Vegas Movie Studio

Discuss which third party applications you use to help create your slide shows using ProShow Producer. This is not a forum to promote other slide show software programs.
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Vegas Movie Studio

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:07 am

I thought I'd settled on a DVD authoring program, but apparently I haven't. I want something inexpensive because, essentially, I want to filter Producer shows through the authoring program, though I might want to do other things later on, so I want a few capabilities beyond simple conversion of AVI to MPEG.

Does anyone here use Vegas Movie Studio, and if so, what's your opinion of it--both pros and cons?

Barbara

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Postby gpsmikey » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:30 am

Vegas Movie Studio Platinum is the one I have (well, it has now been replaced
by the full Vegas 8 -- couldn't resist their upgrade a couple of months back but
have not had a chance to put it on the system yet). I liked it - it seems to do
a good job, there is a fairly good support forum with some good people over
on the Sony site. One advantage to the Platinum version is it includes the Dolby
AC-3 encoder for the audio which makes for a smaller video (and to a degree
allows a higher data rate for the video). Since you are using NTSC, your
DVD is supposed to have either LPCM or AC-3 as at least one of the audio
tracks. The DVD creator portion of it works much better (at least from where
I sit) than the Menu creator in Producer. One really nice thing about the
Vegas Movie Studio -- it does have lots of neat features, but if you later want
to move up to a BIG editor etc, the full Vegas is a superset of the movie
studio, so the learning curve is much easier. There are a couple of things
that will drive you nuts until you learn them, so I will give you a couple of
clues - adjusting sound volume etc is done with "envelopes" - yes, that is
the word Vegas uses - has for a long time. You can spend hours trying to
find out how to adjust the audio :D Digital Juice stuff just drops in on
another track, (remember to click the alpha) and works great. What works
kind of cool is to create segments in Producer, export as uncompressed AVI
then inport those to Vegas (Movie Studio), putting their transitions or DJ
stuff in, any additional video tweaks, then create the DVD using the DVD
creator. Download the trial version and give it a try !!
What have you got to lose but your sanity ... oh, yeah ... never mind !! :wink:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/pro ... family.asp


mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Postby BarbaraC » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:05 am

And how, might ask, would you know about the state of my sanity? :shock:

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, the most important question is this: have you compared the same show turned into an ISO and then burned to DVD with one that you've rendered as an AVI and then completed in Vegas? Is the quality difference there? I see a difference using Roxio, but it's at the marginal level, and if I can get even a little beyond marginal, I'll go for it.

Regardless, I'm going to download the trial...just as long as they haven't crippled the ability to burn.

Barbara

EDIT: Great. I can't burn a DVD with the basic version unless I download DVD Architect. Does this mean that the basic version doesn't include the ability to do DVD's?

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Postby BarbaraC » Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:19 am

Okay, I've managed to burn a DVD using Vegas Movie Studio, which I then compared with the ISO burned with ImgBurn and also the results I got from bringing an AVI into Roxio. I used the same settings for everything, not using any desaturation or anti-flicker because I wanted any and all flaws to pop right out at me. The show I chose has pictures descending at an angle and rotating into proper position, so any jerkiness would likely show up here, and most definitely there would be the expected flicker. Here are the results:

ISO: Not bad, but not good either. Huge amount of flicker and a slightly washed-out look.

Roxio: Sharp, but not overly sharp. Flicker there but to a level that's pretty much acceptable. Color quite good.

Vegas: Sharp to the point of a bit too much. Probably because of this sharpness, flicker was worse than in Roxio. Color excellent.

For my use and for the price, Roxio is my choice, though one thing about it bothers me, and it's that it wants to take over file associations and watch certain folders just in case I ever in my life decide to use those folders, which I won't. These things can be cured, but it annoys me when software is so full of itself that it thinks it should be ruler of my world.

If I had a video camera, I'd probably go with Vegas because it has more power, but I don't have a video camera and don't plan on getting one.

I hope everyone who has followed me through several threads involving my life's great bugbear involving quality will understand how grateful I am for their help and for just being a sounding board. Maybe someone else will end up being helped from all this too.

I promise to shut up now. Honest.

Barbara

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I promise to shut up now.

Postby bob walden » Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:10 pm

Please don't!! I have been following the thread with great interest. It's been very helpful. Any chance you would reconsider testing Elements? That would pretty much cover the programs I was looking at. I'm kinda leaning towards Vegas because that's what Mikey uses and he is a great source of knowledge.

Bob W.

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Re: I promise to shut up now.

Postby gpsmikey » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:26 pm

bob walden wrote:Please don't!! I have been following the thread with great interest. It's been very helpful. Any chance you would reconsider testing Elements? That would pretty much cover the programs I was looking at. I'm kinda leaning towards Vegas because that's what Mikey uses and he is a great source of knowledge.

Bob W.



