Which is better? Vegas or Premiere?

Man I wish I'd have heard this much support for Vegas before ordering PPRO... I ordered PPRO and had second thoughts so I started this thread... it's funny that the second it gets here I'm going straight to UPS to send it back!

It sucks that I have about 5 years on Premiere so Vegas does feel really bizarre to me... but I'm with NBC... Premiere has caused me so much pain it's a joke.

My first video EVER took me about 60 hours to do... it was for a charity... and premiere crashed out BIG TIME 2 days before the event!!! I worked on that thing for 16 hours a day for two days and it was still nothing like the video that was lost forever. The worst part was that I had some people over to see how it was coming along and everybody was freaking with excitement knowing how many people were going to see it on a big screen.

We still got to a lot of people that day... people were crying and smiling and it was CRAZY... that's what really set the hook in me for video production... but what sucks is the video they DIDN'T see was twice as good. I was so pissed at premiere that I practically cracked the keys on my board by doing everything so hard for two days. Made me wish that computers had some sort of face I could punch... specifically premiere.

I did several smooth projects after that or else I'd have bailed on premiere the second vegas came out... the problem was that I had a couple years in premiere by the time vegas came around... and then it was so hard to make the switch.

It STILL is and that's why I ordered PPRO... but NBC is reminding me of all the hours of time wasted at just the wrong moment.

Premiere is the reason I'm not on the zombie dvd.

I can't believe I even considered PPRO... honestly it's Photoshop that sells Adobe for me. PS is so good at perfecting pictures that it's nuts... when I saw that PPRO now has the same adjustment system that was all I could think about. If you ever have a picture with improper lighting and you pop it in PS you wouldn't believe what it can do with that... and they say PPRO now can do the same thing with video. That is the ONE thing that I'd really like to be sure Vegas can do.
 
Why not try the PPro demo before you return... If you have 5 years on it, it may be a better choice. Not sure what version you are on now but if it's 6 or so you may find it fits the bill better now. 5 years exp is hard to set aside...
 
To balance things a bit, I use PPro on projects that often involve several hundred clips and it's been very stable for me. My impression from other forums is that those with stability problems are often using thrid-party accellerators. I like the PPro interface and think it's a big improvement over 6.x. 24Pa works great for me. Integration with the rest of the video collection is real nice. It's not perfect. I can point out some reproducible bugs. What NLE doesnt have it's warts? As Dakota says, try the demo.

I think Barry has the best advice (as usual) about waiting to see which one wil announce support for the HVX unless you have not plans of going that direction. The word is that Adobe will be announcing PPro 2.0 in the next couple of months along with a new video bundle. The first thing I'll be looking for is DVCPRO-HD support or I might be looking to switch as well. It will be interesting to see what Sony does with Vegas in this area.

-Dan
 
TeleDan said:
I can point out some reproducible bugs. What NLE doesnt have it's warts?

-Dan
Click to expand...

Ya. Sadly, I can't think of any software I have used that didn't have SOME issues... Such is the state of software. Sucks when you pay a ton of cash, but the more complex the app, the more room for bugs...
 
I'll start a new thread for this also, but my current card (that is sitting on my desk and NOT in my system after reformat) is a Canopus DV RT... NOT the RT 2... so it is NOT listed as a Certified Third Party Capture Card for PPRO.

So what do you suggest on the cheap? My computer has firewire in on the mobo and through an Audigy 2... but it's the "normal" firewire connector instead of the little mini-dv connector.

Should I get a generic OHCI IEEE 1394 with the mini-dv style input? I've had the luxury of analog out so I can see my video as it will really look on a TV so do you have any suggestions as to the cheapest way to preserve or restore this ability?

I'm researching capture cards and video cards with TV out and I just want the most stable way to accomplish this.

I currently have a BFG 6800 GT OC which runs two monitors and it has a SVHS out, but I don't think it will run a TV simultaneously... I think I need a seperate generic capture card that includes the standard video out (yellow RCA jack).

Can anybody help me out on this?
 
MattinSTL said:
I'll start a new thread for this also, but my current card (that is sitting on my desk and NOT in my system after reformat) is a Canopus DV RT... NOT the RT 2... so it is NOT listed as a Certified Third Party Capture Card for PPRO.
Click to expand...

May still work fine. I would try it. Not certified does not necessarily mean it wont work for sure...
 
MattinSTL said:
So what do you suggest on the cheap? My computer has firewire in on the mobo and through an Audigy 2... but it's the "normal" firewire connector instead of the little mini-dv connector.

