Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8 vs Pro 8.0
by Tom Karlemo
on
Apr 14, 2008 at 7:52:38 am
Hi, Ive been using the Vegas Movie Studio 4.0 for many years and done a lot of nice (simple) home productions of family, music and sports. Here is an example:
I have been evaluating the new 8.0 software for some weeks and Im starting to feel at home with the new versions updated desctop and some of the new features. However, I have not found any great difference between the Movie Studio and the Pro. The Pro does not have any pre set tracks so I have just been dragging the media into the timeline but thats ok since it seems to be functioning the same once it is there. Probably I can include more than 2 tracks of media, 2 tracks of sound and one track of text and that would be a great help since I could then isolate sertain types of media, music or text into a dedicated track and fiddle with panning, volumes and effects for that particular track. However, I was expecting the Pro to have a lot more transitions, effects and very important: text scrolls and types but it has not. Big dissapointment since I would like to have text scroll on one side and video running on the other side of the screen or even tile one side into half as well and have two different videos running. I would also like to include a smaller video in a larger one like we are used to see with expert commentators in sport events. Both the Movie Studio and the Pro have the possibilitie to make stills out of the video and they have new added editing features. The differences must be on a deeper level but will I be able to have any use for them for what I do? Please advice since 500$ is a lot of money but if there are struff that I will be able to grow into Im ready to hand over the cash since I spend countless hours editing. Thanks in advance.
Platinum will give you 4 videotracks and 4 audio tracks, which is sufficient for a holliday video.
Vegas 8 pro will give you as many tracks as you like. In addition, vegas 8 pro will give you far more possibilities for making compositions like masking and better tools for color correction. So if you want to make more out of your holliday video, Vegas 8 pro is absolutely worth the extra money, as long as you are willing to invest extra time in learning all the possibilities of Vegas 8 pro.
Ans ofcourse you can make in Vegas 8 pro all the transitions, titles and PIPs you would like to make.....
Re: Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8 vs Pro 8.0 by Edward Troxel on Apr 15, 2008 at 3:02:04 pm
One of the biggest things you gain in the Pro version is the ability to run scripts. Scripts can simplify and speed up your editing greatly.
The Pro version will also give you full control of your renders (i.e. the "custom" button will work with MPEG2).
There's several advantages to using the full version. However, YOU are the one who has to weigh if the advantages will be beneficial to what YOU are doing.
Re: Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8 vs Pro 8.0 by Theo van Laar on Apr 16, 2008 at 8:11:55 am
A script is a kind of a program. It does not add extra functions to Vegas but it makes live much easier, especially when you have to repeat some functions very often.
You can download free scripts from the internet or you can purchase e.g. the ULtimate S scripts (www.vasst.com) or the Excalibur scripts (http://www.jetdv.com/excalibur/home.php).
Both contain a lot of scripts, which can be started from Vegas. Especially the Excalibur scripts are easy to work with since they are accessible through the tabs in Vegas. Just check te websites to learn about all the possibilities.
And ofcourse, when you have a background in programming, it might be possible for you to write your own scripts...
Re: Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8 vs Pro 8.0 by Edward Troxel on Apr 17, 2008 at 8:14:47 pm
[Theo van Laar]"It does not add extra functions to Vegas but it makes live much easier, especially when you have to repeat some functions very often."
Actually, they *CAN* add extra functionality to Vegas. For example, Multi-cam (a new function) was added direct in Vegas in Vegas Pro 8. However, Vegas has had terrific multi-cam abilities since Vegas 4 - via scripting.
Look at the photo montage tools in both Excalibur and Ultimate S.
Look at the batch rendering functionality.
These are all extra functions that would not exist without scripting. Yes, the same "steps" can be done manually but would take a LOT more work to do so. However, they also do what you said: repeat some functions very quickly and easily.
Re: Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8 vs Pro 8.0 by Theo van Laar on Apr 16, 2008 at 9:45:34 am
Custom render means that you can manually optimize your output rendering to the needs of your project.
About buying Vegas: if you manage to find somewhere on the internet the possibility to buy very cheap a previous version of Vegas (Movie Studio), you will only need to upgrade, which is much cheaper.
