayed frame rate is going to go down. Grab a copy of the trial version and see for yourself if it suits your needs. You should wait for the Vegas 6 trial to be released, since it's going to be a major upgrade that addresses this issue. Your money may be better spend on a dual processor setup and Vegas, but even with a single processor--Vegas 5 does a great job of previewing normal footage that isn't too effects-heavy.
 
It's realtime depending on what you're doing and how fast your computer is. The faster your computer, the more realtime effects you get. The more effects you pile onto a clip, the faster your computer needs to be to keep up. Even on the fastest computers, there are some effects (like chroma blur) that simply will not play back in realtime and will need to be rendered.
 
No. It’s not realtime. The more layers you add, the slower the playback will be. For realtime output once you’ve added a stack of effects, you need to prerender.

Now, if you have a fast processor and a lot of fast memory, it can seem like it’s realtime, as the computer will have the chops to process the effects quickly enough to make it look that way.

But at its core, it’s not a realtime editor. Perhaps in a later version. (Some question as to Vegas 6 in this regard.)
 
Barry_S said:
Let me put it this way--there is *no* software only NLE that displays as much in real time as Vegas. However, it's also dependant on how much horsepower you have under the hood of your computer. Vegas will run like the wind on even a mid-range setup, but if you start adding all sorts of effects, compositing, and audio tracks, the displayed frame rate is going to go down. Grab a copy of the trial version and see for yourself if it suits your needs. You should wait for the Vegas 6 trial to be released, since it's going to be a major upgrade that addresses this issue. Your money may be better spend on a dual processor setup and Vegas, but even with a single processor--Vegas 5 does a great job of previewing normal footage that isn't too effects-heavy.
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There are, however, NLEs which don’t come with their own hardware which take advantage of existing resources (i.e., the processor and video card) to produce realtime effects. Pinnacle Edition is one, and considering you only install the software to use it, you might say it qualifies as “software only.”

I think Vegas could benefit tremendously from taking advantage of the video card.
 
Jubal28 said:
No. It’s not realtime. The more layers you add, the slower the playback will be. For realtime output once you’ve added a stack of effects, you need to prerender.

Now, if you have a fast processor and a lot of fast memory, it can seem like it’s realtime, as the computer will have the chops to process the effects quickly enough to make it look that way.

But at its core, it’s not a realtime editor. Perhaps in a later version. (Some question as to Vegas 6 in this regard.)
Click to expand...



i heard in Vegas 6 from this yahoo Vegas user group..that Vegas 6 is gonna use Dual processor and hyper threading technology *if your computer supports it* and wont need any type of rendering for effects...so maybe....Vegas 6 will be a 'real' realtime editing NLE..............i guess we will have to wait and see until NAB '05
 
Thanks for the input. I'm going to check out the Vegas 6 stream occurring on the 19th and see what this puppy can do. Then that's all I'll need is a kick-ass machine to put it on and I'm off.
 
My simple advices would be:

1.try the softs first. Download the trials and see what soft you prefer. They have a vastly different workflow approach. Vegas is revolutionnary. Premiere is more traditionnal in its workflow, more like Final Cut and others.

2. dont trust the adds or reviews! A system can be real time if it actually works! That was not the case with the "real time" Canopus / Premiere i got some years ago... I was actually realtime debugging everything (hardware, software and drivers)... and learned it the hard way (If you want to get an idea, check the threads on Premiere/Matrox user forum...).. When i really got high quality realtime, this was with severe limitations.

After having spend big $$$ on the hardware assist editing system and used it for 2 projects, i finally got Vegas and easily rebuilded and finalised the project in few days, altough i was completly stucked with in Premiere since weeks before.

3. A vastly overlooked aspect of Vegas is its what i would call a realtime workflow! To my known, this is the one and only NLE wich allow changing FX (color correction, and everything), cropping, tracking, importing ,moving events in the timeline etc. (even saving project) with the timeline always and always playing! This is invaluable in numerous situations and general speed of work. When you go back to another NLE (Premiere, MSStudio, Final cut or Avid), you realize how much this is important. I could continue with zillions of good reasons to opt for Vegas (stability, "scriptability", unparalleled flexibility with medias, etc. etc...) but judge by yourself!
 
AGREED! I suffered with a "realtime" Matrox/Premiere combination, constant hardware errors, constant limitations on what would and wouldn't be realtime, etc. Even minor little irritations such as when you hit "play", you had to wait a second or two while the hardware "got ready" before it'd play realtime.

Once I tried Vegas I was SOLD. The software interacts with you in complete realtime. It may not be able to display 100% realtime, but it plays in realtime, and the frame rate you get is the best that it can, so previewing an effect may give you an effective 15fps, but it plays back in realtime so you can see the effect and fine-tune it, etc., way faster than you ever could on the Matrox/Premiere system. The final render takes some time, but then, the final render on the "realtime" Matrox/Premiere took the same amount of time, so no loss there.

The workflow is the key. The workflow in Vegas is way, way faster than the workflow in the so-called "realtime" system (and hey, this is coming from a guy who spent the cash to buy the Matrox many years ago).

I totally agree with everything the post above says.
 
Is Vegas professional in your opinion? Premiere costs almost as much if not the same, but it's color correction and compositing tools are pure cheese. I don't want to spend a lot of money and get a cheesy program.
 
Depends on you view of professional. Vegas is as professional as any other NLE out there. The color correction tools are powerful and straight forward, and the layout and GUI is excellent, but it does take some getting used to if you are coming from a different NLE background.
 
ABC News Nightline is now using Vegas 6 to edit the show. The upgrades included in Vegas 6 pretty much wipe out any reason to call Vegas less than professional.

DeeJco1 said:
Is Vegas professional in your opinion? Premiere costs almost as much if not the same, but it's color correction and compositing tools are pure cheese. I don't want to spend a lot of money and get a cheesy program.
Click to expand...
 
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