Need to upgrade workstation. Stay with Vegas?

TimothyJinx

TimothyJinx

Well-known member
I am a long time Vegas user and I have been producing video as a hobby for a number of years. Lately, I have been doing more and more corporate video work and it looks as though 2011 is going to be a busy year for me.

However, I have fallen pretty far behind as I am still using Vegas 7 on an XP workstation. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, I guess. But it is time for a workstation upgrade which brings me to my question.

I did not have a positive experience with Vegas 8 and it seems like there are some horror stories out there regarding Vegas 10. So, my options seem to be:

1. Upgrade the workstation but continue to use Vegas 7. That doesn’t seem to be a great long term solution. Plus, I’m not sure how well 7 works with a 64 bit OS.

2. Upgrade the workstation and upgrade to Vegas 10. This makes me a little nervous. Thoughts?

3. Upgrade the workstation and move to a different editing suite. I am open to this if it makes sense. What have some of you Vegas users used and had success with? Cost is not my primary concern – I’m more interested in reliability and long term stability. I do want to stay with Windows/PC.

Thanks for any comments!
 
"2. Upgrade the workstation and upgrade to Vegas 10. This makes me a little nervous. Thoughts?"

The upgrade price is cheap enough that I recommend this even if you go with another NLE. It still works great for editing audio, and certain video projects may suit Vegas Pro better than a new program. V10 has worked out a lot better for me than V9.

"3. Upgrade the workstation and move to a different editing suite."

A lot former Vegas editors have switched to Premiere CS5 and Avid MC5. Both have more tools available for broadcast and film work than Vegas.
 
My take on it: I'm looking at building a new workstation soon, and sticking with Vegas. I will, however, choose the video card based on what will give the best value for GPU acceleration with the Mercury Playback Engine in Premiere Pro, just in case.
 
Vegas 10 has been surprisingly stable since I picked it up a few weeks ago - not sure why :undecided - I would upgrade rather then continue using version 7.

version 9 was a nightmare.

I second CS5 or MC5 as alternatives.

You can also go the Mac Pro + FCP route.
 
Thanks for the input. I'm thinking of going with the IP-DVC system from ADK Video Editing with Vegas 10 installed along with Adobe Prod Premium CS5. Any thoughts? Any experience with ADK?
 
It is hard to beat the Adobe Creative Suite line. Best bang for the buck by far. I got the Master Collection myself. Dreamweaver and InDesign rock!
 
TimothyJinx said:
Thanks for the input. I'm thinking of going with the IP-DVC system from ADK Video Editing with Vegas 10 installed along with Adobe Prod Premium CS5. Any thoughts? Any experience with ADK?
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If they tell you what's in it (components), you can probably buy the same stuff from Newegg and assemble it yourself for much cheaper.

As for running different NLEs on the same system, yeah, it's definitely an option and a good one. There are things Vegas does considerably better than Adobe, and vice-versa, so if you have the means and the inclination, having both is an excellent option. That's something diehards of any NLE don't seem to consider -- you don't have to pick just one. :)
 
I would actually recommend Vegas 9 -- Efexone is right that the first few versions of 9 were a nightmare, but the final version (9.0e) was absolutely brilliant. They fixed all of the niggling issues that affected 9 for most of its design cycle and it is lightning quick to boot. Runs flawlessly in 64-bit, loads everything fast, and renders at least twice as fast as 7 or 8 did (and 9 pre version E). Just FYI, I was using 9.0c for a year and somehow missed version D entirely until just recently when I upgraded to E. I had been suffering from JPEG blankings (red on the timeline) and generally laggy behavior when switching between apps, but 9.0e fixed everything.

I would hold off on 10 until they get a few patches out for it.
 
David Jimerson said:
If they tell you what's in it (components), you can probably buy the same stuff from Newegg and assemble it yourself for much cheaper.

As for running different NLEs on the same system, yeah, it's definitely an option and a good one. There are things Vegas does considerably better than Adobe, and vice-versa, so if you have the means and the inclination, having both is an excellent option. That's something diehards of any NLE don't seem to consider -- you don't have to pick just one. :)
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It probably wouldn't be much cheaper after I finished mangling it. :)
 
Well, if you're not comfortable with it, that's fine -- but it's really not that hard to assemble. The hardest thing is attaching the CPU fan. :)
 
Not sure what your overall budget is, but consider a raid 5 array or drobo-like solution for storage.
 
I've been archiving to external USB drives and Blu Ray discs. It's working for me. Here are the workstation specs:

Case: ADK Tower: (8) 3.5" bays 6 are removable, (4) 5.25 Bays Firewire/USB2 in fr
Power Supply: Cooler Master - Silent Pro M 1000w Tri Sli, 5 yr warranty.
Motherboard: ADK - LGA1155: 2x 16X PCIe, 3 PCIe 1x, 2 PCI, dual channnel DDR3 1600, TI firewir
Processor: Intel - Core i7 2600 3.4GHz Quad 8 meg cache with HT
Cooling: included
Cooling 2: Included quiet case fan
Memory: Mushkin - 16gig (4x4GB) DDR3 1600 1.5v 9-9-9-24
Hard Drive 1: Mushkin - Callisto Deluxe 240G SSD: Read Speed: up to 285MB/sec Write Speed: up to
Hard Drive 2: Western Digital - 2000G raid 0 (2x 1 TB 64Meg Cache - Sata 6.0GB/S)
Hard Drive 3: Western Digital - 2000G raid 0 (2x 1 TB 64Meg Cache - Sata 6.0GB/S)
Hard Drive 4: None
Hard Drive 5: None
Extra Storage: none
Controller: None
Video: GeForce GTX570 1280MB: 1280MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 (DVI+DVI+HDMI mini)
Video 2: None
CD/CD-RW/DVD: LG Electronics - Blu-ray disc rewriter. BD-R 10X with lightscribe.
Pro Audio: RME - RME HDSP 9632 PCI card 24 Bit/192 kHz 32 Channel, 1 X MIDI, Stereo Balanced
NIC: Included wired not wireless
Modem: None
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 7 Pro 64 bit OEM
Other Software: Paragon Drive Backup 10 Professional with ADK recovery DVD.
Other Software 2: Adobe - Production Premium CS5 Upsell Win/Mac:
Other Software 3: NONE
Monitor: Samsung - 2X Samsung P2770FH 27" LCD Monitor: 1 ms - 16:09 - Adjustable Display Angle
Keyboards: None
Speakers: None
Warranty: 2 year parts and labor, onsite pickup, Lifetime tech support.
 
TimothyJinx said:
Motherboard: ADK - LGA1155: 2x 16X PCIe, 3 PCIe 1x, 2 PCI, dual channnel
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The only part selection that concerns me is the motherboard. You will only have (1) high speed expansion slot available for upgrading once your video card is installed. I'd see if they offer a board with a minimum of (4) PCI-E slots x4 speed and above, just in case you decide to add a RAID adapter card and an HD-SDI card to your system at some point in the future. Otherwise, it looks like a fast and quiet system.
 
MarcoPolo said:
The only part selection that concerns me is the motherboard. You will only have (1) high speed expansion slot available for upgrading once your video card is installed. I'd see if they offer a board with a minimum of (4) PCI-E slots x4 speed and above, just in case you decide to add a RAID adapter card and an HD-SDI card to your system at some point in the future. Otherwise, it looks like a fast and quiet system.
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Marco, thanks for the tip!
 
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