Pinnacle 14 or Sony Vegas?

[pszilard]

I just got a Sony HD hard disk camcorder which came with Vegas eval. I also installed the downloaded Pinnacle 14 Ultimate and I am trying to decide which one to fork out the cash for.

I hear that Pinnacle is unstable, but the couple of times it had hung, the restart always worked with no loss of work, whereas I can't figure out how to use Vegas.

I really like the following features in Pinnacle:

• Video montages
• Ease of Trimming
• Integrated music generator and DVD menus
• Very easy to use

Meanwhile in Vegas, I can't figure how to do video montage (is it possible?[edited: yes, found it]) and or many other basic functions.

I need advice on which one to invest in, both time to learn and $$. Or should I try something else, like Adobe Premier Elements?

I am looking for something that can create DVDs or Flash from footage shot on my Sony camcorder.

[I would like to hear from anyone that has bought Pinnacle Studio Ultimate v14]

Thanks in advance,

[lowellriggsiam]

I like Sony Vegas except for it's masking which is better done in After Effects. What basic functions trouble you in Sony Vegas?

[guns1inger]

What do you mean by "video montage" ? A montage is just an assembly of images. At it's simplest, a video montage is just a series of edits, in which case all you need to do is split the clips (S key) and move them around on the timeline. If you want to get more sophisticated you can use multiple timelines and masks to get multiple bits of different videos in the same frame.

When using multiple timelines, it helps to think of the timeline stack as a stack of glass plates. You are looking down from above through the top plate to the plates underneath. If there is an image in the way, you cannot see through. However if you add a mask to the top clip, you can see through the masked area to the clip below it. Add a mask to that clip, and you can see through to the layer underneath, if all the masks line up.

You have different mask methods in Vegas, from the cookie cutter to different keying methods. I do agree with the previous post that the masks aren't the best in Vegas, but you can do a lot with a bit of planning and experimentation.

[pszilard]

AfterEffects shows as $1k, which is out of the question for me. By video montage, I meant what Pinnacle calls this feature; i.e. to put multiple smaller PIP clips, which may move across the big screen or be 3D animated, even. Typically I would use this in the opening title screen, where I might put a few seconds of featured clips in one or more PIP windows.

I just need to find how this can be done with Vegas, but I think the layered cookie cutter thing will be the answer, I just need to find a tutorial on how to do it...

[lowellriggsiam]

Instead of After Effects check out Sony Movie Studio +.

[guns1inger]

You do this in Vegas with Track Motion and Keyframes.

[pszilard]

I am just experimenting with the cookie cutter in Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 Trial. This is really at the extend of my s/w investment as it is AU$249. (I've already just spent almost AU$2k on camera + 10hr battery AU$299 + ext charger AU$99)

Anyway I got cookie cutter to give me a quadrant PIP. I am just looking at how I can scale the Video Overlay track's clip to 25% size so it will show full frame in the smaller PIP window.

Thanks for your patience

[pszilard]

Got it! Found the zoom / drag function. Yippee!
I think I'll buy Vegas not Pinnacle.

[lowellriggsiam]

Click the square in the video in the timeline event/pan crop and under "source" set "maintain aspect ratio" to "no" and then resize and move the video to the location you want.

[pszilard]

One quick Vegas Platinum question: If I purchase it, can I install a single purchase on my desktop pc plus my laptop? In case I want to do a quick edit on site.

Thanks guys.

[lowellriggsiam]

I had no problems installing Sony Movie Studio on both my PC and my Laptop.

[pszilard]

Hey guys, check out this demo of the Pinnacle montages: LINK amd tell me what you think...

[guns1inger]

There isn't anything there that I couldn't do in Vegas with a little effort. That said, there isn't anything there that I would use. To me, all these effects look canned, cliched and after a while, just like everybody else's stuff. It is the same reason I have never been impressed by the menu templates in iDVD and the like. Yes, they look slick the first time you see them. The 100th time somebody produces a disc with the same menu, you yawn and think "next !'.

Vegas comes with a good range of transitions. Probably less than Premiere. And I use maybe three of them. 98% of my work involved just simple fades in/out/cross either to black or to white. Or it is a straight cut. The 2% of the time I need something different I create something original. Which means that it has more impact, and doesn't look like I just dragged an effect out of the editing toolbox and got a coffee while it rendered.

It would certainly never sway me away from an editor that is far superior in every other way.

[pszilard]

I just created my 1st ever video using Pinnacle 14 Ultimate and uploaded it to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hOTkaCUIV8
The quality is very poor IMHO, but it was not difficult.

I shall try to do the same in Vegas for a comparison, in a day or so.

Comments are invited, but be gentle as it's my 1st attempt

Cheers,

[lowellriggsiam]

Looks fine, the quality isn't bad. Enjoy your summer it's snowing here.

[pszilard]

Thanks lowellriggsiam. It's 22 deg C this morning and I just been for a little cycle ride. God, I am unfit! LOL.

The quality is better now, I didn't realize that YouTube needed some time to process and optimize the upload.

I'll still try Vegas to create something similar, just for comparison.