Actually, that should have read " he is a great source of ......... knowledge" :lol:
I don't do that much video stuff, but Vegas does consistently get good comments
over in the video desktop areas (I used to use Ulead MediaStudio Pro, but the
older version I have (6.5) broke with some of the recent microsoft patches and
is not supported so I switched to full Vegas (I liked the Movie Studio Pro - it was
an upgrade I got from another editor I had used - Sonic Foundary "Video Factory"
(Sonic Foundary got taken over by Sony - and Vegas is now a Sony product).
Try the demo version and see what you think.

Barbara is correct in that it is not as "integrated" Proshow with the create video/
create DVD, however, that is actually a good thing. The DVD creator will take
whatever you create in Vegas and let you build your menu's etc to build the DVD.
It will also take any OTHER source of compliant video from another application
and let you create a DVD from that just as well. (I have used it a number of
times to take an uncompressed avi from Producer and create a DVD)

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Postby BarbaraC » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:32 pm

I already tested Elements and totally HATED it! It has a lot of cookie-cutter stuff that I don't like at all

I was planning on trying to shut up, but I just looked again at Sony Vegas because it occurred to me that the only part I really need is DVD Architect because of the fact that I'm not about to make my own videos outside Producer slide shows. I'm right back to being indecisive. At least I'm hanging between just two programs. I've started leaning back into the Sony zone, though. :?

Barbara

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he is a great source of ......... knowledge"

Postby bob walden » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:36 pm

No matter what you are wayyyyy ahead of me! At this point I'm just thinking of trying some video. I want to do more family histories because in this area I think the average age is 80! Lot to work with around here. And what video or movies that would be available wouldn't be that good to begin with. I could only improve on it. This is farm country and we are losing the old farmers and their ways rapidly. Would like to have some lasting memories for the future. Plus my wife couldn't say I'm not doing anything since I retired.

Bob W.

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Postby BarbaraC » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:44 pm

Bob, if you want to do actual video, then do NOT go with Elements. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't recommend Roxio either. Sony Vegas has a whole lot of power. The only reason I'm wavering is because I'm looking for just the DVD authoring end of the deal.

Download one of the Vegas trial versions and explore it. It has a bit of a learning curve just as any decent program does, but don't let that chase you into buying something that will eventually frustrate you with all the things it can't do.

Barbara

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if you want to do actual video,

Postby bob walden » Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:06 pm

Nope. Not going to do video. I am interested in including old video clips in family history shows. Old vhs and 8mm most likely. And also interested in doing more interesting and easy to follow menus and chapters for such.

Bob W.

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Postby BarbaraC » Sat Dec 22, 2007 3:10 pm

Bob, at the very least, download Sony's DVD Architect to see if that'll do all you need. It might not, and I suspect it won't according to what you plan, so you might want to also download their basic Vegas Movie Studio. I think you'll want both because it sounds like you may end up wanting to mix video clips.

In the meantime, I just ran my three examples of the same show past my husband's eyes on his projection screen TV, and we both agreed that Roxio looked faded-out on it, the Sony version was overly sharp, and the ISO-to-DVD was (Lord help me) the best. On my LCD TV, the Sony version is best, Roxio is second, and the ISO comes in last. Later this evening, I'll be testing them on a standard TV. I think I'll end up going with whatever happens to get two TV votes.

Or I could give up.

Barbara

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I just ran my three examples of the same show past my husban

Postby bob walden » Sat Dec 22, 2007 3:48 pm

I really appreciate the testing but I think the big screen tv is supposed to be for reserved for sports!!!

Bob W.

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Postby gpsmikey » Sat Dec 22, 2007 4:33 pm

For family video stuff (or other interviews for that matter), there was a segment on
Digital Juice a while back that really made sense. It is very difficult to (especially
with a single camera!) ask questions and get good answers that stay within the
bounds of the questions. A better way to do it is to set the camera up pointing
at your "interviewee" (grandma or whomever) and ask your questions. Let them
answer and wander off down whatever path they want. After you are done, go
back and with the camera on you, re-ask the questions, but change the wording
of the question so that it matches their answer :D Everybody will think you are
a genius for being able to ask questions and keep the old folks right on track when
in reality, your segments were recorded AFTER the answers were given :wink:


mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Postby BarbaraC » Sat Dec 22, 2007 4:42 pm

That's what I want: the answers first. I can always ask questions later if I feel like it. For instance, "Mabel just ran off with the plumber." Sometime later, I might ask, "Anyone seen Mabel lately?" Then there are the more important answers such as "Steak, home fries, and salad."

Works for me.

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Postby czali » Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:56 pm

Barbara,

When you use Roxio for your authoring you first create an AVI in producer. Is that a compressed AVI? I am only assuming it would have to be for file size. You have inspired me to give this a try. I have just been burning an ISO image and using IMGburn.

Bob,

I have to say that the bunny suit scares me a little. I never liked going to see the Easter bunny as a kid.

Colleen

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