Premiere Pro or Vegas Video 5

[Machine514]

Premiere Pro or Vegas Video 5? Which do you like better and why? OR is there a better software to use for the average consumer?

I am a Premiere Pro man, but have never tried Vegas Video and want to get some feed back to see if I need to try it.

-Machine

PS Don't forget to tell us why you like your favorite software!!!

[housepig]

I was a Premiere user, not Pro, but I really like Vegas (still on 4, haven't upgraded yet).

I found myself not using Premiere that much, because I had trouble understanding the interface and workflow, and constantly had to have the manual open on one side of the PC.

With Vegas, the workflow and methods make more sense to me - stuff that used to take me 2 hours to do badly in Premiere now take 20 minutes to do well in Vegas.

I think on most decent apps, it comes down to personal preference and work styles - features being equal, being more comfortable with one interface over another will make you produce better results.

[erratic]

I agree with housepig but as I've never used Premiere Pro I can't compare. I'd like to mention three things that are very easy with Vegas:

PAL<->NTSC conversions (I've tried interlaced PAL to interlaced NTSC, no progressive stuff).
4:3<->16:9 (anamorphic) conversions.
Fixing gradual loss of sync.

Too bad Vegas can't open AC3 audio. You have to convert it to LPCM (WAV) first.

[timmyp]

Vegas definately. Premiere Pro is full of features, but is aging poorly and needs a major facelift.

The biggest problem I had with Premiere Pro was that it's a pig of a program and I constantly had trouble using the Preview window.

I would get herky, jerky video in the Preview window when playing the video clip (DV-AVI Clips) or shuttling through to a particular spot in the clip. Obviously, that is not real conducive to making cuts and edits.

Then, in many cases, the program would lock up and I'd have to start over. This may because I only have 512MB of RAM, or it may have been conflicting with another program on my system.

Whatever the case, I can tell you that Vegas has been rock-solid and I have had no issues with the Preview screen, lock-up problems, or crashing. The conversion to MPEG2 is a little slow (OK, verry slow), but so was Premiere. The program is not a total hog on resources (as Premiere is), does not bring my computer to its knees, and has every feature and filter I need.

So, there is no question in my mind.... Vegas all the way.

[erratic]

Too bad Vegas can't open AC3 audio. You have to convert it to LPCM (WAV) first.

Hmm, after installing the AC-3 ACM Decompressor by fccHandler I managed to open an AVI file with AC3 audio in Vegas. Still can't open .ac3 files or mpeg-2 files with AC3 audio though (in the latter case I get the video only) but AVI with AC3 audio seems to work.

[BJ_M]

Too bad Vegas can't open AC3 audio. You have to convert it to LPCM (WAV) first.

Hmm, after installing the AC-3 ACM Decompressor by fccHandler I managed to open an AVI file with AC3 audio in Vegas. Still can't open .ac3 files or mpeg-2 files with AC3 audio though (in the latter case I get the video only) but AVI with AC3 audio seems to work.

interesting -- you are the first to mention you have opened ac3 within Vegas of any sort -- maybe on a track here for mpeg+ac3


oh yes -- Vegas all the way baby ....

rock solid and features galore but really simple to use non the less ..

did i mention it is extremely stable ?

[Machine514]

Ah, stability, something that should be a requirement.

-Machine

[kickbxn5]

Premiere Pro definitely. I own Vegas 5 and Pro 1.5 and have never had a problem with either one crashing. I prefer Pro because I grew up with Premiere, Vegas is still kind of new to me. I think the thing that bothers me the most about Vegas is DVD Architect...I hate that program.

[Zetti]

Hi all,

I think the previous poster said something very interesting : WE HAVE TO CONSIDER INTEGRATION WITH DVD AUTHORING SW.

And with that in mind, it seems that Architect can't at all, by any means, be compared to Encore
I am not in conditions to vote on the poll cause I only know PP and don't know Vegas properly, why ?

It seems that there's much more tutorials and books available for PP than Vegas, I have come across many PP books and PDF tutorials, haven't found yet good teaching tools for Vegas;

BTW, is Vegas capable of smart MPEG2 editing ? It seems Main's Concept plug-in for PP doesn't EXPORT edited MPEG2 using smart technology, if Vegas had it it'd be a plus, definitely;

Sometimes I capture in MPEG2 and just want to trim begining and ending sections, without re-rendering. As far as I've realized, Main's Concept PP plug-in always re-renders upon exportation, no good;

Can anyone point me basic tutorials for Vegas please ? Or maybe better, an "all in one" book like definitely useful "PP's Bible" ?

Thanks,

Zetti

[dxj40c]

I used Premiere 6.5 for a couple of years, but have switched to Vegas 4 for its simplicity. Premier is a great program but has a lot of stuff that has to be learned. I was using Vegas right out-of-the-box, it is much easier to use.

[erratic]

Can anyone point me basic tutorials for Vegas please ? Or maybe better, an "all in one" book like definitely useful "PP's Bible" ?

Douglas Spotted Eagle has written Vegas 4 Editing Workshop and is apparently working on Vegas 5 Editing Workshop, Second Edition and Instant Vegas 5.

For Vegas links click here.

[Marvingj]

I've used Both Premiere Pro & Vegas 5. Both are good. Pro Crashes to much, Vegas has the vectorscope & is very slow. I prefer to used Premiere 6.5 because Adobe took the A/B monitor. Pro finally has a scope to late. The best is final cut but who wants to deal with Mac All Mighty. But Mac is better than Avid. Avid is too expensive & support sucks big time. Always want you to buy something like a warranty or etc.

[csheng]

Douglas Spotted Eagle has written Vegas 4 Editing Workshop and is apparently working on Vegas 5 Editing Workshop, Second Edition and Instant Vegas 5.

For Vegas links click here.[/quote]

Douglas Spotted Eagle also have DVDs. they're great....it's like having a personal tutor in the same room.