Should I get a generic OHCI IEEE 1394 with the mini-dv style input? I've had the luxury of analog out so I can see my video as it will really look on a TV so do you have any suggestions as to the cheapest way to preserve or restore this ability?

I'm researching capture cards and video cards with TV out and I just want the most stable way to accomplish this.
Click to expand...

I currently use the firewire port on my mobo with no problems.. On a previous system I used the firewire port on an Audigy 1 card and it worked great. Both are OHCI IEEE 1394 compliant which is what PPro needs. If you see consistent dropouts, you might check for IRQ conflicts or consider a PCI-based 1394 card. They're cheap enough. I had dropout problems with the firewire port on my laptop until I started using a $20 pcmcia card.

As for connections, you can go from a 6-pin to a 4-pin connector by just buying the right cable. I think the only difference is the extra two pins carry power which you don't need in this case.

As for a monitor out, I just use the firewire pass-thru on the same handi-cam I use for tape capture. Just connect the TV to the S-video jack on the cam. Can't get much cheaper that that.

I should say that I actually use a shareware program called Scenalyzer (www.scenalyzer.com) to do my video capture with rather than the PPro facility. I like the indexing feature it has. However, I have used the PPro capture facility with the same setup with no problems.

-Dan
 
Thanks Dan. You really made my day with this post.

Now I just have to decide if I'm going to open the PPRO or return it for Vegas. I've been looking at the shrink-wrapped PPRO all day and studied the sales info all over the box... it's funny that those guys may not realize just how important it is at that point. Just because the package is in my house right next to my computer doesn't mean it's actually "bought" yet. I gotta' decide if I'm keeping it or not soon though... 'cause I need to get back to editing!

So is PPRO pretty good with the output to DVD or is that a joke? I've played with DVD Architect and it's a freakin' JOY it's so simple. How's PPRO? Do you need Encore for it to be worth a crap?

Dan what do you really like about PPRO or what do you hate about it? Do you have any opinion about Vegas?

If I keep PPRO I'll still get the newest Vegas by next spring... or if I return PPRO I'll probably buy it again next spring... but I just want it to be the most enjoyable winter of editing that it can be... especially since the sci-fi thing will probably be a last minute panic just like the zombie thing was.
 
You really should download the demo from Adobe. It will give you a better idea.

If you need the DVD authoriing, then it might be a simple choice. PPro really doesn't have any real authoring capability other than it will render your timeline and burn it to a DVD for playback. Beyond that you do really need Encore or another authoring program with PPro 1.x. Rumor has it that PPro 2.0 will have Encore intergrated into it to some degree but that's just a rumor.

I have never used Vegas so I'm not in position to compare them. Coming from a still photography background and Photoshop, I'm very comfortable with the Adobe GUI philosophy. I love the integration between PPro, AE, Photoshop, and Encore. I was using Cool Edit Pro before it became Audition. So the Adobe video collection is very 'comfortable' to me and some it's components are considered to be among the top of their class; the others need to come a little further.

I'd put PPro in the middle of the bunch among the video collection. Not quite in the same league as AE and PS but further along than Encore and Audition (although the more I use Audition, the more it impresses me). For me PPro is very competent for what I want it to do and as is the rest of the collection. Always room for improvement though and I think I like where Adobe is taking it. The new feature list in PPro 2.0 will be a big indicator to me as to how much attention they have been giving it.

As for Vegas, it obviously has a lot of fans on this board so I'm sure it's good stuff too. I keep meaning to try out a demo but my backlog is still too deep. They are all tools and I prefer to stick with tools that I know will work for me. Right now, the hammer I have works pretty well. Now if my hammer no longer works with the nails I'm using or if someone comes along with an air-nailer that significantly improves my productivity, I might start looking at another brand.

Sorry I can't provide a clear pro or con comparison.

-Dan
 
Matt,

Just for the record, FCP isn't perfect, either. Just check out the many wishlists that pop up for features that people want in the next version.

Mainly, it's media management is kinda clunky, and Vegas is easier when mixing 24p and 24pa footage.

I've never worked in Vegas, but bailed to FCP after having many of the same experiences you did with Premiere (5.0 and 6.0 and 6.5 with Pinnacle cards). I was burned so many times with Premiere that it was hard for me to believe that this time they would FINALLY get it right.

FCP is tons more stable, but all of the Vegas people tout it's stability, and if I was to choose now, would probably go with it (and bite the bullet and learn its "different" workflow). But since you already have some Vegas experience, that shouldn't be hard for you.
 